Valtteri Bottas won the 2019 F1 Season Opening Australian Grand Prix

Car 77 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes won the 2019 Season Opening Australian Grand Prix. This is his 1st win & Top 3 of 2019. 2nd Place Car 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes posted his 1st Top 3 of 2019. 3rd Place Car 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing Honda 1st win & Top 3 of 2019.

4th Place Car 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari followed by 5th place Car 16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari. 6th Place Car 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS Ferrari followed by 7th place Car 27 Nico Hulkenberg Renault. 8th Place Car 7 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari followed by 9th place Car 18 Lance Stroll Racing Point BWT Mercedes. Lastly in the Top 10 Car 26 Daniil Kvyat Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda, in 10th place.

AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX

DRIVERS

1 – Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)

2 – Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

3 – Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing)

TRACK INTERVIEWS

(Conducted by Martin Brundle)

Q: Valtteri, the race of your life?

Valtteri Bottas: I think so! I don’t know what just happened.

Q: What a perfect start, to get away.

Valtteri Bottas: I don’t know what to say. It was definitely my best race ever. I don’t know what happened. I felt so good and everything was under control. The car was so good today. So truly enjoyable. I need to enjoy today.

Q: You made it a one-horse race. Twenty-six world championship points with the fastest lap. You were determined to have that fastest lap.

Valtteri Bottas: Yeah, definitely. It’s a new rule for this year. As I had really strong pace I wanted to go for that in the end and it’s always a bit risky with worn tyres but it was worth it. I’m just so happy and I can’t wait for the next race.

Q: A one-two for the team, congratulations Lewis, second place, but maybe a bit of a frustrating day for you?

Lewis Hamilton: No I’s been a good weekend for the team, so I have to be happy for everyone and a really fantastic job from everyone. Valtteri drove an incredible race today, so he truly deserved it. We’ve just got some work to do. Still, it’s a great, great start to the year, more than we could have hoped as a team.

Q: Max launched an attack on you at the end. Did you have it covered?

Lewis Hamilton: Yeah, no problem at all.

Q: Any idea where the pace may have gone to?

Lewis Hamilton: I do have some ideas, but I’ll wait until I sit with my engineers to go over it. Naturally, position at the start was a little bit frustrating, especially when you have a good weekend up to that point but that’s how the game goes and I’ll just train and work hard to try and improve the next time.

Podium place for Max Verstappen. You had an interesting afternoon.

Max Verstappen: Yeah, I had to overtake Seb to get onto the podium, which is not easy around here, so I was happy to pull that move off, and also challenging Lewis for second, so, yeah, pretty pleased with that.

You had the Ferraris covered. You had a little trip across the grass, probably took you back from behind Lewis. But you were still coming at him.

Max Verstappen: Yeah, it was unfortunate but I don’t think it would have changed the end result.

So, reasonably happy with today?

Max Verstappen: Of course. To start the season on the podium, challenging the Mercedes car ahead, I think that’s a very positive start for us. Also a big well done to the team, after the difficult Friday we had. And also big thanks to Honda, also their first podium in the V6 era, so very happy for them.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Well Valtteri you said on the podium that you had porridge for breakfast but was there any indication in practice that you were going to be able to unlock that sort of performance from the car?

Valtteri Bottas: Well, first of all, as a team, in practice we saw that we were strong, both in short runs and long runs, but obviously it’s impossible to draw a proper conclusion but we saw the raw pace yesterday in qualifying, as a team, with a good margin to Ferrari, and today race pace was strong – much stronger than we expected coming into this weekend. That’s obviously good news. It shows that we have definitely done all the right things between the testing in terms of direction with the car. Also, for myself, it was definitely the best race I’ve had in my life. Obviously, the key thing for me was the race start, to get to the lead and then being at the front I could show strong pace and I could pull a gap. I think in the first stop I could also…. I stopped a bit later so I was a good tyre in the end. Just the car was feeling so good today, it was truly enjoyable.

Q: Well, many congratulations. Lewis, it all seemed to slip away from you at the start. Tell us about that moment?

Lewis Hamilton: I don’t really remember much of it, honestly, it was quite a long time ago really. I don’t know, maybe I got wheelspin. It doesn’t really matter, Valtteri got a better start. Once we got to the first corner, we held position, we had the front row still. And Valtteri did an exceptional job throughout the race, so congratulations to him and after that it was just about bringing the car home.

