Silver arrows shoot ahead of the pack with a Bull not too far behind.
The first race of the season saw high expectations from Mercedes-powered teams after pre-season testing and the results, though surprising were along those lines with Nico Rosberg storming to victory in Australia – the 100th for a Mercedes-powered car.
After two warm-up laps following one failed Marussia after another on the grid, Rosberg got a cracker of a start with Ricciardo right behind, relegating Hamilton down two places. Rookie Kevin Magnussen in his McLaren cut right across the track narrowly missing Alonso, and stayed in fourth. While behind him, Kamui Kobayashi locked up and shunted Massa before hitting the gravel. Both were out before the first corner.
Hamilton’s untimely exit with a misfiring engine and Vettel’s software glitches led to places opening up. Valtteri Bottas was the man on the move as he carved his way through the field in his new Williams Martini Mercedes before suffering a puncture and having to do it all over again. The Safety Car was out as a result bunching up the cars as early as lap 12.
Rosberg was tearing ahead at the front opening up a significant lead to the point where he went into the pits at the end of lap 38 and emerged not just in the lead, but still with close to 10 seconds of an advantage. In the end, it was a cruising victory for the German, followed by home-hero Daniel Ricciardo in his Red Bull Renault and the rookie Dane Kevin Magnussen, who drove with the finesse of a much more experienced racing driver, finishing third, became the first of his nationality to be a part of a Formula 1 podium. Team mate Button was just behind him and the result meant McLaren, as a team, took home the most points.
Rosberg leads the driver’s championship with 25 points. Ricciardo is second with 18 points, while Magnussen is third with 15. In the constructor’s, McLaren have 27 points to Mercedes-AMG’s 25 and Red Bull Renault’s 18.
Round two takes place at Sepang in Malaysia on the 30th of March.
Report: Jim Gorde
Images: Mercedes-AMG Petronas, McLaren F1
