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Sunday's 2017 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix provided a thrilling start to the new season, but there was also plenty going on behind the scenes in the build-up to the race weekend. Here's our round-up of just a few of the highlights...

F1 on ice

Think of sunny Australia and ice hockey may not be the first sport that springs to mind - unless you hail from Finland, of course. Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas made it his mission to track down the Melbourne Mustangs...

Absent friends

__Remember this guy? Jenson Button was just one former champion excited to be watching the Grand Prix from a slightly more relaxed vantage point this season... __

Don't give up the day job

Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton shows why is probably better off at the wheel than on the ball...

It's a dog's life

Guide Dogs Australia was the official charity for the 2017 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix and Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas got to meet some of their 'ambassadors'...

F1 face-off

He may be a near rookie, but it seems McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne already has the biggest head in Formula One racing...

Model guest

The SF70H wasn't the only 'supermodel' in the Ferrari garage - Brooke Hogan also paid a visit...

Bear necessity

It wouldn't be the Australian Grand Prix without the odd cliche or two - though shouldn't that have been 'G'day mate'?

Anyone for tennis?

__Haas driver Romain Grosjean is pretty handy with a racket, though perhaps not quite as handy as this man: Dylan Alcott, triple Paralympic Gold medalist in both wheelchair tennis and wheelchair basketball... __

Cake #1

There is always cake somewhere to be found in the F1 paddock. Sauber used some to starting celebrating their 25th year of Formula One racing...

Surfs up

McLaren's Fernando Alonso made the pilgrimage to another of Australia's iconic sporting locations - Torquay, home to surfing mecca, Bells Beach...

Ferrari's leading lady

You may remember her appearing in a NASCAR pit lane alongside Cole Trickle. This weekend Oscar winner Nicole Kidman made the leap to F1 with the Scuderia.

Star struck

Meanwhile, the Mercedes crew were delighted to play host to English pop band Rudimental...

The obligatory kangaroo

Every year at least one driver has to appear with one. In 2017 it was the turn of the animal-loving Fernando Alonso.

Hamming it up

His car may not have as much grunt as its rivals, but Fernando Alonso doesn't seem short of muscle power - as he is only too happy to share with former team mate Lewis Hamilton.

Pedal to the metal

With 2017's new cars and regulations, there were always fears of trouble at the start of the race in Australia...

Pretty in pink

There was no missing the new colour scheme on Force India's cars in Australia, but some of the team went the extra mile to get noticed...

Cake #2

His first Australian Grand Prix and his 25th birthday on the same day - no wonder McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne was smiling...

Feel the force

Here's a rarity - two paddock guests used to pulling even bigger g-forces than an F1 driver...

And here's why...

Such was the volume of the air displays in Albert Park, even the most hardened race goers could not resist looking up.

Family affair

Well, he did say he wanted to spend more time with them... Reigning world champion Nico Rosberg watches the race with his wife and daughter from their Monaco apartment.

Pink points

Force India race in pink, Italian club Palermo play football in pink. Palermo have not been scoring much this season, but that didn't stop Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon picking up seven points between them on Sunday.

The other Hulk

While Nico Hulkenberg was driving for Renault in Australia, the man who played the Hulk - Melbourne native Eric Bana - was hanging out with legendary Aussie motorbike racer Mick Doohan.