2018 Australian Grand Prix
| 2018 Australian Grand Prix | ||||
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Race 1 of 21 in the 2018 Formula One World Championship
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Layout of the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit | ||||
| Race details | ||||
| Date | 25 March 2018 | |||
| Official name | Formula 1 2018 Rolex Australian Grand Prix | |||
| Location | Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne, Australia | |||
| Course | Temporary street circuit | |||
| Course length | 5.303 km (3.295 miles) | |||
| Distance | 58 laps, 307.574 km (191.118 miles) | |||
| Weather | Sunny | |||
| Pole position | ||||
| Driver | Mercedes | |||
| Time | 1:21.164 | |||
| Fastest lap | ||||
| Driver | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer | ||
| Time | 1:25.945 on lap 54 | |||
| Podium | ||||
| First | Ferrari | |||
| Second | Mercedes | |||
| Third | Ferrari | |||
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Lap leaders | ||||
The 2018 Australian Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 2018 Rolex Australian Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 25 March 2018 in Melbourne, Victoria. The race was contested at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit and was the first round of the 2018 FIA Formula One World Championship. The race marked the 83rd race in the combined history of the Australian Grand Prix – which dates back to the 100 Miles Road Race of 1928 – and the 23rd time the event was held at the Albert Park circuit.
Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel was the defending race winner. Lewis Hamilton started the race from pole – his seventh pole position in Australia, a record for the event – while Vettel successfully defended his race win, the 48th of his career and stood on the podium for the 100th time. It was the Grand Prix debut of future race winner Charles Leclerc, who drove for Sauber. The race was also the first race since the official introduction of the halo cockpit safety device.
It was also the first Grand Prix appearance/debut of Williams driver and former F2 driver Sergey Sirotkin, although he would retire the race on his race debut after a plastic bag entered his brake duct and was forced to pull of at Turn 13.