image courtesy of Ferrari F1 Team – Photogallery – Bahrain Grand Prix 2019
Sebastian Vettel topped the FP2 timesheets under the Bahrain lights, leading his Scuderia teammate Charles Leclerc by less than a tenth of a second. Mercedes found themselves six tenths away, while Renault impressed, Red Bull held back and Williams showed signs of improvement.
After the smokescreen of disappointment Ferrari waded through in Melbourne, the evening rays of Bahrain gave light to a much better scenario for them – almost a second separated them from the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas, the man who had his hands on the trophy they so expected to collect.
They topped the initial runs during FP1, with the new boy Charles Leclerc leading his established teammate Sebastian Vettel by +0.407. The Toro Rosso duo of Daniil Kvyat, development driver for the Scuderia a year ago, and Alexander Albon were able to show their pace, giving hope a similar result to Pierre Gasly’s miracle 4th place last year may not be so far away.
Kimi Raikkonen was the first of a handful of drivers to be caught out at Turn 2 on cold tyres, losing grip and entering the dreaded pirouette while trying to plant the power needed for the straight ahead. When he was able to get in a lap, Kimi found himself only three tenths away from the ‘best of the rest’ before steadily dropping down the times as the other midfield teams got up to speed.
Pierre Gasly’s nightmare Australian GP weekend is behind him, but FP2 suggested he still has a way to go before the RB15 package is dialled up to his liking. He was 7 tenths away from Max Verstappen, who found himself bested by the Renault. Red Bull’s pace could prove to be misleading come Saturday but there is certainly still work to do.
Renault put out a real warning to the other teams challenging for 4th, challenging Haas with impressive single timed laps and longer runs. Nico Hulkenberg found himself leading Daniel Ricciardo by 1.2 seconds for most of the session, getting within two tenths of Bottas and further demonstrating the ever-shortening gap between the top teams and challengers in F1 2019.
The Williams, while still slowest, did look to have made improvements compared to their sobering experience in Albert Park, George Russell able to get within just a tenth of Giovinazzi on a 1:31:904. Robert Kubica continued to lag behind his teammate, to the tune of a second, but was not using DRS during his laps for an unknown reason.
Vettel would go on to get ahead of his Monegasque teammate, before following his old teammate Raikkonen’s lead in spinning at Turn 2, overloading the rear tyres but able to continue. Ferrari’s ominous Friday pace serves as a stark warning to the Mercedes team, and Toto Wolff’s nervousness about their predicament, so often mocked by the paddock and fans, could well prove to be genuine.
If I may initiate this piece with a song reference, honours are bestowed to this one, plucked straight from Eminem’s six-barrel lyrical blitz ‘Lose Yourself’. ‘Yo! His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy’. It speaks of one being pelted at from all corners by the tribulations of life, while maintaining an outward show of calmness. What better example, then, than a fallen sportsman.
At one point or another during 2018, Valtteri Bottas may have stared into the abyss of his bathroom mirror, opened out his fingers and checked for any trickling beads of moisture. He may have felt out the strength of his joints with reflex tests. He may even have found his arms screaming out for contact with the ground, as though the distress of his on-track results were taking on a physical form.
2018 was Valtteri’s annus horribilis. What started out as a championship fluttering around the reach of his grasp, derailed and morphed into a warped nightmare. His trademark stoicism was being sapped away with each botched race weekend, and the Finn even admitted the tyre blowout which denied him a crucial victory in Baku left him ‘crying like a baby’.
2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Saturday – Wolfgang Wilhelm
I like to think of this as his Mika Hakkinen moment, and not just for his and Hakkinen’s shared nationality. Harking back to 1999, the king of flying Finns faced his own emotional nadir – after spinning out of the lead in Monza, Hakkinen both blew ten points into the wind and folded under the mind games of the Scuderia’s tifosi. Away from their taunts, he wept under the trees lining the track.
If you’re familiar with the tale of F1 1999, you’ll know that Hakkinen’s mistake did not cost him the championship. He admits that while the pain of never winning an Italian GP still rests in his mind, he was never going to be desolate under the trees for long. Bottas’ tears in Baku dried much the same, but his internal hurting lasted for the season and brought into question just whether he was able to channel that same energy Hakkinen generated for himself.
