Kimi Raikkonen won an action-packed, rain-affected Grand Prix in Melbourne to seal a great victory for Lotus. Fernando Alnoso took second spot for Ferrari, while reigning champion Sebastian Vettel could only finish third after starting from pole.

Lewis Hamilton secured a respectable fifth place finish in his first race for Mercedes but it was a disappointing outing for fellow Brit Jenson Button who struggled to ninth for McLaren.

The lead changed several times during the 58-lap race before Raikkonen took the front on lap 43 and never looked back.

A delighted Raikkonen said afterwards: ‘‘I was pretty confident before the race. I thought it should be easy to do it.

‘I got a good start and it worked well. I was confident that the tyres would be OK. I had a very good car all weekend even though I didn’t do any long runs in the winter.

‘You just have to get through the early laps in the first race of the season.

‘Near the end, I was still pushing because I knew Fernando was catching up a bit and I thought at some point we would need a little extra if the rain came again.’