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2018 Australian Grand Prix.
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<blockquote data-quote="Swami" data-source="post: 112277" data-attributes="member: 13"><p><span style="font-size: 22px"><strong>Sebastian Vettel leapfrogs Lewis Hamilton to take Australian GP win</strong></span></p><p><img src="https://c.files.bbci.co.uk/09C4/production/_95900520_bensonnew.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p>By Andrew Benson</p><p></p><p>Chief F1 writer in Melbourne</p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">21 minutes ago</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">From the section <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1" target="_blank"><u>Formula 1</u></a></li> </ul><p><img src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/onesport/cps/480/cpsprodpb/5BBD/production/_100558432_australiangp.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p>Lewis Hamilton lost victory in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix to Sebastian Vettel because of bad luck with a caution period.</p><p></p><p>The Mercedes driver was in control of the race until Romain Grosjean's Haas stopped on track and officials imposed a virtual safety-car, which restricts the pace of the cars on track.</p><p></p><p>The world champion had already made his pit stop but Vettel had yet to make his - and Ferrari pounced on the opportunity.</p><p></p><p></p><p>A pit stop made under the virtual safety car costs less time than one made when the cars are at full speed and the time gain of stopping while Hamilton was restricted on track allowed Vettel to rejoin the race just ahead of the Mercedes.</p><p></p><p>Hamilton tracked the Ferrari closely for much of the rest of the race but was unable to pass, before he dramatically lost pace in the closing laps and had to focus on maintaining second.</p><p></p><p>It was a bitter blow for Hamilton in the first race of a year in which he hopes to beat Vettel to be the first driver of the current era to win a fifth world title.</p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 15px"><strong>How did it go wrong for Hamilton?</strong></span></p><p>Until the virtual safety car intervention, Hamilton had appeared in total control of the race after taking a blistering pole position by nearly 0.7 seconds on Saturday.</p><p></p><p>He led away from pole and stretched a 3.3-second lead over Vettel's team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, who qualified second ahead of the German, before the Finn made his pit stop on lap 18.</p><p></p><p>Hamilton followed him in on the next lap and rejoined with a bigger lead - but Ferrari decided to run Vettel long, taking advantage of their opportunity with two cars running at the front to split their strategies.</p><p></p><p>The decision would have been made in the hope of an incident bringing out the safety car - and their gamble paid off thanks to a bitter blow for Haas, effectively a Ferrari B team.</p><p></p><p><img src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/onesport/cps/624/cpsprodpb/14D25/production/_100558258_australiangp.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p>Haas were running well in fourth and fifth before, bizarrely, both cars failed to have their front-left wheels secured properly during the pitstops</p><p><span style="font-size: 15px"><strong>Bizarre Haas error helps out 'mother' Ferrari</strong></span></p><p>Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean were running fourth and sixth from the start of the race - and that became fourth and fifth when Max Verstappen spun his Red Bull at Turn One on lap 10 after overheating his tyres trying to pass the Dane.</p><p></p><p>But both were forced to retire when the mechanics sent them out after their pit stops with loose wheels - for which they will face a punishment from governing body the FIA.</p><p></p><p>First Magnussen pulled off at Turn Three on lap 22 and the same fate befell Grosjean when he stopped two laps later.</p><p></p><p>But while Magnussen parked in a place his car could be recovered, Grosjean did not - abandoning the Haas on the straight between Turns Two and Three.</p><p></p><p>First the virtual safety car was imposed to control the field while officials tried to recover it and then - after Vettel had taken the lead - it became a full safety car period.</p><p></p><p><img src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/onesport/cps/624/cpsprodpb/4321/production/_100558171_australiangp.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p>Verstappen was frustrated early on having lost a position to Magnussen's Haas, spinning at Turn 1</p><p><span style="font-size: 15px"><strong>'Did I do something wrong?'