As it happened: Australia 2014 - The race

• 05:29

  Hello friends, welcome to the Factbyte Factbox for the first race of 2014. I'm excited, are you?

• 05:30

  

  Credit: @OfficialSF1Team

  The boys are ready to go!

• 05:31

  In case you missed it yesterday, Lewis Hamilton scooped pole position from Daniel Ricciardo, the pair lining up on the front row together.

• 05:31

  Sebastian Vettel starts out of the top ten, having failed to reach Q3 for the first time since midway through 2012. For ever, essentially.

• 05:32

  And the Lotus pair were struggling enormously, Pastor Maldonado didn't set a lap but has been given FIA permission to race. Rumour has it Romain Grosjean is starting from the pit lane, too, having qualified 21st.

• 05:33

  The pitlane just opened at the Albert Park circuit, drivers are pulling up at the pit exit to do practice starts - there's quite the queue.

• 05:36

  Circuit Data

  Albert Park
  Local timezone	+11:00 GMT
  First race	1996
  Number of laps	58
  Circuit length	5.303km
  Race distance	307.574km
  Start offset	0.000km

• 05:36

  Tweet from @pirellisport: Theoretically the quickest strategy is: start on soft, change to soft again on lap 23, then to the medium on lap 51. 58 laps in total #F1

• 05:37

  View of an overcast turn 9.

  

  Credit @naget34

  Chilly day again at the track. We saw rain yesterday in qualifying, will there be more during the action today?

• 05:39

  Two drivers took gearbox penalties after qualifying yesterday, with both Esteban Gutiérrez and Valtteri Bottas dropping down the order. Guti was near the back anyway, but Bottas lost out to 15th place.

• 05:40

  Meanwhile, there was an impressive drive from Kevin Magnussen who qualified fourth in his first F1 weekend. Jenson Button was a little further back, missing out on the third session, but he's promoted into the top ten thanks to Bottas' penalty.

• 05:42

  Grid Position

  1	L Hamilton	Mercedes
  2	D Ricciardo	Red Bull
  3	N Rosberg	Mercedes
  4	K Magnussen	McLaren
  5	F Alonso	Ferrari
  6	JE Vergne	Toro Rosso
  7	N Hülkenberg	Force India
  8	D Kvyat	Toro Rosso
  9	F Massa	Williams
  10	J Button	McLaren

• 05:44

  Daniel Ricciardo on the grid: "We got off the line, I think everyone’s a bit up and down with starts. I don’t think there’s a lot of consistency with many of us. When the lights go out, I’ll drop the clutch and hopefully the traction I’ll get is good. Managing [the more power than grip] is the challenge we’ve got."

• 05:46

  Tweet from @Jamesallenonf1: V high chance of safety car today, 60% is Melbourne average, but with new tech it must be higher this year. That'll help fuel consumption

• 05:48

  Nico Hülkenberg on the grid: "I am pretty confident, but how confident can you be? I think we’re well prepared, the car behaved well in all conditions. Fuel management, reliability, you name it, it’s a step into the unknown. But it’s great, all the talking stops now and we step into the real thing."

• 05:48

  

  Credit: @WilliamsRacing

  Brazilian friends, catching up.

• 05:53

  Daniil Kvyat says simply: "Qualifying is history now, it's time to focus on the race."

• 05:55

  Tweet from @MauriceHamilton: Kvyat: amazing quiet confidence as he walks to the grid!

• 05:57

  Two DRS zones available this weekend, and the tyre compounds in action are the softs and mediums. Drivers have free choice on their starting tyre, after having qualified on intermediates.

• 05:57

  

  19°C
  Track	28°C
  Humidity	36%
  Wind speed	23.4mps

• 05:59

  The mechanics are starting to clear the grid of clutter, excess tyres being wheeled away, and only the tyre blankets remaining.

• 06:00

  Tyre blankets come off, the cars are lowered to the ground, and the mechanics clear to the side of the tarmac.

• 06:00

  It looks like everyone is opting to start on the soft compounds, except for Vettel in 12th and Gutiérrez in 20th.

• 06:01

  Max Chilton didn't get away from the grid, yellow flags being waved as the Marussia is recovered to the pit lane.

• 06:02

  Drive through penalty for Grosjean - leaving pit garage prior to the 15 minute signal.

