Nate Saunders F1 Associate Editor 3 Minute Read

Vettel win offers hope of close-fought season As Sebastian Vettel wins the season opener in Melbourne, Jonathan Legard looks ahead with hope for the rest of the year.

Kimi Raikkonen said he did not feel aggrieved to see teammate Sebastian Vettel win the Australian Grand Prix, although he was surprised Ferrari did not keep him informed about the German's strategy during the race.

Raikkonen had beaten Vettel to second on the grid in qualifying and held the position at the start. His pit stop on lap 19 prompted Mercedes to call in Lewis Hamilton from the lead, with Ferrari splitting the strategies and extending Vettel's opening stint.

As it turned out, that coincided perfectly with Romain Grosjean's car coming to a stop at Turn 2 and triggering a Virtual Safety Car, which helped Vettel jump Hamilton into a lead he never relinquished. Raikkonen was heard questioning the strategy in a broadcasted radio message, although he insisted that was just as Ferrari had kept him in the dark about what the No.5 car was doing.

When asked if he had been surprised by Vettel's race strategy, he replied: "Not really! The only thing that was surprising, because we obviously speak about these things on the radio, was that they didn't let me know what he was doing.

"Obviously we talk before the race, there are hundreds of options we can do, and that was his best option because there was no threat from behind and he could take a chance because had nothing else to lose from that point - he was safe into 3rd place. It worked out well for him, so I wasn't surprised by what they did, I was surprised that at one point I didn't know it exactly."

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Raikkonen stressed in his TV pen interviews after the race that he was fine with the strategy call itself, as Vettel's had only worked so well due to the timing of the VSC. The Finn said he was happy the race victory went the way of one of the grid's two red cars, even if it was not his own.

"I think [the race] was OK. We didn't have the most luck but what can you do?

"Luckily it was Seb who got the luck, it was, at least, our team. I had decent speed all day long, but it's difficult to pass. I had a go at Lewis in the second corner but couldn't pass, so after that I just tried to follow him and try something in the pit stop. In the end it didn't work out for us."

Raikkonen held on to the final spot on the podium despite a sustained attack from Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo in the closing laps.

"In the end we got some pressure but managed to hold on to 3rd place. Red Bull had fresher tyres but we managed to keep them behind, in the end 3rd place is an OK start. I've been happy with the car and we take it from here."