The 2018 Belgian Grand Prix (formally the Formula 1 2018 Johnnie Walker Belgian Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 26 August 2018 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Stavelot, Belgium. The race was the thirteenth round of the 2018 Formula One World Championship and marked the 74th running of the Belgian 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 by Scuderia Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel ahead of Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen. The victory moved Vettel ahead of Alain Prost in all-time career Formula One victories and would be his last win for over a year until the 2019 Singapore Grand Prix.

Report

Background After going into administration during the weekend, Force India arrived in Belgium under new ownership. A consortium led by Lawrence Stroll purchased the racing assets and operations of Force India through a company named Racing Point UK Ltd. 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 as Racing Point Force India to apply for a late entry and start their participation in the championship in Belgium.

Championship standings before the race Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton entered the round with a 24-point lead over Sebastian Vettel in the Drivers' Championship. In the World Constructors' Championship, Mercedes led Ferrari by 10 points.

Practice McLaren reserve driver Lando Norris made his first appearance at a Grand Prix weekend, replacing Fernando Alonso during the first practice session.

Race The race was won by Scuderia Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel ahead of Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen. With the win Vettel took his 52nd and overtook Alain Prost for third in the ranking of drivers with the most Formula One wins. 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 the halo.

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 of Esteban Ocon and Sergio Pérez, and they were four abreast in the braking zone, with Vettel staying ahead. Hamilton was not able to challenge Vettel again.

Classification Qualifying DriverConstructorQ1Q2Q3 1 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:42.977 1:41.553 1:58.179 1 2 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:43.035 1:41.501 1:58.905 2 3 31 Esteban Ocon Racing Point Force India-Mercedes 1:44.003 1:43.302 2:01.851 3 4 11 Sergio Pérez Racing Point Force India-Mercedes 1:44.004 1:43.014 2:01.894 4 5 8 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 1:43.597 1:43.042 2:02.122 5 6 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:42.585 1:41.533 2:02.671 6 7 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer 1:43.199 1:42.554 2:02.769 7 8 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer 1:43.604 1:43.126 2:02.939 8 9 20 Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 1:43.834 1:43.320 2:04.933 9 10 77 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:42.805 1:42.191 No time 17 11 10 Pierre Gasly 1:44.221 1:43.844 10 12 28 Brendon Hartley Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda 1:44.153 1:43.865 11 13 16 Charles Leclerc Sauber-Ferrari 1:43.654 1:44.062 12 14 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 1:43.846 1:44.301 13 15 27 Nico Hülkenberg Renault 1:44.145 No time 18 16 55 Carlos Sainz Jr. Renault 1:44.489 19 17 14 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Renault 1:44.917 14 18 35 Sergey Sirotkin Williams-Mercedes 1:44.998 15 19 18 Lance Stroll Williams-Mercedes 1:45.134 16 20 2 McLaren-Renault 1:45.307 20 107% time: 1:49.765 Source: Notes

– Valtteri Bottas, Nico Hülkenberg, Carlos Sainz Jr. and Stoffel Vandoorne all were sent to the back of the grid for exceeding their quota of power unit elements.

Race DriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints1 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 44 1:23:34.476 2252 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 44 +11.061 1183 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer 44 +31.372 7154 77 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 44 +1:08.605 17 125 11 Sergio Pérez Racing Point Force India-Mercedes 44 +1:11.023 4 106 31 Esteban Ocon Racing Point Force India-Mercedes 44 +1:19.520 3 87 8 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 44 +1:25.953 5 68 20 Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 44 +1:27.639 9 49 10 Pierre Gasly 44 +1:45.892 10 210 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 43 +1 lap 13 111 55 Carlos Sainz Jr. Renault 43 +1 lap 1912 35 Sergey Sirotkin Williams-Mercedes 43 +1 lap 1513 18 Lance Stroll Williams-Mercedes 43 +1 lap 1614 28 Brendon Hartley Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda 43 +1 lap 1115 2 McLaren-Renault 43 +1 lap 20 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer 31 8 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 9 6 16 Charles Leclerc Sauber-Ferrari 0 Collision 12 14 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Renault 0 Collision 14 27 Nico Hülkenberg Renault 0 Collision 18Source: Notes  – Valtteri Bottas received a 5-second time penalty for causing a collision with Sergey Sirotkin.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Driver Points 1 Lewis Hamilton 231 2 Sebastian Vettel 214 3 Kimi Räikkönen 146 4 Valtteri Bottas 144 1 5 Max Verstappen 120Source:

Constructors' Championship standings Constructor Points 1 Mercedes 375 2 Ferrari 360 3 Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer 238 4 Renault 82 5 Haas-Ferrari 76Source:

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

See also 2018 Spa-Francorchamps Formula 2 round 2018 Spa-Francorchamps GP3 Series round

Notes

References