Despite the new knock-out qualifying format was complete flop and quite boring, the race itself was night and day from qualifying it was entertaining and everything what a Grand Prix should be.
With Lewis Hamilton on pole and Nico Rosberg on the front row for Sunday's race, you would have thought it will be another predicted win for Lewis Hamilton with Nico Rosberg second. And at the start it was third on the grid Sebastian Vettel had a brilliant start and took the lead with Kimi Räikkönen second while Hamilton had a stinker of a start.
With Vettel leading over Rosberg came lap 19 of the race, Fernando Alonso had a major accident as he ran into the back of Esteban Gutiérrez, being lifted into the air and the car rolling over several times before hitting into the barrier at turn three. While Alonso walked away unhurt, a safety car was deployed for a short time before the race direction decided to red flag the race.
When the race restarted, Vettel retain the lead on super soft tyres, while Rosberg who was second but on medium tyres. Which means, Vettel needed to stop again with thirty-eight laps remaining while Rosberg didn't need to, then on lap 35 Vettel pitted for soft tyres and give the lead to Rosberg. Rosberg stayed there to win this seasons Australian Grand Prix for his first race win of the season.
While, Rosberg's team-mate and current F1 Champion Lewis Hamilton finished in second place in the other Mercedes to give the team its first one-two finish of the season, Hamilton was eight seconds behind Rosberg at the end.
Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel finished in third place in the Ferrari and his debut race for the team to complete the podium, Vettel was ten seconds behind Rosberg at the end of the fifty-eight lap race.
Finally, a quick mention to Romain Grosjean in the Haas finishing sixth place in the teams debut race, first time a new team to score a point in their debut race since Toyota from 2002, first time an American team to score a point since Alan Jones for Haas Lola (unrelated from the current team) at 1986 Italian Grand Prix, and first time for Dallara who build the cars for the team to score points since the 1992 San Marino Grand Prix when Pierluigi Martini scored a sixth place finish for the BMS Scuderia Italia team. Grosjean was seventy-two seconds behind Rosberg at the end of the fifty-seven lap race.
Rate the Teams and Drivers
Mercedes - 8
Lewis Hamilton - 8 (pole, finished second)
Nico Rosberg - 9 (race win)
Ferrari - 7
Sebastian Vettel - 8 (finished third)
Kimi Räikkönen - 7 (DNF, Power unit)
Williams - 7
Valtteri Bottas - 7 (finished eighth)
Felipe Massa - 8 (finished fifth)
Red Bull Racing - 7
Daniel Ricciardo - 9 (finished fourth, fastest lap)
Daniil Kvyat - 5 (DNS, Electrical)
Force India - 6
Nico Hülkenberg - 7 (finished seventh)
Sergio Pérez - 6 (finished thirteenth)
Renault - 6
Kevin Magnussen - 6 (finished twelfth)
Jolyon Palmer - 7 (finished eleventh)
Toro Rosso - 7
Carlos Sainz Jr. - 7 (finished ninth)
Max Verstappen - 7 (finished tenth)
Sauber - 5
Marcus Ericsson - 6 (DNF, Driveshaft)
Felipe Nasr - 5 (finished fifteenth, lap down)
McLaren - 6
Fernando Alonso - 7 (DNF, Collision with Esteban Gutiérrez)
Jenson Button - 6 (finished fourteenth, lap down)
Manor - 7
Rio Haryanto - 7 (DNF, Driveshaft)
Pascal Wehrlein - 8 (finished sixteenth, lap down)
Haas - 8
Romain Grosjean - 10 (finished sixth)
Esteban Gutiérrez - 6 (DNF, Collision with Fernando Alonso)
Next stop Bahrain International Circuit, for the Bahrain Grand Prix in two weeks time.
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