Here are my take-aways from the 2019 Australian GP weekend.
Who had a stinker? 💩
Williams. I don't think I need to say any more.
Kubica. Hit the wall in practice, hit the wall in qualifying, was hit by Gasly in the race, he had to drive around in practice avoiding kerbs as the team struggled for spare parts, ended qualifying more than 2 seconds away from his team-mate (because of his collision with the wall), and was lapped by his teammate in the race. It turned out to be more testing than racing. This was the return we all feared, let's hope it starts getting better (can it get any worse?)
Ferrari. Where were they this weekend? Vettel admitted that in 2018, they had an imbalanced car and so when that was fixed, the car flew. This year, the 2019 car seems well balanced. Let's hope it's just the peculiarities of the Melbourne track and an understanding of the Pirelli tyres that caused them to be so off the pace this weekend. Pitting Leclerc before he reached the tale of Vettel and going for fastest lap probably would have been a better strategy.
Gasly. Out of Q1 because his first lap wasn't good enough and the team didn't send him out on a second run. Struggled to get past other cars in a race where there were only 15 overtakes last year, and only 14 this year. He was re-passed by Kvyat in the sister car in the race and came home just outside the points. A weekend to forget for Pierre.
Giovinazzi. He was comprehensively out-qualified by Raikkonen and was used to slow other cars to help his team-mate who was so far up the road. To think Kimi was used in that way for Ferrari in recent years shows just how disappointing this weekend was for the young Ferrari Academy driver.
Leclerc. It's perhaps a little harsh to put his performance in my stinker section. You can tell he's still getting used to things and at times he's trying to over-compensate too much, all traits of his early season struggles with Sauber last year. A good start in the race, but challenging around the outside of his team-mate was always going to end up with him being squeezed and was subsequently re-passed by Verstappen. He also went off at turn 1 all by himself. It wasn't a disaster of a weekend though, but he was decisively beaten by Vettel this weekend, though there are signs it will improve for the young Monegasque. He was only a tenth behind Vettel in qualifying. He obeyed team orders to stay behind Vettel in the race and didn't pit to get fastest lap though these were Ferrari errors, but he needs to be in a position where he can force Ferrari to prefer him in strategy calls.
Giovinazzi. He was comprehensively out-qualified by Raikkonen and was used to slow other cars to help his team-mate who was so far up the road. To think Kimi was used in that way for Ferrari in recent years shows just how disappointing this weekend was for the young Ferrari Academy driver.
Leclerc. It's perhaps a little harsh to put his performance in my stinker section. You can tell he's still getting used to things and at times he's trying to over-compensate too much, all traits of his early season struggles with Sauber last year. A good start in the race, but challenging around the outside of his team-mate was always going to end up with him being squeezed and was subsequently re-passed by Verstappen. He also went off at turn 1 all by himself. It wasn't a disaster of a weekend though, but he was decisively beaten by Vettel this weekend, though there are signs it will improve for the young Monegasque. He was only a tenth behind Vettel in qualifying. He obeyed team orders to stay behind Vettel in the race and didn't pit to get fastest lap though these were Ferrari errors, but he needs to be in a position where he can force Ferrari to prefer him in strategy calls.
Who was unlucky? 🙎
Ricciardo. Renault weren't fast enough to make Q3 and Hulkenberg marginally beat Ricciardo in qualifying. Running on the grass at the start saw him dramatically lose his front wing before later retiring - not what you want at your home race. His bad luck continues.
Grosjean & Haas. It was cruel when lightning struck twice last year, perhaps it was bad luck, or perhaps it was an oversight in operation and quality assurance. Still, lessons should have been learned, yet it happened again this year - albeit 15 laps after the pitstop. Grosjean retired when his wheel nut broke and the wheel started to detach itself from the car. No it wasn't a suspension failure Romain, and no, it wasn't Ericsson's fault either. Gotta love team radio!
Sainz. Went out of Q1 because he had to slow for Kubica's damaged car, and then an engine failure 10 laps into the race. Reset and start again at the next round.
Who were the Stars?👊
Bottas. He was close to Hamilton in qualifying and aced the start and drove away in what he claims to be his best race to date. Hard to argue with that, and getting fastest lap capped off an impressive weekend for the resurgent Finn.