• 06:03

  Ted News: It's going to take a while to patch up Max Chilton's car. They've recovered him to the pit lane and are working feverishly to get him going.

• 06:03

  Hamilton leads the formation lap back round to the grid, and pulls to a halt in that first grid slot. The pack file in behind him.

• 06:04

  Aborted start - extra formation lap.

• 06:05

  Chilton's Marussia has rolled down the pit lane to join Grosjean at the pit exit. Whatever drama Ted was talking about must be fixed already.

• 06:05

  It's the other Marussia stopped on the grid. The marshals running to Jules Bianchi's aid.

• 06:06

  Mechanics are pushing Bianchi's Marussia down to the end of the pit lane to join his teammate.

• 06:07

  David Croft: "It's a long pit lane, I think there's room for all 22 cars to line up."

• 06:08

  The cars crawl to a stop on the grid once again.

• 06:08

  Race started.

• 06:08 Lap 1

  Rosberg had a fantastic start, zips past Ricciardo and his teammate.

• 06:08 Lap 1

  Hamilton dropped back behind Ricciardo as well.

• 06:09 Lap 1

  Yellow flags as Felipe Massa is off track.

• 06:09 Lap 1

  A second incident occurs round the first few corners as well, including Esteban Gutiérrez.

• 06:09 Lap 1

  Both Kamui Kobayashi and Felipe Massa have stopped, they were involved in the first corner incident, spinning off into the gravel.

• 06:10 Lap 2

  Fernando Alonso is slow, losing positions on this first lap. He also locks up but is just managing to defend from Vergne.

• 06:10 Lap 2

  Meanwhile, Vettel is complaining about a lack of power over the radio.

• 06:10 Lap 2

  Pérez and Gutiérrez have dived into the pit lane, suggesting they were involved in the second accident. It was a right rear puncture on the Force India.

• 06:11 Lap 2

  Hamilton has also dropped back behind Magnussen, the McLaren rookie up to third.

• 06:12 Lap 3

  Team radio to Hamilton: "Okay Lewis, we need to retire. Save the engine."

• 06:12 Lap 3

  Team radio to Hamilton: "Okay Lewis, stay out, stay out. Just keep rolling."

• 06:12 Lap 3

  Mixed messages!

• 06:13 Lap 4

  Hamilton comes into the pit lane. Is he retiring or not, it's a mystery!

• 06:14 Lap 4

  No power and a problem with the gearbox, Hamilton has officially retired. Steering wheel off the car and he's climbing out, dejected.

• 06:15 Lap 4

  Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg sets the fastest lap of the race so far, currently leading. Ricciardo and Magnussen are firmly in second and third.

• 06:15 Lap 5

  Brief yellow flags and DRS disabled, but re-enabled again swiftly. That was likely for the final clearing of the turn one cars.

• 06:15 Lap 5

  Valtteri Bottas charges past Jean-Éric Vergne for seventh place.

• 06:16 Lap 5

  Vettel comes into the pit lane, the mechanics are having a good look at the car and they're backing him into the garage.

• 06:17 Lap 5

  Replays of the start show Kobayashi failing to brake and collecting Massa into the first corner. He was out of control off the line, bobbing, weaving, locking up, tagging a Ferrari and then a Felipe.

• 06:19 Lap 7

  Gutiérrez has been told that fuel consumption is okay.

• 06:19 Lap 8

  Incident between Kobayashi and Massa to be investigated after the race - causing a collision.

• 06:20 Lap 8

  Kobayashi, talking to Sky, admitting that it was his fault, though. Not much for the stewards to investigate.

• 06:24 Lap 10

  So many things have changed this year, but for Alonso, it is same old, same old. He's currently following the rear wing of... Nico Hulkenberg!

• 06:24 Lap 11

  Bottas has hit the wall, given himself a right rear situation. The wheel actually falls off. He's still running to try and get back to the pit lane.

• 06:26 Lap 11

  Huge disappointment for Williams - Massa out and Bottas in the wall. The mechanics have patched him up and sent him on his way, but all thoughts of points and podium gone.

• 06:26 Lap 12

  Yellow flags are showing for the tyre debris and wheel rim, still sitting in the middle of the road.

• 06:26 Lap 12

  Safety car deployed.

