Vettel holds off Hamilton to win Australian GP

But Vettel said he believed Ferrari would fare better in race conditions — and he was right.

"I think we didn't have the true race pace to match them but we weren't that far off," he said. "Even though we were probably lucky with the virtual safety car, we still had enough pace to stay ahead and make it very difficult for him to be close and try and do something."Ricciardo also pushed Raikkonen hard for the entire second half of the race for a chance at a podium spot, but the Ferrari driver put in a masterful drive to hold him off and maintain third.

"I think we're pretty close with Ferrari and our race pace is strong," Ricciardo said. "Being so close to the podium and getting fastest lap is definitely an encouraging way to start the season."Alonso also put several dispiriting years of technical failures with McLaren's Honda-made engines behind him, securing his best race result since late 2016 with the team's new Renault engines.

Renault's Nico Hulkenberg finished in seventh place, just ahead of the other Mercedes driver, Valtteri Bottas, who crashed in qualifying and ended up starting in 15th place on the grid after incurring a penalty for switching out his damaged gearbox.

McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne finished in ninth place, followed by Renault's Carlos Sainz in 10th.

AP