2019 F1 Season: Starting grid overview – Races 1 to 7

It is easy to see that Mercedes has dominated the qualifying sessions so far. They have been fast, and have avoided penalties, therefore starting at the top of the grid more often than not. But how are the rest of the drivers from the rest of the teams doing so far? Let’s take a look at the numbers.

Starting position

This analysis takes into consideration the starting position for each driver for all the races that we have had in the 2019 F1 season. If a driver had to start from the pit lane, then that race was not counted in this analysis.

The best

This analysis takes into consideration the starting position for each driver for all the races that we have had in the 2019 F1 season. If a driver had to start from the pit lane, then that race was not counted in this analysis.

Both Mercedes drivers sit atop of the graph. Lewis Hamilton has been a monster in qualifying, and was only bumped from the front row in Bahrain, where Ferrari had their best quali session of the season. Valtteri Bottas has had a better time in quali this year. He has 3 poles and 2 second place starts. His worst starting position was in the last race, Canada, where he had a bad quali session and only managed to start in 6th place.

For all the criticism that Sebastian Vettel gets, there is no denying that he is one of the best qualifiers of the grid. He has been mostly unable to take pole due to the speed of the Mercedes’ cars, but still, he showed in Canada how fast he can be when he’s on his day.

Max Verstappen is another driver that has greatly improved this season. He has shown more maturity than ever, and has an average starting position of 4.86th place. His only blemish this season was a 9th position in Canada, where unfortunately for the Dutchman, he was unable to set a lap with the softest tires after Magnussen’s crash.

Charles Leclerc is a driver who has had a couple of troublesome sessions this year. While he showed great pace in Bahrain, taking pole position, he crashed in Azerbaijan, and only managed to start in 8th place. Then again, he had a miserable Q1 session in Monaco after a botched strategy, and was only able to start in 15th place. If Ferrari and Leclerc manage to iron those small creases out, then expect Charles to fight for even better positions in the near future.

The midfield battle

Haas has shown how fast their car can be in one lap pace, but their drivers have had varying success in qualifying sessions so far. Kevin Magnussen has looked very strong in quali sessions, and is managing to start the race on average in in 7.83th place. Romain Grosjean, on the other hand, is only managing to start in 10.7 place. The Frenchman had had two 14th place starts, in Azerbaijan, and unluckily for him, in Canada as well.

Daniel Ricciardo is a driver who should be feeling happy about his quali performance this season. He has been outqualified on average only by 6 drivers, and is handily qualifying ahead of his teammate, Nico Hulkenberg. His incredible qualifying performance in Canada gave him his best starting position of the season, a 4th place.

Talking about Nico Hulkenberg, the German has not had the best start this season. He is on average starting the race in place 11.5th, and is only ranked as 13th in this category (Ricciardo is the 7th best here). His best start is a 7th place in Canada, where Renault looked quite strong, but he has been unable to consistently extract the pace from the Renault this season.

Pierre Gasly is another driver who has disappointing so far this season. He has started the races on average in 9.17th place. While his last 3 races have been much better, starting in 5th, 8th and 6th place, the numbers overall are not good enough for a Red Bull driver. His first two starts of the season, a 17th place in Australia and a 13th place in Azerbaijan, are unacceptable for a driver of his calibre.

Lando Norris has looked mentally strong in his debut season in Formula 1. McLaren could not find the pace in China, and the young Britishman started in 15th place, but other than that, he has been able to get into Q3 more often than not. His best qualifying position is an 8th place, done in Australia and, most recently, in Canada as well.

Daniil Kvyat is another driver who has shown more maturity in his return to F1. The Russian started the season slow, managing only a 15th place in the first two races of the season, but has upped the pace recently, managing to start in the top 10 places on the last 4 races in a row.

Carlos Sainz is a driver who is down the order in this chart mostly due to his terrible starting position in the Australian Grand Prix. Carlos has had a strange qualifying season so far, managing a great 7th place in Bahrain, and two 9th place starts in Azerbaijan and Monaco. He, however, also has had a very poor 18th place in Australia, and a dissapointing 14th place in China.

Alex Albon who has been very consistent in his starting place on the grid so far. His best starting position is a 10th place in Monaco, while his worst is a 13th place in both Australia and Canada. If the young Thai driver manages to find that extra bit of pace, expect to see him fighting more often with Kvyat.

Kimi Raikkonen is a driver who must be disappointed with the Alfa Romeo one lap pace. While the team started strong, with Kimi starting in 9th and 8th place in the first two races of the year, they have been unable to extract the pace in the last 3 races, with the Finnish driver only managing to start in 14th, 14th and 16th place recently.

Sergio Perez is not known for being the fastest driver in one lap pace, but he certainly expects to be starting the race in a higher position. Checo had a marvelous Q3 session in Azerbaijan, managing a 5th place for Racing Point, but other than that, has struggled to extract more pace from the car. His most recent 15th place in Canada was very disappointing, especially considering that Canada should have been a strong race for the British team.

The worst

Lance Stroll is having a nightmare of a season when it comes to qualifying pace. While he is only one place behind his teammate in this chart, he has had on average, much worse starting positions. The young Canadian has been unable to get out of Q1 so far, and his best starting position is a 13th place in Azerbaijan. In reality, he only managed to qualify in 16th place, but moved up the order due to flurry of penalties to Gasly, Giovinazzi, Kubica and Raikkonen.

Antonio Giovinazzi is another driver who has been extremely disappointing this season. He has no points this season so far, and his best qualifying session, in Azerbaijan, went down the drain after receiving a 10 place penalty for using a third control electronics unit in his car. Gio managed to start 12th in Canada, and hopefully, he will be able to get once again into the top 10 spots of the grid.

Finally, as usual, we have Williams. George Russell and Robert Kubica have only been able to start in any other place but the last row after penalties from other drivers. Credit should go to Williams’ reliability team. They have been able to keep the car functioning without major issues so far. If only they had any pace at all.

Final remarks

There is not a lot to say that I have not said so far. Mercedes has been very strong, while Williams has been very poor. The midfield battle keeps being very tight, with Haas and Renault looking very strong in one lap pace.

Do not forget to consider that this graph only represents their starting positions, and not necessarily the qualifying performance. The reasoning behind plotting this, is that is becomes fairer for the comparison to show where they started since this takes into consideration the reliability of the cars, as well as consistency for the drivers to avoid mistakes that could end up with penalties.

I hope that you have enjoyed the article, let me know what you think in the comments below.