• 06:28 Lap 12

  All the drivers are diving into the pit lane now. Chaos!

• 06:28 Lap 13

  Pit Stop Analysis

  Driver	N Rosberg
  Team	Mercedes
  Pit lane	24.331s
  Stopped	4.0s

• 06:29 Lap 13

  Compare a four second pit stop from Mercedes to the super-speedy 3.1 seconds for Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo.

• 06:30 Lap 13

  The marshals have recovered the debris, so it's just a matter of sorting out the safety car order before it disappears.

• 06:30 Lap 13

  The pit lane goes quiet after what was controlled chaos for the first round of stops. Not sure anyone gained anything from it though.

• 06:32 Lap 14

  

  Credit: @McLarenF1

  Quick stop for McLaren, Jenson Button currently running sixth. Magnussen still up in third.

• 06:34 Lap 15

  Ricciardo is informed via the radio there could be some light rain. Official weather info on their screens says it shouldn't affect the track.

• 06:34 Lap 15

  Safety car in this lap.

• 06:35 Lap 16

  Sebastian Vettel: "Did I make five laps? Second formation lap we already lost power, we didn't understand why. I had no power from the start, the cars kept passing me. I was down, we tried to recover as much as we could. Alt some stage I thought there was a slight improvement but we realised there was a problem with the engine."

• 06:35 Lap 16

  Track is clear.

• 06:36 Lap 16

  Bottas is back at the rear of the field, but working his way forward once again.

• 06:36 Lap 16

  Tweet from @kamui_kobayashi: Sorry for messed up it's just my mistake sorry to Felipe and @CaterhamF1 all member!

• 06:38 Lap 17

  Lewis Hamilton: "I think I was driving on five cylinders. It was a bit unfortunate but that's racing. We have great pace, Nico's doing a great job out there. I hope that at least one of our cars makes it. We'll recover from this, it's a small hiccup."

• 06:38 Lap 18

  No major drama on the restart, Rosberg continues to lead. Alonso is still stuck behind Hülkenberg, with Jenson Button chasing him for sixth place.

• 06:42 Lap 20

  Team radio to Ricciardo: "You do not need to save fuel, hit the beeps."

• 06:42 Lap 20

  Safety car period has given the drivers a bit of breathing space on the fuel front.

• 06:42 Lap 20

  Tweet from @OzJez: There's a black mark on Ricciardo rear wing upright behind left rear tyre. Is it oil or has the tyre rubbed? Go Dan :)

• 06:46 Lap 23

  Driver Positions

  Pos		Driver	Stops
  1	2	N Rosberg	1
  2	0	D Ricciardo	1
  3	1	K Magnussen	1
  4	3	N Hülkenberg	1
  5	0	F Alonso	1
  6	4	J Button	1
  7	-1	JE Vergne	1
  8	3	K Räikkönen	1
  9	-1	D Kvyat	1
  10	5	V Bottas	1

• 06:47 Lap 23

  Bottas has done a great job to get back up into the top ten already.

• 06:47 Lap 23

  So far, Sergio Pérez has stopped twice, the only man to visit the pit lane more than once.

• 06:47 Lap 23

  Hülkenberg isn't happy with the condition of his front tyres, and he's causing a bit of a queue behind him.

• 06:50 Lap 25

  The gap between Nico and Magnussen in front is about 7 seconds, but then behind Nico, Alonso is 0.4, Button a further 0.9, Vergne 0.7 and Kimi 0.5. That's quite the train.

• 06:50 Lap 25

  Bottas has passed another car, moving ahead of Daniil Kvyat. In the DRS zone, down the main straight, passed him like he wasn't there.

• 06:51 Lap 26

  Ericsson pitted and dropped back behind Chilton, but then Chilton has dived into the pit lane as well.

• 06:52 Lap 26

  Gap Analysis

  Pos	Driver	Gap
  1st	ROS	1:33.941
  2nd	RIC	+10.1
  3rd	MAG	+13.2
  4th	HUL	+20.9

• 06:53 Lap 26

  Felipe Massa: "I think what [Kobayashi] did in this race is not so different to what Grosjean did in Spa and he took a race ban. It's dangerous and you cannot do that."

• 06:54 Lap 28

  Team radio to Rosberg: "You're in your safety car window, we will go prime for the next stint."

