A Mercedes driver wins, but it is not a world champion Hamilton. Bottas steals to his team-mates on the Show. For Ferrari it is a very disappointing race at the Grand Prix of Australia.
Valtteri Bottas:
“I don’t know what to say. It was the best race I’ve ever driven.” (Source: Sky)
Lewis Hamilton:
“It is a great weekend for the Team. Valtteri is a great race, he deserves the victory. It is more than we expected for the weekend.”
Max Verstappen:
“I had to overtake Seb, to come to the Podium. That was not easy, I’m happy that it all worked out.
Sebastian Vettel:
“If there is no Grip there, I can’t do much. We have not had a Problem to drive the tire end to the other.”
TARGET – Bottas to win in Melbourne! Congratulations to the Finns – a great performance! Particularly since Bottas was able to win in the last season, not a single race.
Final score:
1. Bottas (Finland) Mercedes 26 Points,
2. Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes 18
3. Verstappen (The Netherlands), Red Bull Honda 15
4. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Ferrari 12
5. Charles Leclerc (Monaco) Ferrari 10,
6. Magnussen (Denmark) Haas Ferrari 8
7. Hülkenberg (Germany), Renault 6,
8. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Alfa Romeo Ferrari 4,
9. Lance Stroll (Canada) Racing Point Mercedes 2,
10. Daniil Kwjat (Russia) Toro Rosso Honda 1
57/58 Shortly before the end of drives Bottas set the fastest lap. 1:25:580
56/58 Further back, trying to Gasly once again Kvyat to come. But again, this is nothing. The Bonus point is the Top Teams push to the end – it makes the race more interesting.
55/58 Verstappen to drive the fastest lap. He would get the Bonus point and put pressure on the Second, world champion Hamilton.
53/58 Also Ferrari could, in theory, still in the Box, the tab on Magnussen is 37 seconds. You could try to get the Extra Bonus.
51/58 Leclerc could now his team-mate Vettel to overtake… but no, he wants to, he can’t. Meanwhile, Bottas asks over the radio whether he should again come in – he speculated probably with fresh tyres on the Bonus point – but his Team says, no, no – just tell him to go without risk.
49/58 Vettel is losing time to his team mate Leclerc. There are team orders at Ferrari? Meanwhile, the projection from the Leading Bottas on the Second, Hamilton is, just under 25 seconds!
47/58 For the silver arrow pilots, it runs fine. You are now driving the tire gently so the race to the end, or one of the drivers comes in actually?
44/58 Vettel asking on the radio why he is so slow. The Answer To That. We don’t know it. Perplexity at Ferrari – not a good start to the season for the Reds.
43/58 New this season: There is an Extra point for the driver of the fastest lap in the race. The Extra-point there is, however, only when the rider passes under the Top Ten.
41/59 Bottas drives in front lonely his rounds. Current Status:
1. Bottas
2. Hamilton
3. Verstappen
4. Vettel
5. Leclerc
The two Ferrari drivers on the P4 and P5 so that can’t be the Scuderia, which has convinced at the winter tests, at all satisfied.
39/58 Gasly comes as the last Pilot in the current field of drivers in the Box and falls to eleventh place.
36/58 Bottas drives in front with the fastest lap. Meanwhile, Kvyat is driving at a crucial moment Stroll into the gravel bed, then you can go further. And even Leclerc is driving faster laps than Vettel, who seems to have problems.
35/58 Hamilton drives his fastest lap. He has complained that he can’t drive with these tyres to the end. Or, the Englishman brings out again from his tyres before he goes in? Verstappen power from the back pressure.
34/58 The distance between Verstappen and Vettel will be larger, that is, between the currently third and Fourth.
32/58 GROSJEAN is out, he parks on the side. Also RICCIARDO is on, that’s a bitter pill for the Australian at his home Grand Prix. Current Status:
1. Bottas
2. Hamilton
3. Verstappen
4. Vettel
5. Leclerc
31/58 , Verstappen was overtaken by Vettel, the German has no Chance!
28/58 Further back in the field of riders to overtake both Norris as well as Grosjean Giovinazzi.
27/58 Hamilton says over the radio that his tyres not up to the end range. Of course that would be for the world champion to be a disaster.
25/58 The Red Bull Crew gets ready, and Verstappen comes in for his pit stop. New Order:
1. Bottas
2. Leclerc
3. Hamilton
4. Vettel
5. Verstappen
23/58 Over the radio, there is the Order: Box, Box. The Finn moves into the barn alley and joins then in front of Leclerc but behind Verstappen. Previously, Hamilton had asked over the radio why you have him so early in the Box brought. The answer: in order To Vettel to “covers”.
