Track Record - F1 Australian Grand Prix 2019

track record FORMULA 1 ROLEX AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX 2019

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THE TRACK RECORD FORMULA 1 ROLEX AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX 14 - 17 MARCH 2019

Editor Rob Burley Photography James Moy www.jamesmoy.com Editorial Giles Richards (Guardian News & Media Ltd) Contact www.trackrecordmagazine.com/contact Instagram traveller.rob

This publication is unofficial and is not associated in any way with the Formula One group of companies. F1, FORMULA ONE, FORMULA 1, FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, GRAND PRIX and related marks are trade marks of Formula One Licensing B.V.

THE TRACK RECORD

THE GRID Lewis Hamilton claims Australian Grand Prix pole as Mercedes shine 2 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES

3 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI

4 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA

5 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI

6 8 Romain Grosjean HAAS FERRARI

7 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI

8 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN RENAULT

1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES

9 7 Kimi Räikkönen ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI

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10 11 Sergio Perez RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES

11 27 Nico Hulkenberg RENAULT

12 3 Daniel Ricciardo RENAULT

13 23 Alexander Albon SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA

14 99 Antonio Giovinazzi ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI

15 26 Daniil Kvyat SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA

16 18 Lance Stroll RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES

17 10 Pierre Gasly RED BULL RACING HONDA

18 55 Carlos Sainz MCLAREN RENAULT

19 63 George Russell WILLIAMS MERCEDES

20 88 Robert Kubica WILLIAMS MERCEDES

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" This feels so good – I don’t think I’ve ever had a race like this! We could not have asked for a better start to the season – getting maximum points for the team is a perfect result and we couldn’t be happier. It’s also an important result for me personally, I’m really pleased with how the race went. These things don’t just happen – both the team and I have worked hard for this and it seems like the hard work paid off today. The key was the start; I think Lewis may have had a bit of wheel spin, so I was able to take the lead. My race pace was really strong, I could pull away and build a gap. In the end, I managed to get the fastest lap as well, which of course means an extra point this season, so I went for it. It can be a little risky with worn tyres, but I had it all under control. I’m very, very pleased with today, but it’s only the first race and we have another 20 races to go."

Bitter, bitter disappointment scarred the final part of last season for Valtteri Bottas. At the Russian Grand Prix, and no longer in the championship fight, he was ordered to cede his lead to Lewis Hamilton. He duly played the team game but it would have been as hard to swallow as any moment in his career. Here in Melbourne he found redemption in the most emphatic style by putting Hamilton to the sword in the first race of the 2019 season and winning the Australian Grand Prix.

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THE TRACK RECORD

Bottas has been open about how frustrated he had

Melbourne with aplomb and Hamilton accepted he

felt with some of his performances last season and

had been outraced. He finished 20.8sec behind the

had come back this year with the absolute intent to

Finn, although the world champion had not been

make his mark. His triumph in doing so was

pushing, managing his pace due to a car problem

palpable. “To whom it may concern: f**k you,� he

caused by damage to the floor picked up on lap

announced over the radio after taking the flag in

four.

what he later described as the best race of his life.

The 29-year-old believes he can be in the fight for the world championship and to do so he knows he must first beat his teammate. He did so in

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THE TRACK RECORD

Mercedes, who have repeatedly been explicit that

Sebastian Vettel finished in fourth for Ferrari with his

they will let their drivers race without team orders

teammate Charles Leclerc in fifth. Vettel had started

while both are in the battle for the title and did so

in third but having been unhappy with the balance

here, will welcome the one-two, especially after they

of his car all weekend was unable to hold off Max

had looked to be behind the pace of Ferrari after

Verstappen’s Red Bull when he charged on fresher

testing. They have been dominant while the

rubber to take the final podium place. Vettel was

Scuderia leave Albert Park with some serious

ultimately almost a minute back on Bottas by the

questions to answer.

time the chequered flag fell. Ferrari’s car had looked absolutely planted during testing, quick and enjoying marvellous balance that allowed its drivers to attack the corners. In Australia they had a different beast entirely.

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THE TRACK RECORD

Drawing too many conclusions from the race here is

desperately needed. The crucial moment came

tricky, however. Albert Park is not typical of most

when the lights went out. Bottas made a quick start

circuits, an outlier and one where overtaking is

from second on the grid, while Hamilton had some

notoriously hard. Nonetheless, to have enjoyed such

wheelspin from pole, and the Finn was in front by

a decisive victory here will be taken as a very positive

the time they entered turn one.

indicator for the season ahead by Mercedes – and for Ferrari that they have work to do.

