Pirelli's soft compound comes out on top in Melbourne

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Data released by Pirelli following the Australian Grand Prix suggests soft compound tyres were the best performers in Melbourne.

An infographic from Formula 1's tyre providers shows they lasted longer than either the supersoft or ultrasoft equivalents. The soft tyres were also responsible for the fastest laps of the race.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen was the fastest man overall on the Albert Park Circuit. His best time on Sunday clocked in at 1:26.538s. That compares with last year's best time of 1:28.997s, which had been set by Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo.

This year the best time on supersofts was 1:26.964s set by Max Verstappen, a full second faster than the next-best lap from Daniil Kvyat.

Kvyat himself set the fastest time of 1:26.711s on the ultrasoft tyres. The Toro Rosso driver ran the longest stint of anyone on the ultrasofts. He completed the first 34 laps of the race before switching to a set of soft tyres.

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Kvyat was Forced into an additional late pit stop on lap 49 to refill the engine air system. He took the opportunity to put on another set of ultrasofts for the final eight laps in a bid to set the fastest lap.

But by this time the fuel loads were light enough to allow Kimi Raikkonen to clinch the honours on the penultimate lap. That was despite having run 30 laps on his set of soft tyres.

McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne ran the longest on a single set of tyres, with 46 laps on soft tyres. The supersofts proved almost as durable: Kevin Magnussen managed 43 laps in the Haas, before retiring 11 laps from the finish.

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.