| 2019 Australian Grand Prix | ||||
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Race 1 of 21 in the2019 Formula One World Championship
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 Layout of the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit | ||||
| Race details | ||||
| Date | 17 March 2019 | |||
| Official name | Formula 1 RolexAustralian Grand Prix 2019 | |||
| Location | Albert Park Circuit Melbourne, Australia | |||
| Course | Temporary street circuit | |||
| Course length | 5.303 km (3.295 miles) | |||
| Distance | 58 laps, 307.574 km (191.118 miles) | |||
| Weather | Sunny | |||
| Attendance | 324,100[1] | |||
| Pole position | ||||
| Driver | Mercedes | |||
| Time | 1:20.486 | |||
| Fastest lap | ||||
| Driver |  Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | ||
| Time | 1:25.580 on lap 57 | |||
| Podium | ||||
| First | Mercedes | |||
| Second | Mercedes | |||
| Third | Red Bull Racing-Honda | |||
Lap leaders | ||||
The2019 Australian Grand Prix (formally known as theFormula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix 2019)[2] was aFormula One motor race that was held on 17 March 2019 inMelbourne,Victoria. The race was contested at theAlbert Park Circuit and was the first round of the2019 FIA Formula One World Championship.[3] The race marked the 84th race in the combined history of theAustralian Grand Prix – which dates back to the100 Miles Road Race of 1928 – the 24th time the event was held at the Albert Park circuit and the 35th time the Australian Grand Prix had been a part of the Formula One World Championship.[4] This was the last Grand Prix held on this configuration of the Albert Park Circuit that had been in use since 1996 with the2020 and2021 events being cancelled and the2022 event being run on an adjusted layout.
Lewis Hamilton entered the round as the defendingWorld Drivers' Champion and his team,Mercedes, were the defendingWorld Constructors' Champions.[5] Hamilton got pole position for the race, equalling the record for most poles at one Grand Prix (8), but it was his Mercedes teammateValtteri Bottas who won the Grand Prix from second on the grid, while Hamilton followed behind him in second andMax Verstappen taking third.[6][7] It was also the Formula One debuts of future race winnersLando Norris andGeorge Russell, who drove forMcLaren andWilliams respectively.
This was the last time that the Australian Grand Prix was held as the season opener until2025.
The Australian Grand Prix was officially confirmed as the first of twenty-one races of the2019 Formula One World Championship at anFIA World Motor Sport Council meeting in Paris in December 2018. The race took place at the sixteen-turn, 5.303 km (3.295 mi)Albert Park Circuit inMelbourne,Victoria on 17 March 2019.[3] Melbourne'sFederation Square hosted a season launch event, the first of its kind for the sport, in the week before the race.[8]
Race DirectorCharlie Whiting died suddenly in the week before the race, so Deputy Race DirectorMichael Masi was named as Whiting's temporary successor.[9][10][11] Local officials were appointed to fill Whiting's additional roles until a long-term appointment could be made ahead of theBahrain Grand Prix.[11] Masi remained the Race Director until the conclusion of the 2021 season.
Twenty drivers representing ten teams entered the race.[12]Alfa Romeo Racing made their return to the sport, replacing theSauber F1 Team as part of a sponsorship deal that started in2018.[13]Racing Point also made their début as an independent constructor, having acquired the assets of theSahara Force India team and having competed under theForce India name in 2018.[14]Alexander Albon,Lando Norris andGeorge Russell all made their competitive débuts.[15][16][17] Meanwhile,Antonio Giovinazzi,Robert Kubica andDaniil Kvyat all returned to the championship.[18][19][20]
Mission Winnow, the title sponsor ofFerrari, was banned from the race as it did not comply with local laws governing tobacco sponsorship.[21]
Tyre supplierPirelli provided teams with an intermediate range of tyres for the race.[22] Under rules introduced in 2019, Pirelli changed the designations of their tyres to rate the hardness of the compounds, with "C1" being the hardest and "C5" the softest.[23] The colour-coding system used in previous years was simplified so that the white-coloured tyre wall represents the hardest compound available at any Grand Prix, a yellow tyre wall the medium compound and the red tyre wall the softest tyre.[24] Pirelli nominated the C2 tyre as the white-banded hard compound, C3 as the yellow-banded medium and C4 as the red-banded soft.[25]
The race saw the introduction of a change to the points system. The system in use since2010 was retained, but drivers who set the fastest lap could be awarded a bonus point, provided that they finish the race inside the top ten. The bonus point is also awarded to the constructor of the driver that set the fastest lap.[26]
Lewis Hamilton was fastest in all three practice sessions. The sessions ran uninterrupted apart from an incident that sawAlexander Albon spinning out at turn 2 and hitting the wall during the first practice session. Albon was able to return to the pits for repairs.[27][28][29] In the third practice session,McLaren releasedLando Norris into the path ofRobert Kubica which resulted in the McLaren team receiving a fine.[30]
