| 2018 Belgian Grand Prix | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Race 13 of 21 in the2018 Formula One World Championship
| |||||
 Layout of the Spa-Francorchamps circuit | |||||
| Race details[1] | |||||
| Date | 26 August 2018 | ||||
| Official name | Formula 1 2018Johnnie Walker Belgian Grand Prix | ||||
| Location | Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps Stavelot,Belgium | ||||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||||
| Course length | 7.004 km (4.352 miles) | ||||
| Distance | 44 laps, 308.052 km (191.415 miles) | ||||
| Weather | Cloudy | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | Mercedes | ||||
| Time | 1:58.179 | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |  Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | |||
| Time | 1:46.286 on lap 32 | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | Ferrari | ||||
| Second | Mercedes | ||||
| Third | Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer | ||||
Lap leaders | |||||
The2018 Belgian Grand Prix (formally theFormula 1 2018 Johnnie Walker Belgian Grand Prix) was aFormula One motor race held on 26 August 2018 at theCircuit de Spa-Francorchamps inStavelot,Belgium.[2] The race was the thirteenth round of the2018 Formula One World Championship and marked the 74th running of theBelgian Grand Prix and the 61st time the race was held at Spa-Francorchamps and 51st time as a round of the World Championship.
The race was won byScuderia Ferrari'sSebastian Vettel ahead ofMercedes'Lewis Hamilton andRed Bull Racing'sMax Verstappen. The victory moved Vettel ahead ofAlain Prost inall-time career Formula One victories and would be his last win for over a year until the2019 Singapore Grand Prix.
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.m.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding missing information.(January 2019) |
After going intoadministration during theHungarian Grand Prix weekend,Force India arrived in Belgium under new ownership. A consortium led byLawrence Stroll purchased the racing assets and operations of Force India through a company namedRacing Point UK Ltd.[3] The original team, Sahara Force India, was excluded from the Constructors' Championship due to their inability to participate in the remaining races, allowing the new team known asRacing Point Force India to apply for a late entry and start their participation in the championship in Belgium.[4]
Mercedes driverLewis Hamilton entered the round with a 24-point lead overSebastian Vettel in the Drivers' Championship. In the World Constructors' Championship, Mercedes ledFerrari by 10 points.[5]
McLaren reserve driverLando Norris made his first appearance at a Grand Prix weekend, replacingFernando Alonso during the first practice session.[6]
The race was won byScuderia Ferrari'sSebastian Vettel ahead ofMercedes'Lewis Hamilton andRed Bull Racing'sMax Verstappen. With the win Vettel took his 52nd and overtookAlain Prost for third in the ranking ofdrivers with the most Formula One wins.[7] The race featured a first lap crash involving Fernando Alonso, Nico Hülkenberg, and Charles Leclerc. Hülkenberg misjudged his braking before ramming into the back of Alonso, before flying over Leclerc's car and landing on thehalo.[8]
After the first corner incidents, Vettel passed Hamilton on the Kemmel straight on lap 1. Hamilton tried to repass at the end of the straight, as did the two Racing Point cars ofEsteban Ocon andSergio Pérez, and they were four abreast in the braking zone, with Vettel staying ahead. Hamilton was not able to challenge Vettel again.[9]
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 |  Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 44 | 1:23:34.476 | 2 | 25 |
| 2 | 44 |  Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 44 | +11.061 | 1 | 18 |
| 3 | 33 |  Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer | 44 | +31.372 | 7 | 15 |
| 4 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 44 | +1:08.6051 | 17 | 12 |
| 5 | 11 |  Sergio Pérez | Force India-Mercedes[note 1] | 44 | +1:11.023 | 4 | 10 |
| 6 | 31 |  Esteban Ocon | Force India-Mercedes[note 1] | 44 | +1:19.520 | 3 | 8 |
| 7 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 44 | +1:25.953 | 5 | 6 |
| 8 | 20 |  Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 44 | +1:27.639 | 9 | 4 |
| 9 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda | 44 | +1:45.892 | 10 | 2 |
| 10 | 9 |  Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 43 | +1 lap | 13 | 1 |
| 11 | 55 |  Carlos Sainz Jr. | Renault | 43 | +1 lap | 19 | |
| 12 | 35 |  Sergey Sirotkin | Williams-Mercedes | 43 | +1 lap | 15 | |
| 13 | 18 |  Lance Stroll | Williams-Mercedes | 43 | +1 lap | 16 | |
| 14 | 28 |  Brendon Hartley | Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda | 43 | +1 lap | 11 | |
| 15 | 2 |  Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren-Renault | 43 | +1 lap | 20 | |
| Ret | 3 |  Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer | 31 | Collision damage | 8 | |
| Ret | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 9 | Collision damage | 6 | |
| Ret | 16 |  Charles Leclerc | Sauber-Ferrari | 0 | Collision | 12 | |
| Ret | 14 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Renault | 0 | Collision | 14 | |
| Ret | 27 | Nico Hülkenberg | Renault | 0 | Collision | 18 | |
| Source:[11] | |||||||
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Previous race: 2018 Hungarian Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 2018 season | Next race: 2018 Italian Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 2017 Belgian Grand Prix | Belgian Grand Prix | Next race: 2019 Belgian Grand Prix |
