Sebastian Vettel has claimed victory in the opening round of the 2017 Formula One World Championship ahead of three-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.

Coming into race day of the Australian Grand Prix, Vettel was considered a dark horse for the race after qualifying second behind Hamilton and showing impressive race pace during Friday’s practice sessions. For Hamilton, he had to get the start absolutely right.

The Briton managed to do just that and defended 1st position into turn 1. In the coming laps, Vettel closely shadowed Hamilton, not letting his advantage slip beyond 2 seconds. Despite having position on the track, Hamilton decided to pit early after quickly tearing through his tires and in a bid to trigger a pit stop from Ferrari for Vettel.

However, it didn’t work. The German managed to use his ultrasoft Pirelli tires for an extra five laps and after his pit stop, emerged ahead of Hamilton who couldn’t pass Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen.

From here, Vettel evoked memories of his dominance at Red Bull and comfortably pulled out a gap to Hamilton, eventually crossing the finish line 9.9 seconds ahead. Valtteri Bottas managed to claim the final position on the podium in his Mercedes debut while Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen came home in third. Max Verstappen, Felipe Massa, Sergio Perez, Carlos Sainz, Daniil Kvyat and Esteban Ocon then rounded out the top 10.

Retirees included hometown hero Daniel Ricciardo, Fernando Alonso, Kevin Magnussen, Lance Stroll, Marcus Ericsson, Jolyon Palmer and Romain Grosjean.

Discussing his win, Vettel said “It’s been a great day for us. The team has been working so hard at the track as much as back at the factory. It’s a great feeling. “Grazie mille”, you can’t say much more. The last months have been really intense, it’s been tough to get into the rhythm. It’s just the beginning and there’s still a lot of work going on. This is one of many steps and we have to enjoy what we do. It’s great to see people smiling. Now we have to reset to go to China and try to do a good job.”

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