Sunshine and wind were on the agenda for the start at 16h10 local time. The track surface on the grid
provided little grip, but our guys got away well and from second, Kimi even got alongside Hamilton, with Seb
third. This is Melbourne, which means it was no surprise that the positions didn’t change much, despite the
three DRS zones, seen here for the first time in F1. Even the split times were similar and on lap 9, the two
SF71Hs were pushing hard with Kimi and then Seb setting a race fastest lap. Raikkonen closed the gap to
the leader, but he also had to manage his race, while waiting for the tyre changes.
And the first of those stops came at the end of lap 18: Kimi pitted as planned, with the mechanics staying put
until the very last moment, switching him from the Ultras to the Soft compound, so that the Finn was able to
rejoin ahead of the two impressive Haas cars. The opposition reacted immediately, bringing in Hamilton, who
went for the same tyre choice. This meant Sebastian found himself leading the GP and he upped the pace
slightly. His turn to pit came at the end of lap 26, at the same time as the Virtual Safety Car was engaged,
after Grosjean stopped out on the track.
This tactic paid off: Seb made the most of the zone before the Safety Car line and emerged ahead of
Hamilton! A short and spontaneous applause rippled through the garage. “Well done team,” said Maurizio over
the radio. But it was not even the mid point of the race yet. Immediately after that, the real Safety Car was
required and it stayed out up to and including lap 31. All the drivers at the front of the field fitted the Soft tyres
– Seb’s had six laps less – and after the restart there were no overtaking moves.
There were fights, thanks to the DRS, but Seb held firm and set the fastest lap on lap 34. As for Kimi he had
to fend off Ricciardo for third, as the Australian had closed right up under the Safety Car. Out in front, the
battle swung with the moveable wing: whoever was behind could use it, but ran the risk of overheating in the
slipstream. Hamilton was not about to give up and Sebastian responded with another fastest time on lap 45.
His rival was pushing hard, even losing the front end under braking and that saw the gap go out to almost two
seconds. Seb? “The tyres are working very well,” he said over the radio.
Over the final five laps, Seb pulled out a bit of an advantage, while Kimi had a gap of just under two seconds
to manage, but then closed on Hamilton who had lost his rhythm. The last lap was a heart-stopper but it
finished with a first and a third place. Excuse us, but this time, we are the ones with the smile on our faces.
Maurizio Arrivabene
”A nice win and a great job from the team, both back in Maranello and here at the track, which led to a fine
Sunday for all of us, our drivers and our fans. We have picked up a significant number of points in both the
Drivers’ and Constructors’ championships. There is still a long way to go this season, but today we can be
happy, knowing that each and everyone of us has done their very best, according to his role, to achieve this
result. Now we will start to prepare for the next race, aware there is plenty to do; work which we will tackle
with humility and determination.”
Sebastian Vettel
”Today has been our day. The Safety Car helped of course, but apart from that, I think we did everything we
could do as a team. So when something happened, we were ready to react. We did our job before the race,
evaluating different scenarios, and then in the race we had the pace as well. Lewis was under pressure, he
was fast, but not as much as he needed. As for me, I need a little bit more of confidence with the car, which
is not where we want it to be yet. There is a lot of work to do, but it is great to have both cars on the podium
today. Yesterday in qualifying the car came alive, but it was still a little bit tricky, so we have some homework
to do. I still need to drive around the issues more than I want to. I know exactly what I want, and we need to
work on it. I believe the car has the potential we need.
Kimi Raikkonen
“A win with two cars on the podium is a very good start of the season for the team. Maybe I have been a bit
unlucky today, but at least the luck came to our team. Third place it’s not exactly the result we wanted, but
it’s only the first race and the big picture is not too bad. So I happily take the third place. Overall I was pretty
happy with my car today, the speed was there all day. It’s nice to have a good feeling. For sure there are
things to improve, but if the feeling stays like this we’ll have all the tools to fight. And this is the most
important thing. This is a quite special track in many ways, so let’s see what happens in the next race.
Bahrain it’s not very straightforward either; from year to year we have seen that the hot conditions don’t give a
100 percent true picture. We need to be patient and do our best wherever we go.”
