adminMELBOURNE. — Lewis Hamilton’s world championship defence got off to a flying start yesterday with a crushing victory for Mercedes in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix as Formula One rivals succumbed to a farcical rash of reliability problems.
Hamilton fought off teammate Nico Rosberg to give Mercedes a dominant victory in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne yesterday.
Pole-sitter Hamilton started from a grid reduced to 15 cars from a possible 20 and cruised to his 34th race win with a 1.3-second gap to runner-up team mate Rosberg.
Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel, in his first race drive for Ferrari since switching from Red Bull, finished on the podium in third place just ahead of Felipe Massa in a Williams.
It was all-conquering Mercedes’ eighth straight victory, with their last defeat coming in Belgium last August to Australian Daniel Ricciardo driving a Red Bull, and their 20th race in a row with at least one driver on the podium.
Hamilton (30) has won seven of the last eight GPs, though this was his first in Australia for seven years. It was the Englishman’s 34th win in his 149th grand prix.
Ferrari’s cheer was tempered, however, by two botched tyre changes for Kimi Raikkonen, the second forcing the Finn to retire when fifth late in the race due to his left rear wheel not being properly attached.
Interviewed on the podium by Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Hollywood “Terminator”, Hamilton said it was great to be back on top.
“It is an incredible feeling to continue winning,” he said.
“This is my first win in Melbourne since 2008,” Hamilton said.
“Nico was quick throughout the race. In terms of tyres we did not know how far they could go. When Nico turned up the heat I was able to react which was good.”
Rosberg said Hamilton drove a mistake-free race and was difficult to catch.
“It’s a nice feeling to be second, it’s an awesome start for the team,” Rosberg said.
“Lewis has done a fantastic job, he drove like a world champion all weekend. I’ll give my maximum and try to beat him all year.”
It was a morale-boosting podium finish by Vettel for Ferrari, who were a well-beaten fourth behind Mercedes in last season’s constructors’ championship.
“We can be very proud. We have a great car, there is a lot of work ahead of us to beat these (Mercedes) guys,” Vettel said.
“We want to make sure that life is not easy for these two during the season.”
Brazilian Felipe Nasr finished a plucky fifth ahead of home favourite Ricciardo in a boost to his Sauber team, entangled for much of the week in a distracting legal battle over their driver line-up.
Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat and McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen withdrew with mechanical problems during the reconnaissance lap and Valtteri Bottas of Williams had to sit out with a back injury meaning only 15 cars started, the lowest number of starters for a season-opener since 1963.
Hamilton got away quickly off the pole and was first into the right-hand hairpin but Pastor Maldonado in his Lotus was sideswiped into the barriers and crashed out of the race as the safety car came onto the track on the opening lap.
Hamilton opened a stunning 2.4sec gap over teammate Rosberg by the end of the first racing lap.
But Rosberg put in some fastest laps to reduce the gap to 1.2secs behind Hamilton after 10 laps with Massa and Vettel eight to nine seconds adrift. — AFP.
Online Reporter