Sebastian Vettel started off the 2017 F1 season in style by beating Lewis Hamilton to victory at the Australian Grand Prix and giving Ferrari a superb victory
The German driver jumped poleman Hamilton in the pitstops then comfortably led home the Mercedes driver, who just kept new team-mate Valtteri Bottas at arm’s length in third.Hamilton made a strong start from pole position but Vettel kept him in sight throughout the opening stint and closed to within a second before Hamilton dived into the pits on lap 17.
The Briton still had the upper hand when he emerged but the pendulum swung towards Vettel when Hamilton got bottled up behind Max Verstappen’s Red Bull.The Dutchman’s defence cost Hamilton dear when Vettel emerged in front of both when he stopped on lap 23.
Vettel then bolted, extended his lead to almost 10 seconds before Hamilton made inroads late on – then back to 9.9s behind at the flag.Bottas caught his team-mate after a disappointing first stint left him a dozen seconds in arrears, but ended up settling for a third a second behind.
Behind the top three Kimi Raikkonen had an anonymous race for Ferrari, only coming in to play late on when Max Verstappen briefly threatened to steal fourth.The Red Bull driver was running super-softs to Raikkonen’s softs in the second stint, and caught the Finn at a rapid rate in the final third of the grand prix.
Verstappen’s charge included a brief hold on fastest lap, but Raikkonen rallied and consolidated the spot by taking fastest lap from Bottas on the penultimate tour.
