Sebastian Vettel Lifts Australian GP’s Trophy Amidst Forza Ferrari Shout-outs!

The opening Grand Prix of the 2017 Formula 1 season concluded on a high note for Scuderia Ferrari as Sebastian Vettel registered his first F1 victory, after the 2015 Singapore GP, at the Albert Park city circuit in Melbourne. The German seems to have dragged his team out of the lingo that has gripped them for so long and has kept them from winning. The biggest surprise, however, was for Mercedes as Vettel cleared Lewis Hamilton by 9.925 seconds at the finish line, affirming that the new Ferrari is a very competent machine. Hamilton was closely chased by his new teammate Valtteri Bottas -- who finished at the third position.

Notably, Vettel closely trailed pole-sitter Hamilton in the opening stages of the race and got the golden opportunity to grab the lead when the latter made his first stop on Lap 17. Vettel then kept extending his lead, while Hamilton got caught up behind Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing. 

Meanwhile, Vettel was able to extend his lead to ten seconds, before Hamilton was able to put up a composed charge to close in the lead. However, was only able to bring it down to 9.9 seconds before the race got over. 

Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari’s second driver, took a fairly comfortable fourth position finish while being chased by Verstappen at fifth and Felipe Massa at a distance sixth position. Speaking of Max’s teammate and homeboy Daniel Ricciardo, things weren’t looking as bright after he encountered troubles with the gearbox before retiring to an engine failure.

Finishing seventh was a very satisfied Sergio Perez who brought in six points for Force India driving the pink car, eh, the Pink Panther. He was joined by his teammate Esteban Ocon on the tenth position adding another point to the team’s hat in his debut with the outfit.

The eighth and the ninth spots were occupied by the Toro Rosso drivers Carlos Sainz and Danil Kvyat, respectively. 

The opening GP also had its fair share of DNFs (Did Not Finish), with Romain Grosjean occupying the spot of the first retirement of the 2017 season, followed by Jolyon Palmer who fell prey to brake related issues with his Renault. 

Other drivers include Marcus Ericsson (Sauber), William's debut driver Lance Stroll (on Lap 44), Kevin Magnussen of Haas. Fernando Alonso too was forced to bring in his McLaren to the pit with only five laps remaining after he encountered brake and suspension related issues.   

The race saw a total of fourteen overtakes, which isn’t a very large number when we know that with the new rules drivers can overtake more freely without the worry of being penalised. However, with a new team (victory-wise) winning the opening GP we can hope for an exciting season ahead of us.