by Robert Jones
HE was winless in 2018 but the cool Valtteri Bottas Finn was untouchable as he blew the competition away at Melbourne Park.
With Lewis Hamilton on pole and the clear favorite for the race, the start was all important as the Australian Grand Prix is notoriously known for having limited overtaking opportunities.
Bottas who has been a demon from the start in various races during his career, made another one as his launch was spectacular taking the lead at turn one.
The top five stayed the same for several laps with Hamilton in second ahead of Vattel, Verstappen and Leclerc.
With the Mercedes stretching the pace at the front, Ferrari had to react with Vettel. The German pitted from third to try the undercut on Hamilton, but the Mercedes team reacted instantly to keep the Brit ahead.
The medium tyre was not working for the pair, and Bottas was still increasing his lead even on old tyres. When the Finn eventually pitted he came out of the pits 10 seconds clear of Hamilton, gaining an extra seven seconds in that phase of the race.
Bottas was clear of the rest and setting fastest laps consistently with the win all but secured. Thus meaning the battle was for the remaining podium places. With Verstappen pitting later than Vettel and Hamilton, the Dutchman started to reel in the duo on the fresher tyres.
As he caught the Ferrari he applied pressure going into turn one, forcing Vettel to compromise his exit and ultimately making the overtake stick into turn two.
The Red Bull driver was extremely quick and soon closed down Hamilton. But as he started his late charge, Verstappen went wide and onto the grass at turn one costing himself three seconds.
Verstappen was able to close the gap once more, but with only two laps remaining Hamilton turned the Mercedes engine up and finished in a comfortable second place.
After dominating testing Ferrari could only salvage a fourth and fifth respectively, in what was a very disappointing weekend for the Italian team.