A different year but the same results as Valtteri Bottas led a Mercedes 1-2 finish over his teammate Lewis Hamilton at the Australian Grand Prix to kick off the 2019 Formula One racing season. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen finished third to finish off the podium.
Bottas was the pole-sitter and went virtually uncontested as he pulled away from defending champion and five-time world champion Hamilton over the course of the race. The only drama was for second as Hamilton did not have the pace of Bottas and had to fend off Verstappen, but did so with ease.
The much-ballyhooed Ferrari dominance at the early testing sessions evaporated as Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc finished fourth and fifth, respectively, but both nearly a minute behind the Mercedes of Bottas.
With the victory, Bottas takes the early lead in the 2019 driver’s championship race and received an extra point for this year’s rule change awarding a point to the racer with the fastest lap among the Top 10.
Top 10 Australian Grand Prix
1 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:25:27.325
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +20.886
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull +22.520
4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari +57.109
5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +58.230
6 K. Magnussen Haas +87.156
7 Nico Hülkenberg Renault +1 Lap
8 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo +1 Lap
9 Lance Stroll Racing Point +1 Lap
10 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso +1 Lap