Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, Circuit de Catalunya, 2019

2019 Spanish Grand Prix grid

2019 Spanish Grand Prix

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Valtteri Bottas leads the provisional grid for the 2019 Spanish Grand Prix.

Row 11. Valtteri Bottas 1’15.406
Mercedes
2. Lewis Hamilton 1’16.040
Mercedes
Row 23. Sebastian Vettel 1’16.272
Ferrari
4. Max Verstappen 1’16.357
Red Bull
Row 35. Charles Leclerc 1’16.588
Ferrari
6. Pierre Gasly 1’16.708
Red Bull
Row 47. Romain Grosjean 1’16.911
Haas
8. Kevin Magnussen 1’16.922
Haas
Row 59. Daniil Kvyat 1’17.573
Toro Rosso
10. Lando Norris 1’17.338
McLaren
Row 611. Alexander Albon 1’17.445
Toro Rosso
12. Carlos Sainz Jnr 1’17.599
McLaren
Row 713. Daniel Ricciardo* 1’18.106
Renault
14. Kimi Raikkonen 1’17.788
Alfa Romeo
Row 815. Sergio Perez 1’17.886
Racing Point
16. Lance Stroll 1’18.471
Racing Point
Row 917. Robert Kubica 1’20.254
Williams
18. Antonio Giovinazzi** 1’18.664
Alfa Romeo
Row 1019. George Russell** 1’19.072
Williams
20. Nico Hulkenberg*** 1’18.404
Renault

*Three-place penalty for causing a collision with Daniil Kvyat in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix
**Five-place penalty for gearbox change
***Ordered to start from the pits for changing front wing specification in Q1

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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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25 comments on “2019 Spanish Grand Prix grid”

  1. Fantastic post racer interview. Amazing what a competent interviewer can do.

  2. Ferrari going backwards ever so slightly each weekend. This one is Bottas’ to loose, he just needs to stay ahead the first lap and then it is in the bag.

  3. Wow, Hamilton’s time absolutely destroyed by Bottas. And Hamilton had two laps to get near. That’s a huge moment.

    1. Lewis did have a bad lap in his defence, but even so, Valtteri rocked and this has to boost his confidence :)

      1. I’m not sure it needs much more boosting! He looks supremely confident already. I really expected Hamilton to be on form this weekend, but he’s put in another subpar performance so far, while Bottas looked outstanding in #3. And that .6 gap looks huge.

      2. In his defence? His salary is about 7 times the amount of bottas, no excuse

        1. If F1 was about making more with less money, you can bet he would not have a seat there since long ago.

          So his salary being higher doesnt have a thing to do with this.

  4. Delighted with Valtteri.
    Glad to see Gasly getting to grips with the car.
    Interested to see how Hass do in the race. They often disappoint me.

    I’m expecting a poor race up front to be honest but the midfield should be entertaining as usual.

    1. +1 to Gasly in particular. It’s good to see him join the ranks of F1 instead of F1.5 (genuine sentiment, not sarcasm).

  5. Very well done Valterri. Fantastic laps. To beat Lewis to pole 3 times in a row…and that lap today… as a Lewis fan I can only admire what how he is currently driving. I still doubt he will maintain the challenge all year but who knows?
    Lewis… something isn’t right. He seems to be over driving and not getting the best use from the tyres. This is something he has really excelled at in the past. I’m sure he will pull it together but this is another Mercedes season so every point will be crucial as even when he wins Valterri will likely be second. Get it together Lewis, quickly.
    Once again big congrats to Valterri

    1. Lewis… something isn’t right

      From the onboards, his car looked more skittish than Bottas. Whether that was a consequence of his driving, or the car’s setup, I can’t tell, but it was something that caught my eye.

      1. @phylyp That’s definitely the case, but also seems to be a pattern that’s developing this season. Bottas has clearly planned his challenge this season very carefully, maximizing his strengths and with a transformed mindset.

        1. @david-br – agreed. A six-tenths gap, especially against Hamilton, is nothing to scoff at. I mentioned in another article that it looks like Bottas 2.0 has been upgraded to 2.1. I, for one, hope that he sustains this level of competitiveness through the year, because Ferrari seem to be dropping the ball with their usual efficiency and consistency.

