Ferrari used human intuition to defeat algorithm reliant Mercedes at the Austrailian Grand Prix to take an unexpected victory. Sebastian Vettel used a virtual safety car period where he was able to pit and get ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Under a virtual safety car, drivers have to slow to a designated speed on the race track, whereas the pitlane isn’t does not adhere to safety car rules during a VSC period.

As a result, Vettel had a small but effective speed advantage and effectively overtook Hamilton during his pitstop allowing the Ferrari driver to rejoin the circuit him ahead of a dazed and confused Hamilton.

Before the VSC was deployed Hamilton was edging out a small lead and it appeared as if he was on his way to an easy victory.

The VSC was deployed as Team Hass suffered a double failure between laps 23 and 25. When the race resumed with Vettel in the lead Hamilton tried but failed to get past Vettel.

However, a small mistake on lap 47 of 58 cost Hamilton time and he decided to take 2nd place rather than risk pushing too much and risk overexerting his car.

Kimi Raikkonen rounded off the podium for Ferrari while Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo finished 4th, these four drivers were within 7 seconds of one another.

Alonso finished an encouraging 5th for the new McLaren Renault package, just ahead of a recovering Max Verstappen who suffered an early spin during the opening phase of the race.

Mercedes admitted that they relied on computer simulations to forge their race strategy but ultimately relied too much on AI when they should have used the human computer.

The Australian GP wasn’t a walk in the park for Mercedes, they had a small but comfortable advantage, however, their race-strategy systems were exposed when it counted.

For Hamilton, it’s time to move onto Bahrain in two weeks time and hopefully, this time wipe the smile off Vettel’s face.

Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne: