An exciting opening race in Australia, saw Rosberg take victory. Hamilton had a tough race, but fought back to take 2nd ahead of Vettel. But one of the biggest surprises was Grosjean taking 6th for Haas on their debut. A huge crash for Alonso brought out the red flag – but fortunately he was uninjured.
Mercedes
Nico Rosberg P1, Lewis Hamilton P2
After leading every session in practice and qualifying, a bad start for Hamilton lost him the win. Dropping down to 6th on the first corner, he was stuck behind the Toro Rosso of Verstappen for a long time. A change in strategy saw him stop on lap 16 for medium tyres, his only stop of the race. 7th at the restart, Hamilton fought back to 2nd – holding Vettel behind in the closing stages. Rosberg was behind Vettel at the restart after the red flag, but the Ferrari driver was on supersofts so had to stop again.
Ferrari
Sebastian Vettel P3, Kimi Raikkonen DNF
A brilliant start for both drivers saw them run P1 and P2 in the opening stages of the race. However, an engine failure for Raikkonen ended his race early. Having led the race up to the restart, Vettel lost out on a win due to tyre strategy – remaining on the supersofts. He had to pit again and was close to Hamilton at the end of the race – but a mistake meant he dropped back and was unable to challenge for 2nd.
Williams
Felipe Massa P5, Valtteri Bottas P8
Massa had a fairly quiet race and finished in a brilliant fifth position. Bottas had a 5 place penalty due to a gearbox change, so started way down in 16th. Fighting through the field – he made his way up to 8th – an impressive result considering where he began the race.
Red Bull
Daniel Ricciardo P4, Daniil Kvyat DNF
Huge disappointment for Kvyat as he failed to start the race for the second yer in a row. His car ground to a halt on the formation lap and he was unable to get started. Ricciardo drove a great race, but missed out on the podium as he had to pit again near the end of the race as his tyres went. A switch to supersofts saw him get the fastest lap of the race.
Force India
Nico Hulkenberg P7, Sergio Perez P13
A strong result for Hulkenberg with seventh but disappointment for Perez as he slipped out of the points after brake issues. Both drivers missed out due to the red flag – losing their tyre advantage as the other drivers got to change tyres. Rob Fernley was disappointed, saying:
Our strategy was shaping up very nicely with the plan to stop both cars only once, but the red flag reset the strategies of everyone around us and made our task much more difficult. Making our pit stops just prior to the safety car also cost us track position
Toro Rosso
Carlos Sainz P9, Max Verstappen P10
A massive battle between the two drivers lasted much of the second half of the race. Both drivers finished in the points, but Verstappen was frustrated – stuck behind Sainz and Palmer for a long time. Then, a spin for Verstappen dropped him further back.
Renault
Jolyon Palmer P11, Kevin Magnussen P12
A puncture for Magnussen on lap one meant that he dropped right down the order and was lapped. However, the red flag helped him to catch up and he managed to work his way up to 12th place. Palmer had a good result and a fun race, fighting with the Toro Rossos, unfortunately he just missed out on points as he was overtaken by both of them.
Sauber
Felipe Nasr P15, Marcus Ericsson DNF
Ericsson had a disappointing day, firstly picking up a drive-through penalty for working on the car too long under the red flag. Then, an issue with the rear tyre ended his race. The lack of pace which the Sauber has was evident in Nasr’s race – stuck way down in 15th.
McLaren
Jenson Button P14, Fernando Alonso DNF
A major crash for Alonso – which saw him hit Gutierrez, roll the car and launch into the wall – ended his day early. Fortunately, both drivers were uninjured but it ruined McLaren’s day and brought out the red flags. Button’s race was ruined by the red flag and he fell to the back of the pack.
Manor
Pascal Wehrlein P16, Rio Haryanto DNF
Both drivers were having a good race up until the red flag. A reliability issue ended Haryanto’s race early, a disappointing end to his F1 debut. Wehrlein was last of the finishers, but still a positive result for Manor.
Haas
Romain Grosjean P6, Esteban Gutierrez DNF
A brilliant debut for the Haas team, picking up 8 points with Grosjean’s sixth place. He drove a great race and benefitted from the red flag. Unfortunately his teammate’s race ended early after he was hit by Alonso.