Australian GP: Double points for Williams Martini

Even prior to the start of the 2016 Australian Grand Prix the Williams Martini team would suffer the disappointment of having Valtteri Bottas being forced to drop five places on the grid due to a gearbox change. He will now start from 16th rather than 11th. Hamilton was on pole from Rosberg, Vettel, Raikkonen, Verstappen, Felipe Massa, Sainz, Ricciardo, Perez, and Hulkenberg in tenth. The top eight would all start on the super soft tyre with those on the soft included Valtteri Bottas, Perez, Hulkenberg, Button, Kvyat, Grosjean, and Gutierrez. The field would move away on their parade lap for the fifty eight lap race.

Tyre strategy with the drivers having three tyre types for the race. Kvyat's Red Bull would not make it to his grid position with some issue. Kvyat would be forced to retire his car even before the start. The drivers would get an extra formation lap and the grid would form at the five lights would go out and it would be Vettel taking the lead into Turn one. Raikkonen was second from Rosberg, Verstappen, Felipe, and Hamilton sixth. Magnussen would pit with a puncture. Valtteri was down in seventeenth as Gutierrez reported issues with his engine. Magnussen would pit coming out on soft tyres.

Valtteri was behind the Sauber pair and not looking like he was able to make progress forward. Hamilton was able to pass Felipe dropping to sixth. Vettel was leading his team-mate by 2.0 seconds. Rosberg was starting to close in on Raikkonen. Valtteri had been able to get past Nasr was now sixteenth. Hamilton would close in onto Verstappen looking to take fourth. Sainz would pit on lap ten from 7th taking on soft tyres returning in 20th. Valtteri was able to get past Ericsson to be 14th but for Felipe he would shortly after lose a place to Ricciardo dropping to 7th. Valtteri would continue to pick off drivers in front passing Wehrlein for thirteenth.

Felipe would pit from seventh on lap thirteen taking on the soft tyre. Valtteri would eventually get past Palmer for eleventh. At the front Rosberg would pit from 3rd place going onto the soft tyre. Rosberg would come back out in front of Hulkenberg in fifth. Vettel would pit from the lead on lap 15th. Verstappen would also come in. Vettel would take on another set of the supersoft tyre. Vettel was back out in third but was under attack from Rosberg. Valtteri was now in 9th and Felipe 12th. Valtteri would get past by both Verstappen and Sainz dropping to 11th and Felipe now 12th. Raikkonen was leading but was complaining about his front tyres. Vettel was 2nd followed by Hamilton and Rosberg.

Raikkonen would pit on lap 18th joined by Hamilton. and Hulkenberg. Hamilton was now on the medium tyre indicating that he was now going to stop again. Raikkonen was back out on another set of supersoft tyres. But the race would change when there would be a major accident with Alonso's car turned over with Gutierrez also involved. The McLaren was very badly damaged. While this was happen the Safety Car would come out and Valtteri would pit taking on a set of the medium tyres. Replays had shown that Alonso had clipped the left rear of the Haas at high speed going down to Turn three, then had a very hard impact with the left-side wall. He would go into the gravel sideways and then would be turned over as he flew down and in to the barrier.

The race would be red flagged with there been lots of debris on the track. The field would return to the pit lane with the cars being able to be worked on. They can also change tyres so the various strategies that had started to play out will all be reset. The race would be restarted under the Safety Car. The Williams drivers were in 8th and 10th with Felipe leading Valtteri. The drivers could change tyres with both Mercedes cars on the medium. Both Ferrari's weer on the supersoft tyre while at Williams both Felipe and Valtteri were now on the medium tyres. Both Torro Rosso cars were on the soft tyre joined by Ricciardo.

The race would restart with Vettel leading Rosberg and Raikkonen. Ricciardo was fourth followed by Verstappen, Sainz, Hamilton, Felipe, Grosjean, Hulkenberg and Valtteri in 11th. Rosberg was only 0.2 off Vettel's time despite running on the medium tyre. Raikkonen would pit with smoke coming from his car with flames coming out of the airbox. Ricciardo was now 3rd while for Williams Felipe was now 7th and Valtteri 10th. Vettel was pushing and after lap twenty five he was 3.7 seconds ahead of Rosberg. Vettel's lead over Rosberg started to drop with it now 2.8 seconds after lap twenty seven.

Button would pit on lap thirty three changing from the supersoft tyre to mediums. Sainz would also pit changing from the soft to mediums. This would see Felipe and Valtteri in 6th and 9th. Rosberg was now 1.9 seconds behind Vettel as Verstappen pitted on lap thirty four. Sainz and Verstappen were now 11th and 12th. Lap thirty six and Vettel would pit seeing Rosberg leading from Ricciardo and Hamilton. It would be slow stop for Vettel as Vettel took on the soft tyre. Vettel would come out in fourth ahead of Felipe. Rosberg was leading Ricciardo by 8.3 seconds with Hamilton closing in onto the second place Red Bull.

There was a battle between ninth placed Palmer and Sainz and Verstappen running behind. Ricciardo was trying to make his soft tyres last to the end while Vettel was pushing and closing slowly in onto Hamilton. Hamilton was able to finally get past Ricciardo taking second. Rosberg out in front now had a 10 second lead. Sainz would finally get past Palmer for ninth. Verstappen would also get past seeing Palmer now eleventh. Ricciardo would pit on lap forty four seeing him drop to fifth. Felipe was now fourth fifteen seconds behind Vettel. Felipe would have to keep Ricciardo behind but with the Red Bull on the supersoft tyre Ricciardo was able to get past on lap forty eight taking fourth.

Felipe and Valtteri were now fourth and eighth. Vettel was now four seconds behind Hamilton while eighth placed Valtteri now had Sainz and Verstappen right behind him. Felipe was now running in a comfortable fifth with seven laps remaining. Lap fifty one and Vettel was now 1.0 seconds behind Hamilton. Vettel continued to run behind Hamilton but was not able to get past. The two Torro Rosso cars would make contact with Verstappen hitting the rear of Sainz's car after the Spaniard locked up going into the last corner. But Vettel would run wide at the final corner costing him any chance of getting past Hamilton.

Two laps remaining and Felipe and Valtteri would be fifth and eighth. Vettel would say sorry to his team for making this mistake. Rosberg would start his final lap with Hamilton 7.2 seconds behind hi. Vettel was third followed by Ricciardo, Felipe, Grosjean, Hulkenberg, Valtteri, Sainz and Verstappen. Rosberg would cross the line taking victory in the 2016 Australian Grand Prix. A one-two fro Mercedes while for Williams Martini it was a double points scoring finish with Felipe finishing fifth and Valtteri eighth. Grosjean would score Hass's first points at their first race.