Pierre Gasly was promoted to Red Bull for 2019. His replacement at Toro Rosso was Daniil Kvyat—re-hired by the team after he was previously dropped in 2017. Brendon Hartley was replaced by 2018 Formula 2 third-place finisher Alexander Albon. Kvyat finished 10th at the opening race in Australia, keeping Red Bull's newly promoted Gasly behind him for much of the race. Albon scored his first Formula One points with a 9th place in Bahrain, before finishing 10th in China after starting from the pit lane. Kvyat suffered consecutive collision-related retirements in China and in Azerbaijan. Toro Rosso recorded a double points-finish in Monaco, the first time the team had done so in over two years since the 2017 Spanish Grand Prix. The team scored an excellent result at the rain-affected German Grand Prix, where clever strategy calls allowed Kvyat and Albon to finish 3rd and 6th respectively. This was Toro Rosso's first podium finish since their shock win at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix, and their best ever race result in terms of total points.