Australian Grand Prix Report: Lewis Hamilton Takes Victory As Only Eleven Cars Finish

Lewis Hamilton took the 34th win of his career in Australia today as only 11 cars finished the race in Melbourne. Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel completed the podium.

Before it had even begun three cars were out the race. Valterri Bottas sat it out due to a back problem he obtained in Qualifying yesterday, then two cars broke down on the way to the grid. Kevin Magnussen’s McLaren started billowing smoke as came to a halt at turn six. Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat had a gearbox issue and stopped near the pit entry, meaning only 15 cars started the race.

The drivers were dropping like flies as a first corner collision saw Pastor Maldonado spin and into the wall on the exit of turn two. Double disaster for Lotus as Romain Grosjean was retired at the end of the first lap with a power problem. Fears were starting to arise as to whether we’d have enough drivers come the end of the race, but the Grand Prix settled into a nice rhythm.

The Safety Car was brought out in the wake of the Maldonado crash, and this saw Felipe Nasr jumps up the order to sixth in what was a very strong race for the Sauber debutant. After the restart Mercedes pulled away and that was the last chance anyone had to catch them as they were never threatened.

Interestingly enough the best battle in the early stages was for last place, Jenson Button’s McLaren was fighting Sergio Perez in the Force India with Button showing that resilience we’ve become accustomed to. The two fought until at turn three Button shut the door on Perez slightly causing the former team mates to collide. Perez spun but recovered to finish in the points.

Pit-stops were Kimi Raikkonen’s downfall today as in his first he was delayed due to some damage to his front wing, before his second causing his retirement. He was released and the Finn then stopped at turn six, with the cause being an unsafe left rear tyre. This was in fact an unsafe release from the Ferrari pit crew and it was investigated by the stewards after the race.

A dodge pit-stop at Toro Rosso caused Carlos Sainz some precious time. The young Spaniard was running in sixth when the pit crew couldn’t get off the left rear tyre, meaning he lost a lot of time, although he recovered and finished ninth on his first outing in Formula One. His team mate however was not so lucky.

Just past the half way stage Max Verstappen had plumes of smoke escaping his car, which caused the 17 year old to park up near the pit entry, which was a real shame as he looked on for some points in his first ever race. There were encouraging signs here that Toro Rosso can do well this season, and potentially challenge the Red Bulls.

The final stages were a real stasis period as not a lot of action happened during the last ten or so laps. Lewis Hamilton won the race in the end, with team mate Rosberg just two seconds shy of him in second. Vettel finished third after leapfrogging Felipe Massa in the pit-stop phase and never relinquished his position.

Massa finished fourth with Nasr finishing fifth in what was the star performance of the day. Home boy Daniel Ricciardo challenged Nasr but the young Brazilian stood firm and held the Red Bull at bay. Nico Hulkeneberg had a quiet race and finished seventh, with Marcus Ericsson capping off a turbulent weekend for Sauber by finishing eighth and securing a double points finish, and their first points since 2013.

Sainz finished ninth and showed some encouraging signs for the Toro Rosso team with Perez finishing in tenth. Jenson Button finished but was the only driver not to score points, as he finished eleventh in what was a marvellous result given McLaren’s woes in testing this season.

A highlight for some was seeing Arnold Schwarzenegger on the podium conducting interviews as Lewis Hamilton secured Mercedes’ 30th win in Formula One as a Constructor. Some encouraging signs but it’s certainly clear Mercedes are the dominant force, with Ferrari enjoying a revival and looking like the Prancing Horse are getting back to their former selves after a couple of years in the wilderness.