[fz_rider]

Wow ! Vettel wins again. Hamilton was clearly the faster one, but clever win by Vettel again.
Ferrari 1-3
Great drive by Alonso to held back Verstappen, and Raikonnen to held back Ricciardo.
Nice mix in top 10. But again, heartbroken for the Haas drivers.

[Johnnny]

Vettel was lucky today and eventually wiped the smile of Lewis's face .
Am happy that Kimi finished at P3 as he tried his best to defend himself from Ric!

[avi550m]

More than the front runners I am happy that Fernando finished 5th. Looks like McLaren might be in the fight for 4th place this season, and Fernando could surprise everyone with a couple of podiums.

[StarrySky]

Lucky win for Vettel (as he himself admitted). Hamilton was controlling the race very well from the front till the VSC. Both him and Kimi lost out during the VSC.

Ricciardo had a shot at 3rd after the SC, but I suspect the Ferrari with Kimi was that decisive little bit faster even on slightly older tires. Kimi knows from Monza last year that Ricciardo can brake very late and sneak up the inside and he seemed to be covering it pretty well.

Alonso in P5, was another one who benefitted from the VSC. He did quite well to keep Max behind. There was speculation in the commentary that Max may have picked up some damage during his spin. However, I think McLaren cannot be satisfied with the pace of the car. Alonso lost about 1s/lap to the leaders after the SC, with all of them pushing and him having clear air. They might emerge victorious in the midfield, but the top 3 teams look too far away at this time.

Huge missed opportunity for Haas!

Bottas didn't make huge progress in the race. Wondering if it's down to him or Mercedes not being great in traffic (as last year) or the circuit. Probably a mixture of all three.

[shibujp]

Raceday is when all the predictions, assumptions and expectation fall by the wayside. Melbourne was not different. I expected Red Bull to be much more competitive, Force India to be a hollow shell and Ferrari to havea tough time closer to Red Bull than to Mercedes.

After a superb show over the weeekend in practice and qualifying it was an anti climax for Mercedes with Ferrari being able to pounce on the spot of luck that went their way and nail victory. What must be heartening is the lead they have in the constructors as well. Early days it is with 21 races to go but Mercedes has revealed an achilles heel in their inability to follow cars. This was a problem last year as well and Hamilton was pretty uncompetitive behind in the dirty air behind Vettel once the gap got down to around 0.5 secs. More than Hamilton, it was particularly displayed by Bottas inability to pass cars that were significantly down on power than Ferrari. Ferrari either needs to really eke out some performance from their engine that matches the Silver Arrows or come up with a strategy that prevents Mercedes from locking down the front row. Because as it stands, they have no answer for the pace of the Mercedes in clean air which was demonstrated by how quickly Hamilton was able to whittle down a 3 second gap opened up to Vettel after getting the Mercedes out of shape in a corner.

A revelation in the race has been Haas and even more so the fact that Verstappen in the Red Bull had no answer to the pace of the Haas on the straights. It was heart breaking to see all the good work undone in the pit stops but promises to liven up the action in the middle of the pack. They have proved that they were really troubling Red Bull in the first race. In my view this is problematic for Red Bull as last year they did not have any challengers from the middle of the pack and could really focus on the front runners, Ferrari and Mercedes. Sergio Perez and Ocon did well to finish 11th and 12th but it seems they have been overtaken by McLaren and Renault in terms of performance. At the end of last year they looked all set to challenge the top three.

Final Classification


Drive on,
Shibu

[mayankk]

Well, for want of a nail, the kingdom was lost. In this case, for want of a pneumatic gun?
Dirty air is the merc's Achilles heel since forever, but still, this was ridiculous. Just get these guys behind someone, and all is finished?

[shibujp]

Originally Posted by mayankk

Well, for want of a nail, the kingdom was lost. In this case, for want of a pneumatic gun?

Apparently they had very little practice due to limited spares and the wheel nuts were cross threaded. Link.

What seems to be worse this time is a greater impact on engine temperatures than I remember hearing of last year. Bottas also remarked that cooling issues forced him to limit his attack.

Drive on,
Shibu.

[deetjohn]

Mercedes really thought they had the race in the bag. And why not? The car was looking supreme on Saturday.