    2. Jennie Gow on Radio 5 said something yesterday that rings true with me.
      It was something like – “I feel Lewis is like a cat playing with mice and just deciding when to strike”

      I have suggested in the past that Lewis wouldn’t be too bothered about leaving F1 and moving on to his other interests but there is something about him this season that makes me wonder if he is actually enjoying just toying with the entire F1 show for the sheer fun of it.
      I am more than happy for this to be the case by the way :)

  6. Robert Kubica needs to be replaced. He’s not good enough anymore.

  7. Hats off to Bottas! This lap reminded me of Lewis’ lap of Singapore last year. It was one of those laps that was just perfectly on the limit throughout.. and as a result the lap time was untouchable. Hamilton better be taking Bottas more seriously this season.

    In the midfield, I thought Kvyat and Ricciardo also did a mega job in qualifying. Norris looked pretty good as well. Kind of disappointed in Hulkenberg’s performance off late. Giovinazzi was disappointing as well after a promising Baku. Lance Stroll… as rubbish as ever.. I don’t remember the last time he made it out of Q1. Was it in 2017?

    Although Bottas’ lap was the highlight of the day, I thought Max did incredibly well to get within a tenth of the Ferrari in front. That was a mega lap in it’s own right.

    Really lack lustre performance from Charles today. He’s had two occasions to step up to the plate, and both times he’s blown it in Q2.

    I think the race will be kind of boring tomorrow. The Mercedes driver that leads going in to turn 1 will take the win.

    1. I thought Kvyat and Ricciardo also did a mega job in qualifying

      @todfod – very good shoutout, Kvyat did really well today, and Ricciardo also surprised me with his Q3 appearance, after seeing how both Renaults were on the edge in Q1.

    2. I don’t mention Max much these days and I really should.
      He has totally changed from being a wild child you can not ignore to being Mr boring.

      Top driving and sound comments all weekend so far.

    3. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
      11th May 2019, 17:20

      Perez wasn’t exactly huge amount better than Stroll though was he? Less than 2 tenths and in the end, just 2 positions. If Stroll was poor, then this time, Perez wasnt much better. Stroll is very weak in qualifing, but certainly looks at least reasonable in the races, especially concidering who he’s against. His starts to the races are almoast always good. I do think you are a little harsh on him sometimes. I personally think he was ok this qualifying, not poor. I agree with what he said. This track doesn’t seem to suit them.

      1. Perez wasn’t exactly huge amount better than Stroll though was he? Less than 2 tenths and in the end, just 2 positions. If Stroll was poor, then this time, Perez wasnt much better.

        @thegianthogweed

        It’s not just 2 tenths this weekend. Stroll has been consistently slower than Perez anywhere between 2 tenths to 7 sevenths in every qualifying session so far. He’s never been close to be honest.

        certainly looks at least reasonable in the races, especially concidering who he’s against. His starts to the races are almoast always good.

        Are they really? Is It really an achievement to get off to a decent start after you qualify lower the you’re supposed to? Lets face it…if it wasn’t for Giovinazzi destroying the race for all leading midfielders in Australia, Stroll would have finished out of the points. In Baku, If it wasn’t for a few retirements in front of him, and an unusual incident between Ricciardo and Kvyat during the race, he would have finished out of the points again. His teammate finished best of the rest that weekend.

        He’s been rubbish this season.. don’t let this disguised thrashing fool you.

  8. I am a fan of Robert Kubica and respect that he is being dominated by Russel in results, Russell is a future world champion. Yet every time kubica is not on Russell’s pace there is an outside reason for it, like today in quali: https://twitter.com/CODEXERR/status/1127218504002879488?s=20 But this is racing, and Kubica seriously needs to up his game. Russel was magic today in lap times.

  9. After Baku qualy I said that Max is looking more disappointed every GP weekend. Now he’s also saying it to the press.

    The redbull car is really underwhelming

  10. Why does Riciardo start p13?

    1. Oh! Now I remembe!
      It was his reversing-attack in Baku!!!

Comments are closed.