Lewis Hamilton
"I did everything I could today, but it’s not what anyone expected to happen. I’m still in a little bit of disbelief
as I don’t really understand what happened yet. Once I get back with my engineers they’ll do a debrief and
obviously I’ll find out why. This weekend there was so much talk about party mode or if Ferrari would be quick
enough. I don’t think the gap was as big as it seemed yesterday, it’s just that I had a good lap and maybe
Sebastian didn’t have a good lap. But today they were very, very quick. I put up a bit of a fight towards the end
but they were within a tenth of us today. At least in my heart I know that I gave everything this weekend. I’m
sure the team is feeling pain right now but we will regroup and we’ll work on it."
Valtteri Bottas
"It was a bit of a frustrating day. I got some points, but not as many as I was hoping for, even starting 15th on
the grid. We had a good car, it felt just like in qualifying, the team did a really good job on that. Unfortunately,
we just couldn’t make anything out of it because it is so difficult to overtake on this track. I also struggled a
bit with overheating issues on the engine when I was following other cars, so I had to back off many times. It’s
been a disappointing weekend and certainly not an ideal first race, but we still have 20 races to go. We need
to learn from this weekend and try again in two weeks in Bahrain."
Toto Wolff
"This was one that got away and it’s a bitter pill for us all to swallow. Following Lewis’ pit stop, we believed
that we had the scenarios of both the Safety Car and the Virtual Safety Car covered, so that Sebastian could
not pit and come out ahead of Lewis on track. We should have been several seconds safe, then suddenly saw
on the TV screens that we were not. Of course, under the VSC sometimes you benefit and sometimes you
lose out – but it was clearly a problem on our side and we need to analyse that to understand what happened
and correct it. It’s all the more frustrating because we had the pace today to win. Lewis was in control through
the opening stint, then after the pit stop as well, and looked on course for a strong victory but it wasn’t to be.
On Valtteri’s side, we knew this would be a tough race to make up much ground. The margins between teams
are closing up and this is one of the most difficult circuits to overtake on in the entire season. He made three
passes on track, and benefited from the VSC too, but then was stuck in a DRS train in the final laps.
Congratulations to Ferrari on their win today; for us, it’s a tough one to take, but there are lots of lessons to
be learned so we can come back stronger next time."
James Allison
"Having come to Melbourne with high hopes, it will be a long journey home for us, knowing that we
under-delivered as a team. The pace we saw during the weekend was promising for the season ahead but it
counts for nothing if you don’t handle correctly the cards that the race can deal to you – and, today, we didn’t.
We need to analyse our mistakes, correct them and we look forward to getting to the next race and starting
to put things right."
Nico Hülkenberg, #27, R.S.18-02: Started P7, finished P7
“We should be pretty happy with today. The pace of the car was strong and competitive, but we know we still
have a lot of work to do. I’m happy with how the weekend has progressed, Friday wasn’t great for me, but
we’ve turned it into a decent result and a satisfying Sunday. We got lucky with retirements, but also unlucky
with the safety car, but that’s racing and taking six points home is a just reward for the team’s hard work.”
Carlos Sainz, #55, R.S.18-01: Started P9, finished P10
“It’s a positive start for the team and I’m very happy with the performance of the car. It’s a good job to take
home a strong haul of points and we have something to build on ahead of Bahrain. Personally, I struggled a
bit out there as had a drinks bottle issue, the result of which was making me feel pretty unwell. The first stint
was also a bit difficult with too much oversteer on the car, especially as there was a lot of wind out there
today. We keep learning and we’ll be putting the work in ahead of Bahrain.”
Cyril Abiteboul, Managing Director
“It’s a satisfying result, not perfect by any means, but it shows we’re in line with our targets of making
progress. Clearly, for a good result, everything must be smooth, from pit-stops to reliability and this double
top-ten finish illustrates a solid start to the season. We’re pleased with today and the result gives us
something to build on. In the race, the safety car hurt us slightly, but that’s racing and sometimes these
things benefit you. Our focus on reliability has been illustrated with all Renault-powered cars finishing inside
the top ten today, which is a good positive. We know it’s going to be extra tight in the midfield battle, and that
motivates us to keep working hard.”
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