Australian GP: Lewis Hamilton beats Nico Rosberg to win
By Lawrence Barretto
Lewis Hamilton began the defence of his Formula 1 world
championship with a commanding victory in the Australian Grand Prix, as
Sebastian Vettel began his Ferrari career with a podium.
Hamilton led
away from pole in Melbourne and only momentarily lost the lead to
Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg during the pitstop sequence before
securing the 34th win of his career.
Rosberg crossed the line second, 1.3
seconds adrift, as Mercedes picked up where it left off last season
with a dominant performance in which the team finished 33s clear of the
field.Vettel bided his time before jumping Williams's Felipe Massa at
the mid-race pitstops by going longer to take third and confirm
Ferrari's improved pace.
Just 15 cars started the season-opening race,
after both McLaren's Kevin Magnussen and Red Bull's Daniil Kvyat stopped
on the way to the dummy grid with mechanical problems.Valtteri Bottas
had already been ruled out on medical grounds because of a back injury
sustained in qualifying, while neither Manor ran all weekend as it
continues its efforts to get back into F1.
The field was further depleted
after just a few corners, when Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen was clipped by
Carlos Sainz Jr's Toro Rosso at Turn 1.That nudged the Ferrari into
Felipe Nasr's Sauber, which then ricocheted into Pastor Maldonado,
spinning the Lotus driver into the barriers and out of the race.
This
brought out the safety car and Lotus's misery was compounded after just
one lap when Romain Grosjean pitted before being pushed back into the
garage having had a power issue on the formation lap.
Rookie Felipe Nasr
provided Sauber with a sensational end to what has been a difficult
weekend, which saw the team involved in a legal battle with Giedo van
der Garde, as he finished a brilliant fifth.It was an impressive debut
for the Brazilian, who was 12s clear of home favourite Daniel Ricciardo
in the Red Bull.Nasr's team-mate Marcus Ericsson, who started 16th,
pulled off a late move on Sainz at Turn 13 to finish eighth for the
Swiss team, which failed to score a single point last season.
Nico
Hulkenberg scored points for a Force India team that managed just
two-and-a-half days of pre-season testing because of delays with the
production of the 2015 chassis as the German finished seventh.Sainz
crossed the line ninth to score points on his debut, having lost a lot
of time with a slow pitstop, while Force India's Sergio Perez, who had a
messy race, closed out the top 10.
The Mexican spun, dropping to the
back of the field, and then found himself facing the wrong way when he
clumsily hit McLaren's Jenson Button when attempting an opportunistic
pass at Turn 3.Button narrowly missed out on giving McLaren-Honda a
remarkable points finish as he crossed the line 11th - and last.
However,
it was the first time the team had managed to complete a race distance
with its new car, following a pre-season littered with
problems.Raikkonen looked on course to finish fourth, but at his second
stop his Ferrari team failed to fit the left-rear tyre properly.
The Finn
rejoined, but pulled off the track a few corners later and retired with
his engineer saying "sorry, Kimi" on team radio.Toro Rosso's Max
Verstappen, who became Formula 1's youngest driver by taking the start,
retired when running ninth with smoke pluming from the rear of the
car.
RESULTS - 58 LAPS:
Pos Driver Car
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
2 Nico
Rosberg Mercedes
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari
4 Felipe
Massa Williams/Mercedes
5 Felipe Nasr Sauber/Ferrari
6 Daniel Ricciardo Red
Bull/Renault
7 Nico Hulkenberg Force India/Mercedes
8 Marcus
Ericsson Sauber/Ferrari
9 Carlos Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso/Renault
10 Sergio
Perez Force India/Mercedes
11 Jenson Button McLaren/Honda
- Kimi
Raikkonen Ferrari
- Max Verstappen Toro Rosso/Renault
- Kevin
Magnussen McLaren/Honda
- Valtteri Bottas Williams/Mercedes
- Daniil Kvyat Red
Bull/Renault
- Romain Grosjean Lotus/Mercedes
- Pastor
Maldonado Lotus/Mercedes
- Will Stevens Marussia/Ferrari
- Roberto
Merhi Marussia/Ferrari
DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP:
Pos Driver Points
1 Lewis
Hamilton 25
2 Nico Rosberg 18
3 Sebastian Vettel 15
4 Felipe Massa 12
5 Felipe
Nasr 10
6 Daniel Ricciardo 8
7 Nico Hulkenberg 6
8 Marcus Ericsson 4
9 Carlos Sainz
Jr. 2
10 Sergio Perez 1
11 Jenson Button 0
CONSTRUCTORS' CHAMPIONSHIP:
Pos Constructor Points
1 Mercedes 43
2 Ferrari 15
3 Sauber/Ferrari 14
4 Williams/Mercedes 12
5 Red
Bull/Renault 8
6 Force India/Mercedes 7
7 Toro
Rosso/Renault 2
8 McLaren/Honda 0