22/58 The Leading, Bottas, 15 seconds ahead of Verstappen and 25 seconds in front of Leclerc.
20/58 Bottas drives in front with the fastest lap, the second fastest time coming from Hamilton and then Vettel. The Finn makes the over there with his “old” tire real good.
17/58 Vettel drives with new and harder tire faster times and thus puts the driver in front of him under pressure. Currently leads
1. Bottas (still in the Box)
2. Verse not fall (still in the Box)
3. Leclerc (still in the Box)
4. Hamilton
5. Vettel
15/58 Ferrari driver Vettel comes as the first of the Top drivers in the Box, speculates on a so-called Undercut. Meanwhile, Hulkenberg tried to overtake Magnussen, the German creates. Also Grosjean is in the Box.
14/58 Hulkenberg is in the Box.
12/58 in the front of the building Bottas lead over his team-mate Hamilton.
11/58 As a car and it’s Smoking. It’s SAINZ. He is with a damage to the engine out. The Pilot seems to be okay, he gets out of the car and the marshals the smoke clear at the end of the car.
6/58 Here in Australia to the pilots a one-stop strategy.
4/58 Bottas so in front of Hamilton, then Vettel and Verstappen. Bottas drove the fastest lap and extended its lead on the five-time world champion. In the case of Kubica flew away in his Comeback, also something from his car.
1/58 Bottas has the start of a duel against his Mercedes pilots won and is ahead of Hamilton. Ricciardo seems to have the front wing lost, as he moves about the circuit, and a ground wave for a ride. The Australians must be equal to in the Box.
The first corner after the Start…
START
06:13 PM: There were technical problems. We ask this to apologize for!
At 06:07: For Hamilton it is the sixth Pole Position in
Series in Melbourne and the eighth overall – a record. But only
twice the Briton has won the race. Vettel drove by
in Australia three times, first to the finish, the last of which he won in
the previous two years. 2018 Hamilton went also as it is now seven-tenths of a second into the race, Vettel took advantage of a Safety Car Phase is smarter than Mercedes.
At 06:04: The List:
1. Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes
2. Bottas (Finland) Mercedes
3. Vettel (Germany) Ferrari
4. Max Verstappen (The Netherlands), Red Bull Honda
5. Charles Leclerc (Monaco) Ferrari
6. Romain Grosjean (France) Haas Ferrari
7. Kevin Magnussen (Denmark) Haas Ferrari
8. Lando Norris (Great Britain) McLaren Renault
9. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Alfa Romeo Ferrari
10. Sergio Perez (Mexico) Racing Point Mercedes
11. Nico Hülkenberg (Emmerich) Renault
12. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) Renault
13. Alexander Albon (Thailand) Toro Rosso Honda
14. Antonio Giovinazzi (Italy) Alfa Romeo Ferrari
15. Daniil Kwjat (Russia) Toro Rosso Honda
16. Lance Stroll (Canada) Racing Point Mercedes
17. Pierre Gasly (France) Toro Rosso Honda
18. Carlos Sainz junior (Spain) McLaren Renault
19. George Russell (United Kingdom) Williams-Mercedes
20. Robert Kubica (Poland) Williams-Mercedes
06:00: “With this great advantage I would have never expected,” said Hamilton after the Qualfiying and the surprising margin of seven-tenths in front of Vettel. “It’s incredible. We are looking for the perfection.” Also Vettel didn’t expect these times: “I am surprised by how strong Mercedes is here. I think everyone – even you,” says the German, but nevertheless remains optimistic: “For us, there is a lot to do, we should do better. But our car is good, and we have won here in the past two years without a Pole Position.”
05:56 PM: Who is still not quite awake is The new formula 1 season starts in 19 minutes. Kick-off is, of course, in Australia, more specifically Melbourne said. From Pole Position, the defending champion Hamilton in the Mercedes will start for the sixth Time. Ferrari driver Vettel was in qualifying on Saturday in third behind the Finnish silver arrow driver Bottas Vettel hopes in his fifth year with the Scuderia finally the first world title with the tradition of the team. The Tests in the Winter were actually very good, but now in Melbourne, where it comes down to it, the Mercedes cars in practice and Qualifying, however, it is significantly faster.
At 05:55: Moin – welcome to the DW-live Ticker!