So, with the winter months behind him, Bottas likely came into Melbourne praying a new chapter would be penned, rather than a grim continuation of what had gone before. Not that he outwardly seemed it – there was now a surprising arrow to his bow: bite. Armed with a gruff beard and a sharp tongue, the champions’ element of disdain with the circus of whispers around them were acquired by Bottas like a platformers’ item box.
Throughout the weekend, Albert Park’s white lines could have buckled under the strain of confining Bottas, the Finn busy proving to the globe that he does have the winner’s uncompromising instinct, as a matter of fact. Even when high Mercedes brass suggested over the radio that he place the shackles back on and resist the push for fastest lap, they were welcomed with the unexpected hand grenade – no. Not this time.
2019 Australian Grand Prix, Sunday – Wolfgang Wilhelm
Albert Park’s indoor parking spot welcomed its winner first, as is usual. A silver front nose told a story we’d seen many a time over the hybrid era, but this time a white and red helmet didn’t complete the set. It was white, blue and carbon. And to whom that may concern, the man underneath it has words for you. Unsavoury ones. The Hakkinen moment and the understated power of his sisu mindset gave this race’s victor the second wind that could quell media scaremongers and seat poachers alike over the season.
With Australia 2019 now stored in the archives, we can admit there were outside factors that helped Bottas’ day of days. Lewis Hamilton was at the helm of a wounded machine, but even so, with a start so fierce and race management on-point, it’s hard to see past a Finn win. To me, at least, it wasn’t the margin of victory that tells the story here. It’s the way it all unfolded.
Bottas wasn’t holding on for dear life, protecting his right to be part of the elite like Russia, his first win. No murmurs over his conduct, as there were in Austria. Even his Abu Dhabi triumph, under the circumstances of a dead-rubber season’s end. No, this was the breakthrough. His palms were dry like the sahara. His knees were manning the sweet orchestra in the footwell, and his arms were weighted with the delicacy of porcelain. He was no longer wrestling with the tears, nor his rhythm behind the wheel.
Will it last? We wait to see, but the strength he has acquired can last for the rest of his career. This second wind truly feels like it could be season long, if the gods of racing roll the dice of fate favourably. And so he now ventures off to Bahrain, with a thirst for vengeance. For what feels like the longest time, I won’t be concerned for him when he gets there.
After an impressive start to the 2019 season in Australia, the Formula One bandwagon arrives in Bahrain for round two of the championship under the lights in the desert.
The 5.4 kilometre circuit welcomes the sport for what should hopefully be another exciting and closely contested race – a race that was won last season by Sebastian Vettel, narrowly beating Valtteri Bottas to the line.
Ferrari Media
This, however, looks a much different Bottas. He had ample opportunity to make a move and pass Vettel last year, but appeared passive and Vettel clung onto his lead. The ruthlessness that we have since seen from the Finn, and the impressive and dominant performance last time out in Australia leads to a firm belief that, given the chance again this year, he would not need a second invitation to take the victory.
Typically, however, this has been Ferrari’s track. The increased temperatures and powerful nature of the circuit has been taken advantage of by Vettel’s prancing horse in each of the last two races in Sakhir. But their start in Melbourne has left a decided uncertainty as to whether the story will be the same this year.
Mark Thompson, Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
Honda-powered Red Bull look like they’re going to be pushing Ferrari to their limit this year, and may even have the odd advantage over Mercedes at certain tracks. The champions themselves looked remarkably quick in Australia having far from shown their hand in testing, while Ferrari head into Bahrain scratching their heads as to why they were so far off the pace last time having looked on top of the world in Barcelona in February.
Of course, Australia is a unique track and certainly differs from Bahrain in terms of track evolution and the flow of the tracks, which is what makes this race equally as anticipated and leaves us itching to find out whether Ferrari are really as slow as we were perhaps made to ascertain in Australia, whether Bottas will make a charge for his team mate Lewis Hamilton’s throne this year, and whether Red Bull’s Honda partnership really is something to be excited about.
