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Hamilton begins title defence with clinical win in Melbourne

This year's Aussie GP reflects the current standing in the F1 driver's championship, with Vettel snapping at the Silver Arrows' heels. (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool)
Roar Guru
16th March, 2015
9

Lewis Hamilton opened his title defence for 2015 with a clinical victory at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

The 58-lap race around the Albert Park street circuit saw the two-time world champion start from pole position, ahead of his Mercedes AMG teammate Nico Rosberg.

The two finished in the same places to present the team with their first one-two of the new year.

In a fairly uneventful grand prix, only 11 cars finished out of the 18 that successfully qualified. Three drivers succumbed to problems before the start of the race, while the two Manor F1 vehicles did not appear on track all weekend.

Valtteri Bottas in the Williams was ruled out of the race after he failed to pass a mandatory medical test implemented by the sport’s governing body, the FIA. The Finn, who qualified sixth on the grid, had sustained a back injury.

McLaren’s dismal weekend was made worse after their replacement driver Kevin Magnussen blew the Honda power-unit on the reconnaissance lap before the start of the race.

The Dane was joined by Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat, who had a gearbox issue on his recon lap, leaving him stranded on the circuit and unable to race.

Once the race got going, the two Mercedes AMGs stormed into the lead with Hamilton in firm control over Rosberg.

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Kimi Räikkönen in the Ferrari was keen to make amends for the disappointing performances of 2014, with a strong getaway off the line out of fifth position, putting himself ahead of new teammate Sebastian Vettel going into Turn 1.

However the 2007 world champion soon found that his eager start meant he had no room to negotiate through the first corner, with Vettel clearing him from the inside. Soon Räikkönen was tagged by Toro Rosso and Sauber rookies Carlos Sainz and Felipe Nasr.

Nasr, as a result of being crowded, gave Pastor Maldonado the tank-slapper, which saw the Venezuelan spectacularly hit the wall on the exit of Turn 2.

With Räikkönen having lost ground to Nasr and home-favourite Daniel Ricciardo, the safety car was deployed to oversee the removal of the Maldonado wreckage.

Lotus’ optimistic day was made miserable with the early retirement of Romain Grosjean due to mechanical problems.

After the initial dramas, the racing was back on track and apart from some wheel-to-wheel action between ex-McLaren teammates Sergio Perez and Jenson Button at the rear of the field, there was not much in the way of overtaking.

There was no love lost between the Mexican and Briton, as at one point the McLaren driver shut the door on the Force India, leaving Perez in a spin. With the Honda power-unit’s output having been turned down in order to test reliability this weekend, Perez was eventually able to pass the 2009 world champion for the final available championship point.

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Vettel took advantage of Felipe Massa being held up by Ricciardo after the Brazilian’s sole pit-stop and emerged to take his first podium for Ferrari in third.

For some laps there was an interesting battle between Ricciardo and Räikkönen, however after two pit-stops that went awry for the Finn, he was forced to park the car on the exit of Turn 3 with the left-rear not having been secured.

17-year-old Max Verstappen saw his Formula One debut go up in a cloud of smoke when his Toro Rosso started to send out plumes of smoke, forcing the Dutchman to bring his car to a halt on Lap 42.

With only 11 finishers, the biggest highlight was the Sauber team scoring points off both their drivers, including a fifth place for rookie Nasr. After a week of intense scrutiny of their court case, the Swiss team were able to claim points for the first time since 2013, with Marcus Ericsson finishing a career-best eighth.

Sainz on debut accumulated two points for Toro Rosso, while the Force Indias, despite not having their 2014 pace, were able to put something on the board, unlike McLaren who were unlucky to be the sole car out of the points.

Finishing the race alone was like a victory for the Honda-powered squad, who aim to improve their reliability.

Ricciardo’s sixth place confirmed the plethora of drivability problems that the Red Bull outfit currently face, with heavy scrutiny of their power-unit supplier, Renault.

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Nevertheless, the day belonged to Hamilton and the Silver Arrows, who demonstrated by finishing 34 seconds ahead of the third-placed Ferrari that 2015 will be theirs and Hamilton’s title to lose.

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