Formula One 2011

Lineker · March 25, 2011

Mark Webber and Red Bull made the perfect start to the 2011 season by going fastest in opening free practice for the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

Though it's too soon for most of the questions over 2011 form to be answered, it seems at least that predictions about the competitiveness of the new RB7 were correct as both Webber and world champion team-mate Sebastian Vettel spent long periods of the 90 minute session at the top of the times. The pair ended up locking out the first two positions fairly easily.

In the end Webber's 1m26.831s, set on a new set of Pirelli's hard 'prime' tyres on the final lap of the session ensured he fired an early shot to Vettel - the German ending up some 0.327s behind after a late run of his own.

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso was third fastest, more than half a second behind Vettel, ahead of Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg.

Rubens Barrichello, now fully recovered from his travel dramas, set an impressive fifth fastest time late in the session for Williams ahead of McLaren's Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton who both showed respectable pace throughout the morning to go sixth and seventh in the revised MP4-26 - which sported a simplified exhaust similar to that of Red Bull and Ferrari.

Michael Schumacher was eighth fastest ahead of Kamui Kobayashi, whose Sauber shed part of its engine cover late in the session. Vitaly Petrov completed the top ten for Renault.

The session was relatively incident free, though several drivers had off-track moments, including Webber and Felipe Massa - who ended the session 11th ahead of Nick Heidfeld.

Only Karun Chandhok hit the wall in the Lotus, as he exited the pits at the start of the session. On cold tyres the Indian's car appeared to snap right and spun him straight into the wall - forcing Heikki Kovalainen to take on development duties for the team.

Virgin's Jerome d'Ambrosio and Timo Glock were some 8s off the pace as Virgin flirts with the prospect of the 107 per cent cut-off in qualifying while neither HRT ventured on track at all.

FP1

Pos Driver Team Time Laps

1. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m26.831s 20

2. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m27.158s + 0.327 19

3. Alonso Ferrari 1m27.749s + 0.918 20

4. Rosberg Mercedes 1m28.152s + 1.321 16

5. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1m28.430s + 1.599 24

6. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m28.440s + 1.609 29

7. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m28.483s + 1.652 26

8. Schumacher Mercedes 1m28.690s + 1.859 14

9. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m28.725s + 1.894 13

10. Petrov Renault 1m28.765s + 1.930 15

11. Massa Ferrari 1m28.842s + 2.011 20

12. Heidfeld Renault 1m28.928s + 2.097 14

13. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m29.314s + 2.483 19

14. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m29.328s + 2.497 21

15. Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 1m29.403s + 2.572 24

16. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m29.468s + 2.637 23

17. Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m29.643s + 2.812 18

18. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m31.002s + 4.171 20

19. Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 1m32.428s + 5.597 13

20. d-Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 1m35.282s + 8.451 17

21. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1m35.289s + 8.458 15

22. Chandhok Lotus-Renault no time 1

23. Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth no time

24. Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth no time

All Timing Unofficial[/code]

McLaren defied pre-season perceptions by dominating the times in the second practice session for the Australian Grand Prix as Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton proved the only men to break through the 1m25s barrier.

The session, which was run under race conditions for the last 30 minutes to test out the new overtaking zone, saw most of the fastest running take place, predictably, just before the hour mark when everyone tried the soft Pirelli 'Option' tyre.

It was during this period that first Hamilton posted a 1m25.854s, and then Button improved upon it to go 0.132s faster still. Whether or not McLaren's pace is a true measure of the overall picture remains unclear however, for Red Bull's drivers, who dominated session one, were instructed not to use their adjustable rear wings for much of the session.

In the end, Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber were unleashed, once they got on to the Option tyres, but neither could match Fernando Alonso's Ferrari, which ended the session third.

Michael Schumacher improved to sixth fastest in the Mercedes, having been fastest of all for a while. Felipe Massa, one of several drivers to run off-track during the session, was seventh.

