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Hello and welcome to ESPN's live coverage of the Australian Grand Prix! ---------------------------- 16:05: Hamilton tells Mercedes there's not much grip on the grid. He lines up again in pole position... let's try this one again. --- 16:04: Looks like Hulkenberg lined up in the wrong space, confused by Ricciardo's absence. Speaking of which, Red Bull are still working frantically on that car. --- 16:04: Well, here we don't go. The yellow lights come on and that's an aborted start, meaning we get another formation lap. All the more time to get the adrenaline levels pumping. --- 16:02: Hamilton filters back into pole position and wits for the rest of the field to run. Can confirm Kvyat is running after his early problems. Here we go! --- 16:00: The final red light goes off and Hamilton leads the pack away for the formation lap. Excited yet? --- 15:56: With all that pre-race drama, I've barely mentioned the fight we're expecting at the front. Hamilton and Vettel will have the best view in the house when lights out, and my money is on the man leading into Turn 1. These new cars are a lot more visually exciting and faster, but this is a circuit notoriously difficult to overtake on. Add the fact these new cars are likely to be harder to overtake and race strategy and track position is going to be key. --- 15:55: Ricciardo is back in his car. --- 15:51: If Toro Rosso can't remedy the problem on Kvyat's car, it'll be his third consecutive DNS in Australia! He failed to make lights out in 2015 and 2016. Finished ninth here on his debut, so it's been a mixed bag. --- 15:49: Red Bull working on Ricciardo's car in the hope of getting him out for the home fans. If they do, it will be a pit-lane start. Horner tells Sky there's an electronic sensor issue and, as I thought, the car got stuck in sixth gear on the way to the grid. --- 15:47: The drivers head to the front of the grid for a rendition of 'Advance Australia Fair'. --- 15:45: There may be problems for Daniil Kvyat, too. Looks like one of his in-car extinguishers is going off. Lots of attention around the rear of his car from the Toro Rosso mechanics. They've got 15 minutes to remedy the situation before the formation lap... --- 15:40: It's a nice, sunny afternoon in Melbourne. Small chance of rain... --- 15:38: Ricciardo is climbing out of his car. Gutting for the local lad. --- 15:36: Bad news, Ricciardo fans... the Red Bull driver has stopped on the way to the grid! Looks like he's stuck in sixth gear. He might not be starting his home race at this rate. --- 15:30: The pit lane is open. |
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Lap 1 |
Good start from Hamilton and Vettel has to move across to block off the fast-starting Bottas. Vettel holds P2 into the first corner. Hamilton leads. There's a tangle at Turn 4 - it's Magnussen and Ericsson in the gravel grap! Yellow flags. Perez dives down the inside of Kvyat at Turn 9. Lovely move. Hulkenberg all over the back of Kvyat coming through Turn 12 as Perez kicks up a huge heap of dust. "You have a puncture, you have a puncture," Magnussen is told by Haas. |
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Lap 2 |
Grosjean dropped behind Massa at the start, he's currently seventh. Hamilton's lead 0.5s after one lap. Let's see how this battle unfolds out in front. Vettel right behind Hamilton through the middle sector. He's not letting the Mercedes driver gallop away early, a good omen for those of us wanting to see a good race out in front. |
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Lap 3 |
Magnussen has pitted, he and Ericsson got out of the gravel trap but are obviously a long way down. Not as far down as Ricciardo, who finally emerges from the pit lane, to rapturous appluase from his local fans. "My dash is not working, my dash is not working," complains Vandoorne. That means he won't be able to see which gear he is in, among other things. He's down in 16th. |
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Lap 4 |
Hamilton crosses the line for another lap, Vettel 0.7s behind, Bottas 2.6s back, Raikkonen 5s back. Vettel sets the fastest lap of the race so far, a 1:29.043. Kvyat tells Toro Rosso his DRS isn't working. |
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Lap 5 |
"Struggling for grip," Hamilton tells Mercedes. He's not shaking Vettel at this stage, 0.8s the gap still. Hamilton has pulled the gap out a little bit on this lap, Vettel is now out of DRS range. |
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Lap 6 |
Great lap from Hamilton, it's a fastest lap, a 1:28.786, to keep him out of DRS. How will Vettel respond? Aerial view of the start shows Stroll flying down the inside of Turn 1, locking up heavily and being very lucky not to take out anyone at Turn 1. Surely a flat-spot. We then see Magnussen coming to blows with Ericsson. Looks like Magnussen hit the kerb on the inside, drifted across the corner and hit Ericsson on the outside. The new relaxed racing rules means neither have been investigated. |
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Lap 7 |
Can confirm Stroll has pitted for fresh ultra-soft tyre. That stop was for a severe flat-spot. Ricciardo coming up behind Vandoorne, who is told not to get caught up fighting a car two laps down. Ricciardo, meanwhile, says he can "have some fun". Vandoorne obliges and leaps out of Ricciardo's way at the first opportunity. |
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Lap 8 |
"28.0 is not possible," Hamilton feeds back to Mercedes. His last lap was a 1:28.379, so clearly it's not far off. He's opened the gap to 1.8s. |