With Mercedes letting their drivers race, they were happy with Bottas’s pace out front and as the pit

Red Bull and their new engine partners Honda will

stops came in to play he was able to build the

also take great heart in that they were so strong out

advantage he had taken off the line into an

of the blocks and completed the weekend without

insurmountable lead.

any significant engine issues. For Honda, who have now secured their first podium since returning to

Vettel opened the sequence of pit stops, coming in

the sport as an engine supplier in 2014, their

to take the medium tyre on lap 14. Hamilton

perseverance looks to be finally paying off.

followed him a lap later to cover off the undercut.

But the team told Bottas his pace was quicker and

For Bottas, a fourth career victory and his first since

that they would keep him out. He promptly

Abu Dhabi in 2017 is the confidence boost he so

confirmed it by pumping in some fastest laps.

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THE TRACK RECORD

This was the form Bottas demonstrated only sparingly in 2018 and, indeed, when he did he had on occasion been felled by ill-fortune – as at Baku last year when he went out with a puncture while leading.

In Australia lady luck was finally smiling on the Finn.

Hamilton and Vettel were simply unable to challenge his pace and when Mercedes sent him into the pits on lap 22, he emerged behind only Verstappen, who had yet to stop and was comfortably clear of Hamilton and Vettel. Mercedes later reported that the damage to the floor of Hamilton’s car had affected its balance but, nonetheless, when Verstappen went into the pits on lap 25, Bottas was back in the lead.

With the pit-stop sequence complete he held a strong advantage. By lap 30 he was 16sec clear of Hamilton in second and 18sec in front of Vettel. The German then came under pressure from Verstappen, who attacked towards turn three on his fresher rubber and made it stick to take third.

Bottas made abundantly clear that there was a relentless determination to stamp his authority on this season from the off when he insisted to the team he was going after the extra point for the fastest lap that has been added to the regulations in 2019.

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He duly secured it just before his victory. It leaves him top of the table and, compared to the heartache and desperation that ended last season, positively on top of the world.

Daniel Ricciardo, the local hero, went on to the grass off the start line and lost his front wing, forcing him to make an early stop to replace it. It sent him to the back of the field and the Renault driver ultimately had to retire as a precautionary measure on lap 31.

Kevin Magnussen in the Haas was in sixth; Renault’s Nico Hülkenberg in seventh, with Kimi Räikkönen in the Alfa Romeo in eighth. Lance Stroll was ninth for Racing Point and Daniil Kvyat in the Toro Rosso in tenth. Britain’s Lando Norris was a very impressive 12th for McLaren in his first GP. George Russell at the struggling Williams for his debut was in 16th in front of his team-mate Robert Kubica.

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THE TRACK RECORD

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THE TRACK RECORD

SECOND 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES

"It was an incredible weekend for the team,

It was a really great weekend for the team and

we’re leaving Melbourne with maximum

I’m really happy for everyone. We showed a

points. Valtteri did an exceptional job today –

great performance today and we need to

congratulations to him. I had a pretty

continue to build on this – we have a long

straightforward race today; I lost position at the

season ahead of us."

start and my race was pretty much done and dusted after the first corner. Afterwards it was really about bringing the car home and bagging the points. I had to pit early to cover the pit stop from Ferrari, so I had a long second stint and drove super carefully to make sure I had tyres left at the end of the race. I’ll bag the eighteen points I got today, keep working and come back recharged for the next one.

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THIRD 33 Max Verstappen 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 welldeserved third place for all of us. To be able to challenge Lewis at the end of the race and overtake Seb on-track, which around here is very difficult, is very positive. We had a little advantage with the tyres but it was satisfying to pressure Lewis even though I couldn’t get quite close enough to overtake him. The car was working really well and we also look strong on the straights which is hopefully a good sign for the rest of the season. I heard this is the first podium for Honda since 2008 so I am very happy that I managed to achieve this for them today.”

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THE TRACK RECORD

FOURTH 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI

“We were not happy with the car the whole weekend but today we struggled a lot. The reason I was so slow in the race was mostly due to the fact that the car could not find enough grip with the medium tyres that we fitted at the pit stop. As a team, we still got a decent amount of points from our fourth and fifth places, but this is not the result we were aiming for just a few weeks ago. So in the coming days, we will analyse the data in detail so as to be ready for the next race, which is not far away now. I’m sure that looking at all the information we have gathered here will give us a better understanding, but today, the result we got was the best we could do.”

