RESULT: Sebastian Vettel Seizes Australian Grand Prix Victory

It was podium number 100 for Sebastian Vettel, strong race pace from the Scuderia and a helping of luck meant Vettel secured a 7-point advantage over his championship rival from 2017 after round one.

With a little help from a Virtual Safety Car, Sebastian Vettel picked up the 25 points for the win at the season opener.

All three leaders got off to a strong start, Hamilton leading the pack as they started but it was Kevin Magnussen who made the best start, going around the outside of Max Verstappen in turn one to take P4 from the 20-year-old. Brendan Hartley suffered a lock-up at turn one and had to pit for fresh tyres at the end of the opening lap.

Hamilton was pressured by both of the Ferrari's in the opening exchanges, both staying within two seconds of each other until Hamilton began to up the ante to cover off any undercut Raikkonen had hoped to gain. Max Verstappen struggled at the beginning of the race and made an uncharacteristic mistake in his chase for fourth place, spinning in turn one chasing the Haas.

Raikkonen was the first of the leaders to pit in for new tyres, opting for the more durable soft tyres over the super softs having seen both Red Bull's struggling to make the most of the alternate strategy. Hamilton pitted to immediately cover off any hopes of a Ferrari undercut and theoretically maintain his lead once Vettel eventually made his stop.

The strong start to the race for Haas was about to unravel in a matter of laps after two seemingly identical errors in the pitstop saw both drivers pull off the track with loose wheel nuts putting pay to a great effort from the American outfit having been challenging Red Bull for the top 5.

The subsequent Virtual Safety Car turned the race on its head though with two big winners, Fernando Alonso jumping the Renault's and then Sebastian Vettel leapfrogging Lewis Hamilton to take the lead of the race in the pits.

Mercedes were caught out and had no answer for Hamilton when he came across the radio asking if he "was driving too slowly". A disaster then for the Silver Arrows was a great gain for the Scuderia. Vettel had gained 5 seconds on the former race leader through the VSC phase, A Mercedes miscalculation was Ferrari's gain.

Things got back underway on lap 32 where an under pressure Vettel looked comfortable and from that point until the chequered flag, despite Hamilton pushing the German at several points, managed the race well. Hamilton hadn't given up on the race but made an error on lap 48 which ultimately ended the reigning champion's hopes of a victory in the opening round and having to follow the Ferrari home for second.

Raikkonen was able to hold off local hero Ricciardo as the race drew to a close for the final podium place and it was a return to the top 5 for Fernando Alonso who headed hope Verstappen, Hulkenberg and a recovering Valtteri Bottas in 6th, 7th and 8th respectively, the McLaren driver sounding more than relieved on the team radio after the race saying they "can fight" this year.

Stoffel Vandoorne and an apparently ill Carlos Sainz Jr rounded out the top 10 in Melbourne, both with a relatively anonymous drive to the flag. The Spaniard apparently became ill through the race, his drinks bottle the culprit.

Sergei Sirotkin was the first retirement of the race on lap 4 after a poor weekend up to that point, Marcus Ericsson followed the Russian into retirement not soon afterwards with a loss of power steering. Pierre Gasly's Toro Rosso Honda gave up after 13 laps despite looking so strong during testing.