Formula 1 Australia: Luck on Ferrari's side

The 2018 Formula 1 season starts where it ended in 2017: In the fight between the three big teams Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull for the crown. But in the first race, a new racing team also made its presence felt, that of Haas Formula 1 Team, which was running in 4th and 5th place until its more unexpected retirement due to technical problems. From the start, Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton drove away from the two red pursuers and much already pointed to a start-finish victory, but even Hamilton did not manage to pull away from the Ferraris, they always remained within striking distance, that was new. But now Red Bull and Haas were still building up steam and that created tension. Now suddenly it seemed as if four teams were competing for victory, which promised the best entertainment and 100% racing excitement.

The tire changes brought the big changes
For the Haas team, the tire changes didn't bode well, something seemed to be going wrong, was the engine starting to boil? Whatever it was, both drivers had to pull over and stop the Formula 1 car shortly after the pit stop, they couldn't go any further. Great bad luck! Grosjean in particular was extremely annoyed, and understandably so. Hamilton also pitted and changed tires, only Sebastian on the number 5 Ferrari stayed out and took the lead. The individual incidents led to a safety phase, the cars could no longer run full throttle over the track and this moment was now used by Vettel to change the tires. He quickly drove into the pits and it came as one had to suspect, he turned out of the pits again shortly before Hamilton to the great surprise of the Briton. A clever tactical move by Ferrari that Mercedes had not reckoned with. Even though Hamilton tried everything, he had too little to offer the leading Vettel to overtake him and so the German drove his first Grand Prix victory of 2018 safely home. Luck was on the side of the Ferraristi in Australia, but Hamilton was still perplexed in the press conference that Vettel was suddenly in front of him. he will need the time until the next race to recover from this shock.

But one thing today's race has made clear, the 2018 season could be the most exciting Formula One season in years with four strong teams capable of competing for victory.