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THE TRACK RECORD

FIFTH 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI

“I made a good start, to the extent that I

today. Now, we will work with the engineers to

managed to pass Verstappen and found

try and understand why we were not as strong

myself alongside Sebastian, who was fighting a

as we had hoped to be, even though we

Mercedes. That meant I had to put my wheels

brought home a good points haul.”

on the grass at the exit of the first esses, which allowed Max to get in front of me again. At the start, the car was not so easy to drive and that led to me making a small mistake at the first corner, which cost me a handful of seconds.

We decided to fit the hard tyres at the pit stop and, I have to say, that from then on, the car improved a lot and I was able to push. Towards the end, I closed on Sebastian, but the team decided to keep our positions, given that the top three places were not within our grasp

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THE TRACK RECORD

SIXTH 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI

“I’m very happy about today, it was a good result. I’m obviously sad for team not to have both cars get to the finish. Surely Romain (Grosjean) would have been in a good position as well, especially after we both had such good qualifying yesterday, so I’m gutted for his side that they didn’t get anything out of today. P6 for me is very good, I’m happy with the day. I made a good start and had a really good car from there. I was able to push the whole race and look after my tires. I’m really happy to start the year like this.”

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SEVENTH 27 Nico Hulkenberg RENAULT

“It’s a good start to the season with some solid points on the board. It was a tricky race – especially the final 10 laps – I was under pressure and really had to fight to hang onto seventh place. I’m pleased to pull that off. The start and the first lap made our race; it’s so crucial to have track position around here and from there it was about managing the car and the tyres.

We can be pleased with today, it’s a positive result, but it also shows we have a lot of work ahead of us.

We need to dig deep and continue finding performance especially to improve the car balance.”

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THE TRACK RECORD

EIGHTH 7 Kimi Räikkönen ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI

“Our car was pretty strong in the race, but then we got stuck behind cars and there is not much you can do. It seems that it is easier to get closer to the car in front of you but it’s still very hard to overtake. In addition, we had an issue with the temperature of the rear brakes as one of the tear-offs from the visor went in and that’s why we had to pit earlier than planned. But as I said, the car has a lot of speed and it felt good, so I’m looking forward to the race in Bahrain.”

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THE TRACK RECORD

NINTH 18 Lance Stroll RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES

“I am really pleased with my race today – it has

cars behind us on softer tyres than ours. We

been a great day at the office. It’s really nice to

saw today that it’s going to be really close in

pick up some points on the first weekend of

the middle of the grid, but we are definitely in

the season, but it wasn’t easy. It was a really

the fight.”

challenging afternoon, chasing Hulkenberg and Raikkonen ahead of me while also keeping Kvyat and Gasly behind me for most of the race. I was under a lot of pressure and it was very tight, but I am glad we managed to pick up two points. We were always planning to go long with our strategy: we were starting out of position so we knew the key was to make a good start and gain some places in the opening stages, which we did. After that, we had good pace and managed to hold off the

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THE TRACK RECORD

TENTH 26 Daniil Kvyat SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA

“It was an excellent race today! I’m happy with

to keep a quicker car behind almost the whole

the way I drove and it was really enjoyable.

race. I know we have a good package with the

There was a lot of positives to come from the

car and the engine, so we need to keep

race - it’s just a shame about yesterday’s

developing it. I’m very optimistic for the next

qualifying as we had the opportunity to start a

few races and I think it’s possible to achieve

bit further ahead! We had good tyre

good results.”

management throughout the race and we definitely had the pace to fight for higher positions but, as we know, it’s difficult to overtake around Albert Park. I tried to catch Stroll, but I was a bit on the edge and I couldn’t make it. I had a good battle with Pierre towards the end of the race, I felt like I could fight him well and at the end it was satisfying

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Excluding 2006 and 2010, when Bahrain hosted the event, the Australian Grand Prix has formed the opening race of the World Championship since moving to Melbourne from Adelaide in 1996.

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Where’s the party?

The inner city suburb of Albert Park is located 3 km south of Melbourne's central business district. The easiest way to access Albert Park is to use the tram system that operates from central Melbourne.

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