</strong></span></p><p>Hamilton asked his team whether he had done anything wrong, but they told him, no, he had stuck to the correct mandatory lap time. It was just cruel luck.</p><p></p><p>But afterwards team boss Toto Wolff suggested there may have been a miscalculation somehow.</p><p></p><p>Wolff said: "We thought we had enough margin to beat Sebastian but then we saw the TV pictures and it wasn't enough. I think it must have been a software problem somewhere in our system."</p><p></p><p>He tried everything to pass Vettel on a track where it is notoriously difficult to pass, while also trying to manage his engine temperature, which can rise dangerously behind another car.</p><p></p><p>After 15 laps of following Vettel closely, Hamilton asked his team: "Can I push yet? Let me know how much you want it." A pause. "I'm going for it."</p><p></p><p>He then set his fastest first sector time so far on lap 47, only to lock up badly and run wide into Turn Eight, and drop back nearly four seconds.</p><p></p><p>He closed back up to within a second by lap 51, with seven to go, but then began to drop back and the win was finally gone.</p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 15px"><strong>McLaren benefit from safety car</strong></span></p><p>As he slowed in the final laps - Mercedes blaming his rear tyres going off - he began to fall back towards Raikkonen.</p><p></p><p>The Finn began to close at more than a second a lap but Hamilton did just enough to maintain second place.</p><p></p><p>Raikkonen found himself under heavy pressure from Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo from the safety car to the end of the race but held the Australian off.</p><p></p><p>McLaren's Fernando Alonso was another to benefit from the caution period. He ran 10th in the first part of the race, but ran long like Vettel and emerged fifth.</p><p></p><p>Verstappen passed him under the virtual safety car as Alonso emerged from the pits but the Dutchman was told to give the place back because he had broken the rules forbidding passing under caution.</p><p></p><p>Like Raikkonen and Ricciardo, Alonso was under pressure from Verstappen for the rest of the race but he held him off to take a fifth place for McLaren in their first race with Renault engines.</p><p></p><p><strong>More to follow</strong></p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/39271750" target="_blank"><u>Australian Grand Prix coverage details</u></a></li> </ul><p><strong><u><img src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/onesport/cps/624/cpsprodpb/115D5/production/_100552117_bottascrash_epa.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></u></strong></p><p>Hamilton's team-mate Bottas crashed during qualifying - piling the pressure on himself</p><p></p><p>Swami</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Swami, post: 112277, member: 13"] [SIZE=6][B]Sebastian Vettel leapfrogs Lewis Hamilton to take Australian GP win[/B][/SIZE] [IMG]https://c.files.bbci.co.uk/09C4/production/_95900520_bensonnew.jpg[/IMG] By Andrew Benson Chief F1 writer in Melbourne [LIST] [*]21 minutes ago [*]From the section [URL='http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1'][U]Formula 1[/U][/URL] [/LIST] [IMG]https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/onesport/cps/480/cpsprodpb/5BBD/production/_100558432_australiangp.jpg[/IMG] Lewis Hamilton lost victory in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix to Sebastian Vettel because of bad luck with a caution period. The Mercedes driver was in control of the race until Romain Grosjean's Haas stopped on track and officials imposed a virtual safety-car, which restricts the pace of the cars on track. The world champion had already made his pit stop but Vettel had yet to make his - and Ferrari pounced on the opportunity. A pit stop made under the virtual safety car costs less time than one made when the cars are at full speed and the time gain of stopping while Hamilton was restricted on track allowed Vettel to rejoin the race just ahead of the Mercedes. Hamilton tracked the Ferrari closely for much of the rest of the race but was unable to pass, before he dramatically lost pace in the closing laps and had to focus on maintaining second. It was a bitter blow for Hamilton in the first race of a year in which he hopes to beat Vettel to be the first driver of the current era to win a fifth world title. [SIZE=4][B]How did it go wrong for Hamilton?