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The 2018 F1 season was an exciting one even though the race for the driver's championship became a tad one-sided as Lewis Hamilton ran away with the title, becoming a five-time Formula 1 champion.
Hamilton's incredible pace and consistency helped him win the driver's title comfortably over archrival, Sebastian Vettel. The Mercedes team developed a quick car for the British racer and a reliable one, too, which helped Hamilton to 11 victories in the season.
Since 2015, Formula 1 have awarded teams with the fastest pit stop award at the end of the Grand Prix for teams which perform the quickest pit stop. Teams also get points for the fastest pit stop in each race, just like in the driver's and constructor's championship - 25 points for first place, 18 for second place, 15 for third place, with the 10th placed quickest pit stop awarded 1 point.
In this year's fastest pit stop category, Red Bull accumulated the most points (466), while Ferrari and Mercedes finished second and third (403 points and 354 points) - the top three teams in the constructor's championship, highlighting the importance of a fast stop.
Let's take a look at the 5 quickest pit stops of the 2018 season:
#5 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) - Australian Grand Prix - 2.15 seconds
At the first Grand Prix of the season at Albert Park in Melbourne, Australia, Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel took the win after starting the race in third position.
Max Verstappen had a thrilling race after qualifying in fourth position. The Belgian tangled with Magnussen which pushed him to eight in the early stages of the race, but a few quick laps and a fast pit stop of just 2.15 seconds in the 21st lap helped Verstappen get up a few places, finishing in 6th, just a second behind 5th-placed Fernando Alonso.
#5 Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) - Chinese Grand Prix - 2.15 seconds
The Ferraris dominated qualifying at the third round of the 2018 Formula 1 Championship in China as Vettel and Raikkonen locked down the first two spots on the grid followed by Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas in third.
But it didn't go in the Ferrari team's favour in the race as a collision with Verstappen put Vettel lower down in the grid, which enabled Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo to take advantage, while Bottas was aided by a quick 2.15 second stop by the Mercedes team in the 19th lap to get ahead of fellow countryman Raikkonen, finishing the race in second.
#5 Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) - Mexican Grand Prix - 2.15 seconds
In Mexico, Hamilton needed to finish in the top 8 to secure the driver's title and the British racer did so with ease, finishing the race in 4th, while his championship rival Sebastian Vettel, finished in second place.
Vettel pitted twice in the race, the second pit stop, in the 47th lap took just 2.15 seconds for the Ferrari team to change all four tires on the four-time German champ's car.
#4 Sergey Sirotkin (Williams) - Hungarian Grand Prix - 2.10 seconds
Russian rookie Sergey Sirotkin finished the season at the bottom of the driver's championship with just 1 point from 20 races. The Williams driver does not have a race seat for next year as Williams have confirmed George Russell and Robert Kubica as their two drivers for next year.
Sirotkin had a season to forget as he finished in the top 10 in just one race, at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza.
At the Hungarian Grand Prix, Sirotkin qualified last, five places behind team-mate Lance Stroll. The Russian made one pit stop at the Hungaroring in the 12th round of the 2018 Formula 1 Championship, as the Williams team completed the pit stop in an incredibly quick 2.10 seconds, the fourth fastest pit stop time in the 2018 F1 season.
Sirotkin finished the race in 16th, in a race which was won by Lewis Hamilton.
#3 Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) - German Grand Prix - 2.09 seconds
Many F1 pundits believe that the 2018 F1 Championship was lost by Sebastian Vettel at his home Grand Prix at Hockenheimring in the 11th round of the 2018 F1 Championship.
After dominating qualifying and topping the timesheets, the German was in firm control in the race, but rain during the race put Vettel into the wall, which forced him to retire when he was in the lead of the race.
The only pit stop that Vettel made in the race was in the 25th lap, which ended up being the third fastest pit stop of the season at 2.09 seconds, helping Vettel extend his lead.
Just 15 laps from the finish, Vettel crashed into the wall, which resulted in a Safety Car. Hamilton capitalised on the situation, taking the lead and winning his fourth race of the season up until that point.
#2 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) - Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - 2.08 seconds
The final race of the 2018 season in Abu Dhabi was a dead rubber as Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes had wrapped up the driver's and constructor's championship.
In Abu Dhabi, Max Verstappen, who had qualified in sixth in the race, was pushed down to tenth, before he started his charge up to the top of the grid once again. The Belgian pitted in the 17th lap for his only pit stop of the race, where the Red Bull team delivered the second fastest pit stop time of the season at 2.08 seconds.
After changing to the supersoft tires, Verstappen charged up the field once again, finally overtaking Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas to finish the race in third position.
Red Bull finished the season third in the constructor's standings, but won the inconsequential DHL Fastest Pit Stop award with 466 points, as Ferrari and Mercedes finished second and third (403 and 354 points, respectively)
#1 Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) - Brazilian Grand Prix - 1.97 seconds
At the penultimate Grand Prix of the 2018 F1 season in Brazil, the Constructor's championship was on the line as Mercedes and Ferrari battled it out for the team title.
Lewis Hamilton, once again, started on pole, followed by rival Sebastian Vettel. Hamilton rain into engine issues which resulted in Max Verstappen taking the lead of the Grand Prix, but a collision with backmarker Esteban Ocon resulted in the Belgian spinning and giving the race lead back to Hamilton, who won the race.
Vettel was also facing issues with his car, and a poor tyre strategy. The German's Ferrari team changed all four tires in a mind-boggling 1.97 seconds, the fastest pit top of the 2018 season.
But, Vettel's stop isn't the fastest stop of all-time in F1. That record is held by Williams and Felipe Massa, completing the pit stop in just 1.92 seconds, at the Baku City Circuit in 2016.
