MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Sebastian Vettel made full use of the virtual safety car to sneak in front of Lewis Hamilton and hold off the frustrated champion to win Formula One's season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Sunday. For Hamilton, the result was a bitter pill to swallow and had echoes of last year's race. Vettel also managed to re-enter in front of him from pit-lane in 2017 before burning away to victory while the pole-sitting Briton was blocked by traffic. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said his team had miscalculated the margin between the cars during the safety car period. After the pit-lane setback, Hamilton drove hard to reel in Vettel and battled back after taking a slide at a corner that blew out the lead to nearly three seconds.

Source: The Star March 25, 2018 06:56 UTC