Reigning Formula 1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel brought forward his strong qualifying performance into the 2011 Australian GP and has emerged victorious by being the first driver to cross the finish line. The German driver from last year’s Constructors champion Red Bull maintained his lead pretty much for the entire duration of the race ahead of 2008 World Champion Lewis Hamilton from McLaren.
The final podium position went to Lotus Renault’s Vitaly Petrov after an excellent drive. Interestingly, the Russian managed to fend of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso yet again! It was at the final race in 2010 when Petrov kept Alonso at bay and subsequently the Spaniard failed to collect his third title.
Vettel’s Australian teammate Mark Webber only managed fifth place after having an interesting battle with Alonso. SIxth place went to McLaren’s Jenson Button. Both Sauber drivers finished in the points today with Sergio Perez’s seventh place and Kamui Kobayashi’s eight place finish while Felipe Massa from Ferrari settled with ninth place. The final point-paying position went to Sebastien Buemi from Toro Rosso. Nick Heilfeld in the other Lotus Renault was only able to finish in 14th place ahead of Jarno Trulli from Team Lotus, after starting from 18th.
Trulli’s teammate, Hekki Kovalainen failed to finish the race no thanks to a mechanical failure. The DNF or Did Not Finish list was also made up by both Mercedes GP drivers. Michael Schumacher retired after sustaining damage from a first lap incident while Nico Rosberg also retired due to the same reason, but later on in the race. Both Williams drivers including Rubens Barrichello who caused Rosberg’s retirement and Virgin’s Timo Glock also failed to finish the 58-lap race.
The start of the race was drama-free until a couple a corners down the track when Jaime Alguersuari and Michael Schumacher to came into each other. Alguersuari managed to finish the race but it wasn’t the same case for the 7-times World Champion as there was damage on his car’s rear right and he was forced to retire a couple of laps later. Rubens Barrichello also went through a scenic ride onto the gravel but managed to nurse his car back on to the track.
Up front the top three positions were filled up by Vettel, Hamilton and Webber at the beginning. However only Vettel and Hamilton maintained their top positions through out the race. Despite the ban of refueling, drivers had to pit multiple times for new tyres as the Pirellis degraded more compared to the Bridgestones used in recent years. The DRS or Drag Reduction System was also used by the drivers but it didn’t make overtaking an easy affair. It was still difficult to overtake which comes as good news. It wouldn’t be fun if it’s too easy to overtake isn’t it?
Highlights of the race included an early squabble between Massa and Button. Both were battling for fifth place and Massa was driving his wheels off while defending against Button who eventually made a move, but did so via a shortcut. Button was then handed a drive through penalty for the error. Later on in the race, a battle developed between Webber, Alonso and Petrov for the final podium position, which eventually went to Petrov’s hands.
Overall it was an interesting race, although the drama was toned down a little, relatively speaking that is. The higher degrading rate of the Pirellis made way for more pitstops and interesting tyre strategies. Formula 1 now heads to South East Asia for the 2011 Malaysian GP at the Sepang International Circuit. See you on April 10th!
UPDATE: The FIA has disqualified both the Sauber drivers due to a technical infringement with the rear wing. In response, the team has announced plans of filing an appeal. This means that Massa is now seventh and Buemi is eight. Both Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta from Force India are in the points, with their respective ninth and tenth positions.
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YEAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!
GOOD JOB VETTEL!!!!
Webber, tsk tsk tsk… I am disappoint. You allowed Alonso to get past you!! Tsk tsk tsk…
Meanwhile, Petrov podium is awesome!! Great job for Lotus Renault!! Congrats!! :D
Overall, nice start to F1 2011!!
pour pit stop for Webber.. disappoint…
the commentator said Lotus has returned back to the podium.
while the fastest TF-bought-the-name “Team Lotus” was 2 laps behind.
so much for the TF hu-hah.
finally, “sergio, go get button.. go get button” is superb!
yea..yea.. i notice that as well.. he said Lotus has comeback.. haha what an irony.. by the way Coulthard also said it’s easy to address Team Lotus as East Lotus and Lotus Renault as West Lotus and yesterday West Lotus seem to resemble more of classic Team Lotus than Team Tony..
BTW, congrats to Hamilton, althou his car appear to had a little problem with his floor thus reduce his downforce, still he manage to cling onto his second.. Vettel, well he’s talented but not as good as Hamilton, put him on another car i.e; Hamilton car such as yesterday, i dont think he’s ever gonna make it on the podium.. just my 2 cent!!
Haha, I like to call it Tony Lotus and Proton Lotus :P
Although, of course that’s a little too informal for writing a report by any paultan.org writers hehe :)
OooOoo… Hamilton fanboyism detected… I can’t say I’m unbiased, you know my fav driver, but what I can say is, both our fav drivers are equally highly respected as the men who can extract the most of their cars.
Anyway, the season is still very young, may the best man wins :D
GO VETTEL GO!!
congrats petrov! nice jobs!
A brilliant job by Sebastian Vettel!
good job.. Lotus Renault’s Vitaly Petrov
WOW. This gonna be BIG.
Lotus-Renault will be top contender for constructor and team this year!
Long live Dany!
Proton at Top 3 F1.
Yeaaa!! I’m very touched when I see the Lotus-Renault boys hold the “We miss you, Robert!!” placard. Get well soon, Robert Kubica!! :D
Heidfeld has a lot of homeworks to do though.
more fun in 2011 F1.. more drama and action..
not much fun if RBR still dominating, anyway I keep watching as support to team like Lotus Renault and Sauber..
lotus renault gets podium! awesome….
LOTUS RENAULT on the podium for the first race..! Good job and impressive indeed considering they started from the middle… keep it up team… congrats..!
Looks like RedBull really are consistent now, awesome! Great to see Petrov get on the podium also … wonder what happened to Team Lotus’ dreams of being in the midfield?
anyone knows which free to air tv is airing f1? i looked at all media prima and rtm schedule and the race is nowhere to be found…
they might have delayed telecast, but i don’t know the exact schedule..
I was very disappointed as well – NTV7 didn’t air F1, not even delayed. Let’s hope coverage starts with the M’sian GP.
In my spectacle, without Ferrari or Mclaren in the front of the competition…ratings maybe too bad in term of attracting viewers….esp in 2009 & 2010 when Brawn & Redbull dominating races..
Please….return to classical order…ferrari vs mclaren…when RB dominate, ratings came really bad ;-(
Puh-leeeeeeez. You sound like you never watched the Red Baron dominating days. Boring as hell.
Why limit to two? You think Ferrari vs Macca alone enough?
Hello, 2010 had Ferrari vs Macca vs Red Bull, that contradicts your solution for improving viewership. Butthurt kah Apelonso kalah? Sebastian is faster than you, can you confirm you understood that message?
No, I think the problem lies elsewhere. Either our local tv stations too corrupted to have money to broadcast or Bernie got too greedy raising the broadcast rate skywards.
Lotus made a wise decision to go with Renault. Nice to see 3 different teams making the podium.
Kudos Lotus Renault, imagine if Kubica available?
what’s wrong with TL?even my kia forte drives faster than them…
Brilliant job for Lotus Renault and Vitaly Petrov.
So many people were calling him a talentless pay driver and here he is ahead of Alonso, Webber, Button, Massa…… Good advert for the Lotus brand.
Vettel and Red Bull Go Go Go….
izit my eyes or rear tyres are wider than front?
Staggered set up… LOL
good job petrov!! well done LRGP.. 1st Lotus on podium on first race .. hehe.
kepetrovan proton
wow Lotus Renault seems to be the 4th fastest car on the grid at this grand prix….even faster than the Mercedes….Williams is looking good as well, matching Mercedes pace but it was unfortunate that Rubens made that unwise move on Nico Rosberg….
Red Bull and Mclaren…well same old story and they seem to be in a league of their own..
hopefully we can get clearer picture on the true pace of the teams in the next few races…
SAuber disqualified from P7 & P8. just recieved the new from FIA. paultan, please update this entry. so now LRGP in 12th spot while Trulli TL in 13th spot.
nice job lotus-renault….
now proton and malaysians can be proud…
hope that their success will continue on throughout the season….
