It had been a much anticipated season opener in Melbourne and it surely lived up to expectations. A weekend of speed, drama, excitement and crashes started with a poorly received Qualifying round where most drivers left the track disgruntled as the new system seemed only to waste time and tyres. The grid lined up just about in order of speed with Hamilton in pole position as was to be expected.
However, the actual race did not turn out to be quite as simple as calamitous starts by the two Mercedes drivers handed Ferrari the initiative and it looked to be a first and second finish for Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen until Fernando Alonso's near brush with death from a simply horrendous crash.
As a result the race had to be stopped and Mercedes came out with the momentum managing to clinch a one-two finish probably owing in greater part to Ferrari's poor tyre strategy and a botched pit stop for Vettel.
In the end, the result may have gone as expected but Ferrari and Redbull certainly seem to have enough in their cars to challenge Mercedes for the title. Certainly lots more to look forward to in Bahrain.
Australian GP Top Ten
1. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:48:15.565
2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, +8.060s
3. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, +9.643s
4. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing, +24.330s
5. Felipe Massa, Williams, +58.979s
6. Romain Grosjean, Haas, +72.081s
7. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, +74.199s
8. Valtteri Bottas, Williams, +75.153s
9. Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso, +75.680s
10. Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, +76.833s
Source: DSG
