CATCH ME IF YOU CAN!

Mercedes’ three-year domination of Formula One looked on shaky ground on Sunday as the Silver Arrows’ confidence was rocked by Ferrari pace and a Sebastian Vettel victory in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

Motor sport pundits had pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton as a heavy favourite to win at Albert Park but the Briton finished runner-up, nearly 10 seconds behind Vettel after complaining of poor grip on the lakeside circuit.

Hamilton’s frustrations were shared in the team garage where Mercedes motorsport head Toto Wolff pounded his fist on a desk in rage after Vettel snuck in front of the Briton when re-joining the race from a pit-stop.

The German then burned away for a dominant win that has raised hopes of a genuine challenge to the Mercedes team that has swept the drivers’ and constructors’ championships for the last three years running.

The result was something neutral F1 fans had been praying for as the season starts and at the after-race press confidence of smiles and good nature, journalists joked that Vettel must have tormented Hamilton with a simple message: catch me if you can!

Vettel has lived through a number of false dawns at Ferrari but bright sunshine bathed the team’s garage after the German’s victory.

The four-times world champion cruised to his second win at Albert Park and 43rd overall, proving the Ferrari cars’ encouraging winter testing was not just a mirage.

A gloom has hovered over Maranello for a number of seasons and it seemed at its most thick last year as Vettel and Raikkonen failed to win a race amid reports of disharmony in the team garage.

But it was all bear-hugs and back-slapping at Albert Park on Sunday as Vettel crossed for the team’s first win since his last victory at the Singapore Grand Prix in 2015.

“We say this all the time, what this team has done in the last six months has been really tough, rough as well,” a beaming Vettel told reporters.

“It’s not been easy to manage the whole team, but I think the new car in general obviously is fantastic and this is a great reward, a big relief for everyone.

“There have been a lot of ups and downs, left and rights in the last 12 months. The big difference was being able to deliver a really good car.

“I saw the guys in the garage, they were smiling and singing, I’m sure we’ll see some more of that. But it’s just the beginning. Motivation has been really high but obviously it helps to wave from the podium.”

Vettel started second on the grid and had a poor start to give Hamilton clear air but the Mercedes driver pitted early to change tyres.

Luck played a part in Vettel’s fourth win with the ‘scuderia’ as Hamilton re-joined the race behind Red Bull’s belligerent teenage racer Max Verstappen who was not about to let the Briton pass.

After his own tyre-change, Vettel re-entered the race with perfect timing, sneaking in front of Verstappen and Hamilton before forging ahead to close out a dominant win.

His team mate Raikkonen finished fourth behind third-placed Valtteri Bottas, who made his Mercedes debut after crossing from Williams.

Jock Clear, Ferrari’s head of racing activities, said he was uncertain whether their cars were quicker than Mercedes in ‘absolute terms’. Vettel was also far from getting carried away about his prospects of winning a fifth title.

“It’s not the time to look at the table. Step by step,” he said. “There are new rules, regulations and generations of cars.

“Mercedes made good steps forward and we are the ones that need to catch up. Whatever happens this year, the race on Sunday doesn’t hurt.”

Three-times champion Hamilton had declared Ferrari the ‘quickest’ after winter testing and his forecast of a title fight with the Italian glamour team appeared right on the mark.

“I don’t lie. And I’m not really good at bluffing or playing poker,” he said. “I didn’t know how quick they were going to be in the race. The pace they showed in testing was true and today their speed in that first stint on ultra-soft tyres was fantastic.

“My real strength wasn’t until right at the end of the race but it was far too late by then.”

Wolff was also convinced Ferrari had the quicker car and saw testing times ahead for a team that has largely raced itself for three years.

“Some you win, some you lose and today the Ferrari was the quicker car. And it put us under pressure straight from the beginning, and that’s how we lost it,” said the Austrian.

“It’s going to be very close. There are no big margins between the teams and also between our two team mates. It’s going to be a more stressful season than in the past but personality-building.”

Bottas, who took champion Nico Rosberg’s vacant seat following the German’s shock retirement last season, was hardly jumping for joy. “I struggled quite a lot with the ultra-soft tyres, I felt I was sliding around, missing some front and rear grip,” he said at the post-race media conference. “It wasn’t a disaster but I will have my points that I will take.

“I think it’s going to be a big challenge. We need to work really hard if we want to beat Ferrari. They were quicker, no doubt.”

We shall know more on April 9 in China before the F1 bandwagon arrives in Bahrain for the third race thriller in Sakhir on April 16.