For the second year in a row, Hamilton decided not to exercise his prerogative as reigning World Champion to bear the number 1 on his car, and would instead race with his career number 44. In pre-season testing, Mercedes covered the most distance in testing, almost and once again looked to be favourites for both the Drivers' and Constructors' championships. At the season opener in Australia, Hamilton qualified on pole. After a poor start, he recovered to finish second behind Rosberg. In the second race of the season in Bahrain, Hamilton again qualified on pole. In the race however, Hamilton was crashed into on the first lap by Bottas, for which Bottas was handed a drive-through penalty, before recovering to finish the race in third behind Rosberg and Räikkönen. In China, Hamilton did not set a time in qualifying and started at the back of the grid. He got as high up fifth but was overtaken by Räikkönen and Ricciardo near the end of the race to finish seventh. In Russia, Hamilton did not set a time in the third part of qualifying, meaning he started from tenth on the grid. He finished second behind Rosberg, despite having zero water pressure for the last sixteen laps. After the first four rounds, Hamilton entered the European rounds of the season yet to win a race and trailing Rosberg, who had won the every race so far, in the Drivers' standings by 43 points.