Q: You talked on the radio about maybe some tyres issues. Did that play out?

Lewis Hamilton: No, not really. I wasn’t entirely happy with the balance I had but it wasn’t the end of the world. It wasn’t a problem for me to finish second.

Q: Thanks. Coming to you Max: If we had said to you before this race that you would finish 35 seconds ahead of the lead Ferrari, what would you have said?

Max Verstappen: I would tell you ‘we will find out on Sunday’. Winter testing doesn’t really show the true picture, as you can see this weekend. We had a good car. In the start, stayed out of trouble. It was just very hard to stay close to Seb, as my tyres were overheating very quickly. I just did my own pace, a manageable pace, and we could extend our stint a little bit and then when we did the pit stop afterwards we had a bit fresher tyres than Lewis and Seb ahead. I managed to get by Seb, which is not easy around this track, because it’s just so hard to follow. But very happy to get to third. Trying to challenge for second was a very positive feeling, especially after my Friday. At the end we couldn’t pull it off, but in general I’m juts very happy to be on the podium.

I think we managed to turn it around in a very positive way after Friday and for Honda to have their first podium in the V6 era is a great start, so big congrats to them.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Yianni Mavromoustakos – talkingtorque.com.au) Question for Max. How did you find the Honda engine after your first race with it – and do you think you’ll be capable enough to compete for top spot?

Max Verstappen: Well, I think in terms of speed we had throughout the race, it was again a very good step forward to last year. If I just compare top speeds against the other two top teams, so I’m very pleased for that. Also, in general, the engine has been performing really well, without any issues. So, that is also very important. I guess time will tell if we can fight for top spot.

Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Max, obviously the performance of the Red Bull Honda package, evidenced by the fact you finished third – but how encouraging was it that you were not only able to finish third on the road but were able to push Lewis and show performance all the way to the end. It didn’t look like you were having to manage the package at all towards the end.

Max Verstappen: No, we didn’t. Well… you always have to manage the tyres because as soon as you get close to the car ahead they overheat, the tyres. In general, just very pleased, because I could at least have a go at it, in terms of top speed. Good progress, and there are a lot of positive things coming as well, and so far we have been working really well together. Very pleased with that.

I think Valtteri was very far ahead still. It was a good result today, but we have to work hard to, of course, improve.

Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Congratulations Valtteri. For the first time in six years, a Finnish driver is leading the championship. How does it feel to be first time there as a leader?

Valtteri Bottas: Congrats to you as well! Thank you. Obviously, I don’t think I was ever leading a championship. Obviously I know it’s only the first race of the year. I’m not so good with the numbers of the days and statistics but all I can say is that I’m really pleased with the way the season has started. First of all for us as a team, we have such a strong package going forwards and

then, for myself, after quite a tricky last year, to have started the season like this. It’s very good and I look forward to the next race.

Q: (Roger Byron – Beyond the Racing Line) For everyone, how was it with the new aero package, following cars this weekend? In a race you find out more…

Max Verstappen: Ask Valtteri how it was following!

Lewis Hamilton: No different.

No different to previous seasons?

Lewis Hamilton: No.

You were pretty close to Lewis at the end there Max…

Max Verstappen: Yeah, I had no chance to get by. It is still very hard. The only positive thing what we improved is the DRS effect. So, as soon as it opens, it’s a lot more powerful than last year but following is still a lot of turbulence.

Anything to add Valtteri, when you were coming through traffic…

Valtteri Bottas: It was quite… I didn’t get close enough to traffic ahead to really see a difference.

Q: (David Coath) Valtteri, you drove the perfect race and your pitcrew was perfect as well. How does that make you feel when you know how much everyone in the team is giving?

Valtteri Bottas: It means a lot. It is teamwork and nothing comes for free. Or by one person’s efforts. We’ve all worked for this result we’ve got now as a team together, over the past years and over the winter, and over the weekend. I’m very proud of every single person here in the team at this race weekend but also at the factory. There’s many hidden heroes in Brackley and in Brixworth.

Just want to say a massive thanks to them and I really know how much they work and how much it means.

Q: (Don Kennedy – Hawkes Bay Today) Valtteri, was there any moment during the race that you had a flashback to Russia last year and you thought maybe someone might come on the radio and say ‘slow down’?

