In the round-up: Daniil Kvyat says he scored one of the hardest points of his Formula 1 career by resisting pressure from Pierre Gasly during the Australian Grand Prix.
What they say
It wasn’t an easy one. It was one of the most difficult points earned I would say but very satisfying at the same time because we kept a quicker car behind us the whole race so it’s very encouraging for us as a team.
We were catching a lot of teams ahead of us, too. I tried to overtake but it proved to be very difficult here, but at least I tried, I wouldn’t be happy with myself if I [didn’t].
Quotes: Dieter Rencken
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
20 to go. Would love a perfect 21 but will aim for a perfect 20. It’s all good.
— Daniel Ricciardo (@danielricciardo) March 17, 2019
Most places gained from start to finish in the @ausgrandprix:
Stroll – 7@PierreGASLY – 6@kvyatofficial – 5@HulkHulkenberg – 4 #F1 #AusGP pic.twitter.com/g36RYKV6fO
— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) March 18, 2019
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Links
More motor racing links of interest:
Ricciardo bemoans home race luck (Racer)
"I feel like that was pretty unlucky. I just put two wheels in, and the next thing, there’s a massive gutter ditch there which I don’t feel is probably on many other places."
Ricciardo's Renault debut 'mostly lows' (Autosport)
"It's a weekend mainly of lows, apart from glimpses of a very good and strong performance from him and the car in free practice, but in free practice we don't care."
Australian GP peaks with 1.4 million viewers across Sky’s TV platforms (Motorsport Broadcasting)
"An average audience of 441k (31.5%) watched the broadcast, a strong increase on last year’s figure of 344k (18.4%), and their highest Melbourne average since 2015."
Brundle: Sorrow and on-track surprises as F1 2019 begins (Sky)
"Valtteri simply looks more rugged and determined, and when I interviewed him in the parc ferme as he took his skid-lid off he looked initially ferocious and then part-bemused as the adrenaline faded away."
New billboard pressures IMS to abandon an Indy 500 tradition: the balloon release (IndyStar)
"The balloons can take years to degrade and pose a real threat to wildlife, which mistakes the latex for food. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also routinely requests the public not to release balloons."
Armando, the 'Hamilton of pigeons' sells for record €1.25m (BBC)
"Auction house Pipa called Armando the 'best Belgian long-distance pigeon of all time'. He's also been dubbed the 'Lewis Hamilton of pigeons'."
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Comment of the day
This Robert Kubica fan is keeping the faith after his dreadful first race weekend at Williams.
I as a Kubica fan was disappointed by Kubica in Melbourne, but I don’t think he is lacking performance, it is just what it is.
He hit the wall in qualifying, got a better start than Russell, took turn one cleanly, then Gasly suddenly drove over his front wing. The damaged front wing then damaged his floor and diffuser, and for good measure one of his mirrors fell off later on too. That is how bad Williams is, how does your mirror just suddenly fall off?
His replaced front wing wasn’t to Melbourne spec because the team is still lacking parts. After that Kubica was setting times around the same as Russell, but lost more time than usual being lapped, because with one mirror missing he had to give more space. It is like a bad nightmare! The guy comes back to the sport after eight years and has this nightmare weekend.
He thanked his team over the radio at the end as it was an achievement to get both cars home. Not a fairytale return for a fan like me, but we keep cheering, I’m sure he will do better next time. If he has a clean weekend and can’t keep up with Russell, he will be the first to criticise himself, and I will be the second.
Kpcart
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On this day in F1
Nicola Larini was born on this day in 1964. After driving a series of uncompetitive cars he eventually got his chance in a front-running team as a substitute. However his best-ever finish of second place in a Ferrari was widely overlooked, as it came amid the appalling events of the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. What’s more, that proved his final F1 start for almost three years.
Larini raced for Coloni in F3 and F3000, and graduated to F1 with the team in 1987. He spent the next two years campaigning Osella’s usually single-car entries, and rarely seeing the chequered flag due to their cars lamentable unreliability. A move to Ligier for 1990 at least brought consistent finishes, though never among the scorers (by the standards of the time – he finished in the top 10 on seven occasions).
After a promising start with the Modena-Lamborghini, which he took to seventh in Phoenix, Larini spent most of 1991 failing to qualify or pre-qualify. That prompted him to take up a testing role at Ferrari while also contesting the Italian Touring Car Championship. He drove for the Scuderia in the final two races of 1992, substituting for Ivan Capelli, before getting two further outings in 1994 in place of Jean Alesi. In between those he won the DTM in an Alfa Romeo 155.
Larini returned to F1 with Sauber in 1997 but it was not a happy union. Despite scoring a point on his return at Melbourne, Larini was out of a seat after five races. He went on to rdrive for Chevrolet in the World Touring Car Championship and continues to compete in touring car and GT championships.
James Bond (@jamesbond)
19th March 2019, 0:39
Gasly needs to watch his back. It wouldn’t surprise me if we’ll see Kvyat in a RB15 later this season.
ColdFly (@)
19th March 2019, 4:57
So they can demote him later when Verstappen needs the points?
@jamesbond
BasCB (@bascb)
19th March 2019, 7:13
Exactly @coldfly!
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
19th March 2019, 0:49
After all of what Abiteboul said about the meaning of having winning driver in Renault and the first race result, I hope Nico didn’t read RaceFans article about drivers salary…
The article headline and the tweet looks like have been carefully selected to justify for my choice of DoTW. Vote for Stroll and honorary mention to Kvyat.
F1ed (@rinodina)
19th March 2019, 1:36
Good for Kvyat! I wish him well for this season.
