As it happened: Australia 2017 - The race

• 05:37

  Hi friends, welcome back! It's the first race of a brand new season, it's Australia, it's brilliant!

• 05:38

  A lot has been happening already, and we're only a handful of days into the new season.

• 05:39

  The big news updates start with the Sauber, who had to replace Pascal Wehrlein with Antonio Giovinazzi after Pascal realised he wasn't ready to complete a full race distance yet.

• 05:40

  A handful of crashes yesterday resulted in gearbox penalties today, with Lance Stroll having an incident in FP3, and Daniel Ricciardo crashing in the final qualifying session.

• 05:41

  Ricciardo has also stopped out on track on his way to the grid, with what sounds like a gearbox failure. The Australian has climbed out of the car for a disappointing start to his season.

• 05:41

  Jolyon Palmer, who finished last in qualifying and blamed the car for being pretty rubbish all round, is feeling better today: "It’s been such a hard weekend. I’m positive actually, we’ve got nothing to lose, we can have a crack forward. It’s the first race, anything can happen."

• 05:42

  Up front, Lewis Hamilton snatched pole position yesterday, with Sebastian Vettel on the front row, and their teammates taking up the second row of the grid.

• 05:43

  New fat tyres are available this weekend, with Pirelli providing all the drivers with the same number of sets heading into the weekend.

  Soft

  Supersoft

  Ultrasoft
• 05:44

  Esteban Ocon of Force India: "I think the new start procedure is quite interesting and you’re going to see a lot of difference."

• 05:46

  Starting Grid

  1	L Hamilton	Mercedes
  2	S Vettel	Ferrari
  3	V Bottas	Mercedes
  4	K Räikkönen	Ferrari
  5	M Verstappen	Red Bull
  6	R Grosjean	Haas
  7	F Massa	Williams
  8	C Sainz	Toro Rosso
  9	D Kvyat	Toro Rosso
  10	S Pérez	Force India

• 05:46

  Mechanics are having a good look at the rear of Daniil Kvyat's Toro Rosso, it looks like an extinguisher may be going off unexpectedly.

• 05:47

  National anthem time as the drivers make their way to the front of the grid for a moment of respect.

• 05:49

  Tweet from @McLarenF1: Umbrellas out. Not for the rain, but to keep the cockpits cool in the Australian heat.

• 05:50

  

  24°C
  Track	36°C
  Humidity	65%
  Wind speed	0.4mps

• 05:51

  Tweet from @redbullracing: Daniel stops on track with an electrical issue. Car back and Team pushing to get the #RB13 fixed to start from the pit lane. #AusGP

• 05:52

  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

• 05:53

  

• 05:53

  Romain Grosjean, starting from Haas's best ever qualifying position of sixth: "We’ll try to give our best as we did yesterday. It’s the first race of the season, a lot can happen. We start in a good position, hopefully we can get a good result. It’s going back to school, but it should come back pretty quickly."

• 05:54

  Tweet from @pirellisport: Just over five minutes to go. The start will be particular crucial: the clutch is much more manual than before. So an opportunity for some.

• 05:56

  Tweet from @Rowlinson_F1: Just to mention that @ValtteriBottas starts closer to Hamilton, in time terms, than did @nico_rosberg in 2016 and 2015. Very solid qually

• 05:56

  Tweet from @ForceIndiaF1: Months of work, the product of hundreds of minds and hands, all leading to this. It's the first race of the season. We are ready. #AusGP

• 05:57

  Conditions look really good for racing today, blue and sunny skies over the gorgeous greenery of Albert Park.

• 06:00

  Rookie racers making their debut today include Lance Stroll and Antonio Giovinazzi, whilst Esteban Ocon and Stoffel Vandoorne kick off their first full season in Formula One.

• 06:00

  Mechanics whip off they mahoosive tyre blankets and clear the grid to let the formation lap get underway.

