2017 Australian Grand Prix - Melbourne, 24 - 26 March

[Shrieker]

First in a long time since Ferrari had a legit win. Vettel drove a good race and Ferrari had genuine speed. But quite honestly, without the safety car of last year, the result could've easily been the same.

Imho, we're going to see a different story on other tracks, but even now it's quite clear that Mercedes won't be enjoying the advantage they had over the field in the past three seasons.

[dans79]

This season, it's going to come down who gets on pole, who gets a good start, and who makes the fewest mistakes.

[hichamo]

=D> Stop the excuses guys, Ferrai did a great job and the laps were faster than Mercedes, Ferrari was better on tire today than Mercedes, end of story.
Great win.

[3jawchuck]

- Ferrari should have been on pole, Raikkonen is completely useless.

The only thing RAI can do is get race fastest laps, as if to try and show that he's somehow up there with the best.

Vettel did very well, at least this year we may not know which team will win, although we will still likely have a two horse race for the drivers. It's something at least.

[zeph]

Well, that was race #1. I still think Mercedes has the edge, even if it didn't show much today.

Well done, Ferrari and Vettel. They earned the win.

[Sevach]

No one overtook anyone last year, or did everyone forget already?

And we had Hamilton out of position for 60% of the race.

Ferrari has great speed in racing trim, Vettel turned it up got within 1s of Hamilton and Mercedes got spooked.

[af_general]

This season, it's going to come down who gets on pole, who gets a good start, and who makes the fewest mistakes.

like last season?

[AMG.Tzan]

Everyone was saying that the over-cut would work here...still can't understand why they pitted Hamilton so early! They should had at least waited for the gap to Verstappen to open a bit more! But the important thing here is that after Verstappen got out of the way, Hamilton still couldn't close the gap and instead the gap opened quickly! So it seems we have a championship race on our hands! Only thing to remember is that Ferrari almost won here last year...but through the season they fell to 3rd...let's see how it will go this time!! Just a shame for Alonso...so close to that 10th place...at least they were competitive and lasted the whole race in terms of engine!!

[ME4ME]

Jock Clear almost braking down in his interview, such a pressure relieve for them. Well done to Ferrari & Vettel.

[ringo]

ferrari are faster. is that so hard to believe?
From Q3 vettel braking 20m earlier in every turn, which suggests the cars has way more df than mercedes.
Vettel was in full control of the race,even when he was following behind lewis in the first stint.
I am glad for the swap around; it's about time we have a proper head to head among the teams. I am looking forward to the next race.
Drivers of the race for me are Perez, Ocon and Alonso.

[PlatinumZealot]

Jock clear said he still doesn't know which car was the faster one at the track. When HAM was in front Seb wasn't pushing and when seb was in front Ham wasn't pushing. You just lose too much pushing in dirty air!

[PlatinumZealot]

Well, that was race #1. I still think Mercedes has the edge, even if it didn't show much today.

Well done, Ferrari and Vettel. They earned the win.

Ferrari seemed to have better aero in dirty Air and better on its tyres

[Sevach]

Jock clear said he still doesn't know which car was the faster one at the track. When HAM was in front Seb wasn't pushing and when seb was in front Ham wasn't pushing. You just lose too much pushing in dirty air!

Hamilton was never limited by Vettel, when Verstappen pitted he was 5s+ behind.

[dans79]

Ferrari has great speed in racing trim, Vettel turned it up got within 1s of Hamilton and Mercedes got spooked.

Pitting that early was utter stupidity, they should have stayed out and made Vettel eat dirty air, or forced him to try and overtake. Without going back and looking at timing, I believe if Lewis had stayed out another 3 laps he would have come out in-front of Max.

[hichamo]

They pitted him because he was losing time drastically to vettel on his last lap, just before he pit in.
Mercedes struggle for managing the tiers, even Ferrari engineer said they were surprised to see them pit early.