Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari used strategy to defeat Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes in Melbourne.
The German started in second position behind Hamilton on Sunday, and it was the Brit who led the field away for the first of 57 laps.
The Australian GP had initially been scheduled for 58 laps, but the initial start was aborted as cars were out of place on the grid.
While Hamilton led for the first 17 laps of the race, Vettel was never further than three seconds behind him.
On Lap 17, Hamilton came into the pits. However, when he reemerged on the circuit, he found himself stuck behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen, who had yet to stop.
The time Hamilton lost behind Verstappen proved critical when Vettel came in for his stop. Vettel reemerged ahead of Verstappen and, therefore, ahead of Hamilton, causing Mercedes boss Toto Wolff to slam his fist in frustration as he realized the race was lost.
Hamilton still hung on for a second-place finish while his new Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas placed third. Kimi Raikkonen in the Ferrari and Max Verstappen in the Red Bull rounded out the top five in the same positions that they had started.
Lined up in sixth on the grid was Haas F1 driver Romain Grosjean, but unfortunately the pattern did not hold true for him as his engine expired early on in the race.
Jolyon Palmer, Marcus Ericson, Daniel Ricciardo, Lance Stroll, Kevin Magnussen and Fernando Alonso also failed to finish. For Ricciardo, it was a frustrating weekend. He had crashed in qualifying, meaning he would’ve started from 10th on the grid. However, he had a five-spot grid penalty for a gearbox change following the crash, and was set to start 15th instead. But on the way to the grid, his car got stuck in sixth gear and he was forced to start from the pits. By the time he made it out on track, he was already two laps down, until eventually his car broke down in the middle of the race in front of his home fans.
Felipe Massa came out of his zero-race-long retirement to finish sixth ahead of Sergio Perez and the Toro Rosso teammates of Carlos Sainz and Daniil Kvyat. Esteban Ocon rounded out the points in 10th after a 3-wide pass on the frontstraight alongside Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso.
Nico Hulkenberg, Antonio Giovinazzi - substituting for Pascal Wehrlein - and Stoffel Vandoore rounded out the 13 cars that were left running at the finish.
While the race wasn't one of the most thrilling ones in recent history, it is shaping up to be an interesting season with the rivalry between Mercedes and Ferrari as the Italian team proved it has what it takes to take the fight to the defending champions.
Unofficial race results:
1. Sebastian Vettel - Ferrari
2. Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes
3. Valtteri Bottas - Mercedes
4. Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari
5. Max Verstappen - Red Bull
6. Felipe Massa - Williams
7. Sergio Perez - Force India
8. Carlos Sainz - Toro Rosso
9. Daniil Kvyat - Toro Rosso
10. Esteban Ocon - Force India
11. Nico Hulkenberg - Renault
12. Antonio Giovinazzi - Sauber
13. Stoffel Vandoorne - McLaren
14. Fernando Alonso - McLaren - DNF
15. Kevin Magnussen - Haas - DNF
16. Lance Stroll - Williams - DNF
17. Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull - DNF
18. Marcus Ericsson - Sauber - DNF
19. Jolyon Palmer - Renault - DNF
20. Romain Grosjean - Haas - DNF