• 06:01

  The top 13 drivers are all on ultrasoft (purple) tyres, with Ericsson and Stroll on the supersofts, and Giovinazzi, Magnussen and Palmer on the softs.

• 06:02

  There's still a lot of frantic action going on in Ricciardo's pit garage, will he be ready in time?

• 06:03

  Tweet from @MercedesAMGF1: A symphony of noise and the 2017 field pull away for the first formation lap of the year!! We're shaking here. #F12017 is seconds away! #F1

• 06:04

  Start aborted - extra formation lap.

• 06:05

  This extra lap counts towards the full total. Looks like someone pulled into Ricciardo's spare space on the grid, so gained a bit of an advantage there.

• 06:07

  Race started.

• 06:07 Lap 1

  Good start for Hamilton and Bottas, but Vettel retains second into the first corner.

• 06:08 Lap 1

  Clean start for all, it looks like, but some dust kicked up at turn one towards the back of the field.

• 06:08 Lap 1

  A Sauber and Haas are tipped into a spin at turn three.

• 06:08 Lap 1

  Sergio Pérez makes an inside cut on Daniil Kvyat and takes the position to move into ninth.

• 06:09 Lap 2

  Kevin Magnussen has a puncture after that trip into the gravel, he's called into the pit lane.

• 06:10 Lap 3

  Turn 3 incident involving Magnussen and Ericsson noted.

• 06:10 Lap 3

  Tweet from @HaasF1Team: Change onto supersoft tires and a new nose after @KevinMagnussen's stop at the end of the opening lap. #AusGP

• 06:11 Lap 3

  Red Bull have done an incredible job and Daniel Ricciardo heads out of the garage and takes to the track!

• 06:12 Lap 3

  Tweet from @MercedesAMGF1: Phew!! It's close up front. Lewis and Seb are running nose to tail, just 0.7s in it! This prancing horse has got legs!!

• 06:13 Lap 4

  Top 10

  Pos		Driver
  1	0	L Hamilton
  2	0	S Vettel
  3	0	V Bottas
  4	0	K Räikkönen
  5	0	M Verstappen
  6	1	F Massa
  7	-1	R Grosjean
  8	0	C Sainz
  9	1	S Pérez
  10	-1	D Kvyat

• 06:13 Lap 4

  Turn 3 incident involving Magnussen and Ericsson under investigation.

• 06:14 Lap 5

  Lewis Hamilton has complained over the radio twice now about a lack of grip - firstly he was concerned about getting away from the grid, now he's bemoaning his tyres after just five laps.

• 06:15 Lap 5

  Team radio from Marcus Ericsson: "Something is not right on the rear."

  "Yes, you've lost downforce on the rear."

• 06:16 Lap 5

  Jolyon Palmer got a good start, improving from the last row on the grid to run 14th. He's got a harder compound tyre on, too, so can go longer into the race than those in front of him.

• 06:17 Lap 7

  What of the beleaguered McLarens? Alonso is actually running 11th, just outside of the points. Vandoorne in 15th.

• 06:18 Lap 7

  Verstappen complains of oversteer AND understeer, but reckons it's just because he's running so close to Kimi Räikkönen at the moment.

• 06:18 Lap 8

  Vandoorne is warned not to get involved in a battle with Ricciardo, as the Red Bull driver is a lap down, but oof, moments later, Ricciardo sweeps past. "Have fun," the Australian's engineer says.

• 06:19 Lap 9

  Lance Stroll is running down in 18th place, having taken an extra pit stop due to a flat-spotted tyre. Teammate Felipe Massa is way up in sixth, having snatched a position from Grosjean at the start.

• 06:20 Lap 9

  Christian Horner: "It was a sensor issue on the gearbox... and the car got stuck in sixth gear. An amazing job by the mechanics to get it turned around and back out into the race."

• 06:22 Lap 11

  Stoffel Vandoorne comes in for a pit stop, and it's a long one as he reboots following complaining about a loss of power. He gets going again.

