Finally 2019 Formula 1 season is here after long winter hibernation! The starting point for the new season was extremely interesting, as Haas and Mercedes were the only teams, which had the same driver line-up as last year. One of the drivers under the limelight was Charles Leclerc, who had replaced Kimi Räikkönen in the Red Team. On the other hand, all eyes were on Alfa Romeo Racing as well, as Kimi had returned to the Swiss team, where he had started his Formula 1 career back in 2001. After the winter tests there had been a huge hype of Ferrari being the strongest team this year. Many newspapers and web sites underlined, that the Red Team were the favorites this year.
Qualifying, however, was everything but a triumph for the Red Team. From the very first session Mercedes was leading the pack. Either they had been seriously sandbagging during the winter tests, or they had been able to solve all their problems, coming to the season-opener. As the decisive final session was kicked off, reborn Mercedes ace Valtteri Bottas made everyone flabbergasted by setting a phenomenal lap time on his first flyer. The Finn was almost half a second faster than his teammate. The Ferrari drivers, who were supposed to be the favorites for pole, were six and eight tenths off the pace! However, the reigning world champion delivered when it mattered the most, claiming the 8th pole already at Albert Park. Excellent Bottas made it a front-row lock-out for the Silver Arrows, ending up only a tenth down on his teammate. P3 was the highest Sebastian could do, with a massive 7-tenth gap to Hamilton. Red Bull's pace had been kind of a question mark at the winter tests, and their qualifying result was very two-pronged. On one hand Verstappen had a magnificent qualifying, as he managed to split the red-suited drivers in P4. On the other hand, Verstappen's new teammate Gasly had been knocked out already in Q1. Kimi made it P9, behind the Haas duo of Grosjean and Magnussen in the final standings, which was quite expected. The most positive surprise of the qualifying was the McLaren rookie Norris, who managed to make it P8, ahead of Kimi.
There was extra tension in the air, as the lights went out for the first time this season. At the start Bottas continued where he had left off in the qualifying. The Finn took a rocket start and stormed to the lead past teammate Hamilton, who suffered from wheel spin. Going into the first corner, Ferrari debutant Leclerc seemed hungry to challenge his teammate for P3. Contact was close, and the Monegasque ended up on the grass. Hungry Verstappen immediately snatched back his fourth place. Magnussen had been able to take an upper hand on teammate Grosjean at the start, but otherwise the order of the top nine had remained unchanged. Home hero Ricciardo, who was driving his maiden race at the wheel of Renault, had a nightmare start to the race. Going for a gap, he put a wheel on the grass, which caused the entire front wing to fly off. An extra pit stop for a new nose meant the Australian's race was ruined.
Right from the opening laps, the race was perfectly under Bottas' control. Sebastian pitted from P3 on lap 15, for a fresh set of medium Pirellis, which forced Mercedes to react. The world champion team called Hamilton in, and the Briton opted for a similar tyre choice to Sebastian. Race leader Bottas stayed out, setting competitive lap times one after another. Meanwhile, Hamilton's pace on the mediums was everything but competitive. Ferrari's Leclerc was the only top driver opting for the hard compound.
After the pit stop roulette Bottas had already built up a massive 15-second gap to his teammate. Red Bull's Verstappen, who had stopped significantly later than Sebastian, was absolutely flying on his fresh set of medium tyres. The flying Dutchman had smelled Sebastian's blood and was determined to make it on the podium. My heart was bleeding, when I saw Verstappen making a successful overtaking move on the German on lap 31. In terms of overtaking, Max is definitely one of a kind. It was very unexpected to see, that Ferrari wasn't able to match Red Bull's race pace. Towards the end of the race, Leclerc was much faster than Sebastian, due to his fresher hard tyres. Leclerc rapidly closed the gap to Sebastian, but the team didn't give the newcomer a permission to overtake Sebastian.
With 10 laps to go, Bottas was having an unbelievable 25-second lead to his teammate, who was utterly toothless against the reborn Finn. The closing laps were extremely interesting, thanks to the new reform of giving an extra point for the driver, who sets the fastest lap time in the race, provided that the driver is among the top ten. The top drivers really fought for this extra point. Three laps before the chequered flag the fastest lap time was in Verstappen's grasp. However, race leader Bottas told on the team radio: "I want 26 points." And the flying Finn snatched the fastest lap time from Verstappen at the end of the race! At the chequered flag Bottas' gap to Hamilton was mind-blowing 20.8 seconds. This time it was the reigning world champion, who had to settle for playing the second fiddle. Verstappen completed the podium, and the Ferrari duo was left in P4 and P5. Magnussen finished 6th for Haas, Hulkenberg 7th for Renault and Kimi 8th for Alfa Romeo Racing. Racing Point's Stroll and Toro Rosso's Kvyat rounded out the top ten.
Considering all the hype about Ferrari's superb performance, I have to admit, that the race result was a big disappointment. The Red Team have a lot of home work to do, more than anyone expected before the season-opener. Nevertheless, this was only the first round of the 21-race calendar. So now it's time to put your heads down and wrap up your sleeves. You have your fans' support! We believe in you! This could be The Red Year! Forza Ferrari!
With passion for racing red,
Iina Huhmarniemi
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