Oswaldo MartinezAustralian GP, Bottas, Mercedes

AUS GP - The man with 26 points

Oswaldo MartinezAustralian GP, Bottas, Mercedes
AUS GP - The man with 26 points

Driver Valtteri Bottas became the first in 2019 to score a maximum 26 points in a single race after a superb drive in the season opener at Albert Park.

Valtteri overtook his teammate (and current World Champion) Lewis Hamilton at the start of the race and never looked back, while also securing the fastest lap, gaining an extra Championship point. He now leads the Drivers' Championship by 8 points from Lewis (18 points) in P2.

Today's result marks the 45th 1-2 finish for Mercedes in Formula 1, and making it a perfect start of the season for the silver arrows in 2019.

It was a bit of a strange race for Lewis, as he lost the lead early on and pitted very early in response from Mercedes to Ferrari. He did manage to hold back Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who finished P3 and extended his incredible streak to make it sixth consecutive podium finishes (counting the last races of 2018), quite a feat for the dutch star.

Meanwhile, Ferrari were perhaps the bigger surprise this weekend, lacking the promising pace showed during winter testing, and only managed to finish fourth and fifith, with Vettel ahead of his new teammate, Charles Leclerc. Seb even asked during the race, “why are we so slow?” to which his own team had no answer to.

Aussie fan favorite Daniel Ricciardo struggled in his home race with his new team, Renault, losing his front wing in the first few metres at the start of the race. The Honey Badger pitted and was left at the back of the grid, a minute behind race leader Bottas. He would leter, sadly, retire the #3 car.

Next up, Bahrain.