Australian GP: What happened last year

Ferarri’s Sebastian Vettel won the 2017 season opener in Australia beating the eventual World Champion to the chequered flag by almost 10 seconds.

Hamilton started the race from pole position with a qualifying time of 1:22.188 but this advantage was lost when Vettel jumped Lewis in a pitstop.

Bottas, in his first race for Mercedes managed to get close to Hamilton but eventually finished 3rd.

Lewis Hamilton made a good start but the chasing Ferrari remained in sight giving fans expectation of a close title fight for the remainder or the season.

The race leader pitted on lap 17, but then got held up by Max Verstappen allowing Vettel to emerge from his pit stop 6 laps latter, in front of Hamilton.

Vettel then generated a lead and this was enough to ensure the race win.

Kimi Raikkonen started the season quietly and finished the opening race in fourth place despite a late challenge from Max Verstappen who placed the Red Bull in 5th.

Despite announcing his retirement at the end of the previous season, Felipe Massa started his campaign with a 6th place finish.

Sergio Perez, Carlos Sainz, Daniil Kvyat and Esteban Ocon rounded out the top 10 respectively.

McLaren managed to get 105 laps from their two cars. Vandoorne managed to finish the race after being lapped twice. Fernando Alonso retired on lap 50, the beginning of another troubling season for the team.

Home favourite Danial Ricciardo retired on lap 25 due to a power unit failure.