The finger is back again in F1 2018, but this was one of the luckiest of Sebastian Vettel’s 48 grands prix victories. The German claimed Ferrari had planned for a Safety Car scenario, but it took a whopper of a “computer glitch” at Mercedes to hand him the win.
This was a weekend when Vettel had, for large parts, been the third best in a three-way battle as he was out-performed by Lewis Hamilton and team-mate Kimi Raikkonen. The four-time world champion failed to secure a spot on the front row and then fell away from the leading pair before they pitted.
But “losing touch” meant Ferrari kept Vettel out longer to avoid him coming out behind the two flying Haas and then they pounced when the VSC was deployed.
Once in the lead, Vettel controlled the race and was never truly threatened by Hamilton as he passed 3,000 laps led and secured a 100th podium to remember.
Vettel is still not happy with his 2018 machinery, but with a three-team title fight looking increasingly possible, taking victories like these when not at his best could prove crucial in the destination of the championship.
Rating out of ten: 8
It was as near a perfect weekend as it could have been for Lewis Hamilton, and he was denied a season-opening victory through no fault of his own.
The world champion appeared focused and determined as he arrived in Melbourne and he backed that up with a qualifying lap that was so good, Sky F1’s Martin Brundle described it as one of his best ever. His first stint of the race was also sublime, effortlessly gliding away from the Ferraris, holding a five-second advantage over Kimi Raikkonen after the first pit-stops.
But then came that Mercedes software glitch. Hamilton was confused as he questioned his normally faultless team, and you have to believe Hamilton when he says he could have quickened the pace if he was told about a possible Vettel advantage earlier.
It was only when he was chasing Vettel, pushing his W09 “110 per cent”, that there were any creaks from the Englishman, missing a chicane on Lap 48 and later backing off. But it must be said, he still looks like the man to beat in 2018.
Rating out of ten: 9.5
What could have been for Kimi Raikkonen. He may not have had the pace for victory, but the Finn deserved to at least finish ahead of his team-mate.
While Vettel struggled with his SF71H’s balance, Raikkonen appeared at ease – qualifying on the front row and even challenging Hamilton on Lap One. Indeed, he had built a gap of five seconds to Vettel when he was called in for his first pit-stop, used as a bargaining chip to get Mercedes to react.
Of course, Ferrari were not to know that the Virtual Safety Car would bring Vettel into race-winning contention so this can’t be described as another strategy to favour one driver another, but it’s still got to hurt for Raikkonen.
In the end, he fought doggedly to hold off a charging Red Bull for a podium, and can take solace from that and the fact he has laid down an early marker in his intra-team battle with Vettel.
Final year in F1? We’ve pondered that before and been wrong, and it looks like there’s still plenty of speed in the sport’s elder statesman.
Rating out of ten: 9
A home-race podium still evades Daniel Ricciardo, who can’t have too many complaints despite receiving a harsh grid penalty.
Yes, he was unlucky to be dropped down to eighth for an understandable error in practice. But he was also fortunate come race day with both tough-to-pass Haas cars dropping out, while Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen’s spin gave him another place.
Ricciardo’s only ‘real’ on-track pass was a nifty move on Nico Hulkenberg’s Renault on Lap Five, and though he got mighty close to Raikkonen following the Safety Car and was clearly fired-up and motivated, an overtake for third was never too likely without a Ferrari mistake.
Still, a fastest lap of the race and a promising closing stint suggests that Red Bull are in a much better place than a year ago, with Ricciardo himself adamant they had the quickest car in Melbourne while predicting closer battles with Mercedes and Ferrari in F1 2018.
Rating out of ten: 8
How good is it to see Fernando Alonso in contention again?
He may not have the tools to fight for wins or podiums just yet, but the Spaniard remains one of F1’s toughest and most talented competitors – as proved by his fierce defence from Max Verstappen.
Qualifying pace will be a concern – Alonso said 11th was as good as it was going to get – and McLaren were helped by Haas’ two retirements and the Virtual Safety Car on the race. But keeping Verstappen at bay for fifth place, his joint-best finish since rejoining McLaren, that was all Alonso and will be a massive boost to both him and the team.