Bravo Petrov and Lotus Renault… to Lotus may you come victorious in the legal race as well…
Congrats Lotus Renault! Very good beginning of the season :)
Where is TF car? Did they racing today GP ? Ha Ha Ha Haaa
good bye team lotus, i support lotus renault….
was expecting heilfeld to shine a little more than petrov but yeah congratz to petrov with his marvelous attacking n at least we know which lotus dominates the gp.
Mercedes GP failed again…so disappointed…:(
Good Job Lotus.
we have 2 Lotus, which one lah? :D
wow.. kesian team lotus.. dok takuk lama juge… hihi
which team lotus still at takuk lama??
team lotus is the green one la
again…and again…boring race…really boring
great race. next stop, sepang. what happen to brawn/mercedes petronas? .
Excellent drive by Petrov. Was supporting him against Alonso when watching haha. Like to support under dogs. Never really like Alonso due to his somewhat proud attitude.
Hope Petrov can consistently score points in the season. Shows that they have the car, driver and team to be podium finisher. At least one team related to Malaysia got podium :)
Vettel is so good, awesome job.
Finally a good position win that is what Lotus brand deserve… Not like some Team celup Lotus. Did the celup team race today I cant seems to felt their present?
???????????? ??????
Where’s the action on Malaysian public TV? No more show? Aiyaa…..
Pity to sauber team…. both driver disqualified….. but if FERRARI no need to disqualified just warning…. FIA biased.. !!!
congrats to LRGP…..
But in the F1 official website (formula1.com), they put the team name wrong.
Petrov and Heitfeld – Renault
Trulli and Kovalainen – Lotus Renault
You can see it in the result list…….
It’s not wrong. That’s their official constructor names by the FIA. Under official sporting regs LRGP is ‘RENAULT’ while Team Lotus is ‘Lotus-Renault’
LRGP chose not to change their official constructor name because they would lose previous financial earnings under the Concorde agreement. Substantial amount.
i consider it wrong in the MORAL sense!!!
haha.. wow all off the sudden Malaysian seem eager to know everything about anything of F1 particularly regards to Team Lotus & Lotus Renault.
Well, typically Malaysian as i am, im supporting Lotus Renault more than TL.. well 1st, they were already podium proven team, 2nd, everything that they’ve learn from F1 technology could be end up on our road legal car in the future and 3rd, prospect than someday Group Lotus gonna own 100% this team..as for now, i believe althou only sponsoring, doesn’t mean they’ve done nothing cuz 1st, financial earnings under the Concorde agreement 2nd, only 2015 FIA gonna make every team using 1.6L engine.. so in sense, wont worth much for Lotus Renault to construct new engine for only 3 years period just because they wanna claim official constructor name as Lotus..
i dont know why, i kinda hate Red Bull team haha, they’re not even constructors team..but gotta admit even not using KERS, they still manage to top it all.!!! wow.. still, it’s just only 1st round..wish Mclaren win 2011 F1!!!
Hahaha!! I think in an interview, Vettel was asked why he didn’t use the KERS. He said he couldn’t find the button, dunno whether he’s serious or just kidding :P
RedBull not constructors team?? What do you mean? They own the team. They own the factory and everything related to build their cars. If you mean they’re not auto makers, then neither were McLaren, Williams, Benetton etc..
RedBull are definitely constructors. Compare that to LRGP where Lotus only sponsor the team.. which is a Renault in the eyes of the FIA with LADA a Russian automaker also thrown in the mix somehow
What has moral got to do with it? It’s a matter of sporting regulations. Rules are rules!
it will be more fun if DRS can be used not just at one corner only…sigh…defeats its uses…in qualifying the DRS can be used more than once rite?
aihh, not a good start for mercedes gp team, both drivers retired meh
way to go Petrov!! if only Kubica around, then it will be better.. pity to Sauber.. hope the appeal accepted..
‘Black’ Lotus has shown that they capable, when will the ‘Green’ Lotus be on podium?