2017 Rolex Australian Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel stunned the world of Formula 1 by executing a fantastic strategy to guide Ferrari to their first win in 2 years, coincidentally, that win 2 years ago was also by Vettel.

The 4 time World Champion showed fantastic pace as the SF70H really began to flex it's muscles after the Italian stable had tried their best to sandbag the true ability of the car throughout pre-season testing and qualifying.

Pre-race favourite Lewis Hamilton executed what Mercedes believed to be the undercut on Ferrari, only to be stuck behind RedBull Racing driver, Max Verstappen. The young prospect may have been struggling for pace on ever degrading tyres, but the skill proved too much until Verstappen pitted as Hamilton try as he may, could not find a way past.

Ferrari and Vettel capitalised on this issue as on Lap 23, Vettel re-emerged from the pit-lane ahead of Hamilton. This proved pivotal as Ferrari had executed the overcut, a strategy that saw the boys in red react to Hamilton being held up and got Vettel in and out, into clean air behind teammate Kimi Raikkonen who was still due a pitstop.

Vettel maintained a steady gap back to Lewis, with it peaking at 22 seconds at one juncture during the race.

In one ironic twist, back in 2013, all fans were pleading for someone other than Vettel to win races. However, with the evolution of the hybrid era and the dominance of the Silver Arrows, many fans are now hoping that Vettel does win regularly to truly re-assert competition and unpredictability into the sport.

F1 descends on Shanghai, China next and as we look forward to race day on April 9th, will we see Scuderia Ferrari bewilder Mercedes with their pace, or will Mercedes concoct the correct formula to vanquish their rivals?

Or will we see a twist of fate in the form of RedBull? Can Max Verstappen or Daniel Ricciardo re-write the script?

No matter the result that we see, the general consensus from fans is that the cars are far better than previous years of the hybrid era!