2017 Australian GP: Top 10 quotes after race

Ten years on from Kimi Raikkonen’s victory at Albert Park, Scuderia Ferrari has returned to winning ways in Melbourne

Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF70H, 1st Position, celebrates on arrival in Parc Ferme

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG, 2nd Position, Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1st Position, and Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes AMG, 3rd Position, on the podium

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 W08, leads Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF70H

Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes AMG, 3rd Position, with his trophy

Sergio Perez, Force India VJM10, leads Nico Hulkenberg, Renault Sport F1 Team RS17, and Fernando Alonso, McLaren MCL32

Sergio Perez, Force India VJM10, leads Carlos Sainz Jr., Scuderia Toro Rosso STR12

Carlos Sainz Jr, Scuderia Toro Rosso STR12

Daniil Kvyat, Scuderia Toro Rosso STR12, leads Fernando Alonso, McLaren MCL32, and Nico Hulkenberg, Renault Sport F1 Team RS17

Nico Hulkenberg, Renault Sport F1 Team RS17, leads Esteban Ocon, Force India VJM10, and Lance Stroll, Williams FW40

Cla	#	Driver	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Gap	km/h	Points
1	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	Ferrari	57	1:24'11.672		215.408	25
"It's been a great day for us. The team has been working so hard at the track as much as back at the factory. It's a great feeling. "Grazie mille", you can't say much more. The last months have been really intense, it's been tough to get into the rhythm. It's just the beginning and there's still a lot of work going on. This is one of many steps and we have to enjoy what we do. It's great to see people smiling. Now we have to reset to go to China and try to do a good job."
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	Mercedes	57	1:24'21.647	9.975	214.984	18
"A big congratulations to Sebastian and Ferrari. I know this win has been a long time coming for them. This shows we've got a real race on our hands this season and it's a challenge we will relish. It's going to be great for the fans. We had a really good start which is fantastic. It was nice to get a good getaway. But I was struggling with grip from the get-go. Sebastian was able to always answer me in terms of lap time and just go quicker. Towards the end of the first stint I caught some traffic and that overheated the tyres. I struggled for grip to the point where I needed to come in, plus the gap was closing up and I was sliding around a lot. We made the call to pit, because otherwise I think Sebastian would have come past me anyway. After my stop I got caught in some traffic which was unfortunate but that's motor racing."
3	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	Mercedes	57	1:24'22.922	11.250	214.930	15
"There are always things that could have gone better on the day but it's a good starting point for my journey driving for Mercedes. As a team I think we did a really good job with the car we had. But Ferrari were quicker today, there's no doubt about that. They've obviously done a great job over the winter. From my side the main issue was the first stint. I felt like I was always sliding around on the UltraSoft tyre - missing front and rear grip - especially after 10 laps. That wasn't easy. But once we stuck on the Softs I had a great feeling with the car. It was behaving really nicely and it felt really nice to drive. It's a shame it was just a bit too late. But overall this race wasn't a disaster. It's good to start with a podium with a new team and every position is important for the Championship. There's a long season ahead. I have my points and I'll do better next time. I'm looking forward to China."
4	7	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	Ferrari	57	1:24'34.065	22.393	214.458	12
"In the first stint I struggled a bit with the Ultrasoft tires, but once I switched to the Soft compound the car was behaving really nicely. It was not the most exciting race for me, most of the time I was fuel saving, but when I was pushing the car was fast and I got a really good feeling. Fourth place is a bit disappointing, but we scored some points and Seb's win is a great result for the whole team. We learned a lot from this weekend: we start from here, with a good package and we pretty much know what we have to do to make the car better."
5	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	TAG	57	1:24'40.499	28.827	214.186	10