Renault F1 Team
Further down the field, Racing Point and Renault will both be hoping they can improve on disappointing weekends last time out, as Toro Rosso look to capitalise on a mostly positive weekend with Daniil Kvyat and Alex Albon. McLaren seek their first points of the season following Carlos Sainz’s fiery exit in round one and Lando Norris’ unlucky non-points finish after a stupendous qualifying on his debut, while Alfa Romeo try to extend their impressive push forward after a confusing, mixed weekend in Melbourne. Williams look to Robert Kubica and George Russell for inspiration as they attempt to move closer to the midfield battle following an atrocious start to the year that saw them back of the pack in Australia.
While we would love for this to be all about the racing, unfortunately it can’t be. For the first time in over 40 years, F1 travels to a Grand Prix without race director Charlie Whiting. The word “legend” gets used too often in the sporting world now, but it’s a word that fits him perfectly. He made every effort to make the racing as entertaining as possible, and played a massive part in cars being as safe as they are now. He understood the sport from every perspective, and was respected both as a race director, but also as a fantastic human being in the paddock, and it is sad to head into a race without him. The way the atmosphere changed in F1 from the excitement on Wednesday, when he was walking the track and talking to Sebastian Vettel, to the sorrow on Thursday when the news broke that he had passed overnight, speaks volumes about just how much he meant to the sport and the fans all around the world. He was more than just a mechanic, or the man who kept the drivers in check, or the man who pressed that button to start the race—he was an icon. He will be sorely missed.
However, Charlie would want the show to go on, and F1 will make sure it does in the 19th Bahrain Grand Prix and the 999th F1 championship race—we’re nearly at 1000 folks!
Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto says Ferrari issued team orders to Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc to avoid taking ‘any risks’ in the closing stages of the Australian Grand Prix.
Ferrari Media
Despite many labelling the Scuderia the favourites going into the season based on their form in testing, Ferrari struggled around the streets of Albert Park.
“Right from Friday, we didn’t feel comfortable at this track,” Binotto said. “Even though we did a lot of work on set-up, we didn’t find the right balance and even our qualifying performance demonstrated that we were struggling to adapt to the Albert Park track.”
After Vettel made a pitstop to switch onto the medium tyres, he failed to get enough grip out of them and was passed by Max Verstappen. When Leclerc then started gaining on Vettel using newly fitted hard tyres with ten laps to go, he asked the team whether he should stay behind.
“Yes, and back off to have some margin,” came the reply. Leclerc obeyed and the pair trailed home fourth and fifth, nearly a minute behind race winner Valtteri Bottas.
Ferrari Media
It was made clear in pre-season testing that Ferrari had the intentions of prioritising Vettel over Leclerc in an attempt to boost the former’s hopes in the title race. In Australia, though, it was a matter of not jeopardising either of their drivers’ results, despite the thirty second gap to Kevin Magnussen in the Haas behind.
Speaking of the decision, Binotto said, “When [Vettel] could no longer fend off Verstappen, we decided the most important thing was to get to the end, managing the tyres. When Charles caught up to him, it seemed wise not to take any risks.
“We leave Australia with a lot of data to analyse and we will use that to work out how to get back to our actual level of competitiveness for the race in Bahrain in two weeks time.”
After a long winter break, Formula One finally returned to Down Under for the Australian GP.
Qualifying made clear that the testing results from Barcelona weren’t very representative. Gasly didn’t make it through to Q2, as Red Bull thought his first run was good enough. A big surprise for McLaren was the eighth place for rookie Lando Norris, showing that McLaren are ready for points again.
In front it was the big question if Ferrari and Red Bull indeed closened the gap to Mercedes. After three Free Practice sessions it still wasn’t clear, but the third qualifying session did clear things up. Mercedes are still the ones to beat, Ferrari are behind them and Red Bull are still third, although Max Verstappen (P4) qualified in front of new Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc (P5). Lewis Hamilton took pole by a sensational 0.7s to rival Vettel (P3), with Bottas close behind him.
A dramatic start for the local hero Daniel Ricciardo, who lost his front wing after a good start trying to overtake but had to go onto the grass were there was a small bump.
In front it was Bottas who took the lead from Hamilton and immediately created a gap. Charles Leclerc tried to overtake on the outside through turn 1, but had to be cautious with his teammate in front.
