Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg comfortably won the Formula One season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Sunday, after pole-sitter and team-mate Lewis Hamilton plus world champion Sebastian Vettel suffered early retirements.

Vettel's Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo finished second to become the first Australian to finish on the podium in his home race, while McLaren's Kevin Magnussen claimed a podium on debut, finishing third.

Rosberg started third on the grid and was the first car to reach turn one, then drove away from the field to eventually win by 24.5 seconds at the Albert Park street circuit.

Hamilton retired after four laps and Vettel followed a lap later, both suffering engine failures as they come to grips with the F1's new V6 turbo hybrid engines. McLaren's Jenson Button was fourth and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso finished fifth.

Williams driver Valtteri Bottas recovered from losing a wheel early in the race to finish in sixth place, passing Force India's Nico Hulkenberg and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, who finished seventh and eighth respectively, ahead of the Toro Rosso pair Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniil Kvyat.

The 19-year-old Kvyat's 10th place made him the youngest driver ever to earn an F1 point, breaking Vettel's record set at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix. The 21-year-old Magnussen was the second-youngest driver to claim a podium, behind Vettel's record at the 2007 US Grand Prix.

Despite fears that few cars would complete the race due to a series of reliability problems with the new cars, there were 15 finishers. There was only one major accident, with Caterham driver Kamui Kobayashi slamming into the back of Felipe Massa's Williams at the first corner, immediately ending the race for both drivers.