Rosberg picks up from where he left off to win opener

The German driver won Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix ahead of world champion Lewis Hamilton. The Briton started on pole but made a poor start and soon dropped to sixth before fighting back to take second place and make it another one-two for Mercedes AMG Petronas.

Rosberg took advantage when the race was stopped following Fernando Alonso’s crash to get past early leader Sebastian Vettel mid-race.

Alonso was involved in an incident with Esteban Gutierrez, driving for the new Banbury-based Haas F1 team on lap 17. He caught the rear of Gutierrez’s car and landed upside down in the barriers.

Rosberg hit the front on lap 35 but Hamilton lost three further places after being driven wide by his Brackley team-mate.

Hamilton looked set for a comfortable second place but in the end was fighting to hold off Vettel before the Ferrari driver spun at the penultimate corner with two laps to go.

Romain Grosjean drove to an impressive sixth place on his debut for Haas while Jolyon Palmer came 11th for Renault F1, one place ahead of Enstone team-mate Kevin Magnussen.