Pierre Gasly tried to make his way through the field, which wasn’t an easy task at this circuit as he struggled to get past the Toro Rosso of Daniil Kvyat.
In lap nine Leclerc made a small mistake into turn 1, going through the gravel and losing three seconds to Verstappen ahead. One lap later one of the Renault engines failed, causing the McLaren of Carlos Sainz to catch fire.
The first regular pit stop of the race was for Kimi Räikkönen in lap thirteen, opting for the mediums. Next lap Nico Hülkenberg pitted for the hard tyre, so already there were different strategies.
Vettel went to the mediums as well in lap fifteen. Meanwhile Netflix documentary F1: Drive to Survive rivals Magnussen and Hülkenberg were battling each other heavily on track out of the pits.
Another pit stop drama for Haas as the front left tyre of Grosjean didn’t go on quickly, costing him a few seconds.
In the midfield Norris tried to get past Alfa Romeo rookie Antonio Giovinazzi, showing that the new aero regulations made for closer racing. The Giovinazzi train grew bigger with Grosjean, Albon and Perez joining the battle. In lap twenty-six Norris finally passed the Italian, who was defending his place like his life depended on it.
Twenty-nine laps in and Leclerc finally made his first pit stop, going for the hard tyre which seemed like a strange decision.
Local hero Ricciardo had to retire the car in lap 31. At the same moment it was Grosjean parked his car behind the barriers, the bad pit stop seemingly the cause of the retirement.
An overtake attempt by Kvyat on Perez ended up in the gravel trap, but he could go on. Gasly immediatly pitted, but couldn’t get past the Russian.
With fifteen laps to go Vettel was really struggling for pace in P4, asking his team: “Why are we so slow?”
After fifty-eight laps it was Valtteri Bottas who took the first win of 2019 (and his first since Abu Dhabi 2017), outclassing his teammate Hamilton. Verstappen should be happy about his third place, and Hamilton should be worried about second due to the twenty-two second gap to his teammate.
The biggest worries, however, should be at Ferrari. No real impressive race pace and Leclerc almost out finished
his teammate albeit a gap of over ten seconds before the pit stops.
The first winner of the extra point for fastest lap was Valtteri Bottas, leaving Australia with the full twenty-six points. Next race is Bahrain, will we see a revival of Ferrari or are Red Bull ahead of the reds? We’ll see in two weeks time.
The first round of the 2019 Formula 1 season is complete – here we look at Australian GP driver ratings:
Valtteri Bottas – 9
Sunday was near perfect, with a lightning start allowing him to jump his team mate and from then he just went off into the distance, getting an extra point for fastest lap as well. He wasn’t necessarily the winner we expected from pre-season testing but he was without a doubt the driver of the day.
2019 Australian Grand Prix, Sunday – LAT Images
Lewis Hamilton – 7
Hamilton is well known for having the Saturday pace which generally puts him in good stead for Sunday, but he was beaten fair and square during the race. Still, he’ll take the podium along with the equal record for the most poles at one circuit.
Max Verstappen – 8
Verstappen put in the best performance for Honda in the whole of the hybrid era with his podium finish. He managed his tyres well and made an easy move on Vettel. A mistake at turn one hindered a late attack on Hamilton, but he will leave Melbourne with a smile on his face.
Sebastian Vettel – 7
Vettel had a solid start and was quick in the first stint, attempting to attack with an undercut which ultimately didn’t work. You can guarantee an investigation will be underway at Ferrari to figure out how they ended up 57 seconds behind the winner.
Charles Leclerc – 6
A great start by Leclerc but he was rather ambitious to attempt a move on his team-mate which could have ended in tears. Unlike his team-mate, he was slow in the first half of the race but fast in the second, and caught up to Vettel before being told to hold position. He showed he had speed in Q2 but the Ferrari doesn’t seem to be the package everyone thought.
Ferrari Media
Kevin Magnussen – 8
Magnussen was best of the rest in Australia, with solid pace and what seems to be the fourth quickest car. It was a better result than last year with no faulty pitstops, even if he was outqualified by his team-mate.
Nico Hulkenburg – 7
It was another result in a familiar place for the German. He started 11th so had free choice of tyres, which benefitted him in the race as he got the move on a few other drivers.