• 06:56 Lap 29

  Tweet from @CaterhamF1: That's the end of our Australian Grand Prix as @Ericsson_Marcus is told to stop the car with an oil pressure issue

• 06:57 Lap 29

  Yellow flags as Marcus Ericsson does indeed pull off track, the marshals looking on ready to clear the Caterham.

• 06:57 Lap 29

  That makes both Caterham cars out of the race.

• 06:58 Lap 30

  Gutiérrez is told that rear degradation on the Sauber isn't as bad as they were expecting. He can push a bit harder from 13th place.

• 06:59 Lap 31

  Grosjean has pitted and put on soft tyres again. Pastor Maldonado pops into the pits just a lap or two later. Both Lotus cars still running, if not particularly strongly.

• 07:00 Lap 32

  Oops. Totally jinxed Pastor Maldonado. He's pulled off track, race over for the Venezuelan driver.

• 07:01 Lap 32

  Six retirements so far, only two of which are accident-based. The last four were all mechanical problems.

• 07:02 Lap 33

  One to Watch

  Hülkenberg	vs.	Alonso
  4th	+0.4s	5th

• 07:03 Lap 33

  Jenson Button dives into the pit lane, soft tyres off, medium tyres on, a bit of wheel spin away from the box.

• 07:04 Lap 33

  Pit Stop Analysis

  Driver	S Pérez
  Team	Force India
  Pit lane	18.8s
  Stopped	3.7s

• 07:04 Lap 34

  Sergio Pérez also stops briefly, more squealing wheels on the way out. Replays of Button's stop show some carbon fibre from the nose falling off the car.

• 07:04 Lap 34

  It's a busy few minutes for the Force India crew as Hülkenberg is next in for a stop. That should free up Alonso out on track.

• 07:06 Lap 35

  Jules Bianchi is still working his way back to the rear of the field. He got off to a slow start from the pit lane, and was seven laps behind during the safety car period. He's not yet classified but still running.

• 07:07 Lap 35

  Kimi Räikkönen locks up and Valtteri Bottas sweeps past into fifth place. Claire Williams is back in the garage, looking on through her fingers.

• 07:07 Lap 36

  Fernando Alonso comes into the pitlane, has he done enough to make any difference on track?

• 07:08 Lap 37

  Alonso comes out behind Button but just ahead of Hülkenberg. It takes him a while to get up to speed and Nico hustles round the outside to try and regain the position. They're side by side through the corner but Alonso keeps the place.

• 07:09 Lap 37

  Ricciardo, Bottas, Räïkkönen and Kvyat all head into the pit lane for their second stops of the day. ALL the wheel spin.

• 07:10 Lap 37

  Pit Stop Analysis

  Driver	K Räikkönen
  Team	Ferrari
  Pit lane	21.825s
  Stopped	2.2s

• 07:10 Lap 38

  Replays show Bottas wobbling out of his pit box, narrowly avoiding the mechanics in the next box. Not a lot of room for error in the pit lane.

• 07:11 Lap 38

  Magnussen comes in for a sub-3 second stop but returns to the track behind Ricciardo, keeping his overall third place.

• 07:12 Lap 38

  

  Credit: @WilliamsRacing

  The Williams crew watch on, as Bottas attempts to climb back through the field, currently 8th.

• 07:13 Lap 39

  Nico Rosberg pits from the lead, some carbon fibre pinged off the car as the front left tyre went on. He returned to the track in the lead for now, though.

• 07:14 Lap 40

  Team radio to Button: "The car in front is Kevin, you are racing Kevin for third place. Fuel is good."

• 07:16 Lap 41

  One to Watch

  K Räikkönen	vs.	D Kvyat
  9th	+0.6s	10th

• 07:17 Lap 42

  Sutil and the two Marussia drivers are the only ones to have made just the one stop so far.

• 07:18 Lap 42

  Kevin Magnussen is closing the gap to Ricciardo for second place, a pretty impressive showing for the rookie Dane!

• 07:18 Lap 43

  Dark clouds are rolling in over the circuit, and there's still talk of spits of rain happening, but we've got just 14 laps left now.

• 07:19 Lap 43

  Ted News: The Ferrari pair are managing an electrical problem, hence the lack of pace.

