Daniel Ricciardo has had a less than ideal start to his life at Renault, qualifying for his home Grand Prix in 12th. Daniel Ricciardo’s start to life at Renault has been less than ideal, qualifying for his home Grand Prix in 12th on a day Lewis Hamilton once again stole the show. Ricciardo was narrowly outperformed on Saturday by teammate Nico Hulkenberg, who will start Sunday’s race at Albert Park in 11th after posting a time eight hundredths of a second quicker. “Both Renaults had a bit of a shocker there,” former F1 driver Martin Brundle said on Sky Sports. RACE CENTRE: Qualifying results, times FIVE THINGS WE LEARNED: Ricciardo has ‘chip on his shoulder’, champs can’t hide: Live stream the Formula 1® Rolex Australian Grand Prix 2019 on KAYO SPORTS. Every practice, qualifying & race live & anytime in HD. Try 14-Days Free Now > The day once again belonged to five-time world champion Hamilton, who broke the track record on his way to pole position. He will lead the pack for the season opener after setting a record time of 1.20.486, 0.112 seconds ahead of Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel finished qualifying a distant third (+0.704), while Max Verstappen was fourth (+0.834). Hamilton also equalled the record for the most pole positions at a single circuit, making it eight in Melbourne. Only legends Ayrton Senna (Imola) and Michael Schumacher (Suzuka) have claimed eight at one track. “I didn’t know about that. It is news to me,” Hamilton said when told about his record-equalling effort. The record wasn’t the only shock for Hamilton. He couldn’t believe Mercedes had made such great strides at Melbourne since Ferrari had dominated recent testing in Spain. “It’s a real shock. But I know Ferrari will be pushing hard tomorrow and they will put up a good fight,” he said. READ MORE: RICCIARDO FINALLY DRAWS BLOOD IN TEAMMATE BATTLE AS FERRARI GO TOE-TO-TOE WITH MERCEDES ‘I’M NOT SURE THEY’VE GOT ENOUGH’: F1 EXPERTS DOUBT RICCIARDO’S RENAULT REVOLUTION I HAVEN’T GOT FAT!’ RICCIARDO EXPLAINS FRUSTRATING AUS GP DELAY SANDBAGGING? FERRARI MYSTERY AS DELAYED DAN LEFT BEHIND BY TEAMMATE Earlier in Q1, Australian hearts were in mouths as Ricciardo languished in the dropzone when the clock ran out. The Australian flirted with an early exit, but pulled himself out of the bottom five after the buzzer by less than a tenth of a second. Red Bull new boy Pierre Gasly wasn’t so lucky and was shockingly dumped out in Q1 to make the worst possible start to his life as Ricciardo’s replacement. Gasly said he was happy with his lap but added: “Clearly the track evolution was big and it was quite a surprise (to be eliminated).” Also eliminated in Q1 was Racing Point’s Lance Stroll, McLaren’s Carlos Sainz, and new Williams pair George Russell and Robert Kubica. Kubica was in his first F1 qualifying session since 2010, when his career, and life, were nearly ended by a serious rally crash. On Saturday, he kissed the wall twice - once in practice and once in qualifying - and ended up on the grass in Q1. The biggest shock of Q2 was reserved for McLaren youngster Lando Norris, who scraped into the final session on F1 debut. Elsewhere, Ferrari recruit Charles Leclerc qualified in fifth, while Haas pair Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen were quick enough for sixth and seventh respectively. Kimi Raikkonen was ninth in his new Alfa Romeo. AUSTRALIAN GP QUALIFYING TIMESHEET 1) Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:20.486 2) Valtteri Bottas Mercedes +0.112 3) Sebastian Vettel Ferrari +0.704 4) Max Verstappen Red Bull +0.834 5) Charles Leclerc Ferrari +0.956 6) Romain Grosjean Haas +1.340 7) Kevin Magnussen Haas +1.613 8) Lando Norris McLaren +1.818 9) Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo +1.828 10) Sergio Perez Racing Point +2.295 Out in Q2 11) Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:22.562 12) Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1:22.570 13) Alex Albon Toro Rosso 1:22.636 14) Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo 1:22.714 15) Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:22.774 Out in Q1 16) Lance Stroll Racing Point 1:23.017 17) Pierre Gasly Red Bull 1:23.020 18) Carlos Sainz McLaren 1:23.084 19) George Russell Williams 1:24.360 20) Robert Kubica Williams 1:26.067 Relive all the action in the blog below. PROBLEM AROUND RICCIARDO’S GENTLEMAN AREA’ On Friday, Practice 2 didn’t start well for Ricciardo after a problem with his seat meant he missed a chunk of time at the start. “It was a bit frustrating,” he said. “We wanted to go out but it was frustrating for the mechanics as well. “I don’t know what went on because the belts… the measurements weren’t adding up. I haven’t got fat, I know that’s what you were about to ask me. I’ve been too busy to be eating! “It was a bit of a time delay, but I could tell everyone was getting a bit frustrated but it was good to finally get some laps in.” Renault development driver Jack Aitken later revealed more specific details about where the seatbelt was malfunctioning. “Yeah, something around the gentleman area,” he told Sky Sports. “They might have had to make some adjustments.”