Starting from the back of the grid on Sunday, it was never likely to be a red letter day for Jolyon Palmer.
The Briton had been left fuming after a disappointing qualifying session on Saturday which saw him starting the Grand Prix from the back row of the grid.
But once the race got underway it seemed for a short period as though things might be looking up for the Renault driver.
"The race to be honest was going all right," Palmer said after the race. "Managed to make up some couple of places on the soft tyre. Tyres were hanging on well.
"I could see Nico [Hulkenberg] and [Esteban] Ocon in front as well, so it was going alright."
But just as Palmer was beginning to think his rotten luck in Melbourne was about to turn at last, it all fell apart as the car suddenly slowed on track on lap 11. Although he picked up speed again, it happened on the next lap around. And the next.
"The brakes just kept sticking on," Palmer sighed. "It was turn 13, 14. It was weirdly those two places so we're investigating what it was.
"We suddenly ground to a halt. Pumped the pedal and it was coming back," he explained. "We hoped it was just a glitch, but it happened again so we had no alternative other than to retire."
"Obviously this weekend, every session there's been problems," he said. "Hopefully we can get them out of the way here and have much better luck in future.
"It’s not been the start I wanted to my season, so we’ll put it down to experience," he added. "But yeah - I'm looking forward to China, let's say."
GALLERY: all the pics from Sunday's action
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
