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Formula 1 is a cruel game, where luck often plays a part in whether you succeed or fail. But you can also earn your own luck with smart thinking and hard work, and you certainly cannot get away with poor decisions and sloppy strategy.
Ferrari should be kicking itself after this race. The 2016 F1 season began against a backdrop of handwringing over a failed experiment with the qualifying format, and the likely prospect of yet another one-two finish for Mercedes, yet within yards of the start Sebastian Vettel had thrust his SF16-H between the two silver cars and delivered what the decision-makers were hoping for all along.
For the first 12 laps or so this looked like a steal for Ferrari. It came to Melbourne hoping to topple the Mercedes hegemony that has dominated F1 since 2014, and led to the sort of knee-jerk reactions that changed the qualifying format on the eve of the season.