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Lap 9 |
Bottas is five seconds back, Ricciardo eight seconds. Good to see Hamilton not disappearing in the distance. |
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Lap 10 |
Vettel sets a fastest lap, a 1:28.234. The gap doesn't appear to have come down much, though. Vandoorne pits but he reports a loss of power. After being told he needs to do the power cycle, he eventually gets going but that's a huge loss of time. He's already a lap down, as is Magnussen, while Ricciardo is two laps down. |
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Lap 11 |
"Tyres are overheating," Hamilton says. The three-time world champion really struggling, it seems. Good news for Vettel, who is very well placed at the moent. |
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Lap 12 |
Courtesy of Sean Kelly on Twitter: Lewis Hamilton has just joined Michael Schumacher as the only two drivers in F1 history to lead 3,000 laps and/or 100 Grands Prix. Vettel still 1.8s adrift of the race leader. Palmer seems to be having some difficulties, he's complaining about a problem with his brakes. Ericsson just eased past him and has already put a big gap between the two cars, so clearly Palmer in a spot of real trouble. |
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Lap 13 |
Another fastest lap for Vettel, a 1:28.221. That takes two tenths out of Hamilton's lead. Stroll has closed right up behing Giovinazzi in the Sauber. Two rookies about to go at it... |
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Lap 14 |
Stroll flicks the DRS open but can't quite get close enough to attack Giovinazzi. He thought about it, though. Something doesn't sound right in the Sauber... Hamilton responds with a fastest lap of his own, great ding-dong out in front between the two lead men. Hamilton's last time a 1:28.117. Stroll struggling to catch the Sauber despite the obvious power advantage. He's really fighting with the car through the final sequence of corners and that means he wasn't close enough to take advantage with the DRS. |
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Lap 15 |
"Same problem, same problem," Palmer complains, so clearly he's still struggling with those brakes. Grosjean pits with smoke coming out the rear of his car. Such a shame for Haas after a great qualifying session. He's our first retirement of the season. Stewards confirm no further action for Magnussen-Ericsson incident. |
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Lap 16 |
Stroll is finally released as Giovinazzi pits for Sauber. Palmer again struggling at Turn 13 with his brakes. He stays out, so clearly it's something Renault can fix in the pits. "Agggh, same again!" "Understood Jo, let's just keep going, keep going." |
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Lap 17 |
Vettel is back within DRS range of Hamilton, who has closed up behind Ericsson. Hamitlon pits from the lead! Here we go. How much did Hamilton get caught up behind the Sauber, and how quickly can Vettel clear that car? Soft tyre for Hamilton, that will take him to the end of the race. Hamilton has emerged in a massive line of traffic. Palmer pits again and this could be the end of his race. |
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Lap 18 |
Vettel in clear air, Hamilton stuck behind Giovinazzi for half the lap. Vettel stays out. This is developing beautifully for Ferrari. He's just done a purple final sector - is it time to properly turn up the wick in the red car? Hamilton has got clear of traffic and now he sets the fastest final sector. He's 21s behind - the estimate for a pit stop is around 21-22s, so it's going to be very, very close. |
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Lap 19 |
Hamilton showing some really good pace on those soft tyres. But he's about to hit Verstappen and Raikkonen. Vettel told tyres look very healthy, and that he can stay out. |
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Lap 20 |
Hamilton sets a 1:27.551. He'll be praying the cars in front of him pit very, very soon as he's going to start being held up by Verstappen imminently. "Still a lot of understeer, how is the floor? Let me know where I stand so I can look after tyres if need be..." says Hamilton. He's now staring down the gearbox of Verstappen's Red Bull. |
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Lap 21 |
Verstappen lapping about 1.3s slower than Hamilton at the moment, so this could be a crucial moment in the race. Vettel is about to catch up with Stroll, so this would be a good chance to pit for Ferrari. Perez passes Sainz on the run down to Turn 4 and then turns all the way across him, and it looks like there's a tiny bit of contact between the two. Lovely stuff from Perez, but pretty aggressive. Sainz did well to avoid a proper clash. |
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Lap 22 |
Hamilton within DRS range of Verstappen and he's told he's got to pass Verstappen. He really doesn't sound happy in this car at the moment after being told it's "race critical" to pass the Red Bull. He's slipping out of pit stop range for Vettel... Hamilton now 22s behind Vettel. That's going to be so tight, Vettel has caught Stroll so this is the moment Ferrari needs to pit if it wants to seize the moment. |
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Lap 23 |
Vettel stays out. Mammoth stint on the ultra-soft tyre. Verstappen stays out as well, but Hamilton isn't close enough to pas Verstappen. "There's no way I can get past this guy," Hamilton says. "I'm starting to struggle a bit with the rears," Verstappen says. Hope for Hamilton yet. EReplays show Magnussen running very wide at Turn 4 and cutting up a bit of grass. Vettel has passed Stroll, now behind Hulkenberg, but he has the benefit of blue flags, something Hamilton does not have as he and Verstappen are effectively racing for position. |
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Lap 24 |
Vettel pits, soft tyres for the Ferrari. Great stop from the Italian team - Vettel leads the race! He emerges just in front of Verstappen and he has a look around the outside of Vettel into Turn 4, putting both wheels on the dirt. The two don't come to blows and Vettel now starts to pull away from the Red Bull. This looks like Ferrari's to lose right now. Ericsson has stopped on the side of the circuit. Bottas now leads the race, with Raikkonen six seconds behind. Neither man has pitted yet ,of course. |
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Lap 25 |
Veratappen stays out again. Hamilton still struggling to catch Verstappen. He tells Mercedes there's nothing left in the tyres, probably referring to the outright performance. Replay shows Toto Wolff banging his hand on the desk on seeing Vettel emerging in the lead. Verstappen pits, as does Bottas. Super-soft for Verstappen, soft tyre for Bottas. |
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Lap 26 |
So, we have a Ferrari one-two, albeit briefly, as Raikkonen is yet to pit. Hamilton has finally been released from behind Verstappen but now he's six seconds behind Vettel's Ferrari. |
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Lap 27 |
Raikkonen pits from first, releasing Vettel and Hamilton back into P1 and P2. Soft tyres for Raikkonen, who emerges fourth behind Bottas. "OK Lewis, so we're thinking Plan B now," Hamilton is told. I can't imagine they'll switch him to a two-stop strategy, track position is king around here. |
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Lap 28 |
Fastest lap from Bottas, a 1:27.052. He's six seconds behind Hamilton, who is the same time behind the race leader. Vandoorne runs wide at Turn 4 and then has Magnussen all over the back of him. Magnussen's Haas looking very, very twitchy through that part of the race track. |
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Lap 29 |
Ricciardo has stopped on the circuit. Looks like that's just after Turn 4, he's off the circuit so that shouldn't warrant a Safety Car or VSC. Hamilton will be praying the race directors feel differently, as he needs a Safety Car more than anyone at the moment. |
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Lap 30 |
Kvyat is up in sixth, he's done 32 laps on the ultra-soft tyre. Great job from the Toro Rosso driver. |
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Lap 31 |
The gap at the front is not changing, it's been six seconds very since Verstappen pitted. All coming together nicely for Ferrari. Hamilton really not making these tyres work, something Bottas seems to be doing a better job of having shaved a few tenths off the gap to his Mercedes teammate. That gap now 5.3s. |
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Lap 32 |
Hamilton now 5.6s behind Vettel. |
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Lap 33 |
Vettel eases past Alonso on the run down to Turn 1. What must the Spaniard be thinking at the moment. Bottas is 4.9s behind Hamilton, there's 10 seconds covering the top three. They could all be in a line by the end of this race. Raikkonen a further 9 seconds back from his fellow Finn. |
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Lap 34 |
Hamilton coming up behind Alonso and Ocon, who are dicing for 10th position. |
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Lap 35 |
Hamilton took a few corners to clear Ocon and Alonso and now Bottas is 3.7s behind his teammate, albeit with those two cars in front of him now. Ten seconds now covers the top four, with Raikkonen closing and closing on the top guys. Ocon again has to ease off the throttle coming up to Turn 10. |
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Lap 36 |
Vettel's lead now seven seconds. |
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Lap 37 |
Bottas continues to close the gap on Hamilton. |
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Lap 38 |
Hamilton will be able to see Bottas in his mirrors now. The Finn can make a big statement in the final laps of this race. Bottas has an almighty wobble through Turn 13, which could have been nasty. Clearly the Finn is pushing hard. |
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Lap 39 |
Interesting to see how Mercedes deals with this situation. They've been very clear about letting their drivers race in the past few seasons. |
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Lap 40 |
Hamilton eight seconds behind Vettel, but his attention for the last 17 laps is likely to be the other Silver Arrow closing up behind him. Raikkonen has Verstappen three seconds behind him, the Red Bull driver on super-soft tyres. |
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Lap 41 |
The battle between Alonso and Ocon continues for tenth. The FOM feed hasn't showed much of it but I've been keeping an eye on it on the timing screens, Ocon has been within a second for a while. The gap between Hamilton and Bottas keeps changing when one of them hits traffic. It was 1.7s, now back to 2.3s. |
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Lap 42 |
Ferrari telling Raikkonen it's not over yet because Hamilton might not be able to take his tyres to the end. Interesting. |
