Australian Grand Prix 2019
Starts like this make motorsport an exciting spectacle to watch!
Plenty of Australian Grand Prix 2019 odds predicted Lewis Hamilton starting the year on a high after enjoying such a dominant qualifying run. However, the tone of the race changed when all of the lights went off to signal the start of the race.
No one thought that Valtteri Bottas would dominate the track as there were plenty of fast cars on the grid. However, a lightning start and a consistent attacking performance saw the Finn defy a lot of pre-race odds and finish at the top of the Australian Grand Prix.
This race got it all: action, drama, speed. If you’re not a fan of F1 after watching a race like this, you weren’t watching it properly!
Highlights of the game
Mercedes had a fantastic qualifying run, and their fans were more than delighted when two silver cars were holding the top spots in the starting grid. Max Verstappen got in the way of a Ferrari 3-4 by finishing fourth in Q3.
Both Mercedes cars made a blitzing start to the race to keep the Ferraris and the Red Bull at bay, but Valtteri Bottas had the best of starts as he made a flying start to the race. By the time the pack cleared Turn 1, the Finn was already clear by some distance from his Briton team-mate.
The drama didn’t end there as some notable names also had trouble trying to get out of the early-stage rumble. Daniel Ricciardo had a nightmare start in his home grand prix as his front wing was detached from the car. Charles Leclerc almost made contact with team-mate Sebastian Vettel in his debut as he tried to overtake both Vettel and Verstappen in Turn 1.
Ricciardo immediately pitted to reinstall the front wing of his car, but the race did not go well for him and the Australian audience as he pulled out of the race in the 31st lap. With no man to cheer for, the entire focus of the crowd went straight to the front.
Hamilton then raced his team-mate to try and reclaim the top spot. It was a great move for the Silver Arrows as they eventually got away from the rest of the pack in the process. However, Bottas’ lightning start did more than enough as he eventually drifted away from the 2018 Driver’s Champion. The distance between the two actually ballooned to more than 25 seconds at one point of the race.
Vettel was the first of the top six drivers to pit in and change his wheels. Hamilton didn’t take long to react and change his tyres early on as well. The early pits could be seen as an admission from both sides that they will not stand at the top of the podium in Australia this year.
There were also some fantastic racing done by drivers not in Mercedes cars. Kevin Magnussen faked out rookie driver Antonio Giovinazzi to cruise into the eighth spot. Verstappen showed more of his class in the 31st lap as he squeezed out an underpowered Ferrari car driven by Vettel to get to the podium.
From that point on, it was a race to get the extra point for the fastest lap time. Verstappen tried to pull a fast one as he got the fastest time in the dying embers of the race. However, Bottas was just too fast for everyone to catch up to as he finished the season opener with a 20+-second margin and the quickest lap out of the 20 drivers that started the race.
Key statistics
There are plenty of Australian Grand Prix 2019 highlights to sift through, but a lot of eyes are on the Scuderia at the moment. They started the season as heavy favourites, with Hamilton even concerned that the potential gap between them and the Prancing Horse was half a second.
However, the difference in performance level was as clear as the Aussie skies as Vettel was unable to defend his title and finished a position below his starting spot. Both Ferrari cars were behind Bottas by almost an entire minute, meaning that they were one second behind every lap they raced.
The win was all the sweeter for Bottas as he finally won a grand prix after a long barren spell. The last race he won was the 2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, so winning the race by a dominant 20.886 seconds is incredible. I don’t think people will forget how incredible Bottas started this year.
There is also a reason for celebration at the Red Bull pit as Verstappen managed to get his first podium down under. Things are boding well for the team’s era under the talented Dutch driver.
What’s next?
There will be a bit of a break before the Formula 1 season continues, and the fastest show on Earth will make its way to the sandy deserts of Bahrain.
There are plenty of opportunities for DRS and high-speed overtakes at the Bahrain International Circuit, and it is here where we should see Ferrari make a roaring comeback. They definitely did not like how their first race started and will be using this break to fine-tune the car back to fighting shape.
SBOBET fans have a lot to look forward to as both Mercedes drivers and Verstappen will make life difficult for the Scuderia. Keep your eyes posted here for the latest motorsport news and opinions.
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