Australian Grand Prix live from Melbourne

Summary

Bottas overtakes Hamilton at start to win
Bottas gets fastest lap bonus point, Hamilton 2nd
Get involved #bbcf1
Sainz, Ricciardo, Grosjean out

Live Reporting

Niamh Lewis

Valtteri Bottas wins the Australian Grand Prixpublished at 06:40 Greenwich Mean Time 17 March 2019
Breaking
He takes the chequered flag after a stunning performance in that Mercedes, and takes the extra point for the fastest lap.
What a way to start the season!
Image source, EPA
'Fantastic'published at 06:38 Greenwich Mean Time 17 March 2019
Jolyon Palmer
Former Renault driver on BBC Radio 5 live
Bottas had driven a fantastic race from lights out when he took the lead.
Final lappublished at 06:38 Greenwich Mean Time 17 March 2019
Bottas has got the final lap, and will soon take the chequered flag to take 26 points in the first race of the season.
Everyone is going for that fastest lappublished at 06:36 Greenwich Mean Time 17 March 2019
Max Verstappen currently holds the fastest lap, but both of the Mercedes boys want it.
Image source, EPA
Radio messagepublished at 06:36 Greenwich Mean Time 17 March 2019
Hamilton: "I need that point Bono."
Radio messagepublished at 06:35 Greenwich Mean Time 17 March 2019
Lap 56/58
Verstappen's engineer: "There's all sorts of games going on at the moment with people slowing down. Just focus on getting Hamilton."
Image source, Getty Images
get involved
Get Involvedpublished at 06:33 Greenwich Mean Time 17 March 2019
Lap 55/58
Is it even worth asking who the driver of the day is going to be?
#bbcf1
get involved
Get Involvedpublished at 06:33 Greenwich Mean Time 17 March 2019
Bottas leads Australian GP #bbcf1
Alex Lloyd: Hamilton is obviously not very happy with the cars race set up but Bottas is showing just how good that Mercedes is, or rather just how good he is. Brilliant drive from Bottas!
Thomas Knights: Bottas the perfect drive, Ferrari - car looks fundamentally slow, Williams aren't in the same race as everyone else. Bottas the perfect drive, Ferrari - car looks fundamentally slow, Williams aren't in the same race as everyone else.
Dibyajyoti Acharya:The Prancing Horse seems to be suffering from equine flu...
Image source, Getty Images
Postpublished at 06:33 Greenwich Mean Time 17 March 2019
That Bottas-Hamilton gap isn't getting any smaller. The five-time world champion is still 23 seconds behind his team-mate.
Verstappen is now two seconds behind Hamilton, but next is Vettel who is way behind with a 19 second gap.
The top three look stable up there.
What has happened so far?published at 06:31 Greenwich Mean Time 17 March 2019
- Valtteri Bottas has a 25-second lead over Lewis Hamilton after overtaking him on the opening lap.
- Max Verstappen third, Sebastian Vettel fourth, Charles Leclerc fifth.
- Men out - Carlos Sainz (lap 11, car on fire), Daniel Ricciardo (lap 31), Romain Grosjean (lap 32). Grosjean had an earlier pit stop problem and his front left tyre comes loose.
- Robert Kubica, in his first F1 race since 2010, is last of those still running and been lapped by everyone.
Image source, Getty Images
Radio messagepublished at 06:30 Greenwich Mean Time 17 March 2019
Lap 53/58
Bottas: "So what's the plan before the end, are we stopping?"
Engineer: "We are not taking any risks, we are not taking any risks."
Bottas: "I want the 26 points so I'm going to go to the end."
Image source, Getty Images
Here comes the Ferrari battlepublished at 06:28 Greenwich Mean Time 17 March 2019
Charles Leclerc is right on Sebastian Vettel's tail, but according to Ferrari, Vettel is having problems and they're keeping them in that formation.
Our top 10published at 06:28 Greenwich Mean Time 17 March 2019
1. Bottas
2. Hamilton
3. Verstappen
4. Vettel
5. Leclerc
6. Magnussen
7. Hulkenberg
8. Raikkonen
9. Stroll
10. Kvyat
'Disastrous'published at 06:26 Greenwich Mean Time 17 March 2019
Lap 50/58
Jolyon Palmer
Former Renault driver on BBC Radio 5 live
What a disastrous race for Williams and Robert Kubica. Both team and driver have a long way to go.
Image source, Getty Images
How can it get any worse for Williams?published at 06:26 Greenwich Mean Time 17 March 2019
Bottas has lapped Kubica three times, but to make it even more embarrassing, George Russell has just lapped Kubica too.
They are both at the back, Kubica very much so.
'Shame'published at 06:23 Greenwich Mean Time 17 March 2019
BBC Radio 5 Live
Romain Grosjean, whose race ended on lap 32, has been talking to BBC Radio 5 Live.
"It's a shame," says Grosjean. "We looked strong all weekend long, we were strong in the race but unfortunately the first pit stop caused us a lot of problems and a technical issue finished us off."
Image source, Formula 1 Twitter
'Commanding'published at 06:23 Greenwich Mean Time 17 March 2019
Jolyon Palmer
Former Renault driver on BBC Radio 5 live
Bottas does not need to pit, so why should he? He should take the win and it has been such a commanding performance.
Radio messagepublished at 06:22 Greenwich Mean Time 17 March 2019
Bottas' engineer: "The only way we can lose this race is by not having rubber for a safety car."
Bottas: "Copy"
In Aussie, that means back off otherwise you'll mess up your tyres mate.
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The gap between the Mercedes is wideningpublished at 06:21 Greenwich Mean Time 17 March 2019
Hamilton is now 25 seconds behind Bottas. And Max Verstappen is still fighting only one second behind Hamilton. Max could be the rose between the thorns on the podium here.
Image source, Getty Images
'Comfortable'published at 06:19 Greenwich Mean Time 17 March 2019
Jolyon Palmer
Former Renault driver on BBC Radio 5 live
Hamilton is comfortable. This demonstrates the pace Mercedes have over Ferrari.