♦ Lewis Hamilton, already the 2019 World Champion Driver, finished off the season with another win at Yas Marina. It is his fifth victory at the event.
♦ Although Charles Leclerc finished third overall, his position is not confirmed as there is an investigation into the amount of fuel that was actually in the Ferrari.
♦ Valtteri Bottas finished finished the race in 4th after having started from the back of the grid.
♦ In the closing stages of the race, McLaren’s Carlos Sainz, Jr. gave one last push and moved into 10th place to finish 6th overall in the Driver’s Championship.
♦ Alex Albon is the only one of the four rookies this year who had not driven an F1 car at Yas Marina (although he is familiar with it, having raced in GP3 and F2 events there).
♦ Lewis Hamilton’s win in Mexico still does not confirm his sixth world title, and he will have to wait till the next round in Texas. His closest rival is his team mate, Valtteri Bottas who is now 74 points behind.
♦ Ferrari started off with an unexpected advantage of pole position for Charles Leclerc when Max Verstappen lost his pole position because he ignored warning flags. However, the Italian team again lost that advantage although Sebastian Vettel’s tyre strategy worked out well in the end.
♦ Daniil Kvyat finished 9th overall but was dropped to 11th when the official results came out. The Toro Rosso driver was given a 10-second post-race time penalty for his last lap incident with Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg. The change in position also lost him and his team 2 points.
♦ Alexander Albon put in a good performance in Mexico, rising as high as third in the running, but the 2-stop strategy he had to use prevented him from pursuing the Mercedes-AMG drivers.
♦ The chances of Hamilton winning in Texas are pretty good as he has won 5 races there over the past 7 years. After collecting another world title, he can decide if he wants to move to Ferrari, Formula E, become an actor (he revealed that he was approached to star in Top Gun 2), or try to save the world in other ways.
100 F1 victories for the Mercedes Silver Arrows team
♦ Lewis Hamilton finally gets a win after 4 races and increasing assurance of another world championship title, possibly being confirmed in Mexico.
♦ Controversies again in the Ferrari camp led to Sebastian Vettel retiring with engine problems and Charles Leclerc losing his lead due to the virtual safety car being deployed.
♦ Red Bull’s two drivers – Max Verstappen and Alexander Albon – started the race in poor form, the former having been given a penalty and the latter having had an accident in qualifying. But they managed to finish 4th and 5th (Albon moving up from 20th at the beginning) to collect points for the team.
♦ Poorly planned pit stop saw Kimi Raikkonen’s Alfa Romeo immobile longer than necessary and dropping way down the field to end 13th. He must miss the lightning-quick and precisely planned pit stops at Ferrari.
Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport has confirmed that it will retain Valtteri Bottas for the 2020 Formula 1 season. The 30-year old Finn, currently second in the world championship standings on 188 points, joined the team in 2017. Racing alongside Lewis Hamilton, he has played a key role in its victory in the Constructors’ championship in the past two seasons.
Bottas made his F1 debut in 2013 with the Williams Renault team and had his first win at the 2017 Russian Grand Prix. During his two and a half seasons with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport team, he has scored 5 race wins and 10 pole positions.
“I am very happy and proud to be part of the team for a fourth season and wish to thank every team member and the board of Mercedes for their trust and belief in me. My performances have been getting better and better each year, and this is a great way to kick start the second half of 2019,” said Bottas.
Future no longer uncertain with his place on the team confirmed for the 2020 season, Valtteri Bottas can now focus on becoming World Champion.
Aiming to be world champion
“My overall target is to become Formula One world champion. I believe that on paper, and from my experience with the team, Mercedes is the best option for me to achieve that goal in 2020. We have 9 races to go this season and I am determined to keep improving at every one of them. Now, all my thoughts are on Spa and delivering a strong performance with the team this weekend,” he added.
Commenting on the retention of Bottas, Team Principal and CEO of the team. Toto Wolff, said: “For 2019, we set Valtteri the challenge of coming back even stronger than we saw him in the first part of 2018 – and he has achieved that, with some really impressive performances in the early races this year. Although it has been his most successful first half of a championship so far, he is hungry for more and determined to keep on improving and raising his level. That’s the mindset we want from all our team members.”
“The results we have achieved together with Valtteri are no coincidence: he has been an integral part of our championship success in the past two seasons, his teamwork with Lewis has been exemplary and he has shown real strength of character in how he has responded to setbacks. I’m delighted that he will stay with the team for another season at least – and look forward to seeing him raise the bar even further,” he said.
