Stayed up to watch the race this morning. A few thoughts:

1. Melbourne is a weird track to try and judge engines, but that Ferrari PP seems a few ticks faster than what Renault could manage. Team Haas made it super difficult for RB and may have stayed that way if they didn't have pit issues

2. Speaking of said issues, the entire Haas team and the pit crew in particular have to be absolutely gutted with both cars having issues with the tires after doing so well in race. I expect every single tire gun is getting replaced right now, regardless how much it costs. Not sure what kind of penalty F1 will hand down for the unsafe releases

3. Kudos to Honda for getting one of their cars to the finish line. Hartley was lapped, but still...finishing has got to be a good sign, right? Baby steps...

4. Kudos to Alonso and McLaren for the biggest points haul in years. Having Alonso in the mix is always a good thing. I will admit I think he's a bit of an ass and wasn't exactly sad when his return stint to McLaren didn't go quite as planned, but he sheer number of DNFs he had to endure with that Honda engine (even at Indy, for goodness sakes) was hard to watch. Plus, he's a hell of a driver, so can't hold that against him.

5. It will be interesting watching to see how RB/McLaren/Renault match up through the season. For all the aero superiority RB supposedly has, that McLaren was right there. Again, not the best track to tell up front, but it could be a story as the season progresses.

6. Not sure what was going on with Mad Max or Bottas. Max kept overcooking Turn 3 (or was it 4? Need to watch replays) and couldn't quite make a good run of it. The spin didn't help matters either (but fortunately there wasn't a wreck there). As for Bottas, he only managed to move up 2 spots from his start. His Q3 wreck may have spooked him a bit. Definitely hurt Mercedes in points and strategy

7. Congrats to Vettel for the win. Yes, he definitely benefited from the VSC while in the pits and likely would have finished 3rd, but that's racing. Hamilton MIGHT have been able to catch him had he not locked up then overcooked the turn, but losing close to 3 seconds at that point was probably too much to ask on that track. Let the party/smile wiping comments continue for the next 2 weeks. I'm sure Hamilton will be stewing and do his best to show out in Bahrain.

8. Mercedes may again have the strongest car in the field. Before the VSC drama, Hamilton looked to be stretching the field being at least 4 seconds clear of Kimi. I'm betting he was cruising a bit up front with no real challenge and no reason to stress the engine. He only pushed to try to build a gap for the tire change, which it didn't look like he had much problem doing. After the VSC debacle, Vettel couldn't get too far in front of Hamilton even when Hamilton made his mistake, and only built a big gap at the end once Hamilton conceded the win. Again, Melbourne isn't the best track to suss this out entirely (and Bottas' struggles from the rear don't exactly help). Time will tell.

9. F1's online race viewing can't get here soon enough. I'm not sure what feed ESPN was using but it was crap yesterday. The commercial breaks were insufferable, and the commentators couldn't tell if they were in Australia or Mexico. Fortunately I could watch a Univision feed on cable when the commercial break came through (even though I couldn't understand a bit of it). Because of the timing of the commercial block I couldn't figure out what had happened to Grosjean, as his car stopped during the commercials. Without having a localized feed or announcer crew, they didn't get back to it to tell those watching in the States what was going on (the broadcast just picked up the feed in progress). Say what you will about Hobbs, Diffey and Matchette, but not having a localized team calling the races in the States is a horrible decision by ESPN. If they don't figure out a way to fix it, and fast, I will stream the race.

See everybody in Bahrain!