But what Mercedes didn't have was Bottas who could have been used to cover Kimi when Ferrari took an early pit stop to force Mercedes' hand. This was the only strategy Ferrari could have used and they did just that. It was risky though, if there was no safety car period, Vettel wouldn't have even made it to the podium.

What Mercedes should have done instead was to make Lewis pull a bigger gap to both Ferraris from the get go anticipating a safety car period. But they didn't. Toto is blaming a bug in the algorithm. But I think they thought they had a more wider margin to play with than there was.

Albert Park is notoriously difficult to overtake, but this won't be the case on most other tracks. And if both Mercs are on the front row after qualifying, it will be far easy on Sundays for them. Ferrari and RBR got a lot to do. Irrespective of this result, they are playing catch-up.

[GTO]

The boys are back and what a race to start the season with . Totally topsy turvy.

While Mercedes' special qualifying mode gave Lewis a big jump on Saturday, I'm glad that they & Ferrari are close / evenly matched in race pace. That makes the season more interesting for us fans. Vettel gained from the virtual safety car, yes, but him staying out longer was also a contributor. We were joking that Ferrari probably WhatsApped Ross Brawn for suggestions, and this was Brawn's masterplan to bring Kimi in early, so that Mercedes follow . Mercedes was too focussed on Kimi - when Hamilton was putting in such fast laps, what was the reason to bring him in so early?

Haas must be gutted. What a great run they were having and such amazing speed. But to lose it all in simple pitstops? Damn.

Alonso just happened to be in the right place at the right time all throughout. A 5th position driving that truck is a huge achievement. And he drove such a wide car that no one behind him was able to overtake (commentator also joked about the 'Trulli Train'). If there was an award for the maximum number of 5th positions, Alonso would easily get it.

[vb-saan]

Saturday Lewis said he wanted to wipe off the smile from Vettel’s face and the latter responded “what goes around comes around”, and he managed to back it up with a P1 on Sunday!
Stage is set nicely for rest of the season!

[shibujp]

Originally Posted by deetjohn

But what Mercedes didn't have was Bottas who could have been used to cover Kimi when Ferrari took an early pit stop to force Mercedes' hand. This was the only strategy Ferrari could have used and they did just that. It was risky though, if there was no safety car period, Vettel wouldn't have even made it to the podium.

Definitely. Bottas at the rear meant that Hamilton had to cover both Vettel and Raikkonen. However it was quite evident that Hamilton had the pace to pull out an additional 2/3 seconds or so needed to cover Vettel if Mercedes had requested him to do at least a lap or two earlier. Hamilton deciding to back off in the last 5 laps is all indicative on the concern all the teams have on the reliability front. I can't ever remember Hamilton throwing in the towel so decisively!

Originally Posted by GTO

The boys are back and what a race to start the season with . Totally topsy turvy.

Alonso just happened to be in the right place at the right time all throughout. A 5th position driving that truck is a huge achievement. And he drove such a wide car that no one behind him was able to overtake (commentator also joked about the 'Trulli Train'). If there was an award for the maximum number of 5th positions, Alonso would easily get it.

Though The Stoff is no Nelson Piquet Jr. it reminds me of the time when Alonso raced the ING-Renault car for two years getting that car into point scoring places it had not legitimate right being in. But McLaren can heave a huge sigh of relief at being reasonably competitive after the 3 year grind with Honda.

Drive on,
Shibu.

[Hatari]

Quickest I have seen Karma striking! poor Lewis.

What looked like an uneventful race, suddenly livened up after the Haas cars pitted.
Shame for them after a great job over the winter.

McLaren fortunate with a good drive from Alonso. Eric Boullier hinting that they had turned the PUs down on performance to ensure reliability.

Kimi had a solid 1st stint and then just faded away after Vettel got into the lead. He must do better.

And, Honda ticked off their first PU failure.

[AJITHAAA]

Ferrari won this one. But unless they upgrade quickly or get lucky as here, the Mercs are going to leave them gasping.

[nair]

Originally Posted by GTO

While Mercedes' special qualifying mode gave Lewis a big jump on Saturday, I'm glad that they & Ferrari are close / evenly matched in race pace.

Is there really a special qualifying mode? I thought Lewis rejected those claims.

[ecenandu]

Originally Posted by nair

Is there really a special qualifying mode? I thought Lewis rejected those claims.

Do you really believe Lewis will disclose it? Anyway, we will get a clearer picture in coming races about the 'Party Mode'.