Hamilton: Respect for Vettel is the highest

Hamilton gained the advantage in China through early strategy calls in a chaotic opening few laps but the race eventually distilled to a battle between him and Vettel in the closing laps, the two cars separated by about eight seconds. Of course, the new cars were fast in Melbourne too, but as a fairly low-speed street circuit, it wasn't exactly playing to their strengths. In the side-by-side footage, you'll see that while the top speeds are similar on the straights, the new vehicle is able to achieve significantly higher corner speeds, and looks practically glued to the road.

Raikkonen couldn't challenge the Red Bulls for podium position and settled for fifth place overall, with Verstappen finishing third and Ricciardo fourth.

"Max's performance was impressive", Lauda admitted, "but I do not think Red Bull really got any closer".

Hamilton and Vettel have each won a race and finished second so far, and Mercedes team chairman Lauda told Bild: "I am afraid that this duel will last the whole season".

Raikkonen - who was unhappy with how his own strategy played out later in the race - also spent much of the first stint holding Vettel up while the pair were bottled up behind the Red Bulls, all while eventual race victor Lewis Hamilton built a lead out in front.

"I think I had the pace to control, being in that position, but if there wasn't a safety auto it would have been a flat out race, couple of seconds between us the whole way probably, because we were very close in lap time", Hamilton said.

"Honestly, I hope that Red Bull can improve through the season because I think a third element in the fight would be even more exciting".

"We're both doing that, and that's a great place to be". Valterri Bottas was sixth, followed by Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso), Kevin Magnussen (Haas) and the Force India's of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon.

The analysis however shows that Ferrari is better in warmer conditions while the Mercedes prefers the cold.

"Naturally he wants to beat me and vice versa, but outside the vehicle there is admiration for the others' achievements and the way they drive".

Valtteri Bottas suffered greatly when he lost control while warming up his tires as the safety vehicle was out.

"So for us it is really good news we had another race where we were really close and were able to put some pressure on".