It also seems to prove McLaren made the right choice in ditching Honda for Renault power, to fight for better results and to keep their star driver happy. Alonso is already targeting Red Bull, and believes in the MCL33’s race-winning potential for the second half of the season. Watch this space…
Rating out of ten: 9
A new season but another Sunday of frustration for Max Verstappen. The Dutchman was caught out at Turn One which allowed Kevin Magnussen to sweep past in the Haas and in his desperate attempts to get back ahead, he first ran wide, damaging his car, before pitching himself into a spin which dropped him further down the field.
Made up positions through the pit stop phase but then failed to find a way past the wily Fernando Alonso after having to let the Spaniard through under the Safety Car.
A mistake in Qualifying also cost Verstappen a place on the front row, but to still be within a tenth of the Ferraris offered encouragement on Red Bull’s pace, while he could take heart from out-qualifying team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.
Rating out of ten: 7
Starting seventh and finishing seventh may not sound like a spectacular day’s work for Nico Hulkenberg – but if you gave him that scenario on Sunday morning, with Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas both starting behind the Renault, he surely would have taken it.
Out-qualifying his team-mate in what should be a tasty intra-team battle was the perfect start, and it was a similarly consistent race day for the German. He was another driver who got lucky when it came to the Haas drop-outs, but he was also another driver who got caught out by the Virtual Safety Car. Without that, he could arguably have finished ahead of both Alonso and Verstappen.
He did well just to hold off Bottas’ Mercedes in the end and claimed the pace of the RS18 was “strong and competitive” after collecting his six points.
Rating out of ten: 8
With his Mercedes seat on the line, Valtteri Bottas can afford few repeats of this weekend over the remainder of the season. It was a disastrous opening to the season for the Finn.
His heavy crash at the start of Q3 proved costly as the resulting gearbox change left him starting 15th on a track where overtaking is notoriously difficult. It also left team-mate Lewis Hamilton unprotected up front which perhaps was a factor in the Briton losing the victory, with Mercedes being forced to cover off Kimi Raikkonen as soon as he pitted rather than look to Sebastian Vettel.
Bottas made hard work of making his way through the field, taking several laps to even get past Lance Stroll’s struggling Williams for his first pass. He was helped out by the Safety Car period but after passing Stoffel Vandoorne for eighth, he never really threatened to take seventh off Nico Hulkenberg.
Needs a big confidence-booster next time out in Bahrain.
Rating out of ten: 5
A comfortable points finish for Stoffel Vandoorne who was among those to lose out under the Virtual Safety Car period. Once the race resumed, the Belgian found himself with Valtteri Bottas right behind him and he was unable to fend off the Finn, although he remained on the Mercedes’ gearbox to the chequered flag.
Eric Boullier conceded Vandoorne needs to find pace “earlier in the weekend” in order to try and match Fernando Alonso, but this was a solid start to the season.
Rating out of ten: 7
A tough weekend for Carlos Sainz who appeared the faster of the Renault drivers but failed to deliver when it mattered.
The Spaniard had bettered Nico Hulkenberg in both Q1 and Q2, but he was unable to get his tyres up to temperature after Valtteri Bottas’ crash in Q3 and ended up four hundredths of a second behind his team-mate.
The grand prix saw him lose out in his attempts to fend off compatriot Fernando Alonso as he made a mistake and went off at Turn Nine. But he managed to hold onto a point-scoring spot, despite battling nausea brought on by drinking excess water.
Rating out of ten: 6
Not the ideal start to 2018 for Sergio Perez and Force India, who have a fight on their hands just to battle their midfield rivals let alone lead F1’s chasing pack.
Perez didn’t have the pace to make Q3 or out-qualify a McLaren, and this race proved just how crucial grid position is in Melbourne. He held off Bottas gallantly for much of the first stint, but couldn’t quite get on the attack himself – failing to execute a single on-track overtake.
The closest he got was with Sainz as he pushed the sick Spaniard hard for a single point, finishing a second behind, but it wasn’t to be. A consistent points scorer, the Mexican will hope for significant car upgrades come Bahrain.
Rating out of ten: 6
A disappointing weekend for Esteban Ocon, who must be gutted by his qualifying performance more than anything else.
