Haas laid low by double retirement in Melbourne

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A year ago, Haas f1 stunned the paddock by taking points in Australia in their maiden Grand Prix appearance. But there was no repeat of that success in 2017, with both Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen failing to last the distance.

A water leak later derailed Grosjean’s participation, sending him to the garage after just 13 laps.

"I suddenly lost a lot of power," reported Grosjean. "I told the guys, then the next thing I knew I had to slow down the car.

"It’s a pretty disappointing result," he admitted. "Right now I’m hot and we’re all disappointed to lose a seventh-place position,

"But the car was there in qualifying in P6," he pointed out. "Tomorrow I’m going to wake up thinking, you know what, we’ve got a great car, so no matter what, we’re going to be there this year.

"I guess the key for us is to keep the momentum and get the consistency we didn’t have last year," he added. "If we do that, then I’m sure there are going to be plenty of races where we can score good points."

Vettel delivers shock Ferrari win in Melbourne!

Magnussen survived a first lap collision with Sauber's Marcus Ericsson only to end up retiring 11 laps from the end of the race with suspension issues.

"I had contact at turn three," Magnussen confirmed. "Ericsson was on the outside and I understeered into the side of him, which was unfortunate.

"I lost my front wing and damaged the car a little bit. We changed the front wing. Then I went for a long test session to feel the car and learn a bit more about it, which was good.

"It feels good and the car is fast," he said. "That’s the really positive thing from this weekend. The car is there. We just have to make it finish and score points."

GALLERY: all the pics from Sunday's action

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.