Even though the season belonged to Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton, there were plenty of twists and turns over the course of the year.
When the 2019 Formula 1 season began in Melbourne back in March, many thought that the AMG Mercedes team would have fierce competition from rival Ferrari and up-and-coming Red Bull team with its new Japanese Honda engine.
But when the season ended last Sunday in Abu Dhabi, two words described the year–‘Mercedes’ and ‘Hamilton.’
By the Japanese Grand Prix, Mercedes won the Constructor’s championship. Only two races later–in Texas at the U.S. Grand Prix–Lewis Hamilton won the Driver’s championship (his sixth).
The season began with half of that story. Mercedes’ teammate Valtteri Bottas won in Australia. But Hamilton responded by taking the next two races–in Bahrain and China. Bottas traded places, winning at Azerbaijan. The Mercedes’ habit of trading victories continued as Hamilton won in Spain, Monaco, Canada, and France.
The race in Montreal was one of the most controversial this season as Sebastian Vettel went wide next to Hamilton and came out to close to the Briton. Mercedes appealed, and Vettel was placed into second–even though he had won the race. Vettel was so enraged that, in the photo of the year, Vettel exchanged parc ferme number signs from 2nd to 1st, which told the marshals exactly how he felt about the decision.
But it also was a changing point in the season for Vettel. He began to slide away from challenging for the championship.
Lost in the shuffle of all of this was Max Verstappen. The Dutchman won a trio of races in 2018 but didn’t get his first in 2019 until he won the team’s home race in Austria. Hamilton returned the favor at the very next race, delighting home fans by winning his 7th race of the season at the British Grand Prix.
The next race took place in Hockenheimring, Germany. In what might be the last race run there for a while, Verstappen won again in what many observers thought was the best race of the season–a race run in torrential rain.
But Hamilton wasn’t done, winning again in Hungary.
But, then, things changed dramatically: a new name emerged, Charles Leclerc.
Vettel responded by taking the next race in Singapore but, from that moment on, the Mercedes’ drivers traded victories once again. Bottas took Japan, while Hamilton won in Russia and Mexico. By the time the grid reached Brazil, Hamilton and his Mercedes team had won both the Constructor’s and Drivers’ titles.
Verstappen, though, took his third win of the season in Brazil (getting revenge from last season when he was punted off the track by then-Force India driver Esteban Ocon). But this race also had Vettel and Leclerc collide, putting both out of the race, which made team boss Matteo Binotto furious.
But in the end, it was Hamilton’s year. The capstone win in the Emirates showed that he’d be a force to be reckoned with in 2000. And with two exceptions, he’ll face the same cast of 2019 drivers.
At Williams, Nickolas Latifi will succeed Robert Kubica, and at Renault, Ocon will take over for Nico Hulkenberg.
2019 was a terrific year, and 2020 holds the same promise. For one thing, the season will have 22 races for the first time in its history.
It all starts in March!
