Vettel beats Hamilton to season opening Australian Open title

Sebastian Vettel beat Lewis Hamilton to victory at the 2018 season-opening Australian Grand Prix as the Briton was left to rue a pit-stop slip-up on Sunday.

The Ferrari driver was allowed to emerge back out on to the track ahead of pole-sitter Hamilton after pitting during the virtual safety car.

And he did not relinquish his advantage over his fellow four-time world champion to come home in first place.

Vettel’s team-mate Kimi Raikkonen was third, with home favourite Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull fourth.

Speaking on the podium, Vettel said: “We got a bit lucky obviously with the safety car. My start, I was hoping to be a bit better, didn’t really work, so I had to settle for third. I was praying for a safety car.”

Hamilton said: “Today they did a better job. We’ve got to go back to the drawing board and work on it.

“But we still have great pace. This is an awesome circuit, but it’s so hard to overtake.”