<doc-sep>Australian Grand Prix winner Valtteri Bottas went against a pre-race order from Mercedes boss Toto Wolff not to go for the new point on offer for the fastest lap of the race. Bottas put an exclamation point on his dominant Sunday performance on the penultimate lap by beating Max Verstappen's previous best time, scoring a full 26 points. Ahead of the season, F1 agreed on a rule change allowing an extra point to anyone finishing inside the top 10. The early indication from Melbourne is that the new rule will work in one of its desired aims of spicing up the closing stages of a race. Over the course of a season it means 21 are on offer, just four shy of the amount given to a race victory. Several drivers, including Bottas and teammate Lewis Hamilton, were heard asking their engineers over the radio about what they needed to get the time required. It will encourage drivers and teams to weigh up the risk and reward of such a decision and will become a fascinating aspect to championship battles later in the season. Given that it was the first race, Wolff admitted he had favoured a more cautious approach when mapping out possible outcomes. "Today in the morning meeting, when we talked about strategy, I forbid to go for fastest lap if we were running one, two or three," Wolff said. "They ignored me. I think it was a plot between the engineers and the drivers! Because I think the engineers were keen and the drivers were keen!" Valtteri Bottas was determined to leave the Australian Grand Prix with the full haul of points. Charles Coates/Getty Images Despite his fears, Wolff was happy to see Bottas claim it without creating any late drama. "I think I need to reconstruct the radio calls, how that happened. In the end I'm very happy, collecting that extra point is good, it's entertaining, it's a great new part of the spectacle. I believe it's taking risks especially when you're in for the big points, should you go for the fastest laps? "But my reference points, being in control of a car is my own driving and not the level of the F1 drivers. I didn't like it so much." Bottas wanted to know whether he had enough of a gap to teammate Lewis Hamilton to pit for fresh tyres in the closing laps, something the team decided against despite his healthy advantage. That appears likely to be the easiest way to gain a fastest lap at that stage of the race, although it puts a driver's lead over another car at the mercy of a slow or botched pit stop or a mistake as the new tyres get up to temperature early on. Ferrari opted against taking that risk with new signing Charles Leclerc, who had a significant advantage over sixth-placed Kevin Magnussen in the closing laps. In the end the team was content to leave him out after telling him to hold station behind teammate Sebastian Vettel. Explaining his mindset late on, Bottas said: "Obviously getting the big amount of points from the result itself is a much, much bigger priority. And the second priority, the fastest lap. Once the gap to behind was decent, there was enough margin to speak about that, and make a plan for that. "I asked about a possible pit stop, but it's something that we actually spoke about before the race, that it's the first race of the season, we don't want to do silly mistakes, we want to be slightly on the conservative side with some preparations -- obviously still racing hard and being the best we can, but we need to make sure we do get the best points. "That's why we didn't stop in the end, because stopping again is always one more risk, whether at the same time there's a safety car, or an issue with the pit stop. I just decided in the last few laps, even though I was in traffic, trying to find a bit of a gap. I was pulling back, with some cars behind, went to some other engine modes, and went for a quick lap. I'm glad I got it, so it's obviously one point more."<doc-sep>
Valtteri Bottas has completed a comfortable win in the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park, while local fans were left to lament as Daniel Ricciardo had a horror start to his Renault career. Bottas took over the season-opening race early on from Mercedes teammate and pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton, and the Finn never looked back, going on to win by 20.886 seconds. Ricciardo's race was in trouble from the very start — as he tried to make ground on the inside seconds after the green light, his front wing snapped when he went off track on the home straight. The Australian limped around to the pits for a first stop after just one lap. He emerged more than a minute behind the leaders, and never got any closer. He was lapped by the leaders just 18 laps into the race, and although he continued on for some time, he was making no inroads. His day ended on lap 31, as the Renault team decided to retire Ricciardo's car as a precaution. Good tyre conservation meant that Bottas was able to stay out seven laps longer than Hamilton, and after a straightforward pit stop, he held a substantial lead for the rest of the race. "I don't know what just happened," Bottas said post-race, after letting loose an expletive over race radio. "I don't know what to say. The start was very good. "It was definitely my best race ever." Ferrari had been buoyed with some speed in early practice sessions, but the Mercedes team had got the jump in final qualifying, and Sebastian Vettel's challenge faded as the race went on — he finished nearly a minute back in fourth. Red Bull's Max Verstappen made a charge through the field and looked set to catch Hamilton for second, but a miscalculation on a corner lost him time and he had to content himself with the third step of the podium. Spanish driver Carlos Sainz was a dramatic non-finisher, as a spark set the back of his McLaren car on fire on lap 11 — smoke and fire spread, and he was forced to quickly pull over and stop before getting out safely. Haas driver Romain Grosjean was travelling well for much of the race, but he was out of the race on lap 34, following a number of problems with the front left suspension and tyre. Look back on the action from Albert Park as it happened in our blog.