Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton held off Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg to win the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday, as Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel finished third.
"When Nico turned up the heat, I was able to react to it. Otherwise, it was a phenomenal race for both of us. Nico drove very well and Sebastian must've done a great job to be where he is today." – Mercedes' world champion and race winner Lewis Hamilton.
"The attack was most definitely there. You didn't see it, but it was there for sure inside the cockpit. Lewis made no mistakes so it's not possible to get closer than that or even try some sort of attempt to overtake." – Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg.
"The car this year is a lot better than I think the team had last year. We can be very happy as a starting point. Still we lose a lot of time to those guys [Mercedes], but I think in the race potentially we're a little bit closer than the qualifying trip." – Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel.
"I'm not happy not to finish the race, but I still believe in good races. In race pace we are not far from Mercedes." – Vettel's team-mate Kimi Raikkonen remains positive after retiring.
"We have managed to achieve much of what we wanted so this has been a positive start. The only disappointing part of the race was that I was jumped at the first pit stop by Vettel after losing a second and a half behind [Daniel] Ricciardo on my out-lap which was enough to lose the position." – Williams driver Felipe Massa, who finished fourth.
“Today has been a good day. We’re still a long way off, but this is a good starting point – and I enjoyed the race." – McLaren driver Jenson Button, the last of the finishers in 11th place.
“After a tremendously difficult weekend, it’s not easy to find positives, but in fact there are some. First and foremost, we're pleased that Jenson's car was able to finish the race. He drove extremely well, keeping Checo [Sergio Perez] behind him very adroitly for many laps, and garnering us a great deal of useful data in completing 56 laps." – McLaren racing director Eric Boullier.
Australian Grand Prix: What they said
