Lewis Hamilton has admitted that Mercedes were ‘very, very lucky’ to claim a 1-2 at the Bahrain Grand Prix, with Charles Leclerc’s power unit issue putting a stop to what was otherwise a very dominant performance by the Monegasque.
Hamilton had started the race in P3 but fought his way past Sebastian Vettel on lap 38 to claim P2. Then, with under fifteen laps to go, the other Ferrari of Leclerc developed a power issue that cost him roughly 30mph in speed on the straights; in just two laps Hamilton had wiped out Leclerc’s nine-second lead and passed him with ease to take the 74th Grand Prix victory of his career.
“It was very tricky out there today,” Hamilton said, “and I had to give it everything I had. We were very, very lucky to get this 1-2, Ferrari outperformed us all weekend.
“Ultimately you want to have a real fight and want to pass someone because you’re quicker, so it feels a bit weird and you can’t quite believe your luck in these scenarios.”
2019 Bahrain Grand Prix, Sunday – Wolfgang Wilhelm
Hamilton praised Leclerc for his performance nonetheless and offered some words of consolation to him in the post-race cool down room. He is under no illusion about Mercedes’ pace relative to Ferrari, and is bracing himself for some tough races to come.
“I have been in similar situations [to Leclerc] and I know how it feels, but Charles did a great job all weekend long and has a beautiful, bright future ahead of him,” he added.
“We’ve only had two races; one where we were rapid and far ahead, one where Ferrari had the upper hand. It’s hard to say how the next races are going to pan out, but I anticipate that it will be a tough fight and that it will be a back and forth between the two teams.
“We need to keep working hard to see where we went wrong this weekend and to see where we can improve the car. But as we saw today, reliability also plays an important role, so we need to keep working on all areas.
“We’ll take the points we got today and move forward to China.”
Toro Rosso rookie Alex Albon said he was ‘very happy’ to pick up his first ever points in Formula 1, thanks to a ninth-place finish in what was a very dramatic Bahrain Grand Prix.
He admitted that a certain amount of luck played into the result, having been promoted a couple of positions thanks to the retirements of both Renaults ahead of him.
“That was a busy race – I felt like I was always fighting with someone at some point, there was always something to do!” Albon said. “I didn’t have the best start as I was a bit shy into the first corner, but after that, I put my head down and got on with it.
“We had a good strategy and decent pace on the prime tyre. In the end, we got a bit lucky with the retirements, but I’ll take it!”
Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
He also spoke of the difficult nature of the race, highlighting a mix of the weather conditions and the roughness of the circuit on the Pirelli tyres.
“It was so tricky with the wind out there and it made the car unpredictably, but we were quite strong in the race, it’s just a shame about the start. It was a challenge to overtake because when you get close to another car the tyres overheat and you get a bit stuck.
“However, I enjoyed myself out there and it was good to get that experience. I’m very happy to pick up my first points in Formula 1 and I hope we can carry this pace into China.”
[Featured image – Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool]
Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto has labelled the reliability issue that cost Charles Leclerc a victory at the Bahrain Grand Prix as ‘unacceptable’ and something that the team are investigating to prevent from happening again.
Leclerc had dominated the Bahrain race weekend, finishing top of the timing sheets in FP1 and FP3 and claiming his first ever pole position in F1 on Saturday by almost three tenths.
He slipped back to third at the start but recovered to retake the lead by lap five and dominated thereafter. That was, until he developed a power unit problem with just fifteen laps to go, one which cost him several seconds per lap. The two Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas caught and passed him, but Leclerc was saved from losing any more positions by the safety car brought out to recover both Renaults. He came home third, his first podium in F1 but one tinged with disappointment.
Speaking of the power unit issue, Mattia Binotto said, “It was a shame for Charles. He was in the lead for much of the race and showed that he was particularly comfortable here in Bahrain, also setting the race fastest lap.
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“He deserved to win and it was only the reliability problem, which we must now investigate, which prevented him from doing so. That is something unacceptable from us and it shows how important it is to get every last detail right in order to win.”
