Formula 1: Mercedes 1-2 finish streak comes to an end in Monaco

Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s streak of 1-2 finishes to start the 2019 Formula 1 season came to an end in the Monaco Grand Prix, the season’s sixth race.

Before the 21-race 2019 Formula 1 season began, only one time in the history of the sport had a team recorded three consecutive 1-2 finishes to open up a season.

Williams opened up the 1992 season with three consecutive 1-2 finishes, as Nigel Mansell won each of the season’s first three races over teammate Riccardo Patrese in second place.

Mercedes tied this record with Lewis Hamilton’s victory and Valtteri Bottas’s second place finish in the season’s third race, the Chinese Grand Prix, after Bottas won the season opener, the Australian Grand Prix, over Hamilton in second and after Hamilton won the season’s second race, the Bahrain Grand Prix, over Bottas in second.

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The Silver Arrows then broke this record with Bottas’s victory in the season’s fourth race, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, as once again, he finished ahead of Hamilton in second place. They extended this record with Hamilton’s victory in the season’s fifth race, the Spanish Grand Prix, as Bottas finished behind him in second.

Hamilton did his part to extend this record in the season’s sixth and crown jewel race, the Monaco Grand Prix, as he took the pole position ahead of Bottas in second place and led each of the race’s 78 laps around the 19-turn, 2.074-mile (3.338-kilometer) Circuit de Monaco temporary street circuit in Monte Carlo, Monaco.

But in addition to finishing behind Hamilton, Bottas, who started the race in second place, finished behind Scuderia Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.

Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen finished the race in second place ahead of Vettel in third and Bottas in fourth, but he was issued a five-second time penalty for an unsafe release in the pits earlier in the race that resulted in him making contact with Bottas’s car, causing Bottas to make an extra pit stop and fall to fourth. As a result, the 21-year-old Dutchman was demoted to fourth place behind Vettel in second and Bottas in third.

While Mercedes’ 1-2 finish streak came to an end at five races, their winning streak is now up to eight races going back to last season. The last race that was won by a driver other than Hamilton or Bottas was last year’s Mexican Grand Prix, which was won by Verstappen.

Will Mercedes’ winning streak become nine races in the seventh race on the 2019 Formula 1 schedule, the Canadian Grand Prix, on Sunday, June 9? If so, will they start another 1-2 finish streak? This race is set to be broadcast live from Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Parc Jean-Drapeau in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on ABC beginning at 2:10 p.m. ET.