Lotus Takes Surprise Win in Australia

LotusLotus E21United Kingdom, 2013 > 20136 photos
took an early and surprising victory at the Australian Grand Prix with Kimi Raikkonen taking the first win of the season, and his second win since returning to F1 last season.

Raikkonen had a strong start by moving from seventh to fourth on the first lap. Lotus used a two-stop strategy, unlike the three stops that the other top teams used. That allowed Raikkonen to move to first while the other drivers were in the pits. He pitted on lap 34, which put Alonso and Vettel in first and second. It didn't last long as Sebastian Vettel pitted on lap 37, and Alonso pitted on lap 39. Raikkonen cruised back to the top. 

The FerrarisFerrari F138Italy, 2013 > 20138 photos
showed good performance for the first race with Fernando Alonso in second, and Felipe Massa challenged Vettel for third near the end of the race. He was not able to make it stick, but the team appears to have good performance early in the season.

Webber had a terrible start from second place and fell to seventh by the end of the first lap. By the end of the race, he was only able to improve one spot on that to sixth place. 

Of the top teams, McLarenMcLaren MP4-28United Kingdom, 2013 > 20136 photos
had by far the worst day. Jenson Button switched from supersofts to medium tires on lap 4 and raced with Romain Grosjean for most of the race. Sergio Perez nearly passed Grosjean late in the race but was not able to make it stick. 

There were also several retirements. Nico Hulkenberg had a fuel system problem that kept him from starting; Pastor Maldonado went off track and got beached. Nico Rosberg had electrical problems, and Daniel Ricciardo had a broken exhaust.