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Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel of Germany (C) celebrates alongside Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain (L) and team mate Valtteri Bottas of Finland - Reuters
Melbourne (Reuters): Four-times world champion Sebastian Vettel won the Australian Grand Prix for Ferrari on Sunday to dash Mercedes’ hopes of extending their dominance into a fourth successive season of Formula One.
The German cruised to his 43rd race victory with a 9.9 second gap to Mercedes’ runner-up Lewis Hamilton, with the Briton’s new team mate, Valtteri Bottas, finishing third.
It was Vettel’s fourth win for Ferrari and his first since the Singapore Grand Prix in September 2015.
That win in Singapore was also the last time Ferrari had topped the podium but Vettel’s victory at Albert Park underlined the huge leap in performance made by the team, who were encouraged by their cars’ pace and reliability in winter testing.
“It’s a long, long way ahead but for now we’re just over the moon ... It was a great race, I enjoyed it,” Vettel said in a podium interview with former Red Bull team mate Mark Webber.
Vettel’s 2007 championship-winning team mate Kimi Raikkonen finished fourth, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen one behind.
Vettel, who started alongside pole-sitter Hamilton, had said after qualifying he hoped for a good start to reel in Mercedes. Hamilton got away smoothly and having broke clear of Vettel, was first to pit on lap 18 to change tyres.
However, it proved a turning point in the race as he rejoined behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and was then unable to pass the feisty Dutch teenager, Hamilton venting on the team radio as Vettel forged ahead.
The German pitted at lap 23 and exited the pit-lane just in front of Verstappen, who was still gamely holding off Hamilton. Mercedes motorsport head Toto Wolff was enraged, with television pictures showing him pounding his fist into a desk in the team garage.
Vettel showed the reigning constructors’ champions a clean set of heels and quickly established a six-second gap, which widened as the race went on. It was a tough day for Red Bull’s home racer Daniel Ricciardo, who started off with a five-grid penalty for a gearbox change and then had to retire with smoke billowing from his car on turn three midway through the race.
In between, his car came to a stop on the way to lining up at the starting grid and he was forced to join the race from pit-lane two laps behind after frantic work in the garage to fix a sensor problem with his gearbox.
Six other cars failed to finish, including McLaren’s twice champion Fernando Alonso and Renault’s Jolyon Palmer.
Daniel Ricciardo
Melbourne (Reuters): A tough week for Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo ended in despair on Sunday as the home hero came to a stop midway through the Australian Grand Prix with smoke billowing out of his car.
Ricciardo’s hopes of a maiden podium at Albert Park were already razor-thin after a crash during qualifying on Saturday, which forced a gearbox change and resulted in a five-place penalty, leaving him 15th on the grid.
But even getting to the grid proved beyond his Red Bull, which stopped with a gearbox sensor problem as he lapped the lakeside circuit before the start.
Ricciardo exited the track fuming but was soon lowering himself into the seat again as technicians frantically worked on his car in the garage as the clock ticked down to the start.
He eventually joined the race from the pit-lane two laps behind the other cars but lasted just 25 laps before his car finally ground to a terminal halt at turn three with an apparent fuel pressure problem.
It takes a lot to wipe the smile from the affable 27-year-old’s face but he cut a grim figure in the garage as he watched the rest of the race, won by Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.
Having endured an exhausting week of media and sponsor events as his nation’s great hope in motor sport, Ricciardo had little joy from his car during practice and qualifying, and he could not wait to be shot of Melbourne.
“On the plus side, I’m getting out of here,” Ricciardo, who initially finished second in Melbourne in 2014 but was later disqualified for a fuel limit infringement, told reporters.
“It’s been a long week. Don’t get me wrong, it’s been fun. “I feel bad for everyone, for the fans. Obviously I believe there’s more people here supporting me than the others and I’m sure they would have loved me to get out there and race.
“But it just kind of snowballed from yesterday... Happy to move on.”