Valtteri Bottas: No, I didn’t think of that, actually, and there would be no reason to think about that. We are all starting a new season with zero points, we are here to fight, both me and Lewis will want to fight this season, for sure, against each other and against everyone and we are still one team so no point in thinking about those kind of things.

Q: (inaudible – Finnish News Agency) Valtteri, you said yesterday that you approached the weekend differently, started from zero. Can you explain how your preparation was different from last year,

for instance?

Valtteri Bottas: Yeah, for sure every year you learn as a person, you learn about yourself, what works for you, what doesn’t work for you in terms of preparation and what preparation includes: how you rest, how you spend your free time, how you do the training, how much training, what kind, all those kind of things, travel plans, all sorts. So just trying to optimise everything for this

year, try to maximise every single thing that is possible. I don’t know, it’s quite difficult to explain what’s been going on here last winter, inside of my head and definitely something changed in terms of the way I feel about things in life in general and in racing, but that’s all in my thoughts. I felt good in the car today and yesterday. That’s all that matters.

Q: (inaudible – The Age Newspaper) Max, I want to ask about your mindset and the first race without Daniel. Does it change not having to look sidewards and being able to focus on yourself and not focus as much on internals and have a weekend purely about your performance? Did it feel different today without Daniel?

MV: Well, I always focused on myself so it’s not like something changes, from my side. No.

Q: (Giusto Ferronato – Gazzetta dello Sport) Lewis, can you tell us something about (how much) wheelspin you had, wheelspin at the start?

Lewis Hamilton: Yeah, probably too engaged with the clutch, probably, but I don’t really know because I won’t know ‘til I go back, but ultimately I didn’t do a good enough job.

Q: (Phil Branagan – The New Daily) Lewis, the build-up to this race has been very much about your team versus Ferrari, and many people in the room have written about that. Did we have it wrong? And you just fought off a Red Bull; is this now a three way fight for the championship between those three teams?

Lewis Hamilton: I don’t know if you wrote it wrong. It was supposed to be a three-way fight… I thought it was going to be a three-way fight so maybe you did write it wrong.

Q: (Jeremy Statis – L’Equipe) You really seemed to care about the fastest lap point at the end of the race. Would you say it will be a big deal during the season and will you be ready to take a lot of risks to get it?

Valtteri Bottas: Yeah, obviously it’s a point and if you get three of those or more it’s going to make a big difference at the end of the year. You never know. One point can make a difference in the end. For sure we’re willing to risk but still knowing that if you’re about to get 20 or 18 points or 15, whatever, they are still more important than getting one extra so you need to calculate the risk but today was worth it, within a stop for an extra set of tyres for it, but with the worn tyres I went for a quick lap and it was worth it.

I just want to say, again, thank-you Charlie and I want to say that this win is for Charlie and all his work for Formula One. He’s done a massive amount and it means a lot to all of us drivers.

Lewis Hamilton: It’s 21 points so we’re going to fight for them.

Max Verstappen: There are 21 possible points you can get so it can help but like Valtteri said, at the end of the day it’s most important to score 25 or 18, 15, 10. Try to go for one more and then it goes wrong, it can happen sometimes but anyway, I think in some situations like today, I was pushing anyway to try and get Lewis so it happened that I was doing, at that time, the fastest lap. It’s nice if it happens.

F1 2019 Australian Grand Prix – Race Results – Melbourne Rolex Race sponsor

2019 Mar 17 Grand Prix of Australia Grand Prix Circuit Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit. 1st Grand Prix 1996, Number of laps 58, Circuit Length 5.303km km. Race Distance 307.574 km. Lap Record: 1:24.125 Michael Schumacher (2004)

Position Car Driver Team Laps Status

1. Car 77 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 58 1:25:27.325 – Running
2. Car 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 58 – Running
3. Car 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing Honda 58 – Running
4. Car 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 58 – Running
5. Car 16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 58 – Running
6. Car 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS Ferrari 58 – Running
7. Car 27 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 57 – Running
8. Car 7 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari 57 – Running
9. Car 18 Lance Stroll Racing Point BWT Mercedes 57 – Running
10. Car 26 Daniil Kvyat Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda 57 – Running
11. Car 10 Pierre Gasly Red Bull Racing Honda 57 – Running
12. Car 4 Lando Norris McLaren Renault 57 – Running
13. Car 11 Sergio Perez Racing Point BWT Mercedes 57 – Running
14. Car 23 Alexander Albon Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda 57 – Running
15. Car 99 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari 57 – Running
16. Car 63 George Russell Williams Mercedes 56 – Running
17. Car 88 Robert Kubica Williams Mercedes 55 – Running
NC. Car 8 Romain Grosjean HAAS Ferrari 29 – DNF
NC. Car 3 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 28 – DNF
NC. Car 55 Carlos Sainz McLaren Renault 9 – DNF

Note – Bottas scored an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race.

