It was as-you-were from 2014 in Australia when Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg began the 2015 Formula 1 season with a dominant 1-2 finish for the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS team at Albert Park.
The two drivers were never further part than a handful of seconds throughout the race, with race winner Hamilton praising the team for their effort in providing him with another race winning car in 2015. He also gave praise to his team-mate for keeping him honest throughout the fifty-eight lap race.
“It’s quite unbelievable, really, what this team has done,” insisted Hamilton. “It’s a great feeling to start off the season the way we finished the last and the car is just incredible, so thank you to the team.
“It was still a tough race, though, as Nico was very quick throughout. It was about managing fuel and also the tyres – trying to see how long we could push them. Once I’d built a two second gap it was about maintaining it.
“When Nico turned up the heat it was tough. He drove really well and it’s a great result for the team to start the season with a 1-2.”
The reigning World Champion was pleased to see the Scuderia Ferrari team secure a podium finish with Sebastian Vettel, and believes that they will be challenging Mercedes for race wins in 2015, and as such knows the team will need to continue their development push.
“It’s good to see Ferrari back up here on the podium,” insisted Hamilton. “I think they have taken a big step, so I anticipate a good fight with them this year at some point and we can’t back off.
“We’ve learned a lot this weekend and there will be a lot of analysis to do before Malaysia. Hopefully we’ll keep finding ways to improve. Just because we had that gap today it doesn’t mean we’ll be cruising. There’s still a long way to go.”
Team-mate Rosberg never let Hamilton get out of sight, and knows already that he needs to fight back at the earliest opportunity. He believes that having a better qualifying session on Saturday will boost his chances of beating Hamilton.
“It’s great to have the quickest car again and what an amazing job by everybody involved,” said Rosberg. “Okay, so now it’s 1:0 to Lewis. He did a perfect job this weekend with no mistakes and improved a lot from Friday to Sunday.
“Yesterday after Qualifying I was already on the back foot and that’s difficult to change in a race against Lewis. I need to have a better Saturday, which I was able to do last year.
“It’s still a long season with lots of races to go. I want to strike back in Malaysia, so that’s the focus. Thanks to everyone in Europe for waking up so early and for crossing their fingers for us – we’ve had fantastic support and it’s really great to see.”
