Mercedes took the top two spots in the Formula 1 portion of the Australian Grand Prix, with Nico Rosberg, driving for Germany, posting an eight-second win over Great Britain’s Lewis Hamilton. Ferrari driver and reigning F1 champion Sebastian Vettel was third, another two seconds behind Rosberg.
Fourth position went to Daniel Ricciardo, representing Australia in a Red Bull Racing prepared car.
Fernando Alonso was rather low-key after walking away from one of the most spectacular crashes ever seen at Albert Park. “It was quite a big one,” was all he had to say to reporters when he returned to the pits. The former world champion went airborne when he made contact with Esteban Guitierrez in turn three. The former F1 car is nothing more than small pieces of collectible debris after cartwheeling through a gravel trap and coming to rest against the wall. Guitierrez was also uninjured, but the Haas Racing and McLaren cars will leave Australia as scrap.
Encouraging for Australia’s team was that Ricciardo finished ahead of his predicted place and ran the quickest lap of the race toward the end.
The start of the race was delayed by the breakdown of Dani Kvyat’s Red Bull car on the formation lap, and the action continued to escalate from that point.
