Lewis Hamilton appears poised to ‘terminate’ the opposition again this Formula 1 season if his dominant performance in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix is anything to go by.
The reigning world champion conjured a crushing victory around Melbourne’s Albert Park, spearheading a Mercedes one-two, with teammate Nico Rosberg just 1.3secs adrift, The duo’s rivals were trailing in their wake as their nearest challenger was Sebastian Vettel on his debut for Ferrari.
Come the podium ceremony there was a surprise as Hollywood star Arnold Schwarzenegger took centre stage by conducting the interviews.
“It’s an incredible feeling to continue on from last year,” said Hamilton, before turning to Schwarzenegger and adding “but also to be up here with you man. I thought you were taller! You were taller in The Terminator!”
Forty minutes before the start, the field was reduced to 17 with the absence of Williams’ Valtteri Bottas, who failed to recover from a back injury sustained in qualifying.
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However, Felipe Massa, his fellow driver with the Grove-based team, came a highly-creditable fourth.
The Enstone-based Lotus team’s day was done inside a lap as Pastor Maldonado crashed out after being clipped by Sauber’s Felipe Nasr, while Romain Grosjean retired with a power-unit problem.
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