Vettel admits he 'got lucky' to grab Melbourne win

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Sebastian Vettel celebrated his 110th podium appearance with victory in the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

It hadn't looked on the cards early on, when he was running behind Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen for the first 22 laps of the race.

However that all changed when a double retirement for Haas gave Ferrari the opportunity to spring a surprise on their rivals.

"Really enjoyed it," said Vettel after clinching his 48th career victory. "We got a bit lucky with the safety car, obviously.

"I was hoping my start to be be a bit better," he admitted. "It didn't really work, so I had to settle for third.

"Then toward the end of that first stint I lost a bit of the connection to Lewis and Kimi ahead," he continued.

"I was struggling a bit with the tyres. I was happier with the soft tyres - the yellow tyres at the end for the second stint.

"I was praying for a safety car," he said. "Then there was a car that stopped in turn 4. Then somebody saw it was a Haas in the exit turn 2.

Vettel outsmarts Hamilton for victory in 2018 season opener

"When I saw it, obviously I was really full of adrenaline. Even though the race is frozen, but still to come into the pits with everything on the limit, trying to get back out.

"They told me it was really close with Lewis," he recalled. "When we got out ahead I knew that it was really difficult [for him] to get past.

"But he kept some pressure on, especially the beginning of the last stint," he added. "And then at the end, at least the last five laps, I could enjoy it a bit more.

Vettel even had a chance to see the reaction of the fans as he drove to the chequered flag.

"A great turnout today," he said from the podium. "Saw it in the grandstands - I enjoyed the lap coming up.

"Obviously we got a little bit lucky today," he reiterated. "Lewis had a great lap yesterday [in qualifying]. He deserved pole position. He drove a very good race, obviously controlled it in the beginning.

"Then as I said we got a bit lucky," he continued. "But we'll take it! We put a flag up for every win in Maranello for every win, so I asked them to do that this morning back in Europe.

"We're not yet there where we want to be. We're not exactly there with the car. If I don't feel what I need to feel then it's a bit tricky.

"But I think it gives us a good start and good wind, and fresh motivation for the next couple of weeks."

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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.