Only 11 complete Australian Grand Prix; Hamilton wins

And then there were only 11 who made it. Amazing though it may sound, on the one hand while it was a déjà vu moment for Mercedes with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg coming in first and second respectively in the first F1 race of the 2015 season, on the other hand only 11 cars got to go past the chequered flag.

The 2015 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix was won by Hamilton who was followed by his team mate Nico Rosberg and in third position came in Sebastian Vettel driving his Ferrari race car. For Vettel it was a podium in his debut with Ferrari.

Williams’ sole starter Felipe Massa came in fourth ahead of star rookie Felipe Nasr, who in his F1 debut gave Sauber team its first points since 2013. Massa’s teammate Valtteri Bottas did not take part in Sunday’s race after a final medical assessment by the FIA deemed him unfit to race following the back injury he sustained during qualifying.

After examination by the FIA medical delegate at the circuit on Saturday, Bottas was transferred to Albert Hospital in Melbourne for further precautionary scans which revealed he had sustained some soft tissue damage in his lower back, according to F1 news.

With Williams’ Bottas out and Marussia having failed to qualify, the 17 expected starters became 15 before the lights went out, after McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen and Red Bull’s Daniel Kvyat both experienced car failures en route to the grid.

A first-lap incident with rookie Nasr put Pastor Maldonado into the wall, and Lotus team mate Romain Grosjean retired in the pits soon after. A promising first Grand Prix for Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen ended with mid-race technical problems - he had been running as high as sixth - and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen completed the list of non-finishers.

Out of the 11 who made it, the first ten were in the points list while the 11^th man had to be content finishing the race without points. The 11^th man was McLaren’s Jenson Button. Daniel Ricciardo came in sixth for Red Bull, followed by Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson and Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz - both scoring their first F1 points - and the second Force India of Sergio Perez.

On the previous day, in the qualifying race it was Mercedes all the way with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg coming in first and second respectively. It was Hamilton’s fourth pole in Australia and the 39th of his career.

The 11 who made it:

1 Lewis Hamilton –Mercedes AMG Petronas

2.Nico Rosberg- Mercedes AMG Petronas

3. Sebastian Vettel - Ferrari

4. Felippe Massa-- Williams

5. Felipe Nasr -- Sauber

6. Daniel Ricciardo- Red Bull

7 Nico Hulkenberg – Sahara Force India

8. Marcus Ericsson - Sauber

9 Carlos Sainz – Toro Rosso

10 Sergio Perez- Sahara Force India

11 Jenson Button - McLaren