Good morning and welcome to coverage of the opening race of the season. A packed pit lane, overcast conditions with scattered cloud and a dry track. "Got to be the biggest step into the unknown F1 has seen," says Maurice Hamilton. "Drivers have probably never talked so much to their engineers on grid!"

© Sutton Images

Forecast has been unreliable all weekend, but showers are predicted. Quite windy and some heavy clouds floating around but no rain as they arrived on the grid

Bad start for Max Chilton who is marooned on the grid as they head off for the warm-up lap. He'll start from the pit lane assuming they can get the car going. And a drive-through penalty for Grosjean for leaving his garage too early

Sebastian Vettel sending up distress signals early with the message he still has power problems

And a yellow flag as they prepare to start and we'll have another formation lap. It's the other Marussia of Bianchi that's stationary on the grid. Wretched start for the basement team but at least Chilton is now going. We have three cars lined up for the start in the pit lane!

The aborted start will help with fuel saving as they take one lap off the length of the race.

Lap 1

It's lights out. A haotic start and we lose two cars at the first bend as Kobayashi shoots off. Lewis Hamilton gets a bad start as team-mate Nico Rosberg takes advantage, nipping into the lead. Rosberg leads at the end of the first lap but a shedload of overtaking and jostling. Vettel making clear to his pits he has no power

A dramatic start to the race © Sutton Images

Lap 2

Lewis Hamilton told he has to retire "to save the engine" but he stays out on track ... and is then told to do just that! Magnussen sets the fastest lap. We lost Massa, Kobayashi and Bianchi on that first lap

Lap 3

And Hamilton does come in and retires. Desperate start for him after taking pole.

Lap 4

Slightly calmer now after that early drama. Vettel says things slowly improving but he's in the unfamiliar position of being near the back

Lap 6

Rosberg sets the fastest lap of the race to extend his lead to 2.8 seconds over Ricciardo with Kevin Magnussen third, 1.4 seconds behind

Lap 7

Stewards will be investigating the first-corner collision where Kobayashi took out Massa. Bottas up into sixth place as he takes Räikkönen, Rosberg extends his lead at the front, looking good but It's not such good news for Vettel pulls into the pits and retires the Red Bull

Lap 11

And that's Bottas in trouble as he clips a wall and suffers a puncture and he limps back to the pits, all his good work undone. Out comes the safety car as Williams deputy team principal Claire Williams buries her head in her hands.

Lap 12

Bianchi is running finally, seven laps adrift but he's out there. So four cars out of this, two because of the first-lap accident and two high-profile retirements in Hamilton and Vettel

Lap 13

Bottas has been able to pit and resume. Most of the leaders have taken this chance to pit

Lap 14

A hint of light rain in the air. Showers falling to the south of the track

Lap 15

Vettel clearly - and unsurprisingly - unhappy. "I had no power from the start. At some stage I thought there was a slight improvement but we realised there's a bigger problem."

Lap 16

The debris cleared and we are ready roll again as the safety car prepares to head off. We're back racing and Rosberg opens a gap with ease. Bottas at the back starts clawing his way back through the field

Lap 17

Rosberg posts the fastest lap of the race on the first after the safety car departs, 2.2s ahead from Ricciardo. Magnussen in third told that his McLaren team are expecting to get 20 laps out of the current tyres

Lap 18

Another fastest lap from Rosberg. Bottas continues to pick his way through the field and is up to 11th

Lap 19

Ricciardo told he does not need to save fuel as Rosberg yet again sets the fastest lap to move 4.468s ahead

Lap 20

Rosberg continues to open a gap over Ricciardo - 5.2s - and he in turn leads Magnussen by 7.5s

Lap 21

Bottas told to "be safe" when he uses the DRS as "there's a problem with the hardware". Despite that he's into the top 10 again. Kobayashi tweets: "Sorry for messed up it's just my mistake sorry to Felipe". That won't help him with the stewards

Lap 22

Hülkenberg locks up and does well to keep on the straight and narrow. Rosberg is now lapping at more than half a second faster than the chasing pack

Lap 23

As they head down the home straight Ricciardo just catches a glimpse of the distant Rosberg as he exits it with the gap up to almost 8 seconds

Lap 24

Lewis Hamilton says he's not too upset although he certainly sounds it. "We knew reliability could be an issue but of course it surprises you when it happens. It's early stages and there's a long way to go so I will remain positive and focus on the next race. You see people pulling away and I felt like I didn't have power. I kept going as long as I could, but there was no point."

