Formula 1 2018 Australian Grand Prix
The first two races of the Formula 1 season have come and gone, and they were great! The first race, the Australian Grand Prix, was very eventful with strange retirements and an interesting use of the virtual safety car. The most notable occurrence was the retirement of the two Haas cars, who were doing very well for themselves in 6th and 7th place, but both ended up having the same avoidable problem - on lap 22 when Magnussen came into the pits, a loose wheel nut caused him to retire shortly after exiting the pits. 2 laps later, on lap 24, Grosjean entered the pits only to suffer the same fate, denying both Haas cars from scoring a good handful of points.
Mercedes and Ferrari, the two top teams, were doing well for themselves. Hamilton handily took pole with Raikkonen impressively taking the final front row seat away from Vettel. Unfortunately for Mercedes, Bottas was out of the running before it even started, as he ended up qualifying 15th due to incurring penalties for a gearbox change, since he crashed out in an earlier session. The race was seemingly straightforward for Hamilton, as he had superior pace and was controlling the race from the front, although Raikkonen and Vettel weren't too far behind. However, due to the virtual safety car brought out by Magnussen and Grosjean's tyre incidents, Vettel managed to get a sneaky pit stop within the virtual safety car to get himself out barely ahead of Hamilton. From this very lucky event, Vettel was able to control the race and take the win.
McLaren's race wasn't too bad either. While they struggled in qualifying and failed to make it into Q3, they were well aware that the race pace of the MCL33 was much better than the one lap qualifying pace. This, combined with the incredible driving calibre of Fernando Alonso and a fair bit of luck, helped McLaren get a very respectable double points finish, with Alonso finishing in a handy 5th place, whilst Vandoorne brought the car home in 9th.
Mercedes and Ferrari, the two top teams, were doing well for themselves. Hamilton handily took pole with Raikkonen impressively taking the final front row seat away from Vettel. Unfortunately for Mercedes, Bottas was out of the running before it even started, as he ended up qualifying 15th due to incurring penalties for a gearbox change, since he crashed out in an earlier session. The race was seemingly straightforward for Hamilton, as he had superior pace and was controlling the race from the front, although Raikkonen and Vettel weren't too far behind. However, due to the virtual safety car brought out by Magnussen and Grosjean's tyre incidents, Vettel managed to get a sneaky pit stop within the virtual safety car to get himself out barely ahead of Hamilton. From this very lucky event, Vettel was able to control the race and take the win.
McLaren's race wasn't too bad either. While they struggled in qualifying and failed to make it into Q3, they were well aware that the race pace of the MCL33 was much better than the one lap qualifying pace. This, combined with the incredible driving calibre of Fernando Alonso and a fair bit of luck, helped McLaren get a very respectable double points finish, with Alonso finishing in a handy 5th place, whilst Vandoorne brought the car home in 9th.
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