<Tr> <Td_colspan="4"> Lap leaders (show) <Ul> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <P> The 2018 Australian Grand Prix (formally known as the Formula 1 2018 Rolex Australian Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 25 March 2018 in Melbourne, Victoria . The race was contested over fifty - eight laps of the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit and was the first round of the 2018 FIA Formula One World Championship . The race marked the eighty - second race in the combined history of the Australian Grand Prix--which dates back to the 100 Miles Road Race of 1928--and the twenty - third time the event was held at the Albert Park circuit . </P> <P> Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel was the defending race winner . Lewis Hamilton started the race from pole--his seventh pole position in Australia, a record for the event--while Vettel successfully defended his race win, the forty - eighth of his career . </P> <P> The race marked the competitive début of the "halo" cockpit protection device after eighteen months of rigorous testing . </P>

Who won the 2018 formula 1 australian grand prixs