The 2016 Australian Grand Prix finished just like it did for most of 2015 – with the Mercedes in front and Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari in third. While it did indeed finish that way for the opening race of the 2016 Formula One season, it did appear for the first third of the race that Vettel may be able to break the stranglehold Mercedes has had on competitive racing in Formula One over the past two seasons as Vettel held the lead for much of that time, but – alas – it wound up being merely a matter of time before the Mercedes came to the front yet again.
Vettel and his teammate, Kimi Raikkonen, provided would might turn out to be the start of the season, with both Ferraris zipping past both Mercedes at the start of the race. Raikkonen would not last as his car faltered early in the race, but Vettel was able to maintain his lead until two crucial errors – one in the pit and a minor driving error on the track resulting in his visiting the grass in a corner – cost him second place as Nico Rosberg won by a comfortable eight seconds over his Mercedes teammate, Lewis Hamilton, and nine seconds over Vettel.
The only major crash of the race saw McLaren’s Fernando Alonso clumsily try to pass the slower Haas car of Esteban Gutierrez, clipping his rear tire in the process and sending himself careening into the sand pit and wall.
Other notables from the race had Romain Grosjean finishing sixth to get fledgling American-funded team Haas eight points while rookie Jolyon Palmer finished 11th for Renault to grab the best rookie finish.
2016 Australian Grand Prix Results – Albert Park, Melbourne – 58 laps – 191 miles
1 Nico Rosberg – Mercedes 25 points
2 Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes 18 points +8.060
3 Sebastian Vettel – Ferrari 15 points +9.643
4 Daniel Ricciardo – Red Bull 12 points +24.330
5 Felipe Massa – Williams 10 points +58.979
6 Romain Grosjean – Haas 8 points +1:12.081
7 Nico Hulkenberg – Force India 6 points +1:14.199
8 Valtteri Bottas – Williams 4 points +1:15.153
9 Carlos Sainz Jr. – Toro Rosso 2 points +1:15.680
10 Max Verstappen – Toro Rosso 1 point +1:16.833
11 Jolyon Palmer – Renault +1:23.399
12 Kevin Magnussen – Renault +1:25.606
13 Sergio Perez – Force India +1:31.699
14 Jenson Button – McLaren
15 Felipe Nasr – Sauber
16 Pascal Wehrlein – Manor
17 Marcus Ericsson – Sauber
18 Kimi Raikkonen – Ferrari
19 Rio Haryanto – Manor
20 Esteban Gutierrez – Haas
21 Fernando Alonso – McLaren
22 Daniil Kvyat – Red Bull