Lewis Hamilton started his Formula 1 title defence in perfect fashion after leading home a decimated field in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix here on Sunday.
Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg crossed 1.3 seconds behind to make it a one-two finish at Albert Park for the 'Silver Arrows' while 34.5 seconds behind an ecstatic Sebastian Vettel grabbed his first podium for Italian heavyweights Ferrari, reports Xinhua.
F1's youngest ever driver Max Verstappen was robbed of a fairy tale points-scoring debut when engine failure made the 17-year-old rookie one of five retirements. Only 11 finished the race of attrition with just five completing all 58 laps.
Hamilton, who started on pole here for the fourth time, avenged his disappointing retirement in last year's race by dictating terms and maintaining a comfortable, if small, gap over Rosberg from start-to-finish.
"It is an incredible feeling to continue winning. I am very honoured to be up here with these amazing drivers and great work from the team. Once you get a two-second gap, you just try to manage that," said the reigning World Champion after winning his second Australian GP.
The Silver Arrows bolted clear from the start to safely navigate the dangerous first corner. Pastor Maldonado could not, finding himself in familiar territory after his Lotus was nudged into the second turn wall.
Hamilton caught his German teammate napping at a third-lap safety car restart and darted to a 2.7-second gap within two laps. Rosberg, last year's race winner, said there was little he could do to overtake his teammate.
"Lewis made no mistakes so it was not possible to get closer than that, let alone try some sort of pass," said Rosberg.
As Hamilton countered each of Rosberg's moves, the pair vanished into the distance as Vettel and fourth-placed Williams driver Felipe Massa battled for the final podium spot. Vettel managed to jump Massa, who started third, after making the most of clean air when the Brazilian pitted on the 21st lap.
Finishing almost a minute behind Massa, debutant Felipe Nasr put Sauber's torrid week behind to finish fifth. Sauber, which was unsure whether it could race until court action was dropped on Saturday, rounded out a remarkable race with Marcus Ericsson also scoring points in eighth place.
Toro Rosso will be disappointed with its disastrous race after they missed a golden opportunity to sit high in the points table due to a series of mishaps. Verstappen showed his potential with a courageous pass on Ferrari veteran Kimi Raikkonen in the early laps and the Dutchman was on track to become the youngest point-scorer in F1's 65-year history.
But after his fantastic start from 12th, a distraught Verstappen was forced to pull up on the 34th lap when his Renault engine failed shortly after a pit-stop.
His teammate, fellow rookie Carlos Sainz, looked capable of challenging Nasr for fifth before a horrible 50-second pit-stop, when a left rear wheel-nut refused to budge, destroyed his aspirations of scoring double-digit points. He eventually crossed ninth to grab two points.
Australia's Daniel Ricciardo enjoyed a mixed home race by finishing a lap behind Hamilton in sixth ahead of Nico Hulkenburg, Ericsson, Sainz and Sergio Perez. Jenson Button was the only driver to finish without points in 11th with his McLaren-Honda the only car lapped twice.
Raikkonen lost drive 16 laps from the finish, moments after the Finn's pit crew had struggled with the left rear tyre. Romain Grosjean also retired after his Lotus experience a technical error.
The race started three cars down on the 18 that qualified on Saturday. Valtteri Bottas was ruled out on medical grounds due to an injured back while Daniil Kvyat and Kevin Magnussen both broke down on the formation lap.
The championship moves to Sepang for the Malaysian Grand Prix on March 29.