• 06:23 Lap 11

  Gap Analysis

  Pos	Driver	Gap
  1st	HAM	1:28.464
  2nd	VET	+1.903
  3rd	BOT	+7.287
  4th	RAI	+12.345
  5th	VER	+14.749

• 06:25 Lap 12

  Jolyon Palmer is running slowly, complaining of a brake issue.

• 06:26 Lap 13

  Turn 3 incident involving Magnussen and Ericsson - no action warranted.

• 06:27 Lap 15

  One to Watch

  A Giovinazzi	vs.	L Stroll
  14th	+0.634s	15th

• 06:27 Lap 15

  Palmer is back on the radio saying he has the same problem. Engineers are looking into it.

• 06:28 Lap 15

  Romain Grosjean has pitted with blue smoke issuing from the rear of the Haas car.

• 06:29 Lap 15

  The Haas team are quickly in with the extinguishers, and Grosjean hops out of the car.

• 06:31 Lap 16

  That retirement promotes Alonso up into the top ten, so McLaren are currently sitting in the points - not exactly exciting but not something they would have predicted a couple of weeks ago!

• 06:31 Lap 17

  Yellow flags as Jolyon Palmer runs slowly yet again - it seems to be happening only at one corner.

• 06:32 Lap 17

  It clears quickly. "If you can keep going, let's keep going if you can please," he's told.

• 06:32 Lap 17

  Poor Grosjean looks hot and bothered in the garage, looking on as the mechanics tend to the broken Haas.

• 06:32 Lap 18

  Lewis Hamilton dives into the pit lane for the first time this season.

• 06:33 Lap 18

  Soft tyre going on that Mercedes, a superb stop from the crew, and Hamilton is off on his way again. He rejoins in fifth place.

• 06:33 Lap 18

  Pit Stop Analysis

  Driver	L Hamilton
  Team	Mercedes
  Pit lane	21.709s
  Stopped	3.3s

• 06:33 Lap 18

  Palmer has come into the pit lane, and is expected to retire. He complained of a loss of power, and yep, that's game over for the Renault driver.

• 06:35 Lap 19

  Tweet from @SauberF1Team: First pit stop for Antonio - changing to supersoft tyres, back on track in P15

• 06:36 Lap 20

  Vettel is now leading the race, but if he's hoping to pull out a gap he's going to struggle. Hamilton sets the fastest lap of the race so far,

• 06:36 Lap 20

  Tweet from @RGrosjean: Oh dear....

• 06:37 Lap 20

  Plenty more pit stops being taken throughout the field, leaving just the front runners to come on. Marcus Ericsson down in 14th and Daniel Ricciardo in 18th also yet to come in.

• 06:38 Lap 21

  Pérez muscles his way past Carlos Sainz, moving that pink car up into eighth place. It looked more dramatic than it was, as Sainz locked up into the corner once the Force India had passed.

• 06:39 Lap 22

  Team radio to Lewis Hamilton: "We need to get past Verstappen, you are still safe to Vettel."

  "I don't know how you expect me to do that right now."

• 06:40 Lap 23

  Ferrari leave Vettel out once again. Let's not forget Ferrari have not had the ability to make good race strategy decisions of late.

• 06:41 Lap 18

  

  Tweet from @williamsracing: L21: @MassaFelipe19 pits for a set of supersofts and rejoins a clear track in P7

• 06:42 Lap 24

  Vettel pits this time round, the red car pulls into his stop, a quick stop from the Ferrari crew and Sebastian moves into the lead!

• 06:42 Lap 24

  Verstappen pulls alongside the Ferrari but isn't close enough to make any difference.

• 06:43 Lap 24

  Pit Stop Analysis

  Driver	S Vettel
  Team	Ferrari
  Pit lane	21.988s
  Stopped	3.0s

• 06:43 Lap 25

  Yellow flags. Marcus Ericsson has stopped his Sauber at the side of the track.

• 06:44 Lap 25

  Hamilton complaining "There's nothing left in these tyres," which is weird because he only just put them on.