Kimi Raikkonen – 8
Raikkonen did exceptionally well considering where the team was last year, with a very aggressive package seeming to suit him well. He got the car into Q3 and kept that momentum going into Sunday.
Lance Stroll – 7
Stroll always raises eyebrows due to how he got into the sport, but in the race he showed he was fully deserving of the seat at Racing Point as he was in the thick of it all weekend. He scored the team’s only point, having some great battles whilst keeping the car clean.
Danil Kvyat – 6
A good return to the sport, ignoring a mistake at turn three. He was ambitious to run the hard tyre and defended well from faster cars behind, taking his car deeper into the race and allowing him to overcut the majority of them for the last point.
Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
Pierre Gasly – 4
Australia will be a race to forget for Gasly. A mistake on Saturday by the team cost him dearly and he spent most of the race staring at Kvyat’s rear wing, unable to get past even on the softest tyre.
Lando Norris – 7
It was a great Saturday from Norris, but an early stop in the race in reaction to others put him in traffic. He was unable to pass Giovinazzi for several laps and just missed out on the points. Expect big things from Norris this season.
Sergio Perez – 5
It was an off-day for the Mexican on Sunday as he was classified down in 13th. He got caught up in the midfield battle which let others overcut him. The car looks great though, so there will be plenty more opportunities for him.
Alex Albon – 6
Despite being the first to spin this season in similar circumstances to his incident in testing, Albon did a good job. He matched Kvyat for outright pace on Saturday but was just caught up in the ever-so-tight midfield squabble. A good Sunday debut.
Antonio Giovinazzi – 5
The returning Italian was a pain for most at Melbourne, stuck on a confusing strategy with his tyres were ruined, and becoming a replacement for the infamous ‘Trulli train’. He showed true grit in terms of defence but not a lot of outright speed, though this is only his third ever race in F1.
George Russell – 6
Russell blitzed his much more experienced team-mate, but that’s not saying much considering Kubica is really the only competition he has due to Williams being so far behind the others. He finished his debut race and hopefully get in the mix, sooner rather than later.
George Russell (GBR) Williams Racing FW42. Australian Grand Prix, Sunday 17th March 2019. Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia.
Robert Kubica – 3
A race to forget and move on from for Kubica. He hit the wall twice on Saturday and then hit Gasly at turn one on the first lap of the race. Williams will have collected some data though, and Kubica will get quicker and quicker throughout the season.
Romain Grosjean – 7
Another pit stop failure resulted in early retirement for the Frenchman, after being on course for a good points haul. A long delay in the pits pushed him down the order, and he then had to stop the car on track due to a ill-fitted left-front tyre.
Daniel Ricciardo – 5
For the first time in Melbourne in the turbo era, Ricciardo failed to get through to Q3 on Saturday, and his race – his first for Renault – was pretty much over in a few seconds when he pushed wide onto the grass and broke his front wing. He decided to retire the car.
Carlos Sainz – 4
Sainz was beaten by his rookie team mate on Saturday comprehensively, and was the first to retire on Sunday. Because of the nature of the track he had been unable to make up much ground prior to the retirement. He is a fighter though, and will be back for Bahrain.
Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton believes that qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix was the first occasion that Mercedes were able to ‘unleash the full potential’ of the W10.
Hamilton led a Mercedes 1-2 in qualifying around the streets of Albert Park, almost a tenth of a second ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas and seven tenths ahead of third-placed Sebastian Vettel.
It was the Brit’s eighth pole position in Australia, equaling Michael Schumacher’s record of the most poles claimed at one circuit.
“I feel so fortunate to be in the position I’m in today,” Hamilton said. “We had no idea that we’d have this gap to the others – we thought we were behind, we thought it was going to be a push, so we gave it absolutely everything and more to arrive here with the best possible package and delivery.”
Mercedes came into the first race of the year with many saying that Ferrari held the advantage over the Silver Arrows based on their form in pre-season testing; Hamilton thus expressed his surprise at the performance of his car in qualifying.
“We haven’t massively changed the car; it’s almost the same set-up we had in Barcelona, so this gap was really surprising to see,” he said. “This is the first time we’ve unleashed the full potential of the car and I’m so happy to have a car that I can fight with. This is a really great start to the new season and it puts us in a good position for the fight tomorrow.”
