Mercedes sweeps, Ferrari disappoints, Honda surprises.
MELBOURNE, Australia—March 17th: It might have been a bad omen for pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton. The pole-sitter has won only once in the last seven seasons. And on Sunday at the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park, it happened again.
Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate, Valtteri Bottas, grabbed the race from the start. And with only a pit stop on lap 24 to break his lead, continued on to win the race over Hamilton by a huge 20.8-second gap.
Bottas, who has not won a race for his team since Abu Dhabi in 2017, was shocked afterward. “I do not know what just happened. I do not know what to say,” Bottas said.
Third place went to Max Verstappen in the Red Bull Honda, giving the Japanese engine company their first podium in the hybrid turbo era.
Bottas got a great start and continued the gap, starting with a 3.1-second gap on lap 10, to a 13.5 lead ten laps later. The Finn continued to increase his lead to 24 seconds with just 12 laps to go and ended up finishing the race four seconds less in front of Hamilton.
There were only three retirements in the race. Daniel Ricciardo tried to go wide to the right at the start and got his front wing caught in a dip in the grass, striking it, and tearing off the front wing. The home hero came back to the pits for a replacement, but could never get back in the race and retired on lap 31.
Hass F1 Team’s Romain Grosjean left the race one lap later. A bad front left side tire was not put well on the car, causing the suspension to fail. Carlos Sainz Jr. encountered an engine failure early in the race on lap 11.
Ferrari could never get into the race and had a disappointing weekend. Sebastian Vettel and Charles LeClerc finished fourth and fifth, respectively. The American Haas F1 Team had Kevin Magnussen take sixth.
The next four points positions were in a tense battle. Nico Hulkenberg led the group finishing seventh, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, Lance Stroll, and Dani Kvyat, who took eighth thru tenth, respectively.
When Bottas finally regained post-race composure, he realized that he had never before achieved this level of success. In addition to winning, he picked up an extra point for fastest lap of the race.
“The start was very good, and it was definitely my best race ever,” Bottas stated. “Everything was under control and I was good all day. It was really enjoyable. I am very happy and cannot wait until the next race.”
That race, which is two weeks away, will take place in Sakir, Bahrain.
