<P> The championship started in Melbourne with the Australian Grand Prix . The race ended with a victory for Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel , who used a timely virtual safety car period -- triggered by the stricken Haas of Romain Grosjean -- to pass Mercedes 's Lewis Hamilton and he successfully defended the position until the finish . Kimi Räikkönen finished third in the other Ferrari ahead of Red Bull Racing 's Daniel Ricciardo . McLaren ended the first race of their partnership with Renault with a fifth and ninth place for Alonso and Vandoorne respectively . Max Verstappen finished sixth after an early spin ahead of Nico Hülkenberg . Valtteri Bottas was eighth , having started fifteenth when he took a penalty for a gearbox change after a heavy crash in qualifying . Carlos Sainz Jr. completed the points - scoring positions in tenth . Charles Leclerc and Sergey Sirotkin both made their competitive débuts for Sauber and Williams respectively . Leclerc finished thirteenth while Sirotkin retired with a brake failure . </P>
<P> The championship started in Melbourne with the Australian Grand Prix . The race ended with a victory for Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel , who used a timely virtual safety car period -- triggered by the stricken Haas of Romain Grosjean -- to pass Mercedes 's Lewis Hamilton and he successfully defended the position until the finish . Kimi Räikkönen finished third in the other Ferrari ahead of Red Bull Racing 's Daniel Ricciardo . McLaren ended the first race of their partnership with Renault with a fifth and ninth place for Alonso and Vandoorne respectively . Max Verstappen finished sixth after an early spin ahead of Nico Hülkenberg . Valtteri Bottas was eighth , having started fifteenth when he took a penalty for a gearbox change after a heavy crash in qualifying . Carlos Sainz Jr. completed the points - scoring positions in tenth . Charles Leclerc and Sergey Sirotkin both made their competitive débuts for Sauber and Williams respectively . Leclerc finished thirteenth while Sirotkin retired with a brake failure . </P>
who won the 2018 formula 1 australian grand prix tournament
who won the 2018 formula 1 australian grand prix tournament
Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel