What a fiery and smoky opener- literally.
The Australian Grand Prix has officially ended and Nico Rosberg scored the opening triumph for Mercedes with absolute style, proving that silver arrows are on a mission to retain their winning streak this season.
The race did not start as usual as Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat encountered some issues with his car made a stop to the pit lane while the safety cars were brought out. Team principal Christian Horner was left rather confused and shocked as Kvyat climbed into the pit lane but all things were quickly settled and the Russian went back to his grid position with a safe car.
Lights went out and Ferrari pulled off a great upset when Sebastian Vettel cruised his way past Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg to lead the race in his supersofts to go one and a half seconds clear of stable-mate Kimi Raikkonen.
Pole sitter Hamilton trailed behind at no.6 during the second lap and the decibels of the stands went louder with the sudden change of the pace. The Briton then overtook Felipe Massa’s Williams to go up one spot on a bid to retrieve his starting position but he was unable to surpass the Prancing Horses- even in the pit stops.
Fernando Alonso crashed his McLaren with Esteban Gutierrez’s Haas in a gruesome fashion at high speed during the 17th lap after an attempt to overtake and had the cranes sent out and safety car deployed to lengthen the race. The red flags were raised due to the great amount of debris on track and all racers were brought back to the pit lanes, dampening Ferrari’s triumphant mood as all advantages have greatly reduced.
Despite the terrifying accident, Alonso managed to hop out of his damaged and remained unharmed. (Even though all of us are wondering how did he pull it off) The crowd applauded the Spaniard for his courage and attitude and had the #AusGP topping the trends in Malaysia.
Alonso #F1 pic.twitter.com/lpJwmmPhk8
— Matt Archuleta (@indy44) March 20, 2016
We're so lucky F1 is this safe nowadays. #AusGP pic.twitter.com/wQ3uDppq3X
— Giedo van der Garde (@GvanderGarde) March 20, 2016
The race continued behind the safety cars and Hamilton failed to maintain his momentum as Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo successfully overtook him and Verstappen to secure P4. Vettel continued to lead the race ahead of Rosberg.
During lap 24, Raikkonen bagged his second consecutive DNF in the Australian GP after pulling up in the pit lane announcing that his car was caught on fire. Albeit the commotion, the Raikkonen was unmoved and calmly exited the car just like the Iceman he is.
Iceman on fire….
Via @Gianludale27 https://t.co/L1sKDOzsrZ
— Kimi Räikkönen Fans (@iceman7news) March 20, 2016
A minor mistake in the pit stops caused Vettel to trail behind a massive 15 over seconds behind leader Rosberg and the gap remained unclosed since then.
The Mercedes drivers continued their pace and ended up scoring a one-two and Vettel made it to the podium after a hefty finish.
There’s no doubt Rosberg is definitely starting to emerge as a potential threat this season.
FULL RESULT
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