Formula 1: 2018 Heineken Chinese Grand Prix results – Daniel Ricciardo wins
By Asher Fair
Daniel Ricciardo won an eventful Heineken Chinese Grand Prix to give Red Bull Racing their first victory of the 2018 Formula 1 season.
Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo barely made it out in time for qualifying yesterday for the Heineken Chinese Grand Prix, the third race of the 2018 Formula 1 season, at the 16-turn, 5.451-kilometer (3.388-mile) Shanghai International Circuit in Jiading, Shanghai, China.
However, he ended up doing so, and he went on to qualify in 6th place behind the two Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport drivers, the two Scuderia Ferrari drivers and his teammate Max Verstappen.
Given the fact that Ricciardo came into the race with five career Formula 1 victories and started in 4th place or lower in each of the five races he won, this 6th place position boded somewhat well for him coming into the race.
More from Formula One
- Formula 1: Top Red Bull threat identified for 2024
- Formula 1: Why the Max Verstappen retirement obsession?
- Formula 1: Williams ‘mistake’ hints Logan Sargeant’s future
- Formula 1 awaiting key confirmation for 2024 season
- Formula 1: The ‘championship’ Max Verstappen only leads by 3 points
After a race that featured three lead changes among four different leaders, Ricciardo ended up claiming his and Red Bull Racing’s first victory of the 2018 season. The win was the sixth of his Formula 1 career.
Ricciardo and his teammate Max Verstappen, whose incidents with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel ruined his race, with the latter incident resulting in him being given a 10-second time penalty, took the gamble to pit for new tires as soon as the safety car came out following contact between the Scuderia Toro Rosso teammates of Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley. Those new tires allowed both drivers to have the fastest cars for the last several laps of the race, with Ricciardo capitalizing and taking the win.
Polesitter Sebastian Vettel led the first 20 laps of the 56-lap race, with his teammate Kimi Raikkonen leading the next six laps before Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas led the next 18 laps. After that, Daniel Ricciardo took the lead and led the race’s final 12 laps en route to an 8.894-second victory over Bottas.
Here are the full race results of the 2018 Heineken Grand Prix from Shanghai International Circuit
| Rank | Driver | Car, Team, Engine |
| 1 | Daniel Ricciardo | #3, Aston Martin Red Bull Racing, Renault |
| 2 | Valtteri Bottas | #77, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, Mercedes |
| 3 | Kimi Raikkonen | #7, Scuderia Ferrari, Ferrari |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | #44, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, Mercedes |
| 5 | Max Verstappen | #33, Aston Martin Red Bull Racing, Renault |
| 6 | Nico Hulkenberg | #27, Renault Sport, Renault |
| 7 | Fernando Alonso | #14, McLaren, Renault |
| 8 | Sebastian Vettel | #5, Scuderia Ferrari, Ferrari |
| 9 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | #55, Renault Sport, Renault |
| 10 | Kevin Magnussen | #20, Haas, Ferrari |
| 11 | Esteban Ocon | #31, Sahara Force India, Mercedes |
| 12 | Sergio Perez | #11, Sahara Force India, Mercedes |
| 13 | Stoffel Vandoorne | #2, McLaren, Renault |
| 14 | Lance Stroll | #18, Williams Martini Racing, Mercedes |
| 15 | Sergey Sirotkin | #35, Williams Martini Racing, Mercedes |
| 16 | Marcus Ericsson | #9, Alfa Romeo Sauber, Ferrari |
| 17 | Romain Grosjean | #8, Haas, Ferrari |
| 18 | Pierre Gasly | #10, Scuderia Toro Rosso, Honda |
| 19 | Charles Leclerc | #16, Alfa Romeo Sauber, Ferrari |
| 20 | Brendon Hartley | #28, Scuderia Toro Rosso, Honda |
Next: Top 10 most unbreakable records across Formula One, NASCAR and IndyCar
Formula 1 drivers and teams have next week off before returning to action in the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix at Baku City Circuit in Bakı, Azerbaijan on Sunday, April 29th. Be sure to watch the live broadcast of the race on that date on ESPN2 starting at 8:10 am ET.