Bottas takes victory in Melbourne

Hey all with the F1 season starting this weekend I thought it would be a good way to start my F1 blogs again. The season started at Albert Park in Melbourne and its a brand new season with drivers in new surroundings and teams making changes to the cars. One of the major headlines last year was Red Bull leaving Renault as the engine manufacturers and decided to go with Honda. Another was that two teams had changed the names. Force India is now named as Racing Point F1 and Sauber was taken over by Alfa Romeo. The other changes were the drivers with Lance Stroll leaving Williams to go to Racing Point, Daniel Riccardo going from Red Bull to Renault. One returning driver was fan favourite, Robert Kubica who came back after 8 years on the sideline after suffering injuries in a near-fatal rally crash.

Homeboy Riccardo racing at Renault for the first time

Before the race, the sport was in mourning after hearing about the death of longtime F1 servant and race director Charlie Whiting. Another announcement was that the top 10 drivers who end up with the fastest lap in the race get a bonus point. Qualifying was quiet until Kubica crashed into the pit wall in the 1st qualifying session. After that, the session was dominated by Lewis Hamilton and with 6 different teams in the top 10 of the grid.

Hamilton celebrating pole position

The race started off well for Bottas as he overtook Vettel in the 1st corner however in the background Riccardo and Norris got involved in a battle on the straight Riccardo then ran over the grass and took out the front wing. He and Kubica pitted at the end of the 1st lap after damaging their front wings. one of the major battles was between both Ferrari's of Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc sandwiching Max Verstappen. On lap 11 the first retirement of the season was McLarens Lando Norris as his engine blew up and caught fire. Then Riccardo was the next to retire as a precaution of the damage caused by the 1st lap incident. At the front, Bottas was running away with the race meanwhile Hamilton was battling Verstappen.

Riccardo losing his front wing

Bottas finished with his first win since 2017 which was big especially after the difficult 2018 season that he had. Hamilton ended up 20 seconds behind which was confusing because both cars should be the same pace but not in this case. However, the biggest surprise was not where the Ferrari's finished but how long they finished behind Bottas being almost a minute behind the Mercedes which stunned the pundits and experts because of the pace. Bottas also got the bonus point so he leads the championship by 8 points. Up next is Bahrain.

I'll be back with more of the F1.

KRO Mark.