• 07:19 Lap 43

  Kvyat is having a look at Räikkönen, and just in front of them, Bottas is reeling in Vergne.

• 07:20 Lap 44

  Rosberg has something of a Vettel-esque lead, pulling out 18 seconds over Ricciardo, who is still fending off the McLaren behind him.

• 07:20 Lap 44

  Team radio to Alonso: "It's a battle of reliability as well. Look after everything and we'll see what happens."

• 07:22 Lap 45

  Vergne holds the position round another lap, Bottas is too far back down the home straight to make use of DRS.

• 07:22 Lap 45

  Romain Grosjean has pulled off track, stopping just like his teammate did. Double DNF for Lotus.

• 07:23 Lap 46

  Team radio from Button: "Does Ricciardo have to save fuel, do we think?"

  "We don't think so, Jenson."

• 07:24 Lap 46

  A reported KERS failure for Grosjean. Disappointing for the Lotus crew, but then again, given their previous sessions this weekend, they've actually done pretty well.

• 07:25 Lap 47

  Vergne got the last corner very wrong, with Bottas finally managing to get the advantage. The Finn moves up to seventh place, with Hülkenberg just a second up the road.

• 07:27 Lap 48

  Team radio to Nico Hülkenberg: "Okay Nico, so Bottas is through on the Toro Rosso behind so I expect you'll be coming under attack from Bottas soon."

• 07:30 Lap 50

  Ricciardo appears to be falling back rapidly. The gap to leader Rosberg is now up to 22 seconds, whilst Alonso back in fourth is advised that the Red Bull driver might be struggling.

• 07:30 Lap 51

  Sergio Pérez is being told to push, the team hope he can get close to Kvyat, who is taking up the final points position in tenth. The gap is 11 seconds at the moment though.

• 07:32 Lap 52

  Magnussen has the gap to Ricciardo down to 0.7 seconds. Five laps left. Tense looks on the Red Bull pit wall.

• 07:34 Lap 53

  Replays show Valtteri Bottas streaking past Nico Hülkenberg for sixth place. Next in line is Alonso, but he's 12 seconds ahead.

• 07:35 Lap 54

  Max Chilton is the final classified runner at the moment, in 14th. Jules Bianchi is still running, but six laps down.

• 07:37 Lap 55

  Vergne is told not to hold up Kvyat, as his teammate is faster. We've heard messages like that before. Both Toro Rosso drivers are in the points at the moment, Vergne 9th, Kvyat 10th.

• 07:39 Lap 56

  Two laps to go, Magnussen was told to hold off the pace until the last few minutes - he's now instructed to put the hammer down.

• 07:40 Lap 57

  Rosberg crosses the line to start his final lap, with a 24 second gap to Ricciardo.

• 07:41 Lap 57

  It doesn't look like Magnussen can make the difference on this final lap, but still, a podium on your first race is not to be sniffed at!

• 07:41

  Nico Rosberg wins the Australian Grand Prix!

• 07:42

  Ricciardo and Magnussen cross the line in the same order, trophies for both. Button strong in fourth.

• 07:43

  Race Winner

  Driver	N Rosberg
  Team	Mercedes
  Race time	1:32:58.710
  Race distance	302.271km
  Average speed	195.058km/h

• 07:43

  Team radio to Ricciardo: "That's brilliant mate, I think we can see your smile from here."

• 07:45

  Driver Positions

  Pos		Driver	Stops
  1	2	N Rosberg	2
  2	0	D Ricciardo	2
  3	1	K Magnussen	2
  4	6	J Button	2
  5	0	F Alonso	2
  6	9	V Bottas	2
  7	0	N Hülkenberg	2
  8	3	K Räikkönen	2
  9	-3	JE Vergne	2
  10	-2	D Kvyat	2

• 07:45

  Adrian Sutil is the only driver to have stopped once, he finished in 12th place, just ahead of Sauber teammate Esteban Gutierréz.

• 07:47

  Gap Analysis

  Pos	Driver	Gap
  1st	ROS	1:33.857
  2nd	RIC	+24.5
  3rd	MAG	+26.7
  4th	BUT	+29.9
  5th	ALO	+35.1

• 07:48

  Rosberg jumps into the arms of his crew, and they wildly bounce around cheering. Happy scenes for the Mercedes guys.