Leclerc added, “It’s part of motorsport, we know that. Sometimes it’s not your day to win and today wasn’t ours. In the final part of the race we had an issue with the power unit and I had to slow down.
“It’s a shame because the race seemed to me to be under control. The team is disappointed and I am disappointed but there are a lot of positives to take home from this weekend.
“These things happen in motorsport: we took the best out of it anyway. It’s my first podium even if I’m not enjoying it as much as I wanted. It’s life, it happens, we’ll come back stronger”.
The second race of the 2019 season took place under the bright lights of the Bahrain International circuit. Charles Leclerc started from pole position, making him the 99th driver to take pole in the 999th F1 Grand Prix, with Vettel, Hamilton, Bottas and Verstappen started behind him.
The lights went out and both Vettel and Bottas got better starts than Leclerc, demoting the Monagasque to third with Hamilton in fourth after the first lap.
Chaos broke out behind the leaders, with sparks flying around the cars of Stroll and Grosjean. The Frenchman would eventually retire from the race. At the back the Williams drivers had a heated fight, which was more for their honor than the points.
Leclerc managed to pick up the speed after his horrible start and regained second place from Bottas. This overtake cost the Finn momentum, meaning that his teammate Hamilton could overtake him as well.
Verstappen in P5 came under pressure from Sainz in the McLaren, a potential haul of points McLaren could definitely use. What they couldn’t use, however, was a touch with Verstappen which meant Sainz received major damage on his front right tyre. The incident was investigated by the stewards, but no action was taken.
Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
Up front, Ferrari told that both drivers were free to fight, and they took advantage of it. Leclerc closed the gap to Vettel quite easily, telling his team “I’m quicker guys!” On lap six he managed to overtake the German using DRS, retaking the lead.
Gasly had to regain his respect after a disappointing qualifying, but struggled in a huge midfield fight with Norris, Magnussen, Albon and Kvyat. To make matters worse, his pit stop went horribly and cost him further precious seconds.
On lap thirteen Kvyat spun due to a slight touch with Giovinazzi at turn eleven, losing places as a result. To add insult to injury, the Russian Toro Rosso driver later got a five-second penalty for speeding in the pitlane. That same lap, Bottas and Hulkenberg came into the pits.
Race leader Leclerc made his pitstop on lap fourteen, opting for the mediums whilst Hamilton went for the soft tyres.
Vettel lost his second place to Hamilton on fresher tyres, but the Brit’s strategy would mean he needed to make another pitstop to fulfill the rules of using two different compounds during a race.
2019 Bahrain Grand Prix, Sunday – Wolfgang Wilhelm
Some small mistakes from Hamilton meant that Vettel closed the gap, even though the German was on the harder tyre. Hamilton complained about oversteer and had to make another stop. On lap 23 Vettel overtook him, leading to some stressful board-radios from Hamilton.
In the midfield a fun fight between Norris and Räikkönen for P7 took place, keeping each other under pressure.
On lap 33, car number 33 came in for his second pitstop. Verstappen couldn’t be happy as his pitstop went awful, not the first pitstop that’d gone wrong at Red Bull today. Hamilton made his second pitstop two laps later, going for the mediums. He came back on track in front of Verstappen.
Vettel then tried to cover the Mercedes, making his second pitstop, going to the mediums for a second time. He came back just in front of his rival. Immediately after that Leclerc made his second pitstop, and emerged with his lead intact.
Last year’s championship rivals came very close to crashing, with Vettel edging Hamilton out by only a small margin. The German smelled blood and overtook Bottas, who then came into the pits with only a small margin to Verstappen.
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Up front, a fight for second place between Hamilton and Vettel spelled drama: Hamilton overtook Vettel and the German spun round on his own, costing him a lot of time. He then lost his front wing, as the car was shaking a lot on the straight after turn ten. He had to make another pitstop, dropping down to ninth.
On lap forty-six Leclerc caused a scare when he reported to his team that something was wrong with the engine. His pace dropped away very quickly, with Hamilton closing the gap from nine seconds to just five in three laps. With ten laps to go the Ferrari was really struggling, just managing to put 1:40s on the board compared to the 1:36s of Hamilton.
