00:00World Championship, 20 races ahead of us. New bigger, wider, heavier cars, new drivers too, with the same need for speed and the desire to succeed.
00:09And we start here in Albert Park, Australia, around a 3.3 mile circuit.
00:15There are 58 laps ahead of us, 16 corners on this track, 6 to the left and 10 to the right, and some of them you don't even have to lift off on.
00:22Now, 384 metres down to the start, that all-important start where anything can happen here and expect a little bit of carnage along the way.
00:31Two DRS zones to increase the speed and reduce the drag along to Turn 1 and down towards Turn 3 as well.
00:38Melbourne looks an absolute picture today. The new season, always the greatest day of the year, whether it's your 12th year in the commentary box or your 34th year, informs Kevin Magnussen.
00:49Stoffel Van Dorn on his birthday, Jolyon Palmer and Lance Stroll making his debut at the back of the grid, where Jenson Bunn made his debut back in 2000 for Williams as well.
00:58Seems such a long time ago, this man made his debut here and finished on the podium.
01:03What will happen today? Vettel, Hamilton, who can get into that first corner ahead?
01:08The Ferrari last year, Martin, started, it appeared to me, more considerably better than the Mercedes.
01:14So Vettel will feel he's got an excellent chance.
01:16There's so many elements to it.
01:18Vettel's teammate right behind. We have five lights on ahead of the drivers.
01:23It's lights out and away we go. Hamilton gets away very well indeed.
01:27Sebastian Vettel has to cover off.
01:29But Zappen's already challenging. Kimi Räikkönen into Turn 1, the first two.
01:34So Hamilton and Vettel go through upskate.
01:36Then comes Bottas and Räikkönen just ahead of Verstappen.
01:39They've been clumsy and looked like the Stoffel Van Dorn towards the rear there in the McLaren.
01:43But Hamilton into Turn 3 we go now.
01:45Vettel is challenging on Max Verstappen and it looks like as well the places have been lost.
01:52But Romain Grosjeva going off for Salva and Marcus Eriksson and Kevin Magnussen in the house down at Turn 3.
01:59Yeah, and Hamilton's watching again.
02:02Just coming a little bit.
02:03He clipped the...
02:04Magnussen just caught the curb but it straightened the car up.
02:08And Eriksson cut across it.
02:11He's entitled to...
02:12He's turning left in space.
02:14He caught the curb, you see, and just lost the steering out of his hand almost.
02:17So that's entirely down to Magnussen.
02:20But there's a new regulation this year.
02:2238.2.
02:24Unless the driver is wholly or predominantly perceived to be at fault, the stewards will not take action.
02:31In other words, they're going to let them race a lot harder.
02:35But that is...
02:37They'll only be looking at Magnussen on that one.
02:39Last...
02:39Because Eriksson left in space.
02:41Yeah, last...
02:42For a few laps that Hamilton, by leading more than 10 laps in this race, as into the pits comes Romain Grosjeva.
03:05I wonder if there's a problem with his engine there.
03:08Yeah, no, it's huge.
03:09Pull him to smoke now.
03:13Coming from the rear of that Haas.
03:15This is a real shame for Grosjean, who was looking forward...
03:18I spoke to him today.
03:19He's getting out of the car.
03:20His race is over.
03:21And he was looking forward to a really good points haul.
03:24And so that he could feel the difference in that Ferrari power unit from last year.
03:28Real improvement on it, but it's caught fire.
03:31Turbo's gone, I'd imagine.
03:33That's bad.
03:34Yeah.
03:35I'm about to find out.
03:35But will the back marker skew that a little bit?
03:38Yeah.
03:39Say it down to you.
03:40And it's the soft tyre for Mercedes.
03:42So it's starting to cool off down here.
03:45And Philip, nice stop, nice stop for Mercedes.
03:46Even with these bigger wheels, they've trained long and hard for this.
03:49But it's the soft...
03:50Losing time, but he is going to lose time if he carries on and does a pit.
03:54And guess what?
03:55Ferrari have left him out, Martin.
03:59Wow.
04:00So they're going a long way then.
04:01Do you remember this time last year when Ferrari were in a position to win the race?
04:06And their strategy, and their strategy, rather, for what we thought, let them down a bit.
04:11Inaki Rueda, the chief of race strategy.
04:14I think it's Altri Bottas leading a race for the first time since Silverstone 2015 as well.
04:18But this is how Lewis Hamilton would have seen Sebastian Vettel coming out of the fit.
04:23And tell you what, the Ferrari pit crew deserve an extra round of limoncello.
04:29And Soto Ward knows that that is...
04:32He had to stay ahead of Verstappen, and he did.
04:36The Selva has stopped.
04:38Marcus Ericsson out of this race.
04:40And I wonder if that's why we're seeing some yellow flags in the final sector.
04:45Just before Turn 13, he's pulled to the side of the track.
04:49Bottas is going to come out as Verstappen and Hamilton...
04:54Verstappen pits.
04:55Verstappen pits, so Hamilton's got some clear air ahead of him.
04:58Ten.
04:58Now, Ver, Bottas just in front of me comes out, also on the soft tyre.
05:01Let's see what Max Verstappen does.
05:04So Hamilton followed up on that radio message saying these tyres are gone.
05:07Saying he doesn't have any grip on them.
05:08They're meant to last.
05:09So the end of the race, oh, it's a slow stop.
05:11Ten.
05:11Ten.
05:12Superstop tyres going on.
05:14Superstop tyres.
05:14To the Red Bull.
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