Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Albert Park, 2019

2019 Australian Grand Prix grid

2019 Australian Grand Prix

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Row 11. Lewis Hamilton 1’20.486
Mercedes
2. Valtteri Bottas 1’20.598
Mercedes
Row 23. Sebastian Vettel 1’21.190
Ferrari
4. Max Verstappen 1’21.320
Red Bull
Row 35. Charles Leclerc 1’21.442
Ferrari
6. Romain Grosjean 1’21.826
Haas
Row 47. Kevin Magnussen 1’22.099
Haas
8. Lando Norris 1’22.304
McLaren
Row 59. Kimi Raikkonen 1’22.314
Alfa Romeo
10. Sergio Perez 1’22.781
Racing Point
Row 611. Nico Hulkenberg 1’22.562
Renault
12. Daniel Ricciardo 1’22.570
Renault
Row 713. Alexander Albon 1’22.636
Toro Rosso
14. Antonio Giovinazzi 1’22.714
Alfa Romeo
Row 815. Daniil Kvyat 1’22.774
Toro Rosso
16. Lance Stroll 1’23.017
Racing Point
Row 917. Pierre Gasly 1’23.020
Red Bull
18. Carlos Sainz Jnr 1’23.084
McLaren
Row 1019. George Russell 1’24.360
Williams
20. Robert Kubica 1’26.067
Williams

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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34 comments on “2019 Australian Grand Prix grid”

  1. Pedro Andrade
    16th March 2019, 7:07

    Congratulations Lewis Hamilton on title number 6!

    1. Before summer break. After the summer break we remove Merc and start a new season.

    2. Pedro Andrade
      16th March 2019, 7:11

      But, like Toto said, any of the other 9 teams can still pose a challenge

      1. Esp that Williams car, they look like a black box right now…

        1. A black box after the accident, waiting to be found and disected to see what went wrong perhaps @mysticus

          1. yup they need to investigate what is wrong… currently they say they know whats wrong but will take months maybe years to fix… so they are crashed big time

      2. It’s challenging to lap cars

    3. @Pedro Andrade Again, too early to jump to definite conclusions on the outcome of the WDC. The first race of the season hasn’t even taken place yet, so zero points have been handed out to anyone at this point.

  2. Seven-tenths faster than last season’s pole time despite the aero changes. Gasly not getting through to Q2, though. Neither of the Renault-drivers managing to get to Q3 was a bit surprising as well.

    1. Seven-tenths faster than last season’s pole time despite the aero changes.

      @jerejj Given the performance gains over the course of 2018 though it looks like the aero changes have led to a slight performance loss since Abu Dhabi. Still though, very impressive stuff. Will be interesting to see at which circuits the new regs have the most/least impact.

  3. Lando Norris for P8, brilliant drive. There’s hope for the Renault PU if not for the factory team right at the moment.
    Will be interesting to see how the race pans out, but I just get the feeling Hamilton is about to romp away with another title.

    1. Norris for P8, brilliant drive

      Driver of the day in my opinion. Going to be a huge challenge for him but of he manages to hold on to a points finish tomorrow he’ll be a serious contender for DOTW.

  4. Seeing Lando on row 4 in his first F1 race, just how hard will Fernando be kicking himself for leaving McLaren?

    1. Lando is 1.8s slower than Mercedes. Alonso doesn’t care.

      1. Sviat – How much extra time was it that Fernando used to claim that HE brought to the car?

    2. @gnosticbrian Hmm winning Sebring in the top wec team or qualifying an irrelevant 8th in a car that can not possibly win? He must be in tears lol.

      1. Christopher – Sebring, every aspiring F1 driver’s dream….dream on.

        1. Sebring was on the F1 calendar (once), but honestly, the track is too brutal for F1. It’s a good, old-fashioned, car-breaking track.

          Turn 17, in particular, is particularly tough– it’s wide enough there is no preferred line, it’s bumpy enough that it’s like driving a high speed race track while being assaulted by Mike Tyson.

          Being able to say you won overall at Sebring is worth something.

  5. Ok Valtteri, this is it. Get those gloves off and give us a challenger for LH ala Nico, if it turns out Ferrari has a consistent deficit. Just quali though so far, and one race. Everything to play for in the development race. But in spite of that this start is huge for Bottas, as to whether he challenges or cedes in turn one. He MUST get on top of LH immediately if he stands a chance this season.