Hamilton therefore easily managed to overtake him. Leclerc turned his attention to managing the gap to Bottas in P3. He still held the fastest lap, earning him an extra point, but that couldn’t make it up for the disappointment of losing out on his first win due to an engine problem. He was losing around 40 kph on the straights. Bottas closed the gap to him by five seconds a lap and later overtook him for P2.
Further drama sparked with just three laps to go, as both the Renault cars cut out in the first sector. This brought out the safety car, saving Leclerc from losing third place to Verstappen. When it rains it pours: Sainz also retired from the race with just three laps to go.
The race ended behind the safety car, meaning Hamilton won the race ahead of Bottas and a very disappointed Leclerc, who still took the extra point for fastest lap.
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Some great sportsmanship was shown by Hamilton, sounding sorry for Leclerc and also trying to cheer him up after the race. Verstappen, Vettel, Norris, Räikkönen, Gasly, Albon and Perez completed the top ten.
It was certainly a very dramatic race, and the season is just two races old. Next up is China – will Leclerc get his revenge there or will Mercedes take another win?
If I may initiate this piece with a song reference, honours are bestowed to this one, plucked straight from Eminem’s six-barrel lyrical blitz ‘Lose Yourself’. ‘Yo! His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy’. It speaks of one being pelted at from all corners by the tribulations of life, while maintaining an outward show of calmness. What better example, then, than a fallen sportsman.
At one point or another during 2018, Valtteri Bottas may have stared into the abyss of his bathroom mirror, opened out his fingers and checked for any trickling beads of moisture. He may have felt out the strength of his joints with reflex tests. He may even have found his arms screaming out for contact with the ground, as though the distress of his on-track results were taking on a physical form.
2018 was Valtteri’s annus horribilis. What started out as a championship fluttering around the reach of his grasp, derailed and morphed into a warped nightmare. His trademark stoicism was being sapped away with each botched race weekend, and the Finn even admitted the tyre blowout which denied him a crucial victory in Baku left him ‘crying like a baby’.
2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Saturday – Wolfgang Wilhelm
I like to think of this as his Mika Hakkinen moment, and not just for his and Hakkinen’s shared nationality. Harking back to 1999, the king of flying Finns faced his own emotional nadir – after spinning out of the lead in Monza, Hakkinen both blew ten points into the wind and folded under the mind games of the Scuderia’s tifosi. Away from their taunts, he wept under the trees lining the track.
If you’re familiar with the tale of F1 1999, you’ll know that Hakkinen’s mistake did not cost him the championship. He admits that while the pain of never winning an Italian GP still rests in his mind, he was never going to be desolate under the trees for long. Bottas’ tears in Baku dried much the same, but his internal hurting lasted for the season and brought into question just whether he was able to channel that same energy Hakkinen generated for himself.
So, with the winter months behind him, Bottas likely came into Melbourne praying a new chapter would be penned, rather than a grim continuation of what had gone before. Not that he outwardly seemed it – there was now a surprising arrow to his bow: bite. Armed with a gruff beard and a sharp tongue, the champions’ element of disdain with the circus of whispers around them were acquired by Bottas like a platformers’ item box.
Throughout the weekend, Albert Park’s white lines could have buckled under the strain of confining Bottas, the Finn busy proving to the globe that he does have the winner’s uncompromising instinct, as a matter of fact. Even when high Mercedes brass suggested over the radio that he place the shackles back on and resist the push for fastest lap, they were welcomed with the unexpected hand grenade – no. Not this time.
2019 Australian Grand Prix, Sunday – Wolfgang Wilhelm
Albert Park’s indoor parking spot welcomed its winner first, as is usual. A silver front nose told a story we’d seen many a time over the hybrid era, but this time a white and red helmet didn’t complete the set. It was white, blue and carbon. And to whom that may concern, the man underneath it has words for you. Unsavoury ones. The Hakkinen moment and the understated power of his sisu mindset gave this race’s victor the second wind that could quell media scaremongers and seat poachers alike over the season.