“The start was really good but it was just a shame that out of turn one I had dirty air ahead of me, this allowed Kimi to stay on the outside and get in front of me again. From then on the pace wasn’t too bad, I could follow him pretty well which was a nice surprise and I had no pressure from behind me. It was positive to see we weren’t that far off Ferrari and Mercedes over a full race distance, this was a concern this morning but I’m relieved now to finish within touching distance. Physically I feel fine, you have to fight the cars a bit but to be honest I feel better than I did last year after race distance. The car behaved and handled quite a bit better than in qualifying. It was hard to follow and drive close behind others, I think as soon as you get within two seconds you can really feel it and could destroy your tyres. Looking ahead to China I think we need to keep working hard on the car, race pace was good but you can still see we are not quick enough in certain situations.”
6	19	Felipe Massa	Williams	Mercedes	57	1:25'35.058	1'23.386	211.911	8
“It was definitely a good race. I knew the most important thing for me was to overtake Grosjean at the start, because the competition was looking more with him than with the other guys in front who I knew would be very difficult to beat such as Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes. I had a very good start and passed him, then my race was free from there until the end. The result was just great. I was so happy with the whole race. The way I was managing the tyres, the consistency, the work from the whole team, the pitstop - everything worked really well. We managed to beat the teams behind us in the right way. This is something we can really think about in terms of working towards the World Championship. I’m really happy with the result today, so thanks to the whole team. Not bad for an old boy!”
7	11	Sergio Perez	F. India	Mercedes	56	1:24'27.579	1 lap	210.965	6
“I am very pleased with the result and I don’t believe there is anything we could have done better today. Seventh place was the most we could achieve and the team had to make all the right calls to get this result. We had the correct strategy and we managed the tyres well to bring the points home. We still had to pull a few big moves on Kvyat and Sainz, even though it was not easy to overtake, but once I was in clean air I felt I was in a very strong position. Driving these cars is so much fun: you can push a lot harder than in the past and I was doing my fastest laps towards the end of the race. We know we still need to improve this car and there is more performance to come, but this is a positive start to our season and we can be happy this evening.”
8	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso	Renault	56	1:24'28.873	1 lap	210.911	4
“A tricky race! Obviously, with this new generation of cars, we didn’t know really what to expect, but to finish P8 is a decent result I’m happy with. It’s a shame that soon after the pit-stop we lost the position to Perez. I struggled after having to let Daniil and the two Mercedes by, as my tyre temperatures dropped down a bit and it took me some time to get back into rhythm. Towards the end of the race I was coming fast, catching the Force India, and I got quite close to overtaking him - if only there had been a few more laps, I could’ve given it a try. This race weekend was definitely a confidence boost for the whole team – to get both cars into Q3 yesterday and end with a double-points finish today is a really good start and now we need to make sure we keep on going like this.”
9	26	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	Renault	56	1:24'42.486	1 lap	210.346	2
“What a good race! It was just a shame that we had to make an extra stop during the final laps, as we had to fill my car with air again… If it hadn’t been for that, P7 was definitely on the table and we were fighting for it well! The team has done a fantastic job all weekend and I’m very glad about that – congratulations and thank you everyone! We now need to keep pushing and fighting for more points like today. Physically speaking, it wasn’t an easy race but I felt good the whole time – I need to thank my trainer for that, we worked very well throughout the whole winter! All in all, a good way to start the season, showing strong pace and with both cars in the points; now we can start to prepare for China and we can all be pleased with ourselves.”
10	31	Esteban Ocon	F. India	Mercedes	56	1:25'20.115	1 lap	208.800	1
“Scoring my first point in Melbourne is a very nice reward after what has been quite a tough weekend. I spent almost the entire race fighting against Fernando [Alonso] because we were side-by-side for the first lap of the race. He was able to stay ahead and I had to chase him for the rest of the afternoon. It was a hard fight because Fernando is a tough opponent and it was so difficult to get close and overtake. Eventually I found a gap in the last few laps and took my chance going into turn one. It was a big moment for my race and took me into the points. I’m happy with the result and I feel I’ve learned a huge amount from my first race weekend with this team. I hope this is the first point of many this season.”