5 Winners & Losers From the Australian Grand Prix

The first Grand Prix of the season is in the books, and there's a lot of things we've learned from the race at Albert Park. So much so, that we've made a list of winners and losers from this weekend, enjoy!

Fernando Alonso is back! The Spaniard has fought through three miserable years at McLaren, with the team consistently disappointing with the performance of their car, and that was if the car could stay on the track at all. 

Alonso finally got given a competitive car, and boy did he make the most of it. He started from P10, and after both Haas cars dropping out of the race and the virtual safety car was deployed, the two-time champion suddenly found himself in fifth, in front of Max Verstappen. The veteran held off the Dutch youngster and saw out the race. His best result since 2016. Again: Alonso is back!

Sebastian Vettel's smile was supposed to be wiped off his face, Hamilton said after qualifying, but quite the opposite happened. "What goes around comes around," Vettel ominously said after Hamilton's remark, and it was the German who climbed the top step of the podium at the end of the Grand Prix.

He qualified as third, with both Hamilton and his teammate Kimi Raikkonen in front of him. Vettel, however, waited longer than both drivers to come in for new tyres and took full advantage when Grosjean caused a virtual safety car. Vettel came in, and managed to stay in front of Hamilton, and saw the race out despite Hamilton attacking him multiple times. Great start of the season for Ferrari.

Daniel Ricciardo got handed a three-place penalty on Friday, which meant his home race was always going to be an uphill battle. The Aussie started in eighth but quickly picked up two places by first nicely overtaking Nico Hülkenberg and then driving past his teammate Max Verstappen, who quite literally took his RB14 for a spin. 

The Honey Badger then saw both Haas cars drop out of the race in front of him, moving him into P4. He attacked Kimi Raikkonen for a place of the podium, but Albert Park rarely allows for overtaking, meaning Ricciardo was stuck behind the Ice Man. Still, a nice showing for Ricciardo.

Charles Leclerc had a good debut in his F1-debut. The rookie finished thirteenth, which means he only had two cars behind him, but that isn't bad at all considering it was his first race (and he's driving a Sauber). He made no mistakes in the race and ended only about fifteen seconds behind Force India's Esteban Ocon. Leclerc had to come in an extra time though compared to Ocon.

All in all a good showing for the Monegasque, who is the only driver in history to win both the Formula 2 and the GP3.

Haas started the weekend where they left off in Barcelona. The American team were the surprise package, showing remarkable pace and also showing they were in serious contention for the 'best of the rest' title.

Both of their cars started on the third row on Sunday, showing in qualifying that they're in a weird no man's land between the Big Three and the rest of the field. Kevin Magnussen overtook Max Verstappen in turn 1 of the race, and his teammate Romain Grosjean moved into fifth after that same Max Verstappen spun out.

Up until that moment, Haas were the winners of the weekend, but then...

...Haas broke every neutral fan's heart. Just minutes after both cars came in for a fresh set of tyres, they were parked next to the track, and it was game over. What went wrong during the pit stop?

The mechanics didn't properly bolt on one of the front tyres, that's what happened. The American team has since been fined by the FIA due to the cars being a safety hazard. Guenther Steiner says they'll do intensive pit stop training before next race in Bahrain. Let's hope this never happens again!

Mercedes also had a rough weekend. Valtteri Bottas kicked things off on Saturday by slamming into a wall during qualifying, causing him to start all the way in P15. The Finn struggled to overtake the cars in front of him and eventually ended in eighth. Subpar for a Mercedes.

Lewis Hamilton was having a perfect weekend, getting pole position on Saturday and getting off to a great start on Sunday. However, a rare tactical mishap from the German team didn't forsee Vettel pitting during the virtual safety car, and Hamilton's lead was suddenly gone. The team will take these two weeks that they have off to re-think their strategies because this can't happen in they want to win their fifth championship in a row.

Max Verstappen had an unfortunate weekend. The Dutchman made a small mistake in the last sector of his hot lap during qualifying, causing him to start from fourth instead of second (where his hot lap was projected to leave him). The race started in a bad way too, with Verstappen leaving the door open for Kevin Magnussen to sneak past him in the first turn of the race. 

After that, a small piece of his car broke off, which caused him to struggle for the rest of the afternoon. He spun out in turn 2, preventing a crash quite impressively but leaving him in P8. At the end of the race, Verstappen was stuck behind Fernando Alonso and wasn't able to really attack the Spaniard. A weekend to forget for Max.

Honda gave their fans a traumatic experience when Pierre Gasly was forced to retire due to his Japanese engine failing. McLaren fans around the world (and Fernando Alonso) will probably have laughed at the whole thing.

The car that did manage to stay on the track, the one of Brendon Hartley, finished last. This is after Toro Rosso and Honda managed to impress the world with their durability and pace during pre-season. The question is; which version of them will we see for the rest of the season? Was Australia a one-off, or are Toro Rosso in for a year of struggle?

Sergey Sirotkin couldn't do anything about his retirement early into the Australian Grand Prix, but he wasn't setting the world alight up until that point either. The Russian rookie qualified nineteenth in his Williams, five places behind his teammate Lance Stroll. 

There were questions whether Robert Kubica, Williams' reserve, wouldn't do better instead of the Russian, and he hasn't made a case against it yet. Only up from here though, I guess...