With Australia 2019 now stored in the archives, we can admit there were outside factors that helped Bottas’ day of days. Lewis Hamilton was at the helm of a wounded machine, but even so, with a start so fierce and race management on-point, it’s hard to see past a Finn win. To me, at least, it wasn’t the margin of victory that tells the story here. It’s the way it all unfolded.
Bottas wasn’t holding on for dear life, protecting his right to be part of the elite like Russia, his first win. No murmurs over his conduct, as there were in Austria. Even his Abu Dhabi triumph, under the circumstances of a dead-rubber season’s end. No, this was the breakthrough. His palms were dry like the sahara. His knees were manning the sweet orchestra in the footwell, and his arms were weighted with the delicacy of porcelain. He was no longer wrestling with the tears, nor his rhythm behind the wheel.
Will it last? We wait to see, but the strength he has acquired can last for the rest of his career. This second wind truly feels like it could be season long, if the gods of racing roll the dice of fate favourably. And so he now ventures off to Bahrain, with a thirst for vengeance. For what feels like the longest time, I won’t be concerned for him when he gets there.
This team radio message between Sebastian Vettel and his race engineer was the general gist of what was a sobering, dejecting, and exposing weekend for Ferrari at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
After such a promising winter where Ferrari looked quicker and more reliable than Mercedes, the Italian team came to Australia with a surely ardent belief that this, after years of waiting, was finally the year they would have the upper hand over Mercedes and would have enough to win the championship. Now, we may have only had one race so far, and we certainly will not rule out Ferrari after just 58 laps of racing, but Friday was a reality check for Ferrari and Sunday has made for compounded Monday morning blues at Maranello.
Ferrari Media
Sebastian Vettel was seven tenths off Lewis Hamilton’s pole position, and Ferrari’s fastest lap of the race, set by Charles Leclerc, was just under 1.4 seconds slower than the fastest lap of the race set by race winner Valtteri Bottas. To make matters even worse, Max Verstappen and his Honda powered Red Bull looked exceedingly quick and he pushed Vettel out of the podium places, leaving a lot of head-scratching to be done at Ferrari.
So just why were Ferrari so much slower over the course of the weekend than Mercedes? Well, the heart that Ferrari fans can take from this weekend is that the gap in qualifying pace this season was similar to what we saw last year. The race this year, though, did not turn out so well. Even another Haas pit stop failure for Romain Grosjean couldn’t save Ferrari this time around.
Melbourne is a very unique circuit. Many forget that the track is actually a main road and therefore is a tricky surface, a mix between straights and twisty corners. It is, for the most part, a power track, which would suggest that Mercedes have managed to edge back ahead of Ferrari engine-wise.
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Overall, however, the Albert Park circuit tends to be fairly unrepresentative of pace and performance, which will be the key source of positive thinking that Ferrari will be looking to heading into the Bahrain Grand Prix. Furthermore, Mark Webber was keen to point towards tyres, suggesting that Mercedes were able to get the tyres into an operating window and keep them there. Ferrari, meanwhile, were not, which in turn would link back again the unique nature of the Melbourne circuit.
An aspect that will concern them even more is that Red Bull looked genuinely fast. The Honda-powered car was brilliantly fast in the speed traps, split both Ferraris in qualifying, and set a faster lap than them both during the race.
It is difficult to judge whether this is a step in the wrong direction for Ferrari, or whether this was just a wacky weekend that didn’t turn out in their favour. All did not look well during the weekend and the early signs suggest that the Prancing Horse is not match for the Silver Arrows, and may even be challenged by the new-look Charging Bull.
Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto says Ferrari issued team orders to Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc to avoid taking ‘any risks’ in the closing stages of the Australian Grand Prix.
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Despite many labelling the Scuderia the favourites going into the season based on their form in testing, Ferrari struggled around the streets of Albert Park.
“Right from Friday, we didn’t feel comfortable at this track,” Binotto said. “Even though we did a lot of work on set-up, we didn’t find the right balance and even our qualifying performance demonstrated that we were struggling to adapt to the Albert Park track.”