Lap 25

Bottas now chasing down Räikkönen as all smiles in the Williams garage as he passes Kvyat

Lap 26

Räikkönen locks up badly as he attacks Jean-Eric Vergne and he drops right back

© Sutton Images

Lap 27

Bottas has taken three seconds out of a struggling Räikkönen

Lap 29

Marcus Ericsson is out of the race, parked on the side after his team told him to stop. "Engine oil pressure"

Lap 30

Maldonado and Grosjean both pitted in that interlude and both Lotuses are still running which might be seen as an achievement in itself

Lap 31

Ah. Spoke too soon as Maldonado comes to a halt on the grass at Turn 12.

Lap 32

Massa frustrated after being taken out at the first corner. "It's not a big difference from what [Kobayashi] did to what Grosjean did at Spa and he sat out one race for that." The stewards will decide after the race

Lap 33

Button pits and something falls off his car as he leaves. Nothing big or major and he resumes in eighth

Lap 34

Bottas now within a few cars length of Räikkönen as they prepare to battle for sixth

Lap 35

Räikkönen locks up and Bottas eases past. Räikkönen not happy with the braking on the Ferrari as he has locked up a number of times this weekend

Lap 36

Alonso pits in fourth and returns in eighth and battles immediately with Hülkenberg but forces his way ahead of him

Lap 37

Mercedes warn Rosberg there is some light rain in the air "but it's not expected to get wet". Ricciardo, Bottas , Räikkönen and Kvyat all pit

Lap 38

Magnussen pits - a quick stop - and he comes out just behind Ricciardo. In comes Rosberg. no question he will retain his lead, and he resumes without anything other than a tailender in sight

Lap 39

Button told he is "racing Kevin for third place", a good performance for him and McLaren after all the travails of last season

Lap 40

Räikkönen yet again locks up under pressure from Kvyat as they fight for 9th. Kvyat is on the softs, Raikkonen is on the slower mediums ...

Lap 41

Rosberg leads by a more than 16s - only his to lose - but Magnussen is now hauling Ricciardo in and the gap is under a second with Button a further 7s back

Lap 42

Bottas' charge after his puncture continues as he sights Vergne in seventh. The gap is 1.7s

Lap 44

Felipe Massa slides into the gravel after being taken out by Kamui Kobayashi © Getty Images

Lap 45

Rosberg now 18s ahead but way back down the field the second Lotus, Roman Grosjean, stops

Lap 46

Magnussen now trails Ricciardo by around 1.5s, Button in fourth 6.5s adrift. McLaren radio that Magnussen needs to protect the rear tyres because he may end up racing team-mate Button at the end

Lap 47

Vergne makes an error, loses his back end on a corner and that allows Bottas through. He did well to stay on the track

Lap 48

McLaren tells Button: "Ricciardo is really struggling". Rosberg has this sewn up but the battle for the other podium places is going down to the wire

Lap 49

Alonso told: "Fernando, your are 8/10ths quicker than the three cars in front" and he is also told Ricciardo is in trouble

Lap 50

Hülkenberg digging deep to hold off the rampaging Bottas for sixth. Button now closing down Magnussen as predicted, his lead down to under five seconds. He in turn is within a second of Ricciardo

Lap 51

Ricciardo will do well to hold off these challenges. Magnussen leads Button by 4.491s. Rosberg leads by 23.389s

Lap 52

Hülkenberg finally loses his battle to hold off Bottas who is now up to 6th

Lap 53

Red Bull tell Ricciardo that he's "doing a good job". Magnussen certainly being kept at bay for now and is going to save some fuel for a charge at the end

Lap 54

Magnussen has dropped back a little, 1.5s back, and Button has not made up enough time to mount a challenge on his team-mate. Räikkönen neatly slips past Vergne to move into 7th

Lap 55

Rosberg so far ahead the TV cameras have hardly shown him in the last few laps. The crowd beginning to get very excited by the prospect of a home 2nd place

Lap 56

Penultimate lap and it seems as if the positions will remain as they are, barring driver error. Decent gaps between all the leaders

Lap 57

Late afternoon sunshine bathes the track as Rosberg eases to victory, leading from the first corner and never challenged thereafter, but the roars of the crowd are saved for Ricciardo who takes second. Magnussen becomes the first Dane to take a podium in third with team-mate Button in fourth, putting McLaren top of the constructors' championship.

"Fantastic boys," says Nico Rosberg. "What a car you have given me, what a car." You can only wonder what would have happened had Lewis Hamilton not retired so early, but so dominant was the Mercedes it is hard to see anything other than a 1-2 for the team.

Bottas finished sixth and you wonder what he might have done but for the puncture when he clipped the wall which relegated him to the back of the field. The way he fought his way back was one of the highlights.

The usual whoops and celebrations from the top three, all with something to celebrate. Ricciardo appears with a massive smile to loud cheers as Rosberg celebrates. We're used to the German national anthem being played but it's been Vettel whose being the reason for it in recent seasons ... in fact, in every race since July 2013! Not today.