The first qualifying session passed without incident until the final couple of minutes whenRobert Kubica hit the wall coming out of turn 10, giving him a puncture. He later attributed this to a sudden increase in grip.[31] The drivers knocked out in Q1 and finishing qualifying in sixteenth to twentieth respectively wereLance Stroll,Pierre Gasly,Carlos Sainz,George Russell andRobert Kubica, withCharles Leclerc setting the fastest lap time of the session.[32] Gasly being knocked out came as a particular surprise and put his early exit down to unexpected track evolution.[33] Sainz was also disappointed with his early exit from qualifying, especially considering histeammate qualified in eighth. Sainz attributed his early exit to having to slow down after Kubica got a puncture in front of him, forcing him to slow down on his qualifying lap.[34]
The second qualifying session passed without incident and resulted withNico Hülkenberg,Daniel Ricciardo,Alexander Albon,Antonio Giovinazzi andDaniil Kvyat being knocked out and finishing qualifying ranked eleventh to fifteenth respectively, withLewis Hamilton setting a qualifying lap record to end the session fastest.[32][35] The surprises came from the twoRenaults of Ricciardo and Hülkenberg being knocked out after being considered as the fourth fastest team following pre-season testing, and fromLando Norris getting in to the top ten.[36][37][38]
For the third qualifying session, all of the teams were able to have two attempts to set the fastest time. After the first attempt it wasValtteri Bottas who was leading, having beaten the qualifying lap record which Hamilton had set in Q2. Bottas was followed by Hamilton andSebastian Vettel.[35] During the second attempt in Q3, Hamilton improved his time by half a second to beat Bottas's lap record.[35] As no one else improved their time sufficiently to beat any of the top three, it was Lewis Hamilton who tookpole position, followed by Valtteri Bottas and Sebastian Vettel completing the top three.[32] The top ten was completed byMax Verstappen,Charles Leclerc,Romain Grosjean,Kevin Magnussen,Lando Norris,Kimi Räikkönen andSergio Pérez. In his post-qualifying interview Leclerc confessed that he wasn't happy with his performance, saying that he thought he was able to get into the top three but he was unable to do so due to an untidy lap.[39] Meanwhile,Haas said that they were delighted with their performance of getting their cars into the sixth and seventh positions.[40]
Valtteri Bottas started the race well from second place, and had the lead going into turn one.[41] Further back,Daniel Ricciardo was contesting a position withSergio Pérez, in which Ricciardo had to drive on the grass on the right side of the track to avoid Pérez. However, Ricciardo drove over a sunken bit of tarmac which caused his front wing to fall apart, spilling debris around that part of the track and causing him to drop to last, as he drove round with no front wing before pitting for a replacement.[42][43][44]Max Verstappen was passed byCharles Leclerc who then proceeded to battle his teammateSebastian Vettel. Vettel kept Leclerc at bay in 5th and Leclerc was overtaken by Verstappen.[44][45]Robert Kubica also came into the pits on lap 1 after losing his front wing at the start, following contact withPierre Gasly.[46]
On lap 11,Carlos Sainz pulled over in hisMcLaren at the entrance to the pits, with a large plume of smoke emerging from the rear of his car, which was followed by an onboard fire.[47]Kimi Räikkönen pitted on lap 13 whilstPierre Gasly struggled to make progress from P17. Gasly only moved up to P12 despite being in a significantly faster car than those in front of him.[48][49][50]Nico Hülkenberg and Pérez then pulled into the pits in search of an undercut, followed by Vettel who put on the medium tyres.[48][51]Lewis Hamilton pitted a lap later onto the same tyre compound, and he emerged ahead of Vettel.[48][49][51] Romain Grosjean then pitted but an issue on the front left tyre caused him to lose three positions during his pit stop.[52]Antonio Giovinazzi went wide on the approach to turn 13, allowing Grosjean to pass through.[44] Bottas, the race leader, made his pit stop on lap 23, with Verstappen following suit three laps later. Leclerc pitted from second place on lap 29.[48] Daniel Ricciardo retired as a precaution following the lap 1 incident.[43] Verstappen passed Vettel on lap 31.[44] Grosjean pulled over on to the runoff area on the penultimate corner, after his front left wheel came loose.[44] Daniil Kvyat went wide trying to pass Lance Stroll at turn 3 on lap 38.[45] Bottas retook the fastest lap and won the Grand Prix by over 20 seconds to his teammate Hamilton.[53][54] They were followed by Verstappen in third and the twoFerrari cars trailing in fourth and fifth.[53] Bottas became the first driver to win a bonus point for the fastest lap of the race sinceMaurice Trintignant at the1959 United States Grand Prix.[55]
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| Previous race: 2018 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 2019 season | Next race: 2019 Bahrain Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 2018 Australian Grand Prix | Australian Grand Prix | Next race: 2022 Australian Grand Prix |
