Lewis Hamilton's abysmal record of converting pole into victory in Australia continued after a poor start on Sunday.
Despite having started at the front each of the past six years, only once, in 2015, has he gone on to win and this time it was Valtteri Bottas who capitalised.
The world champion wasn't helped by Mercedes Vettel-watching as a decision to react to the German's early pit-stop proved decisive, and he was still upbeat with P2.
“It’s a good weekend for the team so I have to be happy for everyone, Valtteri drove an incredible race today and deserved it,” Hamilton said.
“It’s a great start to the year and it’s what we could have hoped for for the team.”
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His position was under threat from Max Verstappen, who like Bottas benefitted from a more conventional strategy to pass Sebastian Vettel for third.
“I had Max covered behind me, and I had some ideas of where the pace went, but I’ll go through it with my engineers afterwards," Hamilton continued.
“I’ll just train and work hard to stay and improve for next time.
“It was a really solid weekend, but I have to work on my starts more," he added. "I didn’t have a problem, just didn’t have a good one.”
Since the race ended, Mercedes has also revealed floor damage on Hamilton's car which likely further impacted his race pace.
“We have discovered damage to Lewis’ floor at the region of the left-rear tyre seal (in front of the rear tyre) which will have exacerbated the challenges he had with the car balance,” a spokesman said.
“A chunk of the floor is missing, not sure how or why at this stage.”