• 07:48

  Ricciardo does have a huge smile, as he heads to the podium for the first time in his F1 career. Magnussen pumps his fist as he takes to the third place step.

• 07:49

  The German national anthem rings out over Albert Park. We're used to this tune by now, but it's usually a different driver on the top step!

• 07:52

  They've updated the podium again, now the country colours behind the drivers are on screens, with digital ripples fluttering the flags.

• 07:52

  All three drivers on the podium looking very happy, great scenes.

• 07:55

  Podium quotes - Nico Rosberg: "Already it’s been an amazing time here in Melbourne. Thanks to all of you, you made it special. I think Daniel got a little bit more support than us but that’s normal. It’s been an amazing day, I’m over the moon. Everybody’s worked so hard over the winter, to have such an amazing Silver Arrow to drive, it’s unreal. This thing was unbelievably quick today and reliable also… I’m so grateful to Mercedes for all the hard work over the winter."

• 07:56

  Podium quotes - Daniel Ricciardo: "Two, three weeks ago, I would have bet everything I have that we would not be standing up here. I mean, just full credit to the team for an unbelievable turnaround. I don’t understand how they did it but they did, so thank you guys. And of course, the Aussie fans, wow. Completely overwhelming, no words."

• 07:56

  Podium quotes - Kevin Magnussen: "It’s hard to believe really, it seems so surreal. What can I say? The car was so much better than it’s been at any point. We just keep improving the car. I just had exactly what I needed the whole race. The preparation we’ve had this winter has been fantastic. I’ve never done an F1 race, testing is so limited these days, big congratulations to the team for doing a fantastic job."

• 07:58

  Tweet from @ToroRossoSpy: A big hug for both our drivers, but a special BRAVO to @Dany_Kvyat for his first point on his debut! Great driving #DK26!

• 08:00

  Retirements

  Driver	Reason	Lap
  F Massa	Accident	1
  K Kobayashi	Accident	1
  L Hamilton	Power unit	4
  S Vettel	Power unit	5
  M Ericsson	Oil pressure	29
  P Maldonado	Power unit	31
  R Grosjean	Power unit	45

• 08:19

  Jenson Button: "An enjoyable race, the team did a great job in the pit stops. I just got in when the safety boards flashed up, I saw it and dived into the pits. Great job by Kevin. Third and fourth is better than what we expected, it really is."

• 08:23

  Fernando Alonso: "We all had problems probably, at the end of the day both Ferraris crossed the line which is a good effort from the team. On the other hand, we finished 35 second behind Nico Rosberg which is too much and we need to improve for Malaysia. We are Ferrari, we are a strong team, these guys know what they're doing. After the first race, you have a little bit of a better picture which areas you need to improve the car."

• 08:25

  Nico Hülkenberg: "First of all, I'm quite happy to finish the race. First time ever for me. Good news straight away in the points, which is fairly positive and a good job for the team today. We lost two positions after the first stop, it looked like we didn't have quite the pace as many others... I had some issues with front left graining on the soft compounds, that compromised my first two stints a bit."

• 08:34

  So that's the first race done and dusted. Overall, it was a fascinating weekend, although it may not have been fantastic racing all the way through. Most drivers were in test and conservation mode, and who can blame them?

• 08:35

  The talk of what would happen if all the cars retired seemed overblown to me, but seven retirements and one non-classified is a pretty high attrition rate. Lots of work to be done on the cars, but I'm loving seeing this high-tech stuff in action.

• 08:36

  In terms of results, an impressive start from both the rookie racers in the points. Disappointing result for Marussia and Caterham, and who knows what the feeling will be at Lotus? A double DNF but more laps than they've managed at any other stage this weekend.

• 08:38

  McLaren's leads in the championship is a surprise, Williams pulled as much as they could from a difficult weekend, Claire herself said they had high hopes and are reasonably satisfied with the outcome.

• 08:41

  In the Thursday press conference, the drivers were asked to predict how many finishers there would be. Felipe Massa quite accurately predicted 14, although I bet he didn't think he'd be the first one out.

• 08:42

  Thanks for following along today and this weekend, it's been a brilliant start to what could be an unusual season. Rosberg's early dominance was worrying but there's still a long way to go!

• 08:42

  Join me again in two week's time for all the action from the Malaysian Grand Prix.