Welcome 2019 Formula 1 season! You've been impatiently awaited! The winter tests at Barcelona had painted a picture of dominant Ferrari, who were considered clear favorites for the upcoming season. Although their pace was overshadowed by tiny reliability issues here and there, the Red Team stood out of the crowd. The world champion team Mercedes' pace seemed to be kind of a question mark. There seemed to be two options: either the Silver Arrows were seriously sandbagging, or they were in trouble with their performance for real. Red Bull's performance had left a lot of questions in the air as well.
Ahead of the season-opening qualifying the dreams of every driver were wide open and everything was possible. You could almost touch the tension in the air. Mercedes and Haas are the only teams with the same driver line-up as last year, so there have been a huge amount of changes on the grid. Ferrari has replaced Kimi with Charles Leclerc, the exceptionally talented Monegasque, who is the youngest Ferrari driver since the 1960s. There are three rookies on the grid: Alexander Albon at Toro Rosso, Lando Norris at McLaren and George Russell at Williams. Kimi's Italian teammate Giovinazzi, too has only a few Grands prix under his belt before starting to this season. In addition to these interesting details, Robert Kubica returns to Formula 1 in the colors of Williams. Although Williams' pace has turned out utterly deplorable, it's interesting to see, how the Polish driver turns the wheel, taking his limitations into consideration.
The Formula 1 world has been shocked by the news of the sudden passing of the FIA Race Director Charlie Whiting, who has done remarkable work to improve the safety of the F1 drivers. He was respected and trusted by all teams and drivers and everyone at the paddock.
So, taking these starting points into account, who was to take the very first pole of the season? Q1 was kicked off at sunny Albert Park. Everyone else came out on the soft tyres, except the Ferrari drivers, who opted for the medium compound. After the first flyers, Mercedes' Bottas was topping the time sheets, with teammate Hamilton only 23 thousandths of a second off the Finn. Sebastian's first attempt made him third in the standings. However, the track conditions improved constantly towards the end of the session. Sebastian's lap time on the mediums was competitive enough to make it into Q2 (he was 11th in the standings), but the Ferrari debutant Leclerc had to switch to the soft rubber at the end of the session. Leclerc answered to the expectations by setting the fastest lap time. Alfa Romeo Racing had shown promising pace at the winter tests, and their performance proved very positive also in the qualifying. Giovinazzi was able to make it as high as P4 in the first session! Teammate Kimi was the last driver to make it into the second session. It was no surprise, that both Williams drivers were knocked out of Q2. More of a surprise was the elimination of Red Bull's Pierre Gasly, who was left in P17. Teammate Verstappen made it tame P10 but proceeded to Q2 anyway.
The second session saw all drivers coming out on the soft tyres. The Finnish Mercedes ace Bottas set the early benchmark, with the Ferrari debutant Leclerc second. The reigning world champion Hamilton made a mistake on his first attempt, which meant P3 for the Briton. Sebastian at the wheel of his Lina was fourth and Kimi, the oldest driver on the grid, was fifth, 1.1s off the pace. However, in Q2 Verstappen's Red Bull seemed to come alive, and the flying Dutchman went fastest. His gap to Bottas was as big as 0.471 seconds. In the end, Q2 saw the Mercedes duo of Hamilton and Bottas take P1 and P2 in the standings. Verstappen was third and Leclerc fourth. Sebastian made a mistake on his last flyer, ending up off track, which forced him to settle for tame P6. Kimi managed to extract the maximum of his C39 and made it among the top ten. Quite sensational was the fact, that McLaren's rookie driver Norris made it into the final session, whilst teammate Sainz had been eliminated already in the first segment. The Renault duo of Hulkenberg and Ricciardo were out of Q3, as well as the Toro Rosso duo of Albon and Kvyat. Kimi's teammate Giovinazzi missed out on the decisive segment as well.
Bottas opened the decisive last session with a phenomenal lap, setting the new track record. It seemed that the Finn had found his self-confidence again during the off-season, after having a disappointing 2018 season. The provisional pole was in the Finn's hands, as teammate Hamilton was almost half a second off Valtteri's pace. Against all odds, Mercedes clearly turned out to be the team to beat. Sebastian was massive six tenths down on Bottas, and Leclerc was two tenths down on his teammate. Kimi and Racing Point's Perez made one attempt only, as they had only one fresh set of tyres left. The battle for pole was between the Silver Arrows. The 5-time world champion delivered when it mattered, and the Briton snatched pole by 0.11-second gap to Bottas, who proved unable to improve his lap time at the end. Sebastian in third was seven tenths off Hamilton, which was a lot more than I had expected. Verstappen in his RB15 managed to split the red drivers, which was the maximum result for the Dutchman. Haas have always shown excellent performance in Australia, and they didn't let their fans down this time, either. Grosjean qualified 6th ahead of teammate Magnussen. Norris in his McLaren was impressive 8th, with Kimi 9th and Perez 10th. This was already the sixth pole in a row for Hamilton at Albert Park! Altogether the dominant Briton has snatched pole phenomenal eight times on the Australian soil!
However, at Albert Park pole position doesn't play as significant role as in some other venues. Last year Sebastian won the season-opener, and I hope he will repeat this tomorrow! It's so exciting to see, how the top teams' race pace will turn out. Ferrari have openly told, that Sebastian is their number one driver, but I'm sure Leclerc is hungry to challenge his new teammate and prove his skills. Kimi has a bit tricky place to start in the middle of the pack, but if the Iceman manages to get away from the first corners unharmed, I'm sure he will drive a strong race. My number one wish is, that Sebastian will bring his Lina to the chequered flag as the race winner! I have to confess I sympathize with his car even more than previously, as she is almost the namesake for me! And as a funny detail I can tell you that at Ferrari I was known as Lina, when I took part in the Bring Your Passion competition by Ferrari two years ago and won the trip to Maranello ;)
I'm so happy that F1 is back! I simply love these days, when I can sit down with my laptop and write about the plot twists of the new Formula 1 season! Compared to the last year's season-opener, my life situation has remained the same. The hospital and the patient have changed, but the diagnosis has remained the same. I'm still leading hospital life. My middle son Samuel Sebastian (and no, he wasn't named after certain other Sebastian!), who turned 16 this week, is now going through the osteosarcoma treatments. His left leg was amputated on New Year's Eve, and the treatments will last until June at least. But as the present moment is all we have, so let's enjoy the little things in life. And this weekend I'm enjoying the Australian GP from the bottom of my heart!
Go Sebastian! I always believe in you. Go Kimi! Go Max!
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