Sebastian Vettel robbed Lewis Hamilton of victory in the Australian GP with an opportunistic win in the season opener. Vettel jumped Hamilton and Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen after a ‘free pit-stop’ under the Virtual Safety Car promoted the four-time world champion into the lead. Mercedes subsequently admitted a glitch in their computer software had erroneously failed to warn their pitwall that Hamilton was vulnerable if the Virtual Safety Car was deployed. Confused and unhappy, Hamilton finished second, ahead of Raikkonen after the Finn held off a hard-charging Daniel Ricciardo during the closing stages.
“We got a bit lucky,” admitted Vettel. “I was praying for a Safety Car and when I got out ahead I knew it was difficult to pass.” Vettel and Hamilton clashed after qualifying when the Mercedes driver told his Ferrari rival he wanted to “wipe the smile off your face” by claiming pole position. But it was Vettel who had the last laugh as he took a victory that, on pure pace across the weekend, he had no right to claim. “I am in disbelief because l did everything l was supposed to do,” said Hamilton. “I drove as well as l could and l didn’t put a foot wrong.”
Fernando Alonso was fifth for McLaren after a typically tenacious effort from the two-time world champion with both Renaults also in the points at the 2018 curtain raiser. While the risk to Hamilton was not immediately apparent, it was a double disaster for Haas which proved the Mercedes driver’s unexpected undoing in a race he had under complete control until the halfway stage. Hamilton led off the line from Raikkonen and Vettel and steadily built up over a three-second advantage over the Finn before pitting on lap 19. Meanwhile, the American outfit had appeared poised for their best-ever result through the opening stages of Sunday’s race after Kevin Magnussen mugged Max Verstappen off the line with Romain Grosjean holding a watching brief. A frustrated Verstappen then spun off as he sought to chase down Magnussen, promoting Grosjean up to fifth.
But both Haas cars retired immediately after their pit stops, the apparent victims of a faulty wheel gun, with Grosjean’s stranded car triggering the deployment of the Virtual Safety Car. Hamilton, having pitted eight laps earlier, had to abide to a set time as he toured the circuit. But no such restriction applied to Vettel as the Ferrari came in for what was in effect a free stop, saving Vettel over 10 seconds of lap time and enabling him to re-emerge just ahead of a bewildered Hamilton. “What just happened guys?” asked Hamilton. “Why didn’t you tell me Vettel was in the pits?” Fully capitalising on his good fortune, there was no mistake from Vettel as the Ferrari driver held Hamilton at bay before Mercedes called off the fight with five laps to go. “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,” said team principal Toto Wolff afterwards. “We should have been several seconds safe, then suddenly saw on the TV screens that we were not.”