• 06:45 Lap 26

  Bottas comes into the pit lane, and Verstappen follows him in to free up Hamilton from the dirty air that's bothering him so much.

• 06:45 Lap 26

  Supersoft tyres go on that Red Bull but it's a slightly slower stop than his rivals.

• 06:46 Lap 26

  Kimi Räikkönen is promoted into the lead of the race, but he pits and hands the rightful lead to his teammate.

• 06:47 Lap 27

  Driver Positions

  Pos		Driver	Stops
  1	1	S Vettel	1
  2	-1	L Hamilton	1
  3	0	V Bottas	1
  4	0	K Räikkönen	1
  5	0	M Verstappen	1
  6	3	D Kvyat	0
  7	0	F Massa	1
  8	2	S Pérez	1
  9	-1	C Sainz	1
  10	2	F Alonso	1

• 06:48 Lap 28

  Hamilton is informed they are now looking to switch to plan B, whatever that may be.

• 06:49 Lap 28

  Replays show Stoffel Vandoorne running a little wide and kicking up some dust in the McLaren.

• 06:49 Lap 29

  Yellow flags. Daniel Ricciardo has stopped in the first sector.

• 06:50 Lap 29

  Fans are epically disappointed as the Red Bull sits there gently smoking. Ricciardo in no hurry to exit the car.

• 06:50 Lap 29

  Team radio to Daniel Ricciardo: "Sorry mate, car's done."

• 06:51 Lap 30

  Gap Analysis

  Pos	Driver	Gap
  1st	VET	1:28.009
  2nd	HAM	+5.883
  3rd	BOT	+11.617
  4th	RAI	+20.111
  5th	VER	+28.499

• 06:52 Lap 31

  Ricciardo got out of the car and headed towards the marshalls, who then directed him to get back in the car and help steer it out the way.

• 06:53 Lap 31

  Christian Horner confirms it is an engine failure, after they had just switched the car into a "race safe" mode.

• 06:54 Lap 32

  Couple of drivers stopping for the second time of the afternoon, including Nico Hülkenberg and Lance Stroll, both of him are now running on the ultrasofts.

• 06:55 Lap 32

  Tweet from @ForceIndiaF1: Esteban studying the rear wing of ALO. Overtaking the Spaniard would promote our young gun into the points!

• 06:56 Lap 33

  Daniil Kvyat still hasn't stopped so far this afternoon, running 35 laps so far on his first set of ultrasoft tyres.

• 06:58 Lap 35

  In he comes now, Kvyat in the Red Bull taking his first stop of the afternoon.

• 06:58 Lap 35

  Team radio from Fernando Alonso, on spotting the stricken Daniel Ricciardo: "Did we gain a place?"

  "No Fernando, sorry."

  Ack, you can feel the disappointment.

• 07:00 Lap 36

  Bottas is closing in on Lewis Hamilton, as Vettel holds steady out in front.

• 07:01 Lap 36

  Shots of Daniel Ricciardo walking slowly through the paddock, helmet still on, which is unusual for the normally smiley Aussie. Really frustrating start to the year for him.

• 07:02 Lap 38

  One to Watch

  L Hamilton	vs.	V Bottas
  2nd	+2.813s	3rd

• 07:04 Lap 39

  Bottas is slashing the gap to his teammate, the question on everyone's lips now is whether Mercedes will intervene in the battle that is rapidly approaching.

• 07:04 Lap 39

  Ricciardo in the garage now, helmet off, chatting with the mechanics. He's not happy but equally not visibly fuming.

• 07:06 Lap 41

  Kimi Räikkönen is being given the hurry up, because with Hamilton's complaints about his tyres, they're sniffing a double podium in the works.

• 07:09 Lap 42

  Bottas is still closing the gap, but the laps are flying away very quickly. Just 15 left to go.

