It was Button’s 50th career podium in his 15th season in Formula
One, and his first since the passing of John Button in January.
Alongside the disqualified Ricciardo, Button’s 21-year-old team-mate Magnussen
was the star of the race. His performance even bettered that of Lewis
Hamilton’s rookie debut with McLaren at Albert Park in 2007.
Hamilton’s race was almost over before it began, as one of his six engine
cylinders misfired on the way to the grid. The 2008 world champion was
philosophical after retiring on lap two, taking solace from Nico Rosberg’s
dominant victory.
“I am generally quite relaxed,” the 29-year-old said. “I did everything right
and everything I could. I did everything right, I couldn’t have been any
more focused. I couldn’t have done anything about it, so it is what it is.
The positive thing is that the car is fantastic and we’ve still got a long
way to go.
“There’s a massive positive, we won the race so for a team it’s a really
strong position to be in. There’s a lot of data for the guys to work on. We
just have to look to the next race.”
It was an impressive display by the pre-season favourites, but Hamilton’s
retirement shows that the team still have some way to go to make the car
bulletproof.
Asked how the retirement might affect his championship challenge, Hamilton
said: “I’m a few points down already after the first race, but there’s a
long way to go so I’ll just have to work hard to pull it back. I’ll keep
doing what I’m doing. Keep pushing and keep my mind focused on doing the
job.”