Motorsport

Sebastian Vettel pipped Lewis Hamilton to the first Grand Prix of the Formula 1 season in Melbourne.

The German took an advantage of the safety car to leapfrog Lewis Hamilton who would finish in second position, with Kimi Raikkonen back in third.

Mercedes AMG's Lewis Hamilton finished fastest in qualifying for tomorrow's Australian Grand Prix.

He'll line up at the top of the grid for the first race of the F1 calendar as he begins his defence of his driver's title.

His teammate Valtteri Bottas, meanwhile, had a less enjoyable day at the office, he crashed during his qualifying and will line up tenth. 

The final race of the Formula One season turned out to be something of a procession as Valtteri Bottas signed off with victory at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver started on pole position at Las Marinas and he finished ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton, who had already wrapped up the F1 Drivers Championship title a few weeks ago.

Sebastian Vettel could only finish third, with Kimi Raikkonen taking fourth and Max Verstappen fifth.

The final race of the Formula One season takes place in Abu Dhabi this weekend and Valtteri Bottas will start on pole position following a hugely impressive performance in today's qualifying.

Lewis Hamilton has already won the Drivers' Championship title but it was his Mercedes teammate, Bottas, who starred in qualifying on Saturday, taking a fourth career pole.

The Finnish driver will start on the front of the grid in Sunday's race, alongside Hamilton, while the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel starts third and Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo is fourth.