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6 important talking points that defined the 2019 F1 season
We look back at some of the most memorable moments of the 2019 Formula One season, with plenty of drama on and off the track.
It all started in Melbourne, Australia, in March and ended in December, 21 races later in the twilight splendour of the Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi. When all was said and done a six-time Formula One World Champion was crowned, a world record pit stop was made and plenty of drama and controversy paved the way.
Max Verstappen
© Lars Baron/Getty Images
Lewis Hamilton won 11 races en route to a sixth world title, even as his team-mate Valtteri Bottas tried to wrestle the crown from the British driver. Strong performances also came from the Ferrari duo of four-time champion Sebastian Vettel and young charger Charles Leclec, as Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’sMax Verstappencaptured hearts and headlines.
The Dutch driver combined maturity, consistency and some ruthless racing to end the year as Hamilton’s closest non-Mercedes challenger, taking three wins, two pole positions and a third place finish in the world championship standings.
Check out some of the 2019 F1 season’s most memorable moments below...
1. Wet and wild German Grand Prix and home soil success
With Mercedes’ Hamilton either winning or coming second in the opening eight races of the 2019 F1 World Championship, it was largely Hamilton’s team-mate Bottas and the Ferrari pair of Vettel and Leclerc who looked to challenge the five-time champion.
Max Verstappen during qualifying at the German GP
© Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
Also chipping away was Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Verstappen. The Dutch driver blazed a consistent trail in the first half of the season, developing the speed of his Honda power plant and not finishing outside the top five in the season’s first eight races.
Race nine of the season, conveniently at the Red Bull Ring in Austria, would see Verstappen win his first race since the previous year’s Mexican Grand Prix after a thrilling, no holds barred battle with Leclerc.
2. Classic races and near misses at Silverstone and the Hungaroring
The mid season served up something of a classic series of races after a fairly pedestrian French Grand Prix at Paul Ricard triggered more yawns than wows.
Aston Martin Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen at the British Grand Prix
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
The British Grand Prix at the legendary Silverstone circuit witnessed a continuation of Verstappen and Leclerc’s wheel-bashing battle from the Austrian Grand Prix, but the real drama occurred when the sister Ferrari of Vettel collided with third place man Verstappen, sending both cars into the gravel and forcing Verstappen to turn in a recovery drive to salvage fifth behind Aston Martin Red Bull Racing team-mate Gasly.
During the height of summer at the tight and twisty Hungaroring circuit in Hungary for the er, Hungarian Grand Prix, Verstappen stormed to his maiden F1 pole position, made a great start and led a race that would turn into a classic cat and mouse battle with Mercedes’ Hamilton.
Despite a speed advantage for Hamilton, Verstappen used lapped traffic, DRS and sheer grit and guile to keep the British driver behind, until the Mercedes crew pitted for fresh tyres and the late race grip advantage gave Hamilton the edge over Verstappen. It allowed him to pass and take the lead with just four laps left in a modern classic of a Grand Prix.
3. Mid season seat swap for Albon and Gasly turned out nicely
Alex Albon, Red Bull Racing, Belgian Grand Prix 2019_news.jpg
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
For 2019, Gasly made the step up from Scuderia Toro Rosso to the Aston Martin Red Bull Racing squad, and it's safe to say that the French driver struggled to get to grips with his new whip. As team-mate Verstappen excelled during the first half of the season, scoring podiums, winning in Austria and Germany and generally proving to be Mercedes’ closest challenger, Gasly struggled for progress.
With a best result of fourth at the 10th race of the season, Silverstone, Red Bull Racing’s top brass decided in the run up to the Belgian Grand Prix three races later to replace Gasly with Toro Rosso’s Albon in a move that shocked the F1 world.
Pierre Gasly celebrating on the podium
© Charles Coates/Getty Images
And it seems the swap did a power of good to both drivers. Gasly, rather than emerge chastened by the perceived demotion, flourished at his 2018 employers, and in the remaining 10 races showed pace and maturity and capped it off with an incredible second place finish in Brazil, finishing the season seventh in the driver’s standings.
Albon, who logically probably should’ve nabbed the podium in Brazil, affirmed Red Bull’s decision to promote him to the wheel of the RB15, taking 5th on his debut at Spa-Francorchamps and finishing in the top six in every race except the Brazilian Grand Prix, where he was denied a podium by Hamilton and crawled home 14th.
4. That Albon overtake at the Belgian Grand Prix
Albon was announced as an Aston Martin Red Bull Racing driver after the Hungarian Grand Prix in August, making his debut for the team in the following race at the hallowed Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium, replacing Gasly.
Alex Albon at the 2019 Belgian Grand Prix
© Red Bull Content Pool
The Thai-British driver could have been forgiven for keeping his head down and bringing his new Honda-powered RB15 home in one piece and with a few points in the bag, but that wasn’t in Albon’s list of priorities.
Albon started the race in 17th after taking a penalty for an engine component infringement and quietly made his way through the field, as team-mate Verstappen retired, and made a solid debut drive a memorable one on lap 34.
The F1 rookie pulled off a spellbinding cut-back overtake on Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo when entering the tricky Rivage corner, passing the Australian around the outside of the fast downhill left-hander, a corner where overtakes are as rare as a weak Belgian lager.
5. World record smashing pit stops
Races can be won and lost in the pits and quick pit stops have been essential to any Formula One team’s success for decades now, but in 2019 the Aston Martin Red Bull team took things to a new level and lowered the bar... in a good way.
Aston Martin Red Bull Racing's pit stop record at the British Grand Prix
© Getty Images / Red Bull Racing
At the British Grand Prix in July the team changed all four tyres on Gasly’s RB15 in a then record time of 1.91-seconds, but that wasn’t enough for the guys and girls from Milton Keynes.
Verstappen’s first pit stop at the season’s penultimate Grand Prix in Brazil saw him stopped and fitted with fresh rubber in just 1.82-seconds. The team executed the fastest pit stop in the pit lane four times throughout the season.
Not content with that, they took their world beating pit stop skills pretty much out of this world and gave it a go in zero-gravity. Check out the results here...
6. Drama in Brazil as Albon is denied maiden podium and Verstappen wins
The 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix will be remembered for the two Ferrari cars taking each other out at full speed, a stunning third victory of the season for Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Verstappen, a truly sensational podium for Toro Rosso’s Gasly and a heartbreaking penultimate lap for Albon.
A late-race safety car bunched up the field, and while Verstappen stamped his authority up front, his Aston Martin Red Bull Racing team-mate and F1 rookie Albon looked set for his maiden podium place.
That was until an optimistic lunge from world champion Hamilton resulted in contact, punting the hapless Albon out of the race, and allowing Gasly to ascend to third and beat Hamilton’s Mercedes in a drag race to the line and give the Frenchman his maiden F1 podium.
Hamilton’s indiscretion led to the Mercedes driver being slapped with a five second penalty, handing a first career podium to McLaren's Carlos Sainz, but also denied Honda a historic one-two-three finish, so the Japanese engine manufacturers had to settle for their first F1 one-two result since the 1991 Japanese Grand Prix.
