2018 French Grand Prix

The race was the eighth round of the 2018 FIA Formula One World Championship and marked the first time that the French Grand Prix has been run since 2008. It was the 87th running of the French Grand Prix, and the 59th time the event had been included as a round of the Formula One World Championship since the inception of the series in 1950.

2018 French Grand Prix
Race 8 of 21 in the 2018 Formula One World Championship ← Previous race Next race →
Layout of the Circuit Paul Ricard in 2018
Race details
Date	24 June 2018
Official name	Formula 1 Pirelli Grand Prix de France 2018
Location	Circuit Paul Ricard Le Castellet, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France
Course	Permanent racing circuit
Course length	5.842 km (3.630 miles)
Distance	53 laps, 309.690 km (192.432 miles)
Weather	Partially cloudy, warm and dry
Pole position
Driver	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
Time	1:30.029
Fastest lap
Driver	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes
Time	1:34.225 on lap 41
Podium
First	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
Second	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer
Third	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari
Lap leaders

Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel entered the race with a one-point lead over Lewis Hamilton in the World Drivers' Championship. In the World Constructors' Championship, Mercedes led Ferrari by seventeen points. Hamilton took the lead in the Driver's Championship by winning the race, with Vettel finishing fifth.

The race returned to the calendar for the first time since 2008, with Circuit Paul Ricard chosen as the venue. The circuit last hosted the French Grand Prix in 1990 before the event moved to the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours in 1991. The race used the 5.842 km (3.630 mi) layout of the Circuit Paul Ricard for the first time. The layout includes a chicane on the Mistral straight as opposed to the 5.809 km (3.610 mi) circuit that was used nine times between 1971 and 1985.

The race was run in June, filling a vacancy left by the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The race in Azerbaijan was moved to an April date to avoid clashing with celebrations for the centenary of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic.

Drag reduction system

The circuit featured two drag reduction system (DRS) zones. The first was located along the main straight, while the second was on the Mistral Straight on the approach to the chicane.

Tyres

Tyre supplier Pirelli provided teams with the soft, supersoft and ultrasoft compounds of tyres. They reverted to their narrow tread compound following feedback from the teams in the wake of mid-season testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Lewis Hamilton set the fastest lap in the first free practice session, which was cut short by an accident involving Sauber driver Marcus Ericsson. Ericsson lost control of his Sauber C37 on the approach to Turn 11 and spun into the barrier on the outside of the corner. The car hit the tyre wall at an angle and subsequently caught fire. Ericsson was unharmed, but with two minutes remaining the session was abandoned and the damage to his car so extensive that he was unable to take part in the second free practice session. Several drivers experienced spins during the session, most notably at Turn 6 where an intermittent and gusty local wind caught the drivers unaware as they accelerated away from the apex of the corner. Unlike Ericsson, all of the drivers avoided contact with the wall courtesy of the circuit's unique, abrasive tarmac run-off areas designed to slow down cars that left the circuit.

Hamilton was fastest again in the second free practice session despite having his flying lap interrupted by another red flag. Sergio Pérez lost a wheel as he turned onto the Mistral Straight, prompting race officials to mount an investigation as to whether Force India had released Pérez from the pit lane with his car in an unsafe condition. The session was restarted once Pérez's car was cleared away.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Qualifying times			Final grid
				Q1	Q2	Q3
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:31.271	1:30.645	1:30.029	1
2	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:31.776	1:31.227	1:30.147	2
3	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:31.820	1:30.751	1:30.400	3
4	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	1:31.531	1:30.818	1:30.705	4
5	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	1:31.910	1:31.538	1:30.895	5
6	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:31.567	1:30.772	1:31.057	6
7	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Renault	1:32.394	1:32.016	1:32.126	7
8	16	Charles Leclerc	Sauber-Ferrari	1:32.538	1:32.055	1:32.635	8
9	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	1:32.169	1:31.510	1:32.930	9
10	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	1:32.083	1:31.472	No time	10
11	31	Esteban Ocon	Force India-Mercedes	1:32.786	1:32.075		11
12	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	1:32.949	1:32.115		12
13	11	Sergio Pérez	Force India-Mercedes	1:32.692	1:32.454		13
14	10	Pierre Gasly	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	1:32.447	1:32.460		14
15	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari	1:32.804	1:32.820		15
16	14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Renault	1:32.976			16
17	28	Brendon Hartley	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	1:33.025			201
18	2	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren-Renault	1:33.162			17
19	35	Sergey Sirotkin	Williams-Mercedes	1:33.636			18
20	18	Lance Stroll	Williams-Mercedes	1:33.729			19
107% time: 1:37.659
Source:

Notes

• ^1  – Brendon Hartley received a 35-place grid penalty for exceeding his quota of power unit components.

Race report

At the start Sebastian Vettel ran into the back of Valtteri Bottas, with both sustaining damage and having to pit for repairs, also there was a separate collision between Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon leaving both cars stranded out on the track, this brought out a brief safety car period lasting till the end of lap 5. Vettel would later receive a penalty for his collision with Bottas which meant he would only manage to finish 5th. Lance Stroll suffered a tyre puncture near the end of the race causing a virtual safety car, which ended with only half a lap left of the race. Lewis Hamilton comfortably won ahead of Max Verstappen, while Kimi Räikkönen completed the podium.

Race classification

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	53	1:30:11.385	1	25
2	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	53	+7.090	4	18
3	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	53	+25.888	6	15
4	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	53	+34.736	5	12
5	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	53	+1:01.935	3	10
6	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	53	+1:19.364	9	8
7	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	53	+1:20.632	2	6
8	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Renault	53	+1:27.184	7	4
9	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	53	+1:31.989	12	2
10	16	Charles Leclerc	Sauber-Ferrari	53	+1:33.873	8	1
11	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	52	+1 lap	10
12	2	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren-Renault	52	+1 lap	17
13	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari	52	+1 lap	15
14	28	Brendon Hartley	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	52	+1 lap	20
15	35	Sergey Sirotkin	Williams-Mercedes	52	+1 lap1	18
162	14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Renault	50	Suspension	16
172	18	Lance Stroll	Williams-Mercedes	48	Puncture	19
Ret	11	Sergio Pérez	Force India-Mercedes	27	Engine	13
Ret	31	Esteban Ocon	Force India-Mercedes	0	Collision	11
Ret	10	Pierre Gasly	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	0	Collision	14
Source:

Notes

• ^1  – Sergey Sirotkin had 5 seconds added to his race time for driving unnecessarily slowly behind the safety car.
• ^2  – Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll retired from the race, but were classified as they completed more than 90% of the race distance.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos. Driver Points   1 1   Lewis Hamilton 145   1 2   Sebastian Vettel 131   1 3   Daniel Ricciardo 96   1 4   Valtteri Bottas 92   5   Kimi Räikkönen 83 Source:

Constructors' Championship standings Pos. Constructor Points   1   Mercedes 237   2   Ferrari 214   3   Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer 164   4   Renault 62   5   McLaren-Renault 40 Source:

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

• 2018 Le Castellet Formula 2 round
• 2018 Le Castellet GP3 Series round