Bottas Leads in Formula 1 opener in Australian GP over Pole winner Hamilton.

Valtteri Bottas dominated the 2019 Formula 1 season-opening Australian Grand Prix, passing Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton at the start to earn his first Formula 1 win since 2017.

Hamilton headed Bottas in qualifying however lost his leeway very quickly with a slower escape.

The Winner had the capacity to oppose weight from first Sebastian Vettel and recently Max Verstappen to finish Mercedes' one-two, while Verstappen claimed Honda's first win complete since the 2008 British GP in its maiden race with Red Bull as Ferrari wound up just fourth and fifth.

Bottas outdragged Hamilton into Turn 1 and was left untroubled for the sum of the Grand Prix, supported by Mercedes being compelled to respond to an early Vettel pitstop and change Hamilton to a second position.

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Vettel ceased on lap 14 out of 58, with Mercedes acquiring Hamilton one lap later to ensure against the Ferrari's new tire advantage.

Nor had the capacity to lap as fast on new medium tires as Bottas on old softs, which permitted Bottas, Verstappen and Charles Leclerc to run a few laps longer.

Bottas at last halted eight laps after his partner and proceeded with unhampered all through the race, pounding the restriction by 20.8 seconds to win out of the blue since the 2017 season finale in Abu Dhabi and produce the ideal reaction to his winless '18 season.

Formula 1 2019: Australian Grand Prix Full race results, points.

	Driver	Team	Grid	Fastest Lap	Race Time	Points
1	Bottas	Mercedes	2	1:25.580	1:25:27.325	26
2	Hamilton	Mercedes	1	1:26.057	+0:20.886	18
3	Verstappen	Red Bull	4	1:26.256	+0:22.520	15
4	Vettel	Ferrari	3	1:27.954	+0:57.109	12
5	Leclerc	Ferrari	5	1:26.926	+0:58.230	10
6	Magnussen	Haas	7	1:28.182	+1:27.156	8
7	Hulkenberg	Renault	11	1:28.444	Lapped	6
8	Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo	9	1:28.270	Lapped	4
9	Stroll	Racing Point	16	1:27.568	Lapped	2
10	Kvyat	Toro Rosso	15	1:27.448	Lapped	1
11	Gasly	Red Bull	17	1:27.229	Lapped	0
12	Norris	McLaren	8	1:28.555	Lapped	0
13	Perez	Racing Point	10	1:28.485	Lapped	0
14	Albon	Toro Rosso	13	1:28.188	Lapped	0
15	Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo	14	1:28.479	Lapped	0
16	Russell	Williams	19	1:28.713	Lapped	0
17	Kubica	Williams	20	1:29.284	Lapped	0
R	Grosjean	Haas	6	1:28.462	Retired (29)	0
R	Ricciardo	Renault	12	1:29.848	Retired (28)	0
R	Sainz Jnr	McLaren	18	1:30.899	Retired (9)	0

What happens next in F1 2019?

Bahrain in two weeks' time. Hot where Melbourne is warm. A rough surface where Melbourne is non-abrasive. A road course where Melbourne is a street track. Can Ferrari bounce back in the desert?