After Vettel made a pitstop to switch onto the medium tyres, he failed to get enough grip out of them and was passed by Max Verstappen. When Leclerc then started gaining on Vettel using newly fitted hard tyres with ten laps to go, he asked the team whether he should stay behind.
“Yes, and back off to have some margin,” came the reply. Leclerc obeyed and the pair trailed home fourth and fifth, nearly a minute behind race winner Valtteri Bottas.
Ferrari Media
It was made clear in pre-season testing that Ferrari had the intentions of prioritising Vettel over Leclerc in an attempt to boost the former’s hopes in the title race. In Australia, though, it was a matter of not jeopardising either of their drivers’ results, despite the thirty second gap to Kevin Magnussen in the Haas behind.
Speaking of the decision, Binotto said, “When [Vettel] could no longer fend off Verstappen, we decided the most important thing was to get to the end, managing the tyres. When Charles caught up to him, it seemed wise not to take any risks.
“We leave Australia with a lot of data to analyse and we will use that to work out how to get back to our actual level of competitiveness for the race in Bahrain in two weeks time.”
The first round of the 2019 Formula 1 season is complete – here we look at Australian GP driver ratings:
Valtteri Bottas – 9
Sunday was near perfect, with a lightning start allowing him to jump his team mate and from then he just went off into the distance, getting an extra point for fastest lap as well. He wasn’t necessarily the winner we expected from pre-season testing but he was without a doubt the driver of the day.
2019 Australian Grand Prix, Sunday – LAT Images
Lewis Hamilton – 7
Hamilton is well known for having the Saturday pace which generally puts him in good stead for Sunday, but he was beaten fair and square during the race. Still, he’ll take the podium along with the equal record for the most poles at one circuit.
Max Verstappen – 8
Verstappen put in the best performance for Honda in the whole of the hybrid era with his podium finish. He managed his tyres well and made an easy move on Vettel. A mistake at turn one hindered a late attack on Hamilton, but he will leave Melbourne with a smile on his face.
Sebastian Vettel – 7
Vettel had a solid start and was quick in the first stint, attempting to attack with an undercut which ultimately didn’t work. You can guarantee an investigation will be underway at Ferrari to figure out how they ended up 57 seconds behind the winner.
Charles Leclerc – 6
A great start by Leclerc but he was rather ambitious to attempt a move on his team-mate which could have ended in tears. Unlike his team-mate, he was slow in the first half of the race but fast in the second, and caught up to Vettel before being told to hold position. He showed he had speed in Q2 but the Ferrari doesn’t seem to be the package everyone thought.
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Kevin Magnussen – 8
Magnussen was best of the rest in Australia, with solid pace and what seems to be the fourth quickest car. It was a better result than last year with no faulty pitstops, even if he was outqualified by his team-mate.
Nico Hulkenburg – 7
It was another result in a familiar place for the German. He started 11th so had free choice of tyres, which benefitted him in the race as he got the move on a few other drivers.
Kimi Raikkonen – 8
Raikkonen did exceptionally well considering where the team was last year, with a very aggressive package seeming to suit him well. He got the car into Q3 and kept that momentum going into Sunday.
Lance Stroll – 7
Stroll always raises eyebrows due to how he got into the sport, but in the race he showed he was fully deserving of the seat at Racing Point as he was in the thick of it all weekend. He scored the team’s only point, having some great battles whilst keeping the car clean.
Danil Kvyat – 6
A good return to the sport, ignoring a mistake at turn three. He was ambitious to run the hard tyre and defended well from faster cars behind, taking his car deeper into the race and allowing him to overcut the majority of them for the last point.
Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
Pierre Gasly – 4
Australia will be a race to forget for Gasly. A mistake on Saturday by the team cost him dearly and he spent most of the race staring at Kvyat’s rear wing, unable to get past even on the softest tyre.
Lando Norris – 7
It was a great Saturday from Norris, but an early stop in the race in reaction to others put him in traffic. He was unable to pass Giovinazzi for several laps and just missed out on the points. Expect big things from Norris this season.
Sergio Perez – 5
It was an off-day for the Mexican on Sunday as he was classified down in 13th. He got caught up in the midfield battle which let others overcut him. The car looks great though, so there will be plenty more opportunities for him.