Next Race: Bahrain March 31/19

Formula 1
http://www.formula1.com/

2019 F-1 Driver Championship
PositionDriverCar #TeamNationalityWinsTop 3Points
1Valtteri Bottas77MercedesFinnish1126
2Lewis Hamilton44MercedesBritish0118
3Max Verstappen26Red Bull Racing HondaNetherlands0115
4Sebastian Vettel5FerrariGerman0012
5Charles Leclerc16FerrariMonaco0010
6Kevin Magnussen20Haas FerrariDanish008
7Nico Hulkenberg27RenaultGerman006
8Kimi Raikkonen7Alfa Romeo Racing FerrariFinnish004
9Lance Stroll18Racing Point BWT MercedesCanadian002
10Daniil Kvyat26Scuderia Toro Rosso HondaRussian001
11Pierre Gasly10Red Bull Racing HondaFrench000
12Lando Norris4McLaren RenaultBritish000
13Sergio Perez11Racing Point BWT MercedesMexican000
14Alexander Albon23Scuderia Toro Rosso HondaThialand000
15Antonio Giovinazzi99Alfa Romeo Racing FerrariItaly000
16George Russell63Williams MercedesBritish000
17Robert Kubica88Williams MercedesPolish000
18Romain Grosjean8Haas FerrariFrench000
19Daniel Ricciardo3RenaultAustralian000
20Carlos Sainz55RenaultSpanish000
2019 F-1 Constructor’s Championship 
PositionTeamWinsTop 3Points
1Mercedes1244
2Ferrari0022
3Red Bull Racing Honda0115
4Haas Ferrari008
5Renault006
6Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari004
7Racing Point BWT Mercedes002
8Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda001
9McLaren Renault000
10Williams Mercedes000
2019 F-1 Race Results
DateGrand Prix
Mar-25Australia
PositionDriverCar #Team
1Valtteri Bottas77Mercedes
2Lewis Hamilton44Mercedes
3Max Verstappen26Red Bull Racing Honda
DateGrand Prix
Mar-31Bahrain
PositionDriverCar #Team
1
2
3
DateGrand Prix
Apr-11China
PositionDriverCar #Team
1
2
3
DateGrand Prix
Apr-28Azerbaijan
PositionDriverCar #Team
1
2
3
DateGrand Prix
May-12Spain
PositionDriverCar #Team
1
2
3
DateGrand Prix
May-26Monaco
PositionDriverCar #Team
1
2
3
DateGrand Prix
Jun-09Canada
PositionDriverCar #Team
1
2
3
DateGrand Prix
Jun-23France
PositionDriverCar #Team
1
2
3
DateGrand Prix
Jun-30Austria
PositionDriverCar #Team
1
2
3
DateGrand Prix
Jul-14Great Britain
PositionDriverCar #Team
1
2
3
Jul-28Germany
PositionDriverCar #Team
1
2
3
DateGrand Prix
Aug-04Hungary
PositionDriverCar #Team
1
2
3
DateGrand Prix
Sep-01Belgium
PositionDriverCar #Team
1
2
3
DateGrand Prix
Sep-08Italy
PositionDriverCar #Team
1
2
3
DateGrand Prix
Sep-22Singapore
PositionDriverCar #Team
1
2
3
DateGrand Prix
Sep-29Russia
PositionDriverCar #Team
1
2
3
DateGrand Prix
Oct-13Japan
PositionDriverCar #Team
1
2
3
DateGrand Prix
Oct-27Mexico
PositionDriverCar #Team
1
2
3
DateGrand Prix
Nov-03United States
PositionDriverCar #Team
1
2
3
DateGrand Prix
Nov-17Brazil
PositionDriverCar #Team
1
2
3
DateGrand Prix
Dec-01Abu Dhabi
PositionDriverCar #Team
1
2
3

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