[10] In the week before the Grand Prix, race officials confirmed the inclusion of a third drag reduction system (DRS) zone.

The wishbone-shaped frame mounted above and around the driver's head was developed following a series of major accidents in open wheel racing, such as the death of Henry Surtees in a Formula Two race at Brands Hatch in 2009 and Felipe Massa sustaining a head injury from being struck in the helmet by a detached coil spring from Rubens Barrichello's car at the Hungaroring six days later.

Charles Leclerc, the reigning Formula 2 champion and 2016 GP3 Series title winner, made his competitive début with Sauber.

[16] Elsewhere, Toro Rosso employed 2016 GP2 Series champion Pierre Gasly and two-time World Endurance co-champion Brendon Hartley as their full-time drivers for 2018 after the pair debuted with the squad in the latter stages of the 2017 championship.

The Ferrari duo of Kimi Räikkönen and Vettel were fourth and fifth with Daniel Ricciardo sixth in the second Red Bull car.

[23] Though the session passed without any major incidents, Vettel and Haas driver Kevin Magnussen both ran into the grass beside the track surface.

[22][24] In the second practice session, Verstappen was the early pace setter after ten minutes and held the top position until Bottas beat his time.

[25] Early in the session, Esteban Ocon lost control of his Force India and ran into the turn three gravel trap but he rejoined without trouble.

[27] The session was stopped for five minutes when a timing cable wire detached and fell onto the start/finish straight and was picked up by track marshals quickly.

[30] During the session, in which Verstappen and Nico Hülkenberg of Renault slithered exiting turn ten, the steering wheel on Hamilton's car was replaced in the pit lane when it developed a technical fault,[31] and owing to a lack of spare car parts, Force India chose not to set any timed laps during the one-hour period.

[34] The five drivers who were eliminated from qualifying in Q1 were Hartley, the Saubers of Ericsson and Leclerc, Sirotkin,[33] and Gasly after he made a driving error and ran into the turn three gravel trap after he locked his tyres.

[33][34] As he began his first timed lap in Q3,[34] Bottas took too much kerb on the exit to the first turn,[33] which was damp from the earlier rain, causing him to run wide, and he spun from having excessive wheelspin into the right-hand side barrier at turn two, and crashed heavily in an impact measured at 27 g.[36] His car spun ending up in the middle of the track with debris littered across it.

[37] When Q3 restarted, Hamilton paced the field but his first lap was slower than in Q2, possibly because of fluid deposited by his teammate Bottas between turns one and two.

[38] He was joined on the grid's front row by Räikkönen who recorded a lap 0.664 seconds slower and his teammate Vettel was third after a driving error at turn 13.

[33] Following his crash that brought Q3 to a stop, Bottas was transported to the circuit's medical centre for a precautionary check-up and he was declared fit to race.

[36] The grid lined up after penalties as Hamilton, Räikkönen, Vettel, Verstappen, Magnussen, Grosjean, Hülkenberg, Ricciardo, Sainz, Alonso, Vandoorne, Pérez, Stroll, Ocon, Bottas, Hartley, Ericsson, Leclerc, Sirotkin and Gasly.

On lap 24, Grosjean retired at turn 2 from seventh after pitting with the same problem as his teammate Magnussen resulting in a Virtual Safety Car (VSC) being called out.

This left the top ten Vettel, Hamilton, Räikkönen, Ricciardo, Alonso, Verstappen, Hülkenberg, Bottas, Vandoorne and Sainz.

Vettel took the chequered flag to win the Australian Grand Prix for the second consecutive year, followed by Hamilton and Räikkönen rounding the podium.

Ricciardo, Alonso, Verstappen, Hülkenberg, Bottas, Vandoorne and Sainz in that order completed the top ten, with Renault scoring their first double-points-finish since the 2011 Turkish Grand Prix.