Alex Albon – 6
Despite being the first to spin this season in similar circumstances to his incident in testing, Albon did a good job. He matched Kvyat for outright pace on Saturday but was just caught up in the ever-so-tight midfield squabble. A good Sunday debut.
Antonio Giovinazzi – 5
The returning Italian was a pain for most at Melbourne, stuck on a confusing strategy with his tyres were ruined, and becoming a replacement for the infamous ‘Trulli train’. He showed true grit in terms of defence but not a lot of outright speed, though this is only his third ever race in F1.
George Russell – 6
Russell blitzed his much more experienced team-mate, but that’s not saying much considering Kubica is really the only competition he has due to Williams being so far behind the others. He finished his debut race and hopefully get in the mix, sooner rather than later.
George Russell (GBR) Williams Racing FW42. Australian Grand Prix, Sunday 17th March 2019. Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia.
Robert Kubica – 3
A race to forget and move on from for Kubica. He hit the wall twice on Saturday and then hit Gasly at turn one on the first lap of the race. Williams will have collected some data though, and Kubica will get quicker and quicker throughout the season.
Romain Grosjean – 7
Another pit stop failure resulted in early retirement for the Frenchman, after being on course for a good points haul. A long delay in the pits pushed him down the order, and he then had to stop the car on track due to a ill-fitted left-front tyre.
Daniel Ricciardo – 5
For the first time in Melbourne in the turbo era, Ricciardo failed to get through to Q3 on Saturday, and his race – his first for Renault – was pretty much over in a few seconds when he pushed wide onto the grass and broke his front wing. He decided to retire the car.
Carlos Sainz – 4
Sainz was beaten by his rookie team mate on Saturday comprehensively, and was the first to retire on Sunday. Because of the nature of the track he had been unable to make up much ground prior to the retirement. He is a fighter though, and will be back for Bahrain.
Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton believes that qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix was the first occasion that Mercedes were able to ‘unleash the full potential’ of the W10.
Hamilton led a Mercedes 1-2 in qualifying around the streets of Albert Park, almost a tenth of a second ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas and seven tenths ahead of third-placed Sebastian Vettel.
It was the Brit’s eighth pole position in Australia, equaling Michael Schumacher’s record of the most poles claimed at one circuit.
“I feel so fortunate to be in the position I’m in today,” Hamilton said. “We had no idea that we’d have this gap to the others – we thought we were behind, we thought it was going to be a push, so we gave it absolutely everything and more to arrive here with the best possible package and delivery.”
Mercedes came into the first race of the year with many saying that Ferrari held the advantage over the Silver Arrows based on their form in pre-season testing; Hamilton thus expressed his surprise at the performance of his car in qualifying.
“We haven’t massively changed the car; it’s almost the same set-up we had in Barcelona, so this gap was really surprising to see,” he said. “This is the first time we’ve unleashed the full potential of the car and I’m so happy to have a car that I can fight with. This is a really great start to the new season and it puts us in a good position for the fight tomorrow.”
Daniel Ricciardo says Renault “have to keep a cool head” going into tomorrow’s Australian Grand Prix, despite a difficult qualifying that saw both of the team’s drivers fail to reach Q3.
Ricciardo missed out by the narrowest of margins and will start his home race in P12, just one position behind his team-mate Nico Hulkenberg.
“I’m clearly disappointed not to make Q3,” Ricciardo said, “especially as it was just half a tenth and that’s something I can find in myself – I lost a bit of time in the first sector on the last run. We had the potential to make Q3 so when you don’t do the perfect lap, it’s frustrating.
“As expected the midfield is really close but I’m feeling optimistic for a strong result tomorrow. I always want to do well at home, but we have to keep a cool head, have a good start and then attack when necessary.”
Renault’s Sporting Director Alan Permane added, “We thought [Ricciardo] had another couple of tenths which would have put him safely into the top ten. We therefore have a little bit of work to do tomorrow, but with the good long run pace we demonstrated yesterday, we are aiming to make up for today and get both cars well into the points.”
