Mercedes wins first race of 2014 Formula One season

The Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team entered the new era of Formula One with a composed victory for Nico Rosberg from P3 on the grid at the Australian Grand Prix. Nico claimed first place off the line and led every lap of the race to win by 24 seconds at the chequered flag. He made two pit stops on laps 12 and 38, running a tire strategy of option/option/prime, and set the fastest lap on lap 19. Lewis was forced to retire his car after two laps owing to a misfiring cylinder, which had cost engine power since the start. Nico’s win marks the 100^th F1 victory for a Mercedes-Benz engine, with the first achieved by Juan Manuel Fangio in 1954.

Nico Rosberg said, “That was an incredible day for us. To start the season with a win is unbelievable and I have to say a big thank you to everybody who was involved in building our car over the winter. I always dreamed of having such a strong Silver Arrow and now it seems we are there. In the race, everything went perfectly for me. My start was great and I was able to push from there until the end, with our fuel consumption well under control. However, despite our success today, we also know that there is still some work to do. We saw over the weekend that reliability is still a concern and it prevented us from having a strong two-car finish. We have two weeks to improve that. I am very much looking forward to Malaysia and I would love to race again tomorrow!”