Lotus's Kimi Raikkonen has won the 2013 Formula One season-opening Australian Grand Prix, finishing ahead of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and Red Bull's world champion Sebastian Vettel at Melbourne's Albert Park on Sunday 17 March.

Kimi Raikkonen
Reuters

The Finnish driver, who triumphed in Abu Dhabi towards the end of last year, has now repeated the feat in the first race this season and was more than 12 seconds ahead of Alonso.

"Thanks everybody, I thought the car was good," was the 33-year-old Finn's radio message, after taking the chequered flag. Raikkonen last won the Australian Grand Prix in 2007.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa finished fourth, ahead of Mercedes's Lewis Hamilton. Red Bull driver and hometown favourite Mark Webber finished sixth, after a horror start.

Force India's Adrian Sutil, who was making his F1 return, finished seventh, which was nothing less than the German deserved having twice led the race. Sutil's team-mate Paul di Resta came eighth, while McLaren's Jenson Button and Lotus' Romain Grosjean completed the top 10.

Torrential rain forced the postponement of the final two-thirds of the qualifying sessions until Sunday morning. After the dust settled, Vettel was in pole position, with Webber completing a Red Bull one-two for the starting grid. However, both drivers failed to match their qualifying pace with an impressive final result.

Full Results: 1. Raikkonen 2. Alonso 3. Vettel 4. Massa 5. Hamilton 6. Webber 7. Sutil 8. di Resta 9. Button 10. Grosjean 11. Perez 12. Vergne 13. Gutierrez 14. Bottas 15. Bianchi 16. Pic 17. Chilton 18. Van der Garde

Retired: Ricciardo, Rosberg, Maldonado

Non-Starter: Hulkenberg