2018 South African GP : Drivers of the Day

The South African Grand Prix delivered a classic with the race win being contested by four drivers from four different teams and undecided until the final laps, but who of the 22 drivers were supreme in South Africa?

5. Kevin Magnussen

A superb lap in qualifying awarded Magnussen his 8th career pole position by just over a tenth of a second from Sebastian Vettel and will surely have the frontrunning teams worried for the rest of the season with FJR having accelerated car development from running an 18 chassis. His opening stint was a struggle as he was jumped by Vettel at the start and was lucky to survive a high speed off at Sunset, but once he made his first pitstop, he settled into a nice rhythm and finished less than 12 seconds behind the race winner despite his race set-up being what FJR team boss James Brickles described as a “qualifying lean.”

4. Alessandro Farina

Hot off the back of his maiden win, Farina looked good for the race as he qualified 4th and was fastest in Sunday Warm-up, but his race ended up being more complicated than expected. He made light work of both FJR drivers in the opening stint and was catching up to Vettel, but he got badly stuck in traffic after his first pitstop and fell to over eight seconds behind and lost a place to Vaino Kimminen. Both Farina and Kimminen caught back up to Vettel before the final stop, and pitting one lap later allowed Farina to get the jump on his Finnish rival and the win looked to be his, but pressure from Kimminen forced Farina into a mistake at Barbeque and down to 2nd come the race’s end.

3. Fernando Alonso

After a conservative tyre choice at Melbourne affected his pace, Alonso got his wish for a softer compound at Kyalami, but it didn’t help him at the start as he was jumped by Kimminen for 5th. He caught Catharina Caracciola napping exiting Continental to move back up to 5th and jumped the other FJR at the first round of pitstops. His pace during the third stint was excellent as he closed up to less than three seconds on the race leader, but wasn’t able to jump the top three in the final pitstops aside from Vettel’s breakdown. He then settled for 3rd behind Kimminen and Farina, but nevertheless, another solid drive for his first podium of the season.

2. Vaino Kimminen

Patience and intelligence must’ve been the motivational words for Kimminen as he qualified down in 6th, and with overtaking proving to be very difficult, he had to time his moves right. He got the jump on Alonso at the start and moved ahead of Caracciola on the second lap with a brave overtake on the left exiting Mineshaft straight, and then a nicely timed first pitstop jumped him up to 2nd ahead of Farina as the Italian got stuck in traffic. His attempt to undercut Vettel at the final round of stops backfired as he was jumped by Farina, but he was able to pressure the Italian into a mistake to move back into the lead and ultimately, win the race.

1. Sebastian Vettel

It was a close call, but Vettel just edges the Driver of the Day over Kimminen by virtue of Andrew Racing appearing to have the third, possibly fourth quickest car in race trim compared to Tornado, Gojira, and Shake ‘n’ Bake, yet the race win was still on. A perfect start moved him into the lead ahead of Magnussen and clear track after his first pitstop allowed him to build a buffer of around eight seconds, but as the second and third stints developed, his lead gradually disappeared. He played the traffic extremely well to remain in the lead, but on the lap before he was due in the pits, another suspension failure cruelly denied him the opportunity to take his first win for Andrew Racing. Could he have remained in the lead? Based on Kimminen briefly losing track position to Farina, he probably would’ve kept the lead and maybe stay there until the end, but it wasn’t to be for the double world champion.