Lewis Hamilton wins 2015 Australian Grand Prix as Mercedes dominates depleted field
Lewis Hamilton won the 2015 Australian Grand Prix on Sunday at Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit. Only 11 cars finished the race.
This was Hamilton's second win in Australia, his first since 2008. This was also his 8th consecutive podium finish continuing from last year's championship season.
His Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg finished second as both cars completely dominated the field. Sebastian Vettel, now with Ferrari, finished third, 34.523 seconds behind.
Of the 20 cars listed for qualifying only 11 cars finished the race. The Marussia-Ferrari team were at Melbourne but did not participate in any of the races. Daniil Kvyat (engine), Kevin Manussen (engine) and Valterri Bottas (back injury) did not start the race. Pastor Maldonado retired after an accident (yet again). Three other drivers also retired for various car reasons.
Jenson Button from struggling McLaren-Honda almost scored a point at 11th place. Honda has returned to Formula 1 as an engine manufacturer, but it's going to be difficult to catch up with the dominating Mercedes power unit. Jenson scoring a point would have been a miracle.
During the awards presentation, Arnold Schwarzenegger conducted the interview, which got Hamilton all excited.
"I thought you were taller!" said Lewis Hamilton to Arnold. In the end, on Arnold's behest, both of them said: "I'll be back" for the Malaysian Grand Prix on March 29.
2015 Australian Grand Prix Results
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Pts. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 58 | 1:31:54.067 | 1 | 25 |
| 2 | 6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 58 | +1.360 | 2 | 18 |
| 3 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 58 | +34.523 | 4 | 15 |
| 4 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 58 | +38.196 | 3 | 12 |
| 5 | 12 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber-Ferrari | 58 | +1:35.149 | 11 | 10 |
| 6 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-Renault | 57 | +1 Lap | 7 | 8 |
| 7 | 27 | Nico Hülkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 57 | +1 Lap | 14 | 6 |
| 8 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 57 | +1 Lap | 16 | 4 |
| 9 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Toro Rosso-Renault | 57 | +1 Lap | 8 | 2 |
| 10 | 11 | Sergio Pérez | Force India-Mercedes | 57 | +1 Lap | 15 | 1 |
| 11 | 22 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Honda | 56 | +2 Laps | 17 | |
| Ret | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 40 | Wheel | 5 | |
| Ret | 33 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso-Renault | 32 | 12 | ||
| Ret | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Mercedes | 1 | 9 | ||
| Ret | 13 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus-Mercedes | 0 | Accident | 10 | |
| DNS | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull-Renault | 0 | Did not start | 13 | |
| DNS | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren-Honda | 0 | Did not start | 18 | |
| DNS | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes | 0 | Did not start | 6 |