Niefer (@niefer)
19th March 2019, 1:55
Unlucky? Right before his eyes, beside the grid row ahead, was a big gutter ditch already. He started, another one came, and he put his car right on it as he started battling Perez. He kept going, and then the gutters said “enough is enough”.
Besides, what does he think the track walk is for anyway?
Melchior (@)
19th March 2019, 5:48
@niefer Yeah,what was Ricciardo thinking.He neglects to count every blade of grass that isn’t on the track during his track walk then he gets a good start then gets squeezed on to said grass. tsk tsk Danny
krxx
19th March 2019, 6:09
@melchior
hhh
Niefer (@niefer)
20th March 2019, 1:06
@melchior Grass is not the subject here, the massive gutter ditches are. Plus, a good start results in position gains, not swerving damage. If you’re upset, don’t come around with silliness. Just go cry at the pillow.
As for your tomfoolishness, not only he didn’t measure the grass well that he used the wrong tool to trim it. I don’t know what was he thinking, but I do know that a lawn mower isn’t a F1 car.
You can go now.
BlackJackFan
20th March 2019, 6:15
Hi Niefer, I don’t know how you were brought up but, in most societies, smugness isn’t usually regarded as a quality… Arrogance, even less so… ;-)
Niefer (@niefer)
20th March 2019, 16:02
Just as it is to ridicule others.
Also in most most societies there is a saying that tells you get what you pay for.
Now, please get off your high horse because lack of fairness isn’t a quality as well. =)
Phylyp (@phylyp)
19th March 2019, 2:26
LOL at the CoTD – the Williams is the Lada of the F1 world!
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
19th March 2019, 7:26
The mirror was a last minute fixture. The one that was on the car when it arrived in Australia failed scrutineering.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
19th March 2019, 7:58
@drycrust – that’s interesting to know. I thought they ran the “aero device” style of mirror in testing but switched to a legal design in Australia.
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
19th March 2019, 16:55
@phylyp Yes, I think you could be right on that. So I must apologise, I shouldn’t have said “failed scrutineering” and “last minute fixture”. As I now read the source I based that statement on, it seems the mirror arms used at the pre-season testing might not have been legal because some of the other teams questioned their legality. However, when the cars were presented to the Stewards at Melbourne for scrutineering the mirror arms had changed and were legal. So I don’t know if the mirror arms were changed in the UK before the cars were shipped to Australia, or if the mirror arms were changed in Australia.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
19th March 2019, 17:04
@drycrust – Cheers. That said, I’d say your underlying point still stands – it was a design of mirror mount that wasn’t tested much (and its design was probably rushed), leading to a failure after a weekend of running.
Sergey Martyn
20th March 2019, 20:17
| LOL at the CoTD – the Williams is the Lada of the F1 world!
Not Lada but Polonez! :-)
Phylyp (@phylyp)
19th March 2019, 2:28
Keith – I like this longer form of “On this day in F1” compared to the typical one-liner.
Jimmi Cynic (@jimmi-cynic)
19th March 2019, 5:13
@phylyp: Agree. But the typical one-liner is funnier. If delivered with a straight face and a curved shtick.
BasCB (@bascb)
19th March 2019, 7:15
yeah, I agree. Also, Larini drove for Alfa Romeo when they were dominating DTM and WTC, that was the only time i ever really watched touring cars kind of regularly!
Martin Nash
19th March 2019, 9:30
+1
krxx
19th March 2019, 6:21
Kvyat did good, but Gasly was given a real bad pit strategy. They could’ve easily had GAS jump KVY. Even 9th was attainable.
All in all, GAS was done twice by his own team in the very first GP, first in quali, 2nd in the race itself.
Mog
19th March 2019, 9:57
Cant have him challenging max now can we
stefan
19th March 2019, 13:52
Yeah GAS is easily better than VER he just needs the team to help him overtake slower cars. Can’t expect a driver to do that by him self.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
20th March 2019, 5:14
Yes, verstappen overtakes a slow ferrari, which is still the clear 3rd best car, and gasly can’t overtake a toro rosso just after getting new tyres, in fact, he can be overtaken by a toro rosso, driven by someone who got demoted over and over, no less!
72defender (@72defender)
19th March 2019, 8:54
Kudos to Kvyat for a solid drive.
Jere (@jerejj)
19th March 2019, 10:01
Kvyat indeed drove a solid race (as did Stroll) to keep a driver with a faster car on raw pace behind him all race although I still find it a bit embarrassing that Gasly failed to get past him even when he had a tyre advantage over Kvyat (not only eleven laps fresher, but softer as well.) Getting past Kvyat at the beginning of his second stint should’ve been relatively easy given the tyre advantage combined with the car advantage, and yet he still failed at that.
I thoroughly agree with the COTD.
Andy
19th March 2019, 15:25
So much for a driver walking the track before a race and studying it’s features. Didn’t help did it?
dutchtreat (@dutchtreat)
19th March 2019, 18:43
RB completely dropped the ball on Gasly. We know he is a very strong driver and should have/could have finished in the top 5. I don’t blame him for not passing Kvyat. It was risky and he didn’t want to take himself and Kvyat out…
Bram (@br444m)
19th March 2019, 19:46
So better keep it safe and settle on the zero points?
The torpedo himself put in a risky effort to overtake (or kill) Stroll, nonetheless.
Personally I prefer Torpedo’s style – at least he tried.
maiagus
19th March 2019, 22:09
First they came for your grid girls.
Then they came for your ballons.
Then they came for your internal combustion engines.
Boom, racing is over.
Wait a few months to people start talking about the carbon footprint of moving the circus by air thru Asia, Europe and Americas.