Double champion Lewis Hamilton had the perfect start to his title defence by winning the formula one Australian grand prix this morning.

He led from pole and was unchallenged by Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg who came in second, 1.3 seconds behind.

Sebastian Vettel marked his first race with Ferrari with a podium finish, having overtaken the Williams of Felipe Massa in the pits. He came in 34 seconds behind Hamilton.

Kimi Raikkonen in the second Ferrari was forced to retire after a pitstop when one of his wheels was not fixed properly.

Bottas of Williams did not start the race because of back pain.

Just 11 cars finished the race. McLaren's Jenson Button was last, lapped twice, but his team will be happy that his car finished the race, having not even managed half a race distance in testing. His team mate Kevin Magnussen, standing in for the injured Fernando Alonso did not even make it to the grid with his Honda engine blowing up minutes after it was started.

The two Lotus cars also retired.

THE RESULT

1.  Lewis Hamilton (Britain)     Mercedes               1:31:54.067  
2.  Nico Rosberg (Germany)       Mercedes               +00:01.360   
3.  Sebastian Vettel (Germany)   Ferrari                00:34.523    
4.  Felipe Massa (Brazil)        Williams-Mercedes      00:38.196    
5.  Felipe Nasr (Brazil)         Sauber - Ferrari       01:35.149    
6.  Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) RedBull - Renault      1 lap        
7.  Nico Huelkenberg (Germany)   Force India - Mercedes 1 lap        
8.  Marcus Ericsson (Sweden)     Sauber - Ferrari       1 lap        
9.  Carlos Sainz Jr (Spain)      Toro Rosso - Renault   1 lap        
10. Sergio Perez (Mexico)        Force India - Mercedes 1 lap        
11. Jenson Button (Britain)      McLaren                2 laps       
r.  Kimi Raikkonen (Finland)     Ferrari                18 laps      
r.  Max Verstappen (Netherlands) Toro Rosso - Renault   25 laps      
r.  Romain Grosjean (France)     Lotus - Mercedes       58 laps      
r.  Pastor Maldonado (Venezuela) Lotus - Mercedes       58 laps      
r.  Daniil Kvyat (Russia)        RedBull - Renault      58 laps      
r.  Kevin Magnussen (Denmark)    McLaren                58 laps      
ns. Valtteri Bottas (Finland)    Williams-Mercedes                   
(rank: r = retired, nc = not classified, ns=not started) 
Fastest Lap: Lewis Hamilton,01:30.945, lap 50.

 

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