Rosberg stands out in Melbourne

The Australian Grand Prix was indeed won by Mercedes (his 100th), but victory went to Nico Rosberg who won his fourth success in the discipline after an event contested entirely in the dry. The son of the 1982 world champion dominated the race from the start by taking the best start, while the pole sitter Lewis Hamilton abandoned due to mechanical problem. The second step of the podium went to Daniel Ricciardo who thought he would secure his first Grand Prix podium at home for his first race with Red Bull. ButThe commissioners decided to exclude the local star due to excessive fuel consumption. It’s a terrible result for the Milton Keynes team even if Sebastian Vettel was also the victim of a mechanical problem putting a premature end to his weekend. Kevin Magnussen inherits the second place on the podium ahead of his teammate Jenson Button for his very first Grand Prix as a rookie at McLaren !

Fernando Alonso will not have succeeded in improving his place on the regular grid and finally ranks fourth ahead Valtteri Bottas. The Finn had a superb race, notably making a good comeback in the second part of the race after breaking the right rear wheel of his FW36 when hitting the wall. The debris present on the track caused the safety car to only exit. Nico Hulkenberg places the first Force India in sixth place ahead of the Ferrari by Kimi Raikkonen. The top ten is completed by Toro Rosso of Jean-Éric Vergne and Daniil Kvyat and the Force India of Sergio Pérez. The Frenchman progressed to better positions before falling in the standings in the final laps, notably suffering from crippling brake problems.

Adrian Sutil and Esteban Gutiérrez failed to reach points. Max Chilton completes the list of 14 cars at the finish out of the 22 at the start (not counting the exclusion of Daniel Ricciardo). Unsurprisingly, Lotus was unable to go the distance even though Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado were able to pass the halfway stage, moving at certain times close to tenth place. Caterhams also dropped out: Kamui Kobayashi forgot to brake at the start, taking the Williams of Felipe Massa, while Marcus Ericsson retired due to a mechanical problem. Jules Bianchi encountered problems as soon as he installed himself on the grid.

Le result of the Australian Grand Prix and the rankings Pilotes et builders have been updated.

Discover the analysis of the Australian Grand Prix carried out by our special correspondents in issue 1952 of AUTOhebdo, available from tomorrow evening in digital version on all platforms, and from Wednesday on newsstands.