Mercedes' Finnish driver Valtteri Bottas gets ready for the Formula One third practice session in Melbourne on March 16, 2019, ahead of the Formula One Australian Grand Prix. AFP / Glenn Nicholls
Melbourne: After Valtteri Bottas dominated proceedings at Melbourne’s Albert Park, here are the key stat take-aways from the 2019 Australian Grand Prix.
** Every time a team has finished one-two in Melbourne – as Mercedes did in 2019 – the winning driver has claimed the championship and the team has won the constructors’. And that’s not happened once or twice – it’s happened a full seven times!
** Bottas wins the first race of 2019, his last race win having come at the final race of 2017 – and with no victories in the middle.
** Bottas also celebrates his win six years to the day that he made his Grand Prix debut with Williams in 2013.
** Bottas’ winning margin of 20.8 seconds was bigger than any we saw in 2018.
** It was the fourth time in as many years that Lewis Hamilton has taken pole position in Australia only to finish second.
** Hamilton has now failed to win in Australia for the last six years despite having consecutive pole positions!
** It’s the first time Max Verstappen has ever secured a podium at Albert Park, and the first time a non-Mercedes or Ferrari driver has appeared on the podium since 2015. It’s also the first time Vettel, and Ferrari, have failed to be on the Melbourne podium since 2015.
** Verstappen’s third place also gave Honda their first podium finish since the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix, when they were a fully fledged manufacturer as well as an engine maker.
** Kevin Magnussen was a strong P6 for Haas, giving the team their first finish here since 2016.
