Melbourne: Sebastian Vettel's hopes of a Sunday "party" after Mercedes' Saturday celebrations were fulfilled in spades with a "lucky" win for Ferrari at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

Vettel, who had been third fastest in practice, retorted that "what goes around comes around". Vettel, however, denied there was extra satisfaction winning after the Briton's taunt. "Not really. He said he was joking and I believe him. I hold no grudges," Vettel said on Sunday. "I think we are old enough, I don't think we need to go on that sort of level. It's fine as long as we joke with each other.

"I think all of us share a common passion and that makes us quite equal again. We love racing and we try to do our best once we're in the car and beat all the others. I think in that regard, I don't see why we shouldn't get on with each other."

Vettel's win had echoes of last year's race when he re-entered from the pits in front of pole-sitter Hamilton and burned away to victory as the Briton battled traffic. Last year, however, Ferrari had a better car and the performance gap with Mercedes was far less glaring, added Vettel, making a sobering assessment of his team's immediate prospects in the series.

"I think last year we had more pace in relative terms. Last year, we were putting them under pressure," he said. Reuters