Sebastian Vettel wins the first race of the season at the Australian GP

At the Australian GP at the Albert Park circuit today, Sebastian Vettel won the first race of the FIA Formula One Championship ahead of the Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas in a race that was full of incident and excitement.

Just before the start of the race, Daniel Ricciardo had problems getting to the grid due to a sensor issue on his Red Bull car. Luckily enough, Ricciardo was able to get back to the pits and the team were able to get him back onto the track. While this was happening to Ricciardo, Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat had problems with a fire extinguisher going off into his car but the problem was fixed quickly.

Before the race could even begin, the start was then aborted and the drivers being sent around for another formation lap after Sergio Perez hesitated to get into the right grid slot and then a yellow warning signal for Daniil Kvyat went off.

After the race, Race Director Charlie Whiting said that the combination of events meant he was not totally sure that it would have been safe to proceed with the race at that point.
However the race got under way and Lewis Hamilton made a perfect start to retain his lead over Vettel into the first corner. There was an incident between Marcus Ericsson and Kevin Magnussen on the first lap, leaving both in the gravel trap at Turn 1 and damage to Magnussen’s front wing.

Hamilton then pitted on lap 17 after complaining of a loss of grip from his tyres. He switched from the ultra-soft compound he started the race on to a fresh set of softs and dropped to fifth behind Vettel, Valtteri Bottas, Kimi Raikkonen and Verstappen.

Hamilton’s strategy initially went to plan as he used his fresh tyres to set laps several tenths faster than Vettel’s Ferrari in the lead, but then he came up behind the No.33 car of Verstappen.

If you remember two weeks ago when Hamilton had spent much of pre-season testing voicing his concerns about how difficult it would be to overtake in this new generation of cars. Those fears were brought to life over three nightmarish laps behind the Red Bull in which Verstappen barely had to defend to keep the Mercedes behind.

With each passing lap, Hamilton was losing over a second a lap to Vettel’s Ferrari, which was enjoying clear air at the front of the field and maintaining a decent pace. The Ferrari pit wall (which lost last year’s Australian Grand Prix by choosing the wrong strategy call) waited for Vettel’s lead over Hamilton to exceed 23 seconds and then pitted Vettel from the lead on Lap 23.

The pit crew did their part to perfection, exchanging Vettel’s used ultra-softs for a fresh set of softs, and released their driver in the knowledge that he would retain the net lead over the Mercedes. Vettel then emerged from the pit lane ahead of Verstappen, who had a look at the Ferrari into Turn 3, but thought better of it and ducked back behind to ensure Hamilton was not given an opportunity to take advantage.

The Mercedes was finally released two laps later when Verstappen pitted, but by that point Vettel had already built a comfortable lead, which he would go on to extend to 9.9s by the chequered flag.

Meanwhile McLaren Honda driver Fernando Alonso had been running in the top ten for most of the race, but complained of a problem under braking while defending from Ocon; who pulled off a rare overtaking manoeuvre on McLaren’s Fernando Alonso towards the end of the race to take the final point.

But it was Sebastian Vettel who won his first victory of the 2017 season at the Australian GP. Vettel finished ahead of Lewis Hamilton in second place who was 9.975 seconds behind him and ahead of Valtteri Bottas in third place who was 11.250 seconds behind Vettel.

Kimi Raikkonen finished the race fourth place ahead of Max Verstappen in fifth place, Felipe Massa in a brilliant sixth place, Sergio Perez in seventh place, Carlos Sainz Jr in eighth place, Daniil Kvyat in ninth place and F1 rookie Esteban Ocon who rounded off the top ten finishers of the race.

Nico Hulkenberg ended his first race for the Renault team in eleventh place ahead of F1 debutante Antonio Giovinazzi in twelfth place and ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne in thirteenth place.

Fernando Alonso, Kevin Magnussen, Lance Stroll, Daniel Ricciardo, Marcus Ericsson, Jolyon Palmer and Romain Grosjean did not finish the race.

The classification of the Australian GP is as follows:-

1. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1.24:11.672s
2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 9.975s
3. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, 11.250s
4. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 22.393s
5. Max Verstappen, Red-Bull-TAG Heuer, 28.827s
6. Felipe Massa, Williams-Mercedes, 1.23.386s
7. Sergio Perez, Force India-Mercedes, 1 lap
8. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 1 lap
9. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 1 lap
10. Esteban Ocon, Force India-Mercedes, 1 lap
11. Nico Hulkenberg, Renault, 1 lap
12. Antonio Giovinazzi, Sauber-Ferrari, 2 laps
13. Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren-Honda, 2 laps
14. Fernando Alonso, McLaren-Honda, Not Classified
15. Kevin Magnussen, Haas Ferrari, Not Classified
16. Lance Stroll, Williams-Mercedes, Not Classified
17. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull-TAG Heuer, Not Classified
18. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber-Ferrari, Not Classified
19. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, Not Classified
20. Romain Grosjean, Haas Ferrari, Not Classified

Sebastian Vettel leads the 2017 Formula One Drivers Championship with 25 points, Lewis Hamilton is in second place with 18 points, Valtteri Bottas is third with 16 points, Kimi Raikkonen is fourth with 12 points, Max Verstappen is fifth with 10 points, Felipe Massa is sixth with 8 points, Sergio Perez is seventh with 6 points, Carlos Sainz Jr is eighth with 4 points, Daniil Kvyat is ninth with 2 points and Esteban Ocon is tenth with 1 point.

Ferrari leads the Constructors Championship with 37 points, Mercedes are second with 33 points, Red Bull is third with 10 points, Williams are fourth with 8 points, Force India are fifth with 7 points and Toro Rosso is sixth with six points.

Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa