Hamilton wins from Rosberg and Vettel. Bottas, Magnussen, Kvyat, Maldonado, Grosjean, Verstappen and Raikkonen out, Bottas ruled out with back problem, Magnussen and Kvyat broke down on way to the grid, Maldonado crashed at turn one with Grosjean suffering a power problem, Verstappen stops after strong debut, Raikkonen stops on track. 11 runners finished.
7:00. So there you have it, the first race of the season is over with, and it was a decent first race here. Hamilton won as expected, with Rosberg following in second. Thank you so much for joining me as we saw the 2015 season get underway. I've been Aaron Irwin, and be sure to stick about as we bring you reports and all the fallout from today's race. See you next time in Malaysia in two weeks!
6:56. Mercedes already have big gap in Constructors table, some 18 points ahead of second placed Ferrari.
6:52. Arguably the best podium interview ever. In fact, it WAS the best podium interview ever, who's next? Sylvester Stallone?
6:51. "a big honour", is what Vettel has said on driving for Ferrari. It's a pretty exclusive club.
6:50. Just sounds like he's being briefed by his boss, Toto is that you?
6:49. Hamilton sounds stunned...
6:49. Or Arnold Schwarzenegger....
6:48. Wonder who the podium interviewer will be, Jackie Stewart? Mark Webber?
6:45. Today is Hamilton's 34th win, closing in on his idol Ayrton Senna's 41 wins.
6:42. However my driver of the day has to be Felipe Nasr, what a great race from the Sauber driver, P5 on his Formula One debut!
6:40. Shame for Button not being able to get a point, but an amazing achievement to finish the race after poor pre-season, a contender for driver of the day.
Final order: Hamilton, Rosberg, Vettel, Massa, Nasr, Ricciardo, Hulkenberg, Ericsson, Sainz, Perez, Button
Lewis Hamilton wins the Australian Grand Prix!!! he wins from Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel completes the podium on his Ferrari debut!
Final Lap: Hamilton coasting to the win here, with Nico soon behind him, never challenged Lewis though as he wins!
58/58. Final Lp! Hamilton starts his final lap here.
56/58. Ericsson passes Sainz into eighth, a big points haul on its way to Sauber. Vettel looks to have sealed a podium on his Ferrari debut, not bad from the former champion. Button keeps his McLaren trundling along.
54/58. Five laps left here, Hamilton looks to have the win in the bag. Sainz and Ericsson embroiled in a battle here, keep it clean lads!
53/58. It's easy to forget that Mercedes are first and second here, they've barely gotten a mention, have a feeling this will be a recurring theme this season.
51/58. Button claims 'downshifts are a problem' on the team radio.
50/58. Button reporting a problem, can he hold out and see if he can nick a point?
49/58. Final stages here, Hamilton, Rosberg, Vettel, Massa, Nasr, Ricciardo, Hulkenberg, Sainz, Ericsson, Perez and Button is the running order.
48/58. Vettel looks like being the best of the rest here in third, 30 seconds back from Mercedes.If Button finishes then that is a huge achievement for the McLaren.
46/58. Raikkonen stopping on track, not what the Finn expected from today.
44/58. Perez overtakes Button as Jenson is the only driver now outside the points. Rosberg is closing in on Hamilton slowly, but not enough to threaten the Brit. Ericsson pits from eighth.
43/58. It was a left rear issue as the wheel wasn't attached properly, with Ferrari therefore performing an unsafe release,meaning Kimi may get a 10 second stop-go penalty in Malaysia next time out.
42/58. Raikkonen pits for medium tyres, and comes out still in fifth. Nasr starting to come under pressure as Raikkonen has stopped! his car comes to a halt at turn four, reason is unexplained yet.
39/58. As we enter the final third of the race: Hamilton, Rosberg, Vettel, Massa, Raikkonen, Nasr, Ricciardo, Hulkenberg, Ericsson, Sainz, Perez and Button are the 12 runners remaining.
38/58. Nasr is still performing admirably well in sixth, holding off Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull.
37/58. Verstappen stopped on the grass near the pit entry, what a shame,
35/58. He dejectedly walks back to the pitlane, Mercedes 15 seconds ahead of Vettel here.
34/58. Smoke in Verstappen's car! a slight plum of smoke as Verstappen parks up near the pit entry. What a shame for the 17 year old, he was having a marvellous first race here.
32/58. McLaren have made it over half way! surely that's an achievement for Jenson and the team. Max Verstappen finally pits after 32 laps, that's impressive on hs debut outing.
30/58. Mercedes way ahead of the pack here as Hamilton and Rosberg look strong as expected.
29/58. Ericsson squeezes pasts Perez into turn one, great move from the young Swede and into tenth he goes. Hamilton miles ahead of the pack. Vettel currently in third.
28/58. Button struggling with his tyres now, a pitstop will be likely, and indeed it is as he pits.
27/58. As we approach the halfway point, its Hamilton, Rosberg, Vettel, Massa, Raikkonen, Verstappen, Nasr, Ricciardo, Hulkenberg, Button.
25/58. Sainz stuck in the pits, the left rear tyre didn't want to come off the car. Hamilton pits at the end of the lap.
24/58. Ricciardo in the pits as Massa is released and into free air as he looks to leapfrog Vettel and back into third. Vettel told to pit at the end of the lap.
23/58. Not much happening in way of overtakes but some top action out on track! Massa stuck behind Ricciardo in sixth, this won't be what the Brazilian wants.
22/58. Massa pits, his stop much cleaner than Raikkonen's, as Ferrari watch on.
20/58. It's been a long time since both Saubers were in the points, hoping they can score their first points since 2013.
19/58. Ferrari boss Maurizio Arrivabene is consulting the pit crew wanting to know what happened with the extended Raikkonen stop. Felipe Nasr is performing admirably well with some arguably stronger cars behind him.
18/58. Hamilton starting to pull away from Rosberg as Massa is nearly ten seconds further back, looks like a foregone conclusion of a one-two for Mercedes, barring any issues.
16/58. Raikkonen pits but has a long wait in the box, as his Ferrari supposedly has some front wing damage. It seems Ferrari are thinking a two-stop strategy isn't the best of ideas.
15/58. Top Ten as it stands: Hamilton, Rosberg, Massa, Vettel, Nasr, Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Sainz, Verstappen, Hulkenberg.
14/58. Perez has spun at turn three! yellow flags out at turn three, he went down the inside of Button at turn three and collided, sending the Mexican into a spin.
13/58. Ricciardo locks up going into the final corner as he's coming under pressure from Kimi Raikkonen in seventh.
12/58. Perez is closing down Jenson, with the Force India catching him at a rate of naughts. Button puts up a resilient fight against his former team mate, this is encouraging for the McLaren boys.
11/58. Jenson Button could get some points here, all he needs to do is keep the MP4-30 running, been a long time since McLaren were a plucky underdog. Hamilton still way out in front with Nico in tow behind him.
9/58. Maldondo cuts a dejcted figure as his race lasts just one corner.
8/58. Ricciardo complaining of understeer at high speed, shouldn't be too much of a problem for the Red Bull driver, as Sainz is now down to eighth.
7/58. Mercedes showing their dominance already as Nico Rosberg in second is already five seconds ahead of Felipe Massa in third, can anything stop them?
6/58. Looks like a intriguing battle occurring here for fifth between Nasr, Ricciardo, Sainz and Raikkonen.
5/58. Ricciardo is eyeing up Nasr here as the Aussie looks to take P5 from the young debutant.
4/58. Back underway here as Hamilton speeds away, as Sainz has been caught out on the restart, with Nasr and Ricciardo speeding past the young Spaniard. Also Perez has been ordered to let Ericsson through as he overtook under Safety Car conditions, he's at the back of the grid now.
3/58. Safety Car is in this lap, as Grosjean has a power issue, and that takes us down to 13, looks like we might struggle to get points finishers here.
2/58. Sainz is up to fifth with Felipe Nasr up in sixth! the Sauber driver started 11th here, a little shakeup of the grid then. Grosjean is out now too! wow they're dropping like flies!
Lap 1/58. All cars got away cleanly but there's a Lotus in the wall, Safety Car deployed! looks like it's Maldonado! 14 left...
Parade Lap: The cars are all away but there is oil at turn three, which may catch out a couple of drivers, the top ten are all on soft compound tyre here, meaning a shorter first stint.
5:00. Toto Wolff and Arnold Schwarzenegger together on the grid, someone give them a microphone!
4:55. Here we go five minutes left! Anyone else excited? let's see how many drivers finish today, with only 15 starting, my hopes aren't high.
4:50. So Magnussen and Kvyat are out, Kvyat has had a gearbox problem, as confirmed by Christian Horner. Here's the moment Magnussen stopped on track.
4:45. Ron Dennis did not sound happy here, he has only one car in this race and it's 'the least of his worries', meaning a lot of problems are beig kept under wraps at McLaren. The national anthem is now underway, still time for a cuppa before the race begins!
4:40. So as it stands only 15 cars will start the race, which is a shocking thing to see in the modern age of Formula One.
4:35. We're already a driver short as Valterri Bottas has been ruled out of today's race in Melbourne with a back problem. Daniil Kvyat is going very slowly on track, in fact it's stopped, is this yet another driver already out of the race?! this is stunning.
4:30. Magnussen has stopped on track! His McLaren has come to a halt and he's hopped out the car as it billows smoke and comes to a halt at turn six. It's likely his race is over before it's even begun.
4:25. The cars are now making their way to the track! The pitlane is open and the cars are making their way to the grid.
4:20. Everyone here will be hoping for Daniel Ricciardo to do well. The Aussie managed to finish second here last season, but was disqualified for a fuel flow issue on his Red Bull car. He'll be looking to avenge that here, but with the Ferrari's and the Williams' in front of him, he'll have a big challenge today.
4:15. There have been some truly classic races here in Melbourne, Martin Brundle’s spectacular crash in 1996, Ralf Schumacher’s collision with Rubens Barrichello helping Mark Webber to a debut fifth at his home race, let’s hope everyone is safe and we see some truly stunning racing.
4:10. The fact Mercedes are over a second faster than the rest of the field, many fans will be expecting nothing less than for the Silver Arrows to run rings round the rest of the field, especially with McLaren being around FOUR seconds slower than Hamilton and Rosberg.
4:05. All Nico has to do in order to get the upper hand is try and get to Turn One in the lead, and stay out of trouble, as a first lap collision would be detrimental to Mercedes.
4:00. The only thing that’ll stop Mercedes is potentially rain, rain could see a shakeup of the order, or a crash, but, these two wouldn’t crash into each other surely…
3:55. The Melbourne circuit has been on the calendar since 1996, with Damon Hill winning the inaugural event, and has this has traditionally become the season opener, with it not being the curtain raiser on only two occasions, where it was held in Bahrain.
3:50. Jenson Button is the most successful current driver on the grid, as he’s won three times here, in 2009 with Brawn, and in 2010 and 2012 with McLaren, I can’t see the Brit adding to his tally here today.
3:45. Not long now until we get the 2015 season well and truly underway, can anyone stop Mercedes? Or will the Silver Arrows have reliability problems? I think the biggest question is whether McLaren will actually make the finish?
3:40. Now of course you guys can get involved with the debate, you can send your thoughts and comments through either using the hashtag #VAVELF1, or by tweeting me at @AaronIrwin7.
3:35. As always Formula One doesn’t forget, and we all still hold Jules Bianchi and Michael Schumacher in our thoughts as they recover from their respective terrible injuries, we all here at VAVEL hope they recover as soon as possible.
3:30. Daniil Kvyat had a Qualifying session to forget in his first as a Red Bull driver as both Toro Rosso’s managed to out-qualify the young Russian. Home boy Daniel Ricciardo managed seventh as Mercedes, Ferrari and Williams dominated proceedings.
3:25. Sauber performed well in Australia, with Felipe Nasr just missing out on the top ten, with Lotus shocking us all by both cars getting into the shootout, albeit ending the day 9th and 10th on the grid.
3:20. Sauber are free to race after Giedo Van Der Garde dropped his legal suit against the team. The Dutchman was supposedly given a contract for 2015 by the Swiss team, but Sauber signed Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr instead, prompting a legal suit to be made by Van Der Garde.
3:15. Here is Lewis Hamilton’s 39th pole of his career, a stunning lap which was nearly six tenths faster than anyone else.
3:10. Another impressive performer was Sebastian Vettel, the Ferrari new boy qualified fourth and performed well as Ferrari continue to enjoy a mini revival under new boss Maurizio Arrivabene.
3:05. My personal driver of the day was Carlos Sainz, the Toro Rosso new recruit managed eighth on his debut Qualifying session, and with all the spotlight on team mate Max Verstappen, it was refreshing to see Sainz, son of rallying legend Carlos Sainz Sr, grabsome headlines.
3:00. The shock of the session was seeing both McLaren’s making up the very back row of the grid. With Manor not racing, Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen, deputising for the injured Fernando Alonso, could only manage 17th and 18th respectively.
2:55. Williams’ Valterri Bottas is a doubt for today’s race, as a back problem saw him taken to hospital after Qualifying sixth. “Valterri was suffering with his back and lost a lot of time at the last corner,” Williams Head of Performance Engineering Rob Smedley said.
2:50. Manor failed to make the grid after running out of time on Saturday. This caused the newly reformed team to be summoned by the stewards. They are being investigated by the FIA as to why they missed the session.
2:45. Today’s Grid in full:
1) Hamilton, 2) Rosberg, 3) Massa, 4) Vettel, 5) Raikkonen, 6) Bottas, 7) Ricciardo, 8) Sainz, 9) Grosjean, 10) Maldonado, 11) Nasr, 12) Verstappen, 13) Kvyat, 14) Hulkenberg, 15) Perez, 16) Ericsson, 17) Button, 18) Magnussen, DNQ) Stevens, DNQ) Merhi.
2:40. If you missed it earlier and didn’t see Qualifying, feel free to read the report from yesterday’s action!
2:35. If you didn’t see earlier, Lewis Hamilton is on pole for today’s race with Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg sharing the front row.
2:30. Good morning, and welcome to the first race of the 2015 season in Australia! I’m Aaron Irwin and I’m here providing live and up-to-date news and goings on as the 2015 Formula One season gets underway.