Formula 1: Lewis Hamilton takes pole for 2019 Australian Grand Prix
By Asher Fair
Lewis Hamilton extended his all-time Formula 1 pole position record by taking the pole position for the 2019 season opener, the Australian Grand Prix.
For the record 84th time in his Formula 1 career, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Lewis Hamilton is set to start a race from the pole position, as he took the pole position for the 2019 season opener, the Australian Grand Prix, at Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit.
Hamilton took the pole position for the 58-lap race around the 16-turn, 3.296-mile (5.304-kilometer) Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit road course in Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia by recording a top lap time of 80.486 seconds (147.424 miles per hour) in the third and final qualifying session for it. This lap is a new track record.
Hamilton edged out teammate Valtteri Bottas to take this pole position, which is his eighth career pole position for the Australian Grand Prix, tying the all-time record shared by all-time greats Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher for the most pole positions for a single race.
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Senna took eight pole positions for the San Marino Grand Prix while Schumacher took eight pole positions for the Japanese Grand Prix.
This pole position is also Hamilton’s sixth consecutive pole position for the Australian Grand Prix.
The 34-year-old Briton edged out the 29-year-old Finn on his final lap of the race’s third and final qualifying session. Bottas’s top lap time of the session was just 0.112 seconds (0.204 miles per hour) slower than that of Hamilton, and he is set to start the race alongside his teammate in second place as a result of it.
Scuderia Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel qualified in third place. Teammate Charles Leclerc was set to start alongside him in fourth before Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen moved ahead of him on the speed chart with his final lap of the race’s third and final qualifying session. As a result, Verstappen is set to start the race in fourth while Leclerc is set to start in fifth.
Rich Energy Haas teammates Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen, McLaren rookie Lando Norris, Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen and SportPesa Racing Point Force’s Sergio Perez are set to round out the top 10 on the starting grid. They qualified in sixth seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th place, respectively and were the other five drivers who advanced to the third and final qualifying session for the race.
Renault teammates Nico Hulkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo, Scuderia Toro Rosso rookie Alexander Albon, Alfa Romeo Racing rookie Antonio Giovinazzi and Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat were eliminated following the second qualifying session for the race. They are set to start in 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th, respectively.
SportPesa Racing Point’s Lance Stroll, Red Bull Racing’s Pierre Gasly, McLaren’s Carlos Sainz Jr. and ROKiT Williams Racing teammates George Russell, a rookie, and Robert Kubica were eliminated following the first qualifying session. They are set to start the race in 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th place, respectively.
Here are the full qualifying results of the 2019 Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit.
Qualifying Results
1st – Lewis Hamilton
2nd – Valtteri Bottas
3rd – Sebastian Vettel
4th – Max Verstappen
5th – Charles Leclerc
6th – Romain Grosjean
7th – Kevin Magnussen
8th – Lando Norris
9th – Kimi Raikkonen
10th – Sergio Perez
11th – Nico Hulkenberg
12th – Daniel Ricciardo
13th – Alexander Albon
14th – Antonio Giovinazzi
15th – Daniil Kvyat
16th – Lance Stroll
17th – Pierre Gasly
18th – Carlos Sainz Jr.
19th – George Russell
20th – Robert Kubica
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The live broadcast of the first of 21 races on the 2019 Formula 1 schedule, the Australian Grand Prix, is scheduled to begin on ESPN at 1:10 a.m. ET on Sunday, March 17 from Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit, so be sure not to miss it.