[/B][/SIZE] Until the virtual safety car intervention, Hamilton had appeared in total control of the race after taking a blistering pole position by nearly 0.7 seconds on Saturday. He led away from pole and stretched a 3.3-second lead over Vettel's team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, who qualified second ahead of the German, before the Finn made his pit stop on lap 18. Hamilton followed him in on the next lap and rejoined with a bigger lead - but Ferrari decided to run Vettel long, taking advantage of their opportunity with two cars running at the front to split their strategies. The decision would have been made in the hope of an incident bringing out the safety car - and their gamble paid off thanks to a bitter blow for Haas, effectively a Ferrari B team. [IMG]https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/onesport/cps/624/cpsprodpb/14D25/production/_100558258_australiangp.jpg[/IMG] Haas were running well in fourth and fifth before, bizarrely, both cars failed to have their front-left wheels secured properly during the pitstops [SIZE=4][B]Bizarre Haas error helps out 'mother' Ferrari[/B][/SIZE] Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean were running fourth and sixth from the start of the race - and that became fourth and fifth when Max Verstappen spun his Red Bull at Turn One on lap 10 after overheating his tyres trying to pass the Dane. But both were forced to retire when the mechanics sent them out after their pit stops with loose wheels - for which they will face a punishment from governing body the FIA. First Magnussen pulled off at Turn Three on lap 22 and the same fate befell Grosjean when he stopped two laps later. But while Magnussen parked in a place his car could be recovered, Grosjean did not - abandoning the Haas on the straight between Turns Two and Three. First the virtual safety car was imposed to control the field while officials tried to recover it and then - after Vettel had taken the lead - it became a full safety car period. [IMG]https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/onesport/cps/624/cpsprodpb/4321/production/_100558171_australiangp.jpg[/IMG] Verstappen was frustrated early on having lost a position to Magnussen's Haas, spinning at Turn 1 [SIZE=4][B]'Did I do something wrong?'[/B][/SIZE] Hamilton asked his team whether he had done anything wrong, but they told him, no, he had stuck to the correct mandatory lap time. It was just cruel luck. But afterwards team boss Toto Wolff suggested there may have been a miscalculation somehow. Wolff said: "We thought we had enough margin to beat Sebastian but then we saw the TV pictures and it wasn't enough. I think it must have been a software problem somewhere in our system." He tried everything to pass Vettel on a track where it is notoriously difficult to pass, while also trying to manage his engine temperature, which can rise dangerously behind another car. After 15 laps of following Vettel closely, Hamilton asked his team: "Can I push yet? Let me know how much you want it." A pause. "I'm going for it." He then set his fastest first sector time so far on lap 47, only to lock up badly and run wide into Turn Eight, and drop back nearly four seconds. He closed back up to within a second by lap 51, with seven to go, but then began to drop back and the win was finally gone. [SIZE=4][B]McLaren benefit from safety car[/B][/SIZE] As he slowed in the final laps - Mercedes blaming his rear tyres going off - he began to fall back towards Raikkonen. The Finn began to close at more than a second a lap but Hamilton did just enough to maintain second place. Raikkonen found himself under heavy pressure from Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo from the safety car to the end of the race but held the Australian off. McLaren's Fernando Alonso was another to benefit from the caution period. He ran 10th in the first part of the race, but ran long like Vettel and emerged fifth. Verstappen passed him under the virtual safety car as Alonso emerged from the pits but the Dutchman was told to give the place back because he had broken the rules forbidding passing under caution. Like Raikkonen and Ricciardo, Alonso was under pressure from Verstappen for the rest of the race but he held him off to take a fifth place for McLaren in their first race with Renault engines. [B]More to follow[/B] [LIST] [*][URL='http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/39271750'][U]Australian Grand Prix coverage details[/U][/URL] [/LIST] [B][U][IMG]https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/onesport/cps/624/cpsprodpb/115D5/production/_100552117_bottascrash_epa.jpg[/IMG][/U][/B] Hamilton's team-mate Bottas crashed during qualifying - piling the pressure on himself Swami [/QUOTE]
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