• 07:10 Lap 43

  Stroll, Vandoorne and Magnussen have all dropped two laps behind the leaders. Only the top nine are on the lead lap.

• 07:12 Lap 44

  Team radio to and from Carlos Sainz: "Okay Carlos, swap position now."

  "It’s a little bit early?"

  "Do this, Vettel is coming behind, we have blue flag, I will explain later."

  "He will give me the position back if he doesn’t pass Pérez, right?"

  "Yes, Carlos."

  "Okay, I’ll let him by then."

  "Now please."

• 07:12 Lap 44

  Meanwhile, Lance Stroll was spotted running off track and now the Williams has headed into the garage and it looks like it might be the end of his afternoon.

• 07:13 Lap 45

  Sainz has let Kvyat through, the Russian moving up to eighth place.

• 07:15 Lap 46

  As he was on his way into the garage, Stroll reported: "I think I had a brake failure, I think something broke."

• 07:16 Lap 47

  Kvyat is working on passing Pérez, as per the terms and conditions of his teammate position swap, but is 1.7 seconds adrift at the moment.

• 07:17 Lap 48

  Tweet from @SauberF1Team: Update on Marcus: He had to retire due to a hydraulic failure related to the incident in the first lap #F1 #AusGP

• 07:21 Lap 50

  Giovinazzi desperately trying to get out of the way as the race leaders sweep past to push him two laps down. The Sauber driver is having a solid first race.

• 07:21 Lap 51

  Yellow flags as Kevin Magnussen pulls off track - that's a double DNF for the Haas team, and Grosjean watches on glumly from the pit lane.

• 07:23 Lap 52

  Daniil Kvyat, who ran so long into the race, has had to stop again, which has ruined the team's plan for him to chase Pérez.

• 07:23 Lap 52

  Tweet from @pirellisport: .@kvyatofficial comes into pits and changes tyres: stop was for a technical reason, and tyres were changed at same time.

• 07:23 Lap 52

  Magnussen reported suspension failure as his Haas came to a halt.

• 07:24 Lap 53

  Alonso just had the worst corner ever, with both Esteban Ocon in his pink Force India and Nico Hülkenberg in the bright yellow Renault dumping him out of the top ten.

• 07:25 Lap 53

  Ocon is flying away now, with Alonso left complaining there is something wrong with his car, "pulling to the left."

• 07:26 Lap 54

  Daniil Kvyat sets the fastest lap of the race so far, presumably refreshed with his new tyres. However, it lasts only a moment as race leader Sebastian Vettel goes even faster. 1:26.638.

• 07:26 Lap 54

  Fernando Alonso has pulled his ailing McLaren into the garage and is out of the car, retiring just four laps from the end.

• 07:26 Lap 54

  Six drivers only remain on the lead lap.

• 07:28 Lap 55

  Disappointingly, the challenge from Bottas has diminished somewhat. Making their way through traffic put a halt to the fight for a moment.

• 07:29 Lap 56

  Team radio to and from Daniil Kvyat: "Did I get the fastest lap or not?"

  "Vettel."

  "Okay how much?"

  "One tenth. Dany, bring it the flag. We have some points on the table. Just bring it to the flag."

• 07:30 Lap 57

  Team radio from Verstappen: "How much faster is the fastest lap?"

  "Too fast."

• 07:30 Lap 57

  Who knew the fastest lap was so important?

• 07:30 Lap 57

  Final lap.

• 07:31

  Sebastian Vettel wins the Australian Grand Prix!

• 07:32

  Hamilton clings on to second, with Bottas rounding out the podium in third.

