Jack Leslie F1: 2015 Australian Grand Prix In Pictures

Melbourne's Albert Park Circuit hosted round one of the 2015 Formula 1 season. It was far from a thriller, with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg dominating.

Sebastian Vettel completed the podium on his Ferrari debut. Here is the race weekend in pictures.

All images in this post are courtesy of Octane Photographic, a motorsport photographic agency based in the UK.

Friday

Nico Rosberg set the pace in both Friday practice sessions, as Mercedes' considerable advantage over the chasing pack became clear.

One thing we saw plenty of over the Australian Grand Prix weekend was sparks.

Kevin Magnussen limited McLaren's running in second practice after crashing into the wall at Turn 6 20 minutes into the session.

Carlos Sainz Jr was one of several drivers to suffer off-track excursions during practice, spinning at the penultimate corner.

Maurizio Arrivabene made quite an impression during his first race weekend as Ferrari team principal, particularly in the Friday press conference - "no money, no honey".

Saturday

After finishing Friday practice behind his team-mate, Lewis Hamilton hit the front in FP3.

McLaren suffered a difficult qualifying. Both Jenson Button and Magnussen were eliminated in Q1, alongside Marcus Ericsson. The two Manor drivers failed to complete a lap.

We saw plenty of off-track excursions during qualifying. Turn 1 caught out a few, including Nico Hulkenberg. He was eliminated in Q2, finishing just ahead of his team-mate Sergio Perez in 14th.

Max Verstappen impressed in his debut qualifying session but a mistake on his final Q2 lap saw him qualify only 12th, behind fellow rookie Felipe Nasr and ahead of Daniil Kvyat.

Hamilton had the upper hand in Q3, taking pole position from Rosberg and Felipe Massa. Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen, Valtteri Bottas, Daniel Ricciardo, Sainz Jr, Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado completed the top 10.

Sunday

Bottas was absent from the F1 2015 class photo, which was taken on Sunday morning. He was being checked by FIA medics after injuring his back in qualifying and was deemed unfit to race.

With Magnussen and Kvyat failing to make it to the grid, the field was down to just 15 cars for the race start. Hamilton had a strong launch and led into Turn 1.

There was mild contact in the midfield, with Raikkonen slowing and bunching up the pack.

Nasr was squeezed between Maldonado and Raikkonen, with the former spinning into the wall at Turn 2. Grosjean also retired at the end of the opening lap in the second Lotus.

The safety car was deployed to clear Maldonado's damaged car, which stretched out the first stint for the remaining 13 drivers.

Sainz Jr put in a strong display in his maiden F1 race, but a slow pit stop cost him 30 seconds and dropped him down to ninth.

Nasr was one of the stars of the race for Sauber, putting in a faultless drive to finish fifth.

It was a difficult and rather lonely race for Button, but - surprisingly - he made it to the chequered flag in 11th (last) place.

Vettel enjoyed a strong drive to third in his first race for Ferrari, jumping Massa at the second round of pit stops.

Hamilton had it all under control, scoring his second Australian Grand Prix victory and finishing 1.3 seconds clear of Rosberg.

The Mercedes duo finished over 30 seconds clear of Vettel, with the Brackley-based outfit stamping down its authority as the new season gets underway.

Arnold Schwarzenegger made a surprise appearance on the podium to conduct the interviews with the top three, concluding with - of course - "I'll be back".

16 March 2015

2015 Australian Grand Prix In Pictures

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