Australian GP driver ratings

[#Drennn.]

Did anybody need this opening victory more? After missing out on a win during the whole of 2018, the Finn has faced questions about his Mercedes future and was often an afterthought in pre-season title predictions - perhaps that's the reason for his expletive-laden post-race radio message - but he retaliated in style in Melbourne with, in his words, "the best race of my life".Bottas was strong in qualifying, on provisional pole before just failing to match his team-mate's final lap, before acing his start in the race and storming to an advantage of more than 20 seconds at the chequered flag. It doesn't get much more dominant than that.

"When he came back from the winter he said, 'I'm back'." noted Mercedes boss Toto Wolff on his driver's resurgence.

On another one-year contract, Bottas surely has to be a contender in the championship battle this year to keep his seat. In this form, that's a strong possibility.
It was all going so well for Lewis Hamilton. Fastest in all three practice sessions, on pole position - it looked like the world champion was starting the new season just like he finished 2018. But then Sunday happened. That he didn't keep up with Bottas off the line isn't a huge surprise in itself, but the immediate 0.5s-per-lap margin after that certainly was.

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Mercedes diagnosed a problem with Hamilton's car after the race and while it is unclear just how much of an issue it was and how much time he was losing, Lewis certainly wasn't comfortable in the car, agitated throughout on team radio. Hamilton offered no excuses, while Sky F1's Paul Di Resta declared: "I don't remember when we last saw Lewis Hamilton beaten fair and square like this."

Hamilton claims he always had his rivals covered but it's alarming to hear a five-time world champion insist a race is "done and dusted" after losing out into Turn One. Sebastian Vettel, meanwhile, added: "I think he was probably bored and not happy because he lost the start." You'd expect that motivation to ramp up again once we arrive in Bahrain.
Expecting Mercedes and Ferrari to be too quick, Red Bull weren't predicting a podium in their first race with Honda engines. But maybe they should have. Max Verstappen is that good.

Not only did Verstappen out-qualify a Ferrari on Saturday, the Dutchman then sensationally overtook Vettel in the race before closing up to within a second of Hamilton's Mercedes. What was even more striking was that Verstappen was carrying this new partnership alone, with his team-mate well down the field. He can handle that pressure.It's incredibly impressive to see how much he has improved in the last year, adding a calm head and remarkable consistency to undoubted talent and speed. If Verstappen continues to perform race after race in 2019, and Honda continue their upwards trajectory, Red Bull are a force.The pre-race favourites were thrashed in Melbourne. What a miserable weekend for Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel.

Vettel made his mistakes last year, but his team must take the blame here. Indeed, you suspect Vettel extracted the maximum out of this under-performing package as he beat his new team-mate in qualifying - where he was still 0.7s off the Mercedes - and in the first half of the race as he kept up with Hamilton. But then Vettel started to tread water.

Ferrari haven't revealed a problem with his car just yet, but Vettel was losing a second-a-lap to his rivals as he lacked balance on the medium tyre. He couldn't compete with Verstappen and in the end, he was lucky Ferrari opted to hold the positions of their two drivers. Would they have opted for the same strategy if the Vettel-Leclerc roles were reversed?

Vettel and Ferrari have to bounce back.When Charles Leclerc pictured his Ferrari debut, he would have thought of standing on the podium and spraying champagne. Not fifth place, with a one-minute deficit to the race-winner.

Ferrari were off the pace, but this was a sloppy start to the youngster's Scuderia career. He made a mistake on his final Q3 lap in qualifying, and then nearly collided with Vettel at the start of the race before running onto the grass a few laps later and losing time to Verstappen.

"That's exactly the sort of mistake you cannot make in a frontrunning team," said Sky F1's Martin Brundle.

He was at least a few tenths slower than the rest of the top five for the majority of the afternoon, until Vettel's pace fell off a cliff. And even then Leclerc was stopped from trying to gain a place by Ferrari. There's no need to panic and his talent is clear, but Leclerc, and Ferrari, will want a big improvement in Bahrain.Haas have laid down their marker as the team to beat in midfield, led by the impressive Kevin Magnussen. Beaten by his team-mate in qualifying, the Dane promptly took sixth off Romain Grosjean into Turn One and then never looked back.

"It is crazy to think that there are other cars that are faster than this," said Magnussen's of Haas' 2019 package.

He still has that aggression on-track - showing it when forcing Nico Hulkenberg's Renault off the track - but Magnussen has displayed maturity in the last two seasons and managed this race well, finishing well clear of his nearest riva