Sebastian Vettel made full use of the virtual safety car to sneak in front of Lewis Hamilton and hold off the frustrated champion to win Formula One’s season-opening Australian GP on Sunday.
The Mercedes engine’s infamous “party mode” that delivered Hamilton a blistering pole lap on Saturday could do little once Ferrari’s Vettel nosed ahead when re-entering from pit-lane midway through the race.
Pole-sitter Hamilton had appeared set to coast to victory with a clear pace advantage but the race turned on its head with the safety car, which was called after Romain Grosjean’s Haas failed and rolled to a stop at turn two. In another bonus for Ferrari, Kimi Raikkonen finished third, fending off Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo.
Vettel claimed a 48th overall win and his third in Melbourne.
“It was needless to say we got a bit lucky with the timing of the safety car,” the German, who had started from third and inherited the lead when Hamilton and Raikkonen had pitted earlier in the race, told reporters.
For Hamilton, the result was a bitter pill to swallow and had echoes of last year’s race. Vettel also managed to re-enter in front of him from pit-lane in 2017 before burning away to victory.
Hamilton, who cockily spoke of “wiping the smile off” Vettel’s face with his pole lap on Saturday, battled to keep positive. “Even now I don’t understand what’s happened,” he said.
After the pit-lane setback, Hamilton drove hard to reel in Vettel and battled back after taking a slide at a corner that blew out the lead to nearly three seconds.
But he finally waved the white flag in the closing laps to preserve the car for future races.
The results: 1. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari, 1hr 29min 33.283s); 2. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes, +5.036); 3. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari, 6.309); 4. Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull, 7.069); 5. Fernando Alonso (McLaren, 27.886); 6. Max Verstappen (Red Bull, 28.945); 7. Nico Hulkenberg (Renault, 32.671); 8. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes, 34.339); 9. Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren, 34.921); 10. Carlos Sainz Jr. (Renault, 45.722); 11. Sergio Perez (Force India, 46.817); 12. Esteban Ocon (Force India, 1:00.278); 13. Charles Leclerc (Sauber, 1:15.759); 14. Lance Stroll (Williams, 1:18.288); 15. Brendon Hartley (Toro Rosso, 1 lap).
Did not finish: Romain Grosjean (Haas) retired after 25 laps; Kevin Magnussen (Haas) 23 laps; Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso) 14 laps; Marcus Ericsson (Sauber) 6 laps; Sergey Sirotkin (Williams) 5 laps.
Drivers championship: 1. Vettel (25 points); 2. Hamilton (18); 3. Raikkonen (15); 4. Ricciardo (12); 5. Alonso (10); 6. Verstappen (8); 7. Hulkenberg (6); 8. Bottas (4); 9. Vandoorne (2); 10. Sainz Jr. (1).
Constructors championship: 1. Ferrari (40); 2. Mercedes (22); 3. Red Bull (20) 4. McLaren (12); 5. Renault (7).