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Lap 43 |
Worth remembering Bottas stopped eght laps after Hamilton, so his soft tyres are in much better shape at this stage. We're starting to see the benefit of that, he's clearly able to lean on them more, but Hamilton has been struggling all day. Stroll locks up at Turn 13 and deep into a slip road. He gets back onto the circuit via grass and a bit of gravel. That's dropped him to 15th. |
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Lap 44 |
Verstappen reeling in Raikkonen at the moment. That gap now 2.4s. Stroll pits - game over. The Canadian is being wheeled back into the garage. Bottas within two seconds of Hamilton again. Fastest lap from Verstappen. |
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Lap 45 |
Magnussen jumps out of the way of Raikkonen after Turn 13, and then moves out of Verstappen's way on the run down to Turn 1. This is going to be the fight the world feed will be focusing on for the rest of the race, I imagine, but there's still a lot to happen in the Hamilton-Bottas fight. Hamilton complaining that his power is dropping in and out. |
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Lap 46 |
Bottas' charge seems to have cooled off slightly at the moment, that gap has gone back above two seconds. |
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Lap 47 |
Vettel having a lovely drive out in front. We might get used to seeing that name top of the timing screens this season if this race is anything to go by. Early days yet, but clearly Ferrari's race pace is very, very good. We know how good Vettel can be when he gets a car inside that window... |
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Lap 48 |
Hulkenberg is now right behind Alonso and Ocon in that battle for tenth. |
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Lap 49 |
Vettel's gap has gone down to 6.6s, but at this stage the Ferrari driver won't be pushing too hard. Verstappen 1.7s behind Raikkonen. |
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Lap 50 |
Hamilton approaching a long, long train of cars, so expect to see that gap to Bottas drop once again. But then of course Bottas has to clear the same traffic, and even if he does catch Hamilton, I can't imagine Mercedes will be that keen for their drivers to have a big fight. Only the top six drivers are on the lead lap. Magnussen pulls off the circuit on the run down to Turn 13. He's pulled off on the grass, so no need for a Safety Car. |
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Lap 51 |
Kvyat pits... he emerges in ninth but safely clear of Alonso in tenth. That's dropped him below teammate Sainz. |
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Lap 52 |
Hulkenberg getting closer and closer to the Alonso-Ocon battle, but will he be able to make a move on one or both of them? Ocon has a look on the inside of Alonso into Turn 13 but can't get close enough. Haas confirms a suspension problem for Magnussen. Ocon comes through the penultimate corner alongside Alonso. |
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Lap 53 |
Alonso, Ocon and Hulkenberg go three wide down towards Turn 1, Ocon takes tenth as Hulkenberg passes Alonso. Hulkenberg and Alonso dice for position again through Turn 3 and the Renault driver holds his place. Alonso unhappy on the radio. "[Censored] There's something wrong on the car!" Replays show Force India's mechanics applauding, that was a lovely move. Kvyat sets a fastest lap, but Vettel then lowers the benchmark to a 1:26.638. That Ferrari is quick. |
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Lap 54 |
Alonso pulls into the pits to retire. Shame, he looked well placed for a point. He had been complaining about the car pulling to the left earlier. Sainz told to "push like an animal" and he can catch Perez in seventh. There's around six seconds to cut in a few laps... |
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Lap 55 |
Looks like Verstappen's chances of catching Raikkonen are diminishing. One thing you can see with Giovinazzi is that he's not used to letting cars through in an efficient way, that's something that can only come with time. |
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Lap 56 |
Kvyat apparently still chasing the fastest lap on his fresh ultra-soft tyres. He's down in ninth. Asks if he can go for it, Toro Rosso say "We've got points on the table, just take it to the flag..." Verstappen also asking about the fastest lap. "How much faster is the fastest lap?" "Too fast..." is the response from Red Bull. The message there is pretty clear - don't do anything silly! |
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Lap 57 |
Raikkonen sets a fastest lap, a 1:26.538, but all attention now turns to the other Ferrari as Vettel closes in on victory. |
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Lap 58 |
We're still on lap 57, but we still have lap 58 on here because of that extra formation lap. Vettel rounds the final corner to win the Australian Grand Prix! Hamilton finishes second, Bottas rounds off the podium. Raikkonen ends up finishing well clear of Verstappen. Good drive to sixth from Massa, Perez seventh ahead of Toro Rosso pair Sainz and Kvyat. Ocon rounds off the points in 10th, jut holding off Hulkenberg across the line. Vettel thanks his team -- in Italian of course -- but there's a lot less emotion in those radio messages than we've heard previously. Ferrari clearly trying to keep everything in check. Bottas congratulated on first Mercedes podium. Replies: "Thanks guys, the reds are just too quick..." |
