Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton said they anticipate a long fight for the Formula One title after they finished first and second at the Melbourne Grand Prix. The British driver sounded a note of caution that, as he had feared, one of the effects of the changes introduced for this season has been to make overtaking more difficult.

Hamilton’s Mercedes team have dominated F1 for the past three years and it was hoped the changes would make the grid more competitive and the win for Vettel and Ferrari delivered that in the first race. The danger in focusing on aerodynamics is that it creates more turbulent air in the wake of cars, making close racing and passing more difficult.

Sebastian Vettel wins Melbourne Grand Prix ahead of Lewis Hamilton Read more

Hamilton, who could not pass Max Verstappen’s Red Bull for four laps, believed the changes had cost him the chance to battle for first place.

“Big congratulations to Sebastian and Ferrari,” said Hamilton, who finished 9.9sec behind. “I know it’s been a long time coming for them to get a result like this. It shows we are going to have a race on our hands, which we are very happy to have. It’s great for the fans. Unfortunately it’s harder than ever to get close to cars, which is a shame. We can’t even have a close battle. I wish we could race a lot closer.”

It is worth noting the Melbourne track is notoriously difficult for overtaking and the cars were evenly matched. It was the first time Ferrari have been on a par with Mercedes since the beginning of the V6 turbo-hybrid era. Hamilton was nonetheless still eager to take on the Ferrari driver who won four world titles with Red Bull between 2010 and 2013. “The fact we are similar pace-wise means it’s going to be a very hard slog this season,” he said. “It’s going to be physically and mentally demanding but as Sebastian said, racing the best is what Formula One is all about. It ultimately makes you work that much harder, having to raise the bar, and I’m looking forward to that.”

Vettel, for whom this was his first win since 2015 and only his fourth for Ferrari, echoed Hamilton. “I have great respect for Lewis,” he said. “He’s proven to be one of the quickest drivers on the grid. Right now it looks like we have equal machinery. I hope it stays that way and then we will see how it turns out. It’s obviously a lot of fun to race for victories and a lot of fun to race against the best.”

The German also paid tribute to his team, who have faced criticism for being less than forthcoming with the media. “Passion is a great driver back in the factory and also here,” he said. “You need to love what you’re doing. I said it years ago when joining Ferrari. There seems to be an extra passion just working for the Prancing Horse and, I think, just focusing on ourselves really has been the big difference. I think a key to delivering a great car, which we obviously have.”