@ValtteriBottas cruises to dominant @ausgrandprix victory. #F1 #AusGP

Valtteri Bottas produced a flawless drive to take a crushing Australian Grand Prix victory and passed Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton to clinch his first victory since the 2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix finale.

 

 

Hamilton outpaced Bottas in qualifying but his advantage slipped almost immediately after a slow run off the line.

 

The reigning champion was able to resist pressure from Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to complete a Silver Arrows one-two, whilst Verstappen rounded out the podium to give Honda it’s first since 2008 British Grand Prix in it’s first race with Red Bull while Ferrari ended up fourth and fifth.

 

Bottas got off to a great start, out-dragging Hamilton into the first corner, enjoying a trouble-free Grand Prix, aided by Mercedes reacting to Vettel’s early pitstop and switching Hamilton to an inferior strategy.

 

Vettel was the first of the front runners to stop on lap 14, with Hamilton pitting a lap later to cover the Scuderia’s fresh tyre advantage.

 

Neither could lap as quick on newer medium rubber compared to Bottas on old softs, which allowed Bottas, Verstappen and Charles Leclerc to stay out longer.

 

Bottas pitted on lap 23 and continued uninterrupted for the remainder of the race, hammering his opponents by 20.886 seconds.

 

The Finn’s gap was complimented slightly by Hamilton having to nurse his medium compounds right to the end to come home second, but the five-time World Champion managed to see off Vettel during the midpoint of the race.

 

Hamilton then kept a small gap to Verstappen once the flying Dutchman flew by Vettel with ease around the outside into turn three.

 

Verstappen continued to push the Mercedes hard, keeping 1.5 seconds behind the Briton for almost the entirety of the second half of the race, before taking a trip into the grass after running wide at turn one.

 

The Dutchman fell back but continued to charge and posted the fastest lap of the race in the closing stages but was unable to get by Hamilton.

 

Bottas stole the fastest lap from Verstappen and the first bonus point of the season to take his points haul to 26.

 

Ferrari’s promising pre-season pace translated into a fourth and fifth place on the streets of Albert Park as Vettel continued to fall back from the top three, only finishing ahead of team-mate Leclerc.

 

Vettel ended the race 50 seconds by race winner Bottas, with Leclerc – who took an excursion across the gravel into turn one in the earlier stages of the Grand Prix – finishing fifth after appearing to back off once he caught team-mate Vettel.

 

Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen came home best of the rest in sixth place and ahead of Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg who was seventh.

 

Kimi Raikkonen crossed the line in eighth place on debut for Alfa Romeo and in-front of Racing Point’s Lance Stroll who took ninth – his first points for the Silverstone squad, and Daniil Kvyat rounded out the top ten for Toro Rosso in his comeback drive for the Faenza-outfit.

 

The other Red Bull of Pierre Gasly finished closely behind the Toro Rosso in 11^th place. The Frenchman started a lowly 17^th after a blunder in qualifying and emerged from his pit-stop ahead of Kvyat, only to be passed by the Russian on the rundown to turn three.

 

Qualifying star Lando Norris was unable to score points on debut for McLaren but finished as the top rookie in the field, taking 12^th place. The young Brit managed to keep Racing Point’s Sergio Perez and Toro Rosso’s Alexander Albon at bay.

 

There were three retirements in the Australian Grand Prix, with Carlos Sainz the first casualty of 2019 with his Renault-powered McLaren burning up in flames.

 

Home hero Daniel Ricciardo on his debut for Renault was next to retire, taking a precautionary measure after breaking his front wing after running onto the grass heading into turn one.

 

The other Haas of Romain Grosjean stopped his VF-19 racer on track after running in the points earlier on before dropping out of the top ten due to a slow pitstop. The onboard camera showed his front-left wheel had come loose – which has been a problem during his stop.

 

The other Alfa Romeo Racing C38 of Antonio Giovinazzi, whose very long run in his opening stint, held up early and played a major role in settling the final points finishers.

 

The two ROKit Williams Racing FW42’s of George Russell and Robert Kubica finished at the rear with the latter losing his front wing on Gasly at turn one and remained a distant last for most of the race after being passed by Ricciardo.

 

The Top Three Reactions

 

 

1^st: Valtteri Bottas – Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport: “I don’t know what just happened… I don’t know what to say! It was definitely my best race ever. I felt so good and the car was so good.”

 

2^nd: Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport: “It’s a good weekend for the team,” says Hamilton. “Valtteri drove an incredible race today so he deserved it.”

 

3^rd: Max Verstappen – Aston Martin Red Bull Racing-Honda: “I am very happy for the Team and also for Honda to finish on the podium today. Since we started working together it has been amazing and I am really enjoying the partnership, so this is a well-deserved third place for all of us.

 

Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix 2019 Race Results Classification

POS	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS	GAP
1	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport	58	1h25m27.325s
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport	58	20.886s
3	Max Verstappen	Aston Martin Red Bull Racing-Honda	58	22.520s
4	Sebastian Vettel	Scuderia Ferrari	58	57.109s
5	Charles Leclerc	Scuderia Ferrari	58	58.230s
6	Kevin Magnussen	Rich Energy Haas F1 Team	58	1m27.156s
7	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault F1 Team	57	1 Lap
8	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo Racing	57	1 Lap
9	Lance Stroll	SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team	57	1 Lap
10	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull Toro Rosso-Honda	57	1 Lap
11	Pierre Gasly	Aston Martin Red Bull Racing-Honda	57	1 Lap
12	Lando Norris	McLaren-Renault F1 Team	57	1 Lap
13	Sergio Perez	SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team	57	1 Lap
14	Alexander Albon	Red Bull Toro Rosso-Honda	57	1 Lap
15	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing	57	1 Lap
16	George Russell	ROKiT Williams Racing	56	2 Laps
17	Robert Kubica	ROKiT Williams Racing	55	3 Laps
–	Romain Grosjean	Rich Energy Haas F1 Team	29	Suspension
–	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault F1 Team	28	Retirement
–	Carlos Sainz	McLaren-Renault F1 Team	9	Power Unit

 

Formula 1 2019 World Driver’s Championship Standings – Top 10

1. Valtteri Bottas – 26 Points.
2. Lewis Hamilton – 18 Points.
3. Max Verstappen – 15 Points.
4. Sebastian Vettel – 12 Points.
5. Charles Leclerc – 10 Points.
6. Kevin Magnussen – 8 Points.
7. Nico Hulkenberg – 6 Points.
8. Kimi Raikkonen – 4 Points.
9. Lance Stroll – 2 Points.
10. Daniil Kvyat 1 Point.

Formula 1 2019 World Constructors Championship Standings

1. Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport – 44 Points.
2. Scuderia Ferrari – 22 Points.
3. Aston Martin Red Bull Racing-Honda – 15 Points.
4. Rich Energy Haas F1 Team – 8 Points.
5. Renault F1 Team – 6 Points.
6. Alfa Romeo Racing – 4 Points.
7. SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team – 2 Points.
8. Red Bull Toro Rosso-Honda – 1 Point.
9. McLaren-Renault F1 Team – 0 Points.
10. ROKiT Williams Racing – 0 Points.

 

Round two of the 2019 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the Sakhir International Circuit in Bahrain for the Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2019 from Friday March 29- Sunday March 31.