#Vettel outfoxes @LewisHamilton to win @ausgrandprix #F1

 

Sebastian Vettel capitalised on a mid-race safety car to snatch victory from Lewis Hamilton at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on the streets of Albert Park.

 

Vettel was third in the first stint but stayed out longer than Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen and early race leader Lewis Hamilton and took advantage of the Virtual Safety Car & Safety Car periods to pit.

 

Vettel managed to keep Hamilton behind him with ease, aided by his fellow four-time World Champion’s lock up and off-track excursion into turns 9 and 10, coming through to win 5.036 seconds ahead as Raikkonen rounded out the top three and gave the Scuderia a double podium.

 

 

When the 58-lap season-opening Australian Grand Prix began, pole-sitter Hamilton kept the lead at the start and withstood a quick attack from Raikkonen at the third corner before slowly building into a comfortable three second lead, as Vettel kept his eye on the front-two in the other Ferrari.

 

Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen’s got an impressive start, running on the outside into the first corner to swamp Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and gave the front three an opportunity to move clear, and the Grand Prix was heading towards a processional in the opening stage.

 

Verstappen’s Red Bull RB14 racer looked lively behind the Haas VF-18 as the Dutchman complained over the radio of overheating rears, then Verstappen dramatically spun at turn one and fell to eighth.

 

The only change in the field before the pitstop window was Carlos Sainz’ RS18 running wide at turn 9 and allowed Fernando Alonso’s McLaren to slip into ninth, but the race turned upside down when drama struck American-outfit Haas.

 

Magnussen pulled over at turn 3 after his left rear tyre was not fitted properly, and team-mate Romain Grosjean suffered the same problem a lap later when an issue on his front-left caused the Frenchman to pull over on the left side upon the exit of the first corner immediately.

 

That deployed the virtual safety car, which was a huge boost for Ferrari as it used its two on one handicap over Mercedes to beneficial use, bringing Raikkonen in early so Hamilton reacted and stopped a lap later to cover Ferrari’s fresh-tyre advantage.

 

Vettel remained on track several laps longer and with the virtual safety car in force, he took the opportunity to pit while the rest of the field travelled slowly and came out just in-front of Hamilton, after being nine seconds behind and turning it into a race lead.

 

The real safety car was soon deployed and replaced it’s virtual version and the race remained stable until the 32^nd lap, giving Hamilton 26 laps to reclaim the lead from Vettel.

 

Hamilton hovered around a second behind Vettel for most of the time, then mounted a harder push with 12 laps remaining but locked up at turn nine and tripped over the grass.

 

That made Hamilton drop nearly three seconds behind and though he charged back within DRS range with five laps remaining he complained of his rears overheating and fell again.

 

Vettel crossed the line 5.036 seconds ahead of Hamilton taking his ninth victory for the Scuderia and giving Ferrari it’s 12^th Australian Grand Prix victory, equalling McLaren’s record.

 

Raikkonen kept Red Bull’s fast charging Daniel Ricciardo at bay to take third place, while Alonso, the other driver who was boosted by the mid-race safety car, completed the top five despite intense pressure from Verstappen.

 

Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg had a quiet race to take seventh, hunting down Alonso and Verstappen in the closing stages.

 

Valtteri Bottas’ uneventful recovery from 15th was bolstered by the safety car and claimed eighth from McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne, with a great pass into turn 3 on the restart. The Finn then chased down Hulkenberg but could not pass and was once again threatened by Vandoorne.

 

The second Renault of Carlos Sainz claimed the final points place, finishing 10^th after the Spaniard held off Force India’s Sergio Perez’s despite claiming he was nauseous in the final three-quarters of the Grand Prix.

 

As well as the Haas failures which changed the complexion of the race, three other teams lost a car over the course of the race.

 

Williams rookie Sergey Sirotkin suffered a brake issue on lap six and became the first retirement of the 2018 season, while Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson brought his C37 racer back into the pits on lap 14 with a hydraulic issue and Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly retired after an MGU-H failure on lap 13.

The Formula 1 2018 Rolex Australian Grand Prix Race Results Classification (58 Laps)

Driver	Team	Times
1. Sebastian Vettel	Scuderia Ferrari	1:29:33.283
2. Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport	+ 5.036
3. Kimi Raikkonen	Scuderia Ferrari	+ 6.309
4. Daniel Ricciardo	Aston Martin Red Bull Racing	+ 7.069
5. Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Renault F1 Team	+ 27.886
6. Max Verstappen	Aston Martin Red Bull Racing	+ 28.945
7. Nico Hulkenberg	Renault Sport F1	+ 32.671
8. Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport	+ 34.339
9. Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren-Renault F1 Team	+ 34.921
10. Carlos Sainz	Renault Sport F1 Team	+ 45.722
11. Sergio Perez	Force India F1 Team	+ 46.817
12. Esteban Ocon	Force India F1 Team	+ 60.278
13. Charles Leclerc	Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team	+ 75.759
14. Lance Stroll	Williams Martini Racing	+78.288
15. Brendon Hartley	Red Bull Toro Rosso-Honda	+ 1 lap
Romain Grosjean	Haas F1 Team	Retired
Kevin Magnussen	Haas F1 Team	Retired
Pierre Gasly	Red Bull Toro Rosso-Honda	Retired
Sergey Sirotkin	Williams Martini Racing	Retired
Marcus Ericsson	Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team	Retired

 

2018 Formula 1 World Drivers Championship Standings

1. Sebastian Vettel – 25 Points.
2. Lewis Hamilton – 18 Points
3. Kimi Raikkonen – 15 Points.
4. Daniel Ricciardo – 12 Points.
5. Fernando Alonso – 10 Points.
6. Max Verstappen – 8 Points.
7. Nico Hulkenberg – 6 Points.
8. Valtteri Bottas – 4 Points.
9. Stoffel Vandoorne – 2 Points.
10. Carlos Sainz – 1 Point.

 

2018 World Constructors Championship Standings

1. Scuderia Ferrari – 40 Points.
2. Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport – 22 Points.
3. Aston Martin Red Bull Racing – 20 Points.
4. McLaren-Renault F1 Team – 12 Points.
5. Renault Sport F1 Team – 7 Points.
6. Force India F1 Team – 0 Points.
7. Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team – 0 Points.
8. Williams Martini Racing – 0 Points.
9. Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda – 0 Points.
10. Haas F1 Team – 0 Points.

 

Round two of the 2018 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the Sakhir International Circuit in Bahrain under the lights for the Formula 1 2018 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix from April 6-8.