Mercedes. This was like the old days, a dominant performance for the silver arrows cars. 1-2 in qualifying, 1-2 in the race plus fastest lap and maximum points. It couldn't have gone much better.
Mercedes. This was like the old days, a dominant performance for the silver arrows cars. 1-2 in qualifying, 1-2 in the race plus fastest lap and maximum points. It couldn't have gone much better.
Verstappen. Earning Honda's first podium in 11 years, Verstappen showed good pace in the race and passed Vettel along the way. A solid start for Verstappen and Red Bull.
Haas. Haas were convincingly the best of the rest, closer to the Ferrari's in qualifying than their nearest rivals were to them. Only the unfortunate retirement of Grosjean took the shine off their weekend. They will want to take this momentum onto the upcoming races.
Haas. Haas were convincingly the best of the rest, closer to the Ferrari's in qualifying than their nearest rivals were to them. Only the unfortunate retirement of Grosjean took the shine off their weekend. They will want to take this momentum onto the upcoming races.
Other Notable Perfomances 👍
Norris. Had a great debut in qualifying, but Giovinazzi's late pitstop held up a number of drivers, including Norris, to help Raikkonen secure a points finish. We look forward to more star moments from the young Brit.
Magnussen & Haas. Magnussen said he did a "**** qualifying" and still ended up 7th behind his team-mate owing to how strong Haas were at Melbourne. He converted that to 6th place at the start and was the only midfield car not to be lapped (just).
Hulkenberg. After starting from outside the top 10, Nico repeated what he did so many times last season and score solid points. The Formula 1.5 champion started the 2019 campaign with a strong start.
Raikkonen. Another solid performance all weekend from Kimi, aided by Giovinazzi's strategy in holding up a number of cars, and Kimi delivered a points finish.
Stroll, Kvyat, Albon and Russell all had solid weekends, despite Albon crashing in practice. Perez got into Q3, but was never really happy with his car all weekend.
Are you used to the 2019 shapes yet? 🙈
I don't know about you, I'm still not quite used to the halo, and to add to that, the bigger wings and the skinny sidepods; the proportions aren't right to me who grew up loving the cars from the 90s. The 2017 cars were a step forward, but I'm not quite so happy with the 2019 cars. There's too much around the driver's helmet to easily identify the drivers easily. The front wings look just as clumsy as they did in 2009. It's taking me a while to get used to the rear wings too. I can't say I'm looking forward to buying these models.
Don't try to overtake around the outside of turns 1 or 3 👎
The Australian Grand Prix hasn't always been a good one for overtaking, and with the teams still pursuing ways to get the front wing outwash to work, the problems with following another car still remains a problem. The tyres who operate at a small temperature window start over-heating as soon as they approach the rear of another car. But those who did get a run and tried to hang it around the outside were often squeezed and ended up losing a lot of time as a result.
You need to have the pass completed if you want to try around the outside. Hats off to Verstappen, Kvyat and Stroll (I think) for pulling them off.
Having said that, Kvyat braked too late on the inside to turn 3 and took a trip through the gravel, again losing a lot of time. Perhaps the winner here is track limits.
You need to have the pass completed if you want to try around the outside. Hats off to Verstappen, Kvyat and Stroll (I think) for pulling them off.
Having said that, Kvyat braked too late on the inside to turn 3 and took a trip through the gravel, again losing a lot of time. Perhaps the winner here is track limits.
Don't try the undercut strategy 👎
We've seen it before where the risk of the undercut was that you get stuck behind slower cars. Poor old Giovinazzi was left out there trying to defend when his tyres were so worn, but yet he managed to disrupt a number of other drivers' races.
The other problem with pitting early is that you have to go so much slower to make your tyres last the rest of the race. Vettel and Hamilton both struggled late on in the race after pitting too early, with Leclerc and Verstappen close behind the pair towards the end of the race.
Too much confetti 👀
I like the visual of confetti, less so when I'm in the middle of it. The podium celebrations were covered with yellow and green confetti of sponsors Rolex, but there was so much of it, we didn't see much of the spraying of champagne.
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