Mexican rookie Sergio Perez was an impressive eighth fastest on his first grand prix day for Sauber, outpacing the sport's most experienced driver Rubens Barrichello, who was ninth for Williams - another to test the gravel run off at Turn 3.

Nico Rosberg completed the top ten for Mercedes ahead of Jaime Alguersuari's Toro Rosso and Vitaly Petrov in the Renault.

Another rookie, Paul di Resta deserved credit for outpacing team-mate Adrian Sutil in 16th, while Pastor Maldonado was 18th on his first practice day for Williams.

It was not a stellar session for F1's newest teams. Both Lotus cars were the best part of five seconds off the pace, while the Virgins reduced the deficit to front from more than eight seconds in the morning to seven seconds in the afternoon.

HRT, which announced early in the session that it intended to complete installation laps only, managed to get Tonio Liuzzi out on track with two minutes remaining.

The test of drag reduction systems in the last half an hour of practice provided little indication of what might be to come in the race, and eventually was brought to a premature conclusion when rain began to fall in the last 10 minutes.

[code]FP2

Pos Driver Team Time Laps

1. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m25.854s 32

2. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m25.986s + 0.132 31

3. Alonso Ferrari 1m26.001s + 0.147 28

4. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m26.014s + 0.160 35

5. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m26.283s + 0.429 33

6. Schumacher Mercedes 1m26.590s + 0.736 31

7. Massa Ferrari 1m26.789s + 0.935 34

8. Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m27.101s + 1.247 39

9. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1m27.280s + 1.426 34

10. Rosberg Mercedes 1m27.448s + 1.594 23

11. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m27.525s + 1.671 31

12. Petrov Renault 1m27.528s + 1.674 29

13. Heidfeld Renault 1m27.536s + 1.682 22

14. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m27.697s + 1.843 30

15. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m28.095s + 2.241 35

16. di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m28.376s + 2.522 33

17. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m28.583s + 2.729 31

18. Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 1m29.386s + 3.532 29

19. Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 1m30.829s + 4.975 22

20. Trulli Lotus-Renault 1m30.912s + 5.058 23

21. D-Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 1m32.106s + 6.252 36

22. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1m32.135s + 6.281 30

23. Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth No time 1

All Timing Unofficial

Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery said there was a lot less degradation with the tyres in the first practice session than was expected. He believes that there will be between two and three stops on Sunday. For a reference though, the fastest time on the opening day's practice in Melbourne last year was set by Lewis Hamilton and it was 1:25.801. Button was top this year with a 1:25.854. Drivers will now be banned from using the moveable rear wing when track conditions are wet on safety grounds. As for HRT, they did use one of their four allotted curfew exceptions so escape sanctions. However there is someing sinister going on there for sure - both them and Virgin are going to struggle and beat the 107% time anyway. Here's what Clin Kolles had to say:

Hispania boss Colin Kolles is expecting a "normal" day on Saturday after the team failed to do any significant running on Friday.

Italian Tonio Liuzzi managed just an installation lap today, after finally hitting the track with two minutes left in the afternoon session. He didn't set a time.

Team-mate Narain Karthikeyan was unable to do any running as his car was not ready in time.

Kolles, however, says both cars will be able to run normally ahead of qualifying.

"The team made a great effort today," said Kolles. "Tomorrow we can have a normal day, with both cars running on the track. Tomorrow will be another day of hard work and hopefully more progress.

"As for today, I must thank the whole team for their effort and hard work, they did a great job. I am very proud of them."

The team, which did not do any testing with the new car, will be forced to use last year's front wing, however, as the new one has not yet passed the mandatory FIA crash tests.

Liuzzi said it was positive he had at least managed to get the car running.

"Even though we only did one lap today, it is very important for us to have put the F111 into action," he said. "It's been a big effort from everybody, the mechanics and engineers have worked day and night to get the car ready.

"It's very positive to have the car on the ground and we now have some numbers to work on for tomorrow. We are looking forward to tomorrow as it is our first chance to put in some laps together and get some information on the car."

