A trip to the Australia delivered Ferrari’s 230th grand prix win and a ninth for Sebastian Vettel with the Scuderia (the 48th of his career) at the end of a race that saw the team capitalise on the Safety Car to leapfrog into a lead that would never be relinquished.
Starting from third on the grid, Vettel made the most of the Safety Car period to pop out of pit lane ahead of Hamilton, while Kimi Raikkonen, from second, rounded off the Australian podium in third place, doing a great job of fighting off an attacking Ricciardo in the closing stages
The Scuderia thus finds itself leading both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ championships on 25 and 37 points respectively.
Sunshine and wind were on the agenda for the start at 16h10 local time. The track surface on the grid provided little grip, but the Ferrari drivers' got away well and from second, Raikkonen even got alongside Hamilton, with Vettel 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 Raikkonen and then Vettel 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: Raikkonen 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 Vettel 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: Vettel 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 Arrivaberne 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 –Vettel’s had six laps less – and after the restart there were no overtaking moves.
There were fights, thanks to the DRS, but Vettel held firm and set the fastest lap on lap 34. As for Raikkonen 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 Vettel 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. Vettel? “The tyres are working very well,” he said over the radio.
Over the final five laps, Vettel pulled out a bit of an advantage, while Raikkonen had a gap of just under two seconds to manage, but then closed on Hamilton.
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."
Sergio Marchionne: "There could have been no better start for Ferrari in this Championship. Listening to Italy’s national anthem echo around Melbourne was an emotional moment for us all, and for every fan of the Scuderia. It’s the best possible reward for the team, which built a competitive car and used a perfect strategy to take advantage of the way the race evolved. Congratulations to Sebastian and Kimi, both drove a great race. Of course, there’s still a long way to go in the series, with 20 more Grands Prix. So it would be wrong to celebrate too much. We know that we still have a lot of work ahead of us, but the first step has been taken in the right direction."
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."
Photos: Scuderia Ferrari - 2018 Australian Grand Prix