Daniel Ricciardo says Renault “have to keep a cool head” going into tomorrow’s Australian Grand Prix, despite a difficult qualifying that saw both of the team’s drivers fail to reach Q3.
Ricciardo missed out by the narrowest of margins and will start his home race in P12, just one position behind his team-mate Nico Hulkenberg.
“I’m clearly disappointed not to make Q3,” Ricciardo said, “especially as it was just half a tenth and that’s something I can find in myself – I lost a bit of time in the first sector on the last run. We had the potential to make Q3 so when you don’t do the perfect lap, it’s frustrating.
“As expected the midfield is really close but I’m feeling optimistic for a strong result tomorrow. I always want to do well at home, but we have to keep a cool head, have a good start and then attack when necessary.”
Renault’s Sporting Director Alan Permane added, “We thought [Ricciardo] had another couple of tenths which would have put him safely into the top ten. We therefore have a little bit of work to do tomorrow, but with the good long run pace we demonstrated yesterday, we are aiming to make up for today and get both cars well into the points.”
McLaren rookie Lando Norris says he isn’t ‘going to get carried away’ with himself and with the performance of the car, despite a Q3 appearance on his F1 debut at the Australian Grand Prix.
Norris qualified P8 with a time of 1:22.304, putting him ahead of the likes of Kimi Raikkonen, Nico Hulkenberg and home-favourite Daniel Ricciardo. It is McLaren’s first Q3 appearance since the Monaco Grand Prix of last year.
Speaking of his performance, Norris said, “I loved it but I’m not going to get carried away! I was very nervous at the start of the session with it being my first-ever F1 quali and never having been here before. But I managed to put the laps together today – the team were fantastic.
“Our aim was to get into Q2 but it turned out to be even better, and it’s a great confidence boost for everyone. It’s going to be a long, tough race and that’s what I must concentrate on now.”
Norris’ team-mate Carlos Sainz, by comparison, will start from P18, having been forced to back off when he encountered a puncture-riddled Robert Kubica in Q1.
Formula One is back with a bang, and Albert Park’s two days of running have culminated in a scattergun grid, topped by Lewis Hamilton.image courtesy of Pirelli Motorsports.
The five time World Champion picked up his stellar form from 2018’s end, landing his sixth consecutive pole in Melbourne and, surprisingly, scorching the tipped favourites Ferrari on one lap pace.
The session started with a twist – 1st to 18th were separated by just a second, and when Red Bull newbie Pierre Gasly didn’t show in the final minutes, he surfed down the order to 17th.
Lance Stroll joined him in the Q1 dropzone, as did an unlucky Carlos Sainz, who found his final sector to be compromised by a limping Robert Kubica who had moments ago brushed the wall and picked up a puncture. Kubica and his teammate George Russell endured a nightmare, their Williams over a second away from the nearest car.
Q2 saw many new, and returning, faces still in the hunt. Daniil Kvyat’s impressive return to the frontline ultimately earned him 15th place, while his teammate Alexander Albon placed his Toro Rosso a more than respectable 13th on his first qualifying outing.
The home boy, Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo, didn’t have the session he had hoped for: general consensus was that the Renault is the 4th quickest package, but neither he nor Nico Hulkenberg were able to extract it and line up 11th and 12th, the German getting first blood.
The two extremes of the F1 grid, 19 year old Lando Norris and 39 year old Kimi Raikkonen both stole the show in the midfield, to earn a McLaren and Sauber representation in Q3.
Norris ended the final session in eighth place, marking an admirable U-turn from the dismal form McLaren had the season prior, while Raikkonen achieved a solid 9th. Sergio Perez brought up the rear, while once again the Haas package looks strong around Albert Park, with Romain Grosjean 6th and Kevin Magnussen 7th.
But it was Hamilton who ultimately stole the show – while Valtteri Bottas had the initial time to beat, he came back with a splendid lap on the edge that showed while the Mercedes might be a nervy car to drive, the pace is there in abundance.
Bottas lines up second on the grid, with Sebastian Vettel behind in 3rd and an opportunistic Max Verstappen completing the second row, ahead of Charles Leclerc.
