![Driver’s seat: New Formula One boss Chase Carey, left, and racing legend Jackie Stewart catch up before the start of the ...](/content/dam/images/g/v/6/w/f/7/image.related.afrArticleLead.620x350.gv5sni.png/1490566960920.jpg)
With the start of the AFL season taking much of Melbourne's attention and a television clash with several football codes during the race, the Australian Grand Prix needed a strong performance from local hero Daniel Ricciardo.
What the Melbourne race and Ricciardo got instead was nothing but ill fortune.
The Red Bull team driver retired with engine failure on lap 29, having already suffered the ignominy of being forced to start the Sunday afternoon race two laps behind the field after his car was stuck in sixth gear on a parade lap.
"Sorry, mate, the car's done. Lets get the f--- out of here," Ricciardo could be heard saying over the car radio when his race ended.
![Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel on the podium with Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas.](/content/dam/images/g/v/6/u/j/o/image.imgtype.afrArticleInline.620x0.png/1490553993115.jpg)
What the global Formula One circuit and its new owners Liberty Media, which had clinched majority control in a $US8 billion deal in January, got was some exciting racing and some challenges to the dominant Mercedes team and its lead driver Lewis Hamilton.
Ferrari
"We want great races, it starts with that," said new Formula One boss Chase Carey, Rupert Murdoch's former chief operating officer at News Corporation, said pre-race, before adding that another wish was to make the global racing circuit "a great business for all our partners: the teams, the promoters, our sponsors and so on".
In terms of the Melbourne race at least, and in stark contrast to Ricciardo, Carey's hope came true.
After Hamilton, who had begun the race from pole position, had streaked ahead early in the race, some questionable strategy by his team saw him pit before his rivals for a change of tyres but then get stuck behind Ricciardo's teammate Max Verstappen after re-entering the fray.
![Crows fans had plenty to celebrate in round one.](/content/dam/images/g/v/6/u/i/c/image.imgtype.afrArticleInline.620x0.png/1490584744270.jpg)
Ferrari's German driver Sebastian Vettel took advantage to race so far ahead in the lead that he was able to emerge from his own pit stop ahead of Hamilton. His lead for about two-thirds of the race was maintained and he went on to win the famous Italian team's first race since 2015.
Yet there was virtually no passing between the cars during the race, meaning the sport's new owners have some work to do to bring some parity to the field. Mercedes spends $700 million annually, and Red Bull and Ferrari about $400 million to $550 million each year in pursuit of glory, well ahead of the seven other teams.
Competitive
"We need as many teams to be as competitive as possible," Formula One motorsport boss Ross Brawn said before the race. "We need to flatten off the variation between the front and the back of the grid so that ... perhaps a smaller team or private team can win a race. At the moment that is highly unlikely."
![Lewis Hamilton- Mercedes, The start of the 2017 Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park](/content/dam/images/g/v/6/r/w/7/image.imgtype.afrArticleInline.620x0.png/1490553993021.jpg)
For Ricciardo though, his problems continue a run of bad luck at his home Grand Prix that included a disqualification in 2014 after finishing second.
His retirement on Sunday had been preceded by a crash in Saturday's qualifying and a gearbox replacement that relegated him to 15th on the starting grid – before the parade lap issues struck and he was forced to last position.
"Go on, Daniel, get stuck in and have fun," a Red Bull team engineer could be heard telling Ricciardo over the team radio as he finally left pit lane on the race's second lap.
It turned out to be anything but fun for the Australian.