Struggling for balance in his Force India, the highly-rated Frenchman was more than half a second adrift of his team-mate, while he even finished behind Lance Stroll. He paid the price for a poor Saturday in the race as, while he got past the Williams on the opening lap, he was never likely to overtake Perez – and a 14-second gap to the Mexican doesn’t look too pretty.
It’s a big year for Ocon with Mercedes watching his developments closely, and this wasn’t a good start.
Rating out of ten: 5
A very respectable debut from Charles Leclerc as he improved throughout the weekend in a Sauber car that still looks a handful. The Monégasque driver improved by over four seconds from Practice One to his Qualifying lap and he was just eight hundredths off team-mate Marcus Ericsson on Saturday, while avoiding a back row grid spot.
Come Sunday, it was quite a lonely race for Leclerc but he did enough to finish ahead of Lance Stroll’s Williams and Brendon Hartley’s Toro Rosso. His performance was all the more impressive given his steering wheel indicator was not working properly, forcing him to drive conservatively for large parts as he did not know his fuel consumption.
Rating out of ten: 7
Lance Stroll did well to get his Williams into Q2 and then out-qualifying Esteban Ocon’s Force India by half a second. But a tough race saw him finish a place back from where he started and behind Leclerc’s Sauber which had lined up 18th.
Rating out of ten: 6.5
“I was driving around by myself all day,” admitted a solemn Brendon Hartley after a miserable day at the office.
Hartley was rather impressive in a qualifying session which exposed Honda’s power weaknesses, only a few hundredths of a second down on a Force India and Q2 place. His race, however, was all-but-over within a matter of seconds after he locked up into Turn One and flat-spotted a tyre. An early pit-stop was necessary, and to make matters worse he had a puncture on his second stint.
In truth, he would never have been in points contention anyway and this was a worrying day for Toro Rosso after such a promising winter.
Rating out of ten: 6
Did Not Finish
Oh what might have been for Kevin Magnussen and Haas. The Dane enjoyed his best weekend since his debut back in 2013 and his performance deserved a top-five finish, not retirement due to a cross-thread wheelnut.
Magnussen had appeared to be struggling in comparison to team-mate Romain Grosjean on Friday, but he turned it on when it mattered in Qualifying to finish ahead of the Frenchman by nearly two tenths.
From fifth on the grid, Haas’ best-ever starting spot, Magnussen took full advantage at Turn One to overtake Max Verstappen and he had been running comfortably in fourth before disaster struck.
Rating out of ten: 9
Oh what might have been part two. Romain Grosjean locked out the third row of the grid with Kevin Magnussen and had seen off the threat of Daniel Ricciardo when he pitted, only for his new front left to also suffer the same cross-thread wheelnut issue of his team-mate.
Rating out of ten: 8.5
Pierre Gasly will want to move on quickly from Melbourne after a weekend which had begun with promise quickly unravelled for Toro Rosso. The Frenchman was 11th in Practice One and firmly in the midfield mix, but a disastrous Qualifying – in which he slid into the gravel on his final flying lap – left him starting last.
Gasly was the victim of the first Honda engine failure of 2018, which is likely to lead to engine grid penalties in the not too distant future.
Rating out of ten: 5
His race was ended after just six laps, but this was an encouraging start to the season for Marcus Ericsson. He qualified in 17th and less than a tenth of a second away from Q2 but, most impressively, also ahead of highly-rated new Sauber team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The Swede then gained a place on the first lap but was forced to retire due to a hydraulics issue. Still, he insisted that “the car felt really good and really strong.”
Rating out of ten: 7.5
A tough grand prix debut for Sergey Sirotkin as he started on the back row and was then forced to retire on lap five. The Russian had little luck on Sunday – a rogue plastic bag being sucked into his car appearing the reason for his brake failure – but his Qualifying performance left a lot to be desired.
Half a second down to team-mate Lance Stroll, who was comprehensively beaten on Saturdays by Felipe Massa last season, Sirotkin is already in need of rapid improvement to quell questions over his seat.
Rating out of ten: 5
Can Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes bounce back at the Bahrain GP? Watch live on Sky Sports F1 from April 6-8. Sky Sports F1 is the only place to watch every Formula 1 Grand Prix, qualifying and practice session live in 2018. Get Sky Sports F1.
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