2016 Australian GP: Red flag turns the race, Rosberg wins

Nico Rosberg won the 2016 Australian GP at Melbourne's Albert Park ahead of his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel in the Ferrari. Until the red flag, Ferrari had the race firmly under control. But it was decided during the stoppage: Mercedes fitted medium tyres for the rest of the race, while Ferrari went for supersofts and therefore had to pit again. Newcomer Haas F1 Team also caused a sensation in its very first race.

As you know today, the 2016 season would be dominated by the Mercedes intra-team duel. The opener at the Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit, however, began with a red bombshell. There had already been a problem beforehand: according to Wikipedia, Daniil Kvyat's Red Bull stopped on the formation lap with an electrical failure. Kvyat was unable to start, so an extra formation lap was run.

Vettel started third and got away brilliantly. Into Turn 1 he went past both Silver Arrows. Kimi Räikkönen followed him from fourth on the grid into second. Polesitter Hamilton made a poor start and touched Rosberg, who had started second, at the first corner. Hamilton was forced wide and dropped out of the top 5. According to Motor Sport, Vettel led by 1.5 seconds at the end of the opening lap. Kevin Magnussen pitted on lap 1 with a puncture.

In the first phase of the race, everything went Ferrari's way. Rosberg changed tyres on lap 12, Vettel responded a lap later and stayed ahead. After Vettel's stop, Räikkönen briefly led on laps 13 to 15 before Vettel took over again.

Lap 17 brought the most frightening moment of the race. Fernando Alonso in the McLaren ran into the back of Esteban Gutiérrez's Haas at very high speed. The McLaren took off, rolled several times and came to rest upside down against the barrier before Turn 3. Wikipedia cites a peak load of 46 g. Both drivers climbed out of their cars unaided. For both of them the race was over after 16 laps, and the official status reads “Collision”. The sources give different laps for the crash. We go by the official lap counts.

Debris and damaged advertising hoardings were strewn across the track, so Race Control stopped the race with the red flag. During the stoppage, teams were allowed to change tyres without losing time. That rule proved to be the key to the whole race.

This is where Mercedes won the race. Ferrari sent both drivers back out on supersofts. According to Motor Sport, the team feared the medium tyres would not come up to temperature on a cooling track. Mercedes took the risk, fitted mediums to Rosberg's and Hamilton's cars and planned to run to the finish on them. Hamilton also had his front wing changed during the stoppage.

At the restart, Vettel led from Rosberg, Räikkönen, Daniel Ricciardo, Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz and Hamilton. Ferrari now had to build a big enough gap for the second stop, but it didn't work out. According to Motor Sport, Vettel's cushion had shrunk to around 1.4 seconds by lap 35. Räikkönen retired after 21 laps, officially with an engine failure. Formula1.com and Wikipedia report flames coming from the airbox, probably caused by a turbo failure.

On lap 35, Ferrari brought Vettel in for soft tyres. Rosberg took the lead and held it all the way to the chequered flag. Vettel rejoined in fourth, behind Hamilton and Ricciardo. Hamilton moved up to second when Ricciardo pitted for fresh tyres again on lap 42. Vettel then chased the world champion and, according to Motor Sport, got within DRS range. On lap 55, however, he locked up into Turn 15 and slid off the track. That ended his challenge. At the finish, Rosberg was 8.060 seconds ahead of Hamilton, with Vettel 9.643 seconds back (Formula1.com).

The biggest winner was Romain Grosjean. He started 19th and finished sixth, a gain of 13 places. Grosjean was the only driver who had not yet stopped when the red flag came out. During the break he got medium tyres for free and ran to the finish on them without another stop, keeping Nico Hülkenberg (Force India) and Valtteri Bottas behind him. The 8 points were historic: Haas became the first newly founded team since Toyota in 2002 to score points in its very first race. Toyota, too, had made its start in Melbourne back then.

Home hero Ricciardo took his Red Bull from 8th on the grid to 4th place and set the fastest lap of the race. Bottas started 16th in his Williams and finished eighth, while his teammate Felipe Massa came home fifth. Jolyon Palmer narrowly missed out on points in eleventh on his debut for Renault. Pascal Wehrlein gained five places in the Manor Marussia to finish 16th.

There was trouble at Toro Rosso. Verstappen had started 5th, Sainz 7th. Sainz pitted first on lap 31, Verstappen a lap later. Verstappen's trip through the pit lane took considerably longer. Afterwards, both were stuck behind Palmer. Verstappen demanded over the radio to be let past Sainz, but the team refused. Formula1.com reports light contact at Turn 15, after which Verstappen spun. Sainz finished ninth, Verstappen tenth.

The retirements at a glance:

• Daniil Kvyat (Red Bull): did not start, electrical failure on the formation lap
• Fernando Alonso (McLaren) and Esteban Gutiérrez (Haas): after 16 laps, collision
• Rio Haryanto (Manor Marussia): after 17 laps, technical failure
• Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari): after 21 laps, engine failure
• Marcus Ericsson (Sauber): after 38 laps, engine failure

Sergio Pérez (Force India) was also among the losers. He dropped from 9th to 13th place. The McLaren-Honda outfit came away without points, as Jenson Button finished 14th, a lap down. Felipe Nasr was 15th in the Sauber.

After the first race, Rosberg led the drivers' championship with 25 points. He was followed by Hamilton on 18, Vettel on 15, Ricciardo on 12 and Massa on 10 points. In the constructors' standings, Mercedes had 43 points, Ferrari 15, Williams 14 and Red Bull 12. Haas were fifth with 8 points, ahead of Force India on 6.

The race also had a family touch for Rosberg: his father Keke had won the Australian Grand Prix in 1985, back then still held in Adelaide. According to Wikipedia, it was Mercedes' fifth one-two in a row, equalling a record. Ferrari had shown they could keep pace over a race distance. But the Scuderia threw away the win with an overly cautious tyre choice during the stoppage. According to Motor Sport, Ferrari believed the red flag had cost Vettel victory. The action continued two weeks later at the Bahrain GP. You can find all the data on the race on our race page.