• 07:33

  Driver Positions

  Pos		Driver	Stops
  1	1	S Vettel	1
  2	-1	L Hamilton	1
  3	0	V Bottas	1
  4	0	K Räikkönen	1
  5	0	M Verstappen	1
  6	1	F Massa	1
  7	3	S Pérez	1
  8	0	C Sainz	1
  9	0	D Kvyat	2
  10	3	E Ocon	1

• 07:33

  Tweet from @ScuderiaFerrari: #Seb5 on the radio 'Questa e' per noi! Grazie thank you everyone!' - this is for us thank you everyone !!#AusGP

• 07:33

  Tweet from @MercedesAMGF1: It's a double podium in Melbourne! Fantastic result to kick off the 2017 #F1 season after a long winter! Well done #LH44 and #VB77

• 07:34

  Team radio from Valtteri Bottas: "Thanks guys. The reds were just too quick."

• 07:34

  Fans are streaming out onto track, which is bizarre because the cars are still going round on their cool down lap.

• 07:35

  Gap Analysis

  Pos	Driver	Gap
  1st	VET	--
  2nd	HAM	+9.975
  3rd	BOT	+11.250
  4th	RAI	+22.393
  5th	VER	+28.827

• 07:37

  Sebastian Vettel climbs from his car and celebrates with his crew in the parc ferme. Hamilton gives his rival a firm handshake as congratulations.

• 07:37

  Vettel has also been voted driver of the day for his efforts. Big smiles from the German driver on his first win since 2015.

• 07:41

  Championship Standings

  Pos	Driver	Pts
  1	S Vettel	25
  2	L Hamilton	18
  3	V Bottas	15
  4	K Räikkönen	12
  5	M Verstappen	10

• 07:41

  Championship Standings

  Pos	Team	Pts
  1	Ferrari	37
  2	Mercedes	33
  3	Red Bull	10
  4	Williams	8
  5	Force India	7

• 07:41

  To the podium they go, and the national anthems play out.

• 07:44

  The trophies are handed out - constructors given to Ferrari by one Sir Jackie Stewart.

• 07:44

  Champaaaaagne.

• 07:49

  Podium interviews - Sebastian Vettel: "It’s what we needed. The whole team has been working really hard. They didn’t get much sleep both here and back at the factory. The car is behaving well, incredible fun to drive.

  "For now, we’re over the moon. It’s been a hard winter. The start, I wasn’t entirely happy, I think I was too nervous. I had wheel slip off the line, but after that I was trying to keep the pressure on to make sure they get the message. We are here, we’re here to fight."

• 07:49

  Podium interviews - Lewis Hamilton: "Firstly, a big congratulations to Ferrari. It’s been a great weekend for us and the team, just in the race I struggled a lot with the tyres. I had to pit a lot earlier than these guys… overall a great race, good points for the team."

• 07:49

  Podium interviews - Valtteri Bottas: "First race with the team, really want to thank everyone. The team has been so welcoming, we’ve worked really hard to be ready for this first race. Everything went nice and smoothly, it’s just the red guys were a bit too quick, so we need to work harder. This is a start, on the podium, and we can improve it from here."

• 07:53

  Retirements

  Driver	Reason	Lap
  R Grosjean	Engine	15
  J Palmer	Brakes	18
  M Ericsson	Hydraulics	25
  D Ricciardo	Engine	29
  L Stroll	Brakes	45
  K Magnussen	Suspension	50
  F Alonso	Suspension	54

• 07:54

  A pretty good first race to kick off the year. Refreshing to see so many colours on the cars, and a change of colours on the podium!

• 07:55

  Mercedes still have the pace to dominate, but they could be challenged this year - Ferrari have got a better car beneath them and this win will give the team some fire. Disappointed that Red Bull couldn't put up more of a fight but it's early days.

• 07:55

  Clearly it was a bad start for McLaren with Fernando Alonso's constant issues on his car, but not as bad as Haas who suffered a double DNF.

• 07:56

  Great debut for Antonio Giovinazzi in the Sauber who caused no trouble and got his car to the end in 12th place.

• 07:56

  In fact, there was very little trouble at all, with the stewards only investigating one incident and even then deciding not to take any action. No safety cars and only the occasional yellow flag.

• 07:57

  The next race is in two weeks, taking place at the Shanghai International Circuit, and I will be back then to cover all the action!