who won the 2018 formula 1 australian grand prix tournament
2018 Formula One World Championship The championship started in Melbourne with the Australian Grand Prix. The race ended with a victory for Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel, who used a timely virtual safety car period—triggered by the stricken Haas of Romain Grosjean—to pass Mercedes's Lewis Hamilton and he successfully defended the position until the finish.[69] Kimi Räikkönen finished third in the other Ferrari ahead of Red Bull Racing's Daniel Ricciardo.[69] McLaren ended the first race of their partnership with Renault with a fifth and ninth place for Alonso and Vandoorne respectively.[70] Max Verstappen finished sixth after an early spin ahead of Nico Hülkenberg. Valtteri Bottas was eighth, having started fifteenth when he took a penalty for a gearbox change after a heavy crash in qualifying. Carlos Sainz Jr. completed the points-scoring positions in tenth. Charles Leclerc and Sergey Sirotkin both made their competitive débuts for Sauber and Williams respectively.[71][72] Leclerc finished thirteenth while Sirotkin retired with a brake failure.[73][72]