MELBOURNE, Australia — ESPN rounds up the main talking points from the season-opening Australian Grand Prix which, for the second year in succession, was won by Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.
Shock: It’s not often Mercedes make a critical mistake but on Sunday afternoon a miscalculation during a virtual safety car period cost Lewis Hamilton an almost certain victory in Australia. Hamilton pitted from the lead on lap 19 while Vettel, who was running third, opted to stay out and run his ultra-soft tyre longer. When the VSC was deployed on lap 24, Vettel boxed as Hamilton was forced to drive to a preset delta. Mercedes’ timing was off, however, as Vettel rejoined ahead and held onto the lead until the chequered flag.
Shocker: By the end of lap 23 it appeared Haas was set for its biggest points haul in Formula One. Kevin Magnussen, who passed Verstappen in the run to Turn 1 on the opening lap, was in P4 with teammate Romain Grosjean one place behind. But in the space of two laps it all turned to misery as both drivers experienced botched pitstops a lap apart. The Haas mechanics were first unable to secure Magnussen’s left rear tyre before failing on Grosjean left front. An utter shame which left Gunther Steiner with his hands in his head.
Alonso’s accurate prediction: Fernando Alonso arrived in Melbourne hugely optimistic about McLaren’s prospects for 2018 and the two-time world champion delivered on Sunday by holding off Max Verstappen for P5 – his equal best finish since re-joining McLaren in 2015. Sure, they benefited enormously from the Haas disaster, but P5 is still P5 and the bar has now been set for the season. Teammate Stoffel Vandoorne finished ninth to give McLaren a haul of 12 points from the opening race.
Oh, Honda: Another season, another Honda engine failure. Pierre Gasly retired just 15 laps into the race when plumes of smoked began to spray from his Toro Rosso. His teammate Brendon Hartley didn’t fare much better, a severe lock-up into the first corner forced him to change tyres at the end of the opening lap and not even a mid-race safety car could prevent him from finishing last and over 30 seconds behind the driver in front.
Overtake of the day: The Albert Park street circuit is notoriously difficult for overtaking but Daniel Ricciardo proved it can be done on Lap 6 when he prevailed over Nico Hulkenberg for what was P7. The Australian utilised his trademark dive down the inside of the Renault driver at Turn 13 before Hulkenberg regained the inside line as they dueled into Turn 14. However, Ricciardo wasn’t to be denied and muscled his way around the outside of to win the place.
Driver of the day: There wasn’t a clear standout for driver of the day honours in Australia. Hamilton didn’t do a lot wrong and can consider himself unlucky to not have claimed a third win in Australia while Vettel benefited from the VSC. Ricciardo also impressed en route to fourth but it’s hard to go past Alonso who made up six places to finish fifth in his McLaren.
Rolex Australian Grand Prix Schedule on ESPN Networks (all times Eastern)
Sun., March 25
Race (encore),11 a.m., ESPN2
Race (encore), 1 p.m., ESPNEWS
Race (encore), 9 p.m., ESPNEWS
http://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/22901316/story-race-sebastian-vettel-wipes-smile-lewis-hamilton-face
