Australian F1 Grand Prix 2015 Results: Winner, Standings, Highlights, Reaction

Lewis Hamilton picked up where he left off in the previous campaign, as he raced to a comfortable victory at the 2015 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

The race result was confirmed by Sky Sports F1:

The Mercedes man kept his composure throughout the season opener to finish ahead of team-mate Nico Rosberg. Joining the silver arrows pairing on the podium was Sebastian Vettel, who began competitive life with Ferrari by securing an admirable third place.

	Driver	Team	Grid	Race Time	Points
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1	01:31:54.067	25
2	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	2	+00:01.360	18
3	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	4	+00:34.523	15
4	Felipe Massa	Williams	3	+00:38.196	12
5	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	6	+01:35.149	10
6	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	7	Lapped	8
7	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	10	Lapped	6
8	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	12	Lapped	4
9	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso	5	Lapped	2
10	Sergio Perez	Force India	11	Lapped	1
11	Jenson Button	McLaren	13	Lapped	0
R	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	8	Retired (40)	0
R	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso	9	Retired (32)	0
R	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	14	Retired (1)	0
R	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus	15	Crashed (0)	0
R	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull	16	Retired (0)	0
R	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren	17	Retired (0)	0
R	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	18	Retired (0)	0

	Driver	Team	Points
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	25
2	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	18
3	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	15
4	Felipe Massa	Williams	12
5	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	10
6	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	8
7	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	6
8	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	4
9	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso	2
10	Sergio Perez	Force India	1

As noted by the Formula 1 Twitter account, sadly there were a few late withdrawals from the race, meaning just 15 cars started on the grid Down Under:

With a host of drivers in new cars and racing for new teams, the start of the first race of the season can often be a bit frantic and that proved to be the case once again at Albert Park, as the safety car was called out in the very early stages.

Dan Istitene/Getty Images

Sadly for Pastor Maldonado—whose 2014 season was punctured by bad decision-making and poor reliability—his afternoon was over before it had begun after he lost control of his Lotus following a clip from Felipe Nasr. As noted by Craig Scarborough, to see the Venezuelan in the wall at Turn 1 was no great surprise:

He wasn’t the only one who endured a feisty beginning, though. Vettel and his new Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen also had contact off the line. But at the very front, Hamilton had gotten away well from his team-mate without incident and did so again when the safety car was withdrawn on the third lap of the race.

Clive Mason/Getty Images

The action settled down into a rhythm after that frantic start and the key battles looked set to be at the very front and between Felipe Massa and Vettel, who were third and fourth respectively.

In the latter scrap, the Ferrari man couldn’t get past the Williams driver on track but, as noted by the Formula One Twitter account, superior pitting strategy pushed the German into a podium spot:

Hamilton was unable to fully shake off Rosberg at the sharp end. Despite his superior speed in qualifying, the Brit was consistently under pressure from his team-mate, and as the race moved into the final stages, the German was actually starting to close the gap, per the Mercedes Twitter account:

While Vettel was having a solid day on his debut for Ferrari, things were about to take a turn for the worse for Raikkonen. Despite getting the “go” signal during a pitstop, the Finn’s back-left tyre was not fitted properly and as such, he had to pull up at the earliest opportunity.

As noted by Sky Sports F1, that meant a premature end to his race:

Rosberg continued to chip away at the leader, but the German wasn’t quite able to conjure a gap of less than one second to put himself within DRS overtaking range.

It meant that while Hamilton—who looked to be keeping his team-mate at arm's length, it must be said—wasn’t streaking clear at the front, he was pretty comfortable as he crossed the finish line and bagged his second Grand Prix win in Australia; his previous win Down Under came in 2008, a year in which the Brit went on to lift his first world title.

Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

As noted by F1 Racing on NBC, despite Hamilton's win, arguably the performance of the day came from Sauber's rookie driver Nasr:

It’s vital to set a positive precedent at the start of the campaign and Hamilton will be delighted to get that first win under his belt. Rosberg triumphed in Melbourne 12 months ago and that win prompted a scintillating start to the season for the German; his team-mate will be hoping his serene display will do something similar for his early season fortunes this time round.

Encouragingly for neutrals, the manner in which Rosberg clung to the back of Hamilton throughout this race bodes well for another enthralling duel this season. If it’s half as good as their ding-dong tussle from 2014, we’re set for a real treat.