F1 2019: Max Verstappen wins Brazil Grand Prix

Max Verstappen delivered a dominant performance to win for a second time this year, finishing ahead of Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly, with Lewis Hamilton taking the flag in third. Hamilton, however, was handed a five-second penalty, dropping him to seventh and promoting McLaren’s Carlos Sainz to third, following a penultimate-lap coming together with Alex Albon.

Hamilton’s collision with Albon encapsulated the frenetic nature of a race effectively deemed a dead rubber after the he had sewn up his sixth world championship in Texas a fortnight ago. Yet, despite Verstappen’s masterclass – the Dutchman proving again why some regard him as the best driver on the grid – and Hamilton’s banzai move on Albon, which cruelly denied him his first career podium, the penultimate round of the 2019 campaign might yet be remembered as the straw that broke the camel’s back at Ferrari.

The tension has been simmering between their two drivers – the four-times world champion Vettel and emerging talent, Leclerc – since the opening round of the campaign in Melbourne eight months’ ago. Here, at one of the iconic venues on the grand prix calendar, it sensationally boiled over.

Leclerc, having started 14th following a grid penalty, was battling Vettel for fourth with five laps to go. He dived underneath Vettel at the Senna Esses and made the pass stick. It was a perfect move. Leclerc held off Vettel as they emerged from the third corner, but on the run down to the ensuing bend, Vettel latched on to Leclerc’s tow before drawing alongside his team-mate, and then subtly moving across him.

Vettel’s left-rear tyre made contact with Leclerc’s right-front, and in a flurry of sparks and broken carbon fibre, both Ferraris were out of the race. The contact was gentle, but the result devastating.

F1 2019: Hamilton wins Mexico Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton triumphed in a nail-biting finale to the Mexican Grand Prix, brilliantly making an ambitious one-stop strategy work to win out from Ferrari Sebastian Vettel and his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas – although it wasn’t quite enough for the Briton to secure his sixth drivers title over Bottas at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

Hamilton superbly eked out the tyre life out of his hard rubber, making a 48-lap stint work to take his second win in Mexico, and Mercedes’ 100th as a constructor – although it was the first time in three years that he hasn’t claimed the title in Mexico City. A slow second pit stop helped consign early race leader Charles Leclerc to fourth, ahead of the Red Bull of Alex Albon in fifth.

Having lost his pole position yesterday, Max Verstappen endured a disastrous Mexican Grand Prix, with Lap 4 contact with Bottas – after first-lap contact with Hamilton – causing a puncture that saw him forced to recover to a distant sixth place, behind his Red Bull team mate Albon after a mammoth 66-lap stint on hard tyres.

Home hero Sergio Perez drove a fine race to finish ‘best of the rest’ for Racing Point in seventh, holding off the late charge of Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo, while the Toro Rosso pair of Daniil Kvyat and Pierre Gasly finished ninth and 10th on the road – but only after late contact between Kvyat and Nico Hulkenberg that saw the Renault driver end up clattering into the Turn 16 wall and losing his rear wing. The stewards had a look and decided to issue a 10-second penalty to the Russian, dropping him back to 11th, with Hulkenberg classified 10th to mark a double points-scoring day for Renault as rivals McLaren endured their first non-score since Belgium.

F1 2019: Valtteri Bottas wins Australia Grand Prix

As the 2019 season finally began in earnest at the Australian Grand Prix, Mercedes Valtteri Bottas enjoyed a sensational start to his year with a dominant display in Melbourne, leading home team mate Lewis Hamilton for a Mercedes one-two ahead of the Red Bull of Max Verstappen.

Bottas finished the race over 20 seconds clear of the field, and even claimed a bonus point for the fastest lap of the race to come away from Albert Park with a full 26 points. Ferrari were forced to play third best in Australia, Sebastian Vettel finishing fourth for the Scuderia, one place up on his team mate Charles Leclerc, who was called off the attack on the German late in the race. Haas’ Kevin Magnussen headed off a hugely competitive and closely fought midfield in sixth, ahead of the Renault of Nico Hulkenberg and the Alfa Romeo of Kimi Raikkonen in eighth.

Behind, Haas’ Kevin Magnussen headed what looks to be a very evenly matched ‘front’ of the midfield, the Dane in P6 to Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat in P10 separated by less than 10 seconds. So, the spoils go to Valtteri Bottas who, after failing to score a victory in 2018, has got one under his belt with just one race down in 2019.

Every time a driver has headed a team one-two in Melbourne, that driver has gone on to win the championship, while the team has taken the constructors. Have we just witnessed the dawn of Valtteri Bottas as a serious championship contender? The teams and drivers will head back to Europe to debrief on the opening race, before reconvening in a little less than two weeks in Sakhir for the Bahrain Grand Prix. There they can expect a very different challenge to Melbourne, with hot temperatures, an abrasive track surface and a layout which offers plenty of opportunities for overtaking.