Rosberg comes out on top after Ferrari strategy fails.

Nico Rosberg made the most of bad call on strategy from Ferrari to take the first win of the season at Albert Park. Teammate and pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton recorvered from a bad start to come home in 2nd place, after ending the first lap down in 7th place.

Both Ferrari drivers managed to get the jump on the Mercedes pair as Hamilton and eventual Rosberg found it difficult to get their cars off the line. Sebastian Vettel finished 3rd place whilst teammate Kimi Raikkonen failed to finish after a fire brought his race to a firey finish.

Alonso’s smash

A horrific incident involving Fernando Alonso, left the race red flagged for 15 minutes, after the Spaniard ploughed into the barriers at 200mph following his McLaren clipping the rear tyre of Haas’ Esteban Gutierrez. Alonso later told Sky Sports “He was lucky to be alive” after the crash, and only climbed out of his car because his mum was watching” after he admitted he was concussed by the incident.

Red flag still out while debris is cleared. Both Alonso & Gutierrez walked away from the incident #AusGP pic.twitter.com/a8YpsiQZTl

— Formula 1 (@F1) March 20, 2016

Alonso, who was coming out of turn three, clipped the rear tyre of Gutierrez leading to a lengthy break in Melbourne, as the teams regrouped and modified their strategies. The Ferrari’s opted for the super soft types for the remaining laps, as opposed to Mercedes, who deployed the mediums for Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. Ferrari’s brave decision backfired on Sebastian Vettel however, as the Mercedes pair came out on top.

Ferrari threw away a win

Vettel was looking more than likely to claim victory before the stoppage after being in a commanding position following a superb start, rising from third on the grid to first. The super softs Ferrari chose were running faster than the mediums on the Mercedes, however the lead Vettel gained was not enough as the two Mercedes cars took advantage of the slightly hotter track temperature.

The Mercedes pair gained a further advantage on Vettel after his pit stop on lap 36 was poorly executed as the Ferrari team switched the German from the Super softs to the Softs. This added to Ferrari’s woes after Kimi Raikkonen’s airbox set on fire, putting him out of the race early on.

LAP 35/57: Rosberg (on mediums) closes up to 1.1s behind Vettel (on supersofts) in the battle for the lead #AusGP pic.twitter.com/adcjOSjAR5

— Formula 1 (@F1) March 20, 2016

Elsewhere, there were tensions between Torro Rosso, as young driver Max Verstappen let out his frustrations at not being pitted before teammate Carlos Sainz, despite asking his team prior to the Sainz pitting. Verstappen also appeared frustrated after being stuck behind Sainz, who was himself behind Renault debutant Jolyon Palmer. Sainz did eventually pass Palmer after five laps, leaving an opportunity for Verstappen to also do so two laps later, as the young Torro Rosso pair battled their way into a disappointing ninth and tenth finish.

The surprise of the day was certainly debutants Haas, with experienced driver Roman Grosjean finishing an impressive sixth. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo came out on top of the midfield looking to challenge Ferrari as he finished fourth behind Sebastian Vettel in his home Grand Prix.

Grosjean to Haas: “It’s [like] a win for us – it’s like a win! I don’t even know where we finished?”

P6, Romain. pic.twitter.com/fSxXWaa5f2

— Formula 1 (@F1) March 20, 2016

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