    Thrilled for Max. Quali one of this new marriage. I sense massive potential. Now they need to show reliability along with the pace tomorrow.

  6. WOOOW, this is so baaaad! Hope so bad it’s some sort of a ”one-off”.

    Norris with a McLaren in 8th?! Wow!

    Renault behind Haas and Alfa Romeo?! Wow!

    Hulk ahead of Ric?!

    PS: did not see the Quali, so bare with my ”WOW moments”, please.

    1. @mg1982

      I was kind of surprised to see both Renaults knocked out in Q2. I knew it would be close between Haas, Renault and Alfa, but I didn’t think that both Ricciardo and Hulkenberg would drop out of Q2. Quite a disappointing start for them, although starting in P11 and P12 with fresh rubber could be an advantage on raceday.

      I do think this race is a bit of a one-off.

      1. Even worse, the teammates where really close in time as well. So that is basically maximum they can get out of the car.

      2. @todfod It was a messy qualifying for Renault. Hulk suffered from an electrical issue and didn’t get a second run and Ricciardo had a poor first sector on his best lap. They didn’t get to show their potential.

  7. Wonder what Ocon is thinking watching Perez make Q3, & his car drop out in Q1 with daddy’s boy at the wheel …

    1. I’m pretty sure Ocon was more interested in Bottas’ performance. He’s got his fingers crossed on Valterri underperforming this season.

      Regarding Stroll… yeah.. I’m pretty sure he already knew that Perez would destroy him.

  8. I bet when Toto was growing up, he used to walk out of examination halls and talk about how he completely bombed on the tests. When the results came out, he probably topped every subject with flying colours.

    Quite an unexpected qualifying session.

    First of all.. take a bow Lando Norris! I was skeptical of how he would perform this year, especially because of his underwhelming GP2 season last season, as well as a relatively scruffy build up to this weekend. He put in an Alonso type performance and dragged that car in to Q3.

    Secondly.. welcome to the party Mr.Bottas! I thought he had taken pole today. He’s gotten off to a better start this season already.

    Thirdly… To the under performers… What on earth was Gasly doing? Hands down the worst qualifying performance on the grid. Sainz as well.. although.. he did get impeded by Kubica’s exploding tyre. Stroll.. yeah.. that kid is still rubbish.

    Last year Mercedes had taken pole by a similar margin, and everyone was nervous about whether they would dominate the season again. Race 2 onwards it was advantage Ferrari. So, I’m pretty sure that Australia should be viewed as a bit of an outlier and the example of things to come.

    1. I bet when Toto was growing up, he used to walk out of examination halls and talk about how he completely bombed on the tests. When the results came out, he probably topped every subject with flying colours.

      I was thinking the exact same thing. “I’m definitely failing this one” – 9.8/10

    2. Stroll’s Q1 time was only just 1 tenth off Perez’s Q1 time, and just over 2 tenths slower than Perez’s Q3 time. That’s a respectable effort on his first go with a new team vs. an established driver.
      I’m not a Stroll fan by any means and he probably would not be in F1 if it was solely based on merit – but we should at least try and be objective in our assessment of him.

      Such are the fine margins in the midfield that 1 tenth in Q1 was the difference between 10th and 16th.

      So yeah basically, to dismiss his effort in quali today as “rubbish” is more than just a bit harsh IMO

      1. Stroll had traffic on his best lap as well.

  9. It’s only the first race weekend, too early to jump to any conclusions.

    1. “It’s only the first race weekend, too early to jump to any conclusions.”
      You’re a true philosopher, sir…

    2. True. But this is not Monaco, so most chances are that Mercedes will have the upper hand overall and will be favs, just like last year. With that kind of advantage it’s impossible to have things turned around for the rest of the tracks. My impression is that it’s gonna be mostly 2018-revisited, up to Ferrari/VET to get the best out of each race and pray Mercedes/HAM will have enough issues to lose the WDC, or at least be decided in the last race.

  10. What is very sad is that the best new young driver is 19th. Ecause he is in a car built by experts but managed by clowns.

  11. Let’s all have a collective thought for haas’ wheel gun guys and the quality of their sleep tonight ..

Comments are closed.