Nico Rosberg declared himself "over the moon" with his Australian Grand Prix triumph in the Formula One season-opener in Melbourne.
The Mercedes driver, who started third on the grid, won by a comfortable margin from home favorite Daniel Ricciardo to claim his fourth F1 victory.
He was aided by the early retirements of pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton and defending champion Sebastian Vettel as mechanical issues played a major role on Sunday.
But, with so much of the build-up focusing on the raft of rule changes, few could deny that Rosberg was a worthy winner.
And the German was keen to enjoy the moment.
"It's been an amazing day," he said. "I'm over the moon really, everyone has worked so hard over the winter and to have such an amazing Silver Arrow.
"I'm really thankful to Mercedes for giving me such an amazing car.
"There is a lot of work to do. We can still improve a lot and we must because the competitors are not going to be asleep."
Red Bull driver Ricciardo, who was joined on the podium by McLaren debutant Kevin Magnussen, could scarcely believe his achievement.
"Two or three weeks ago I would have bet pretty much everything I had that we would not be standing up there," he said.
"Full credit to the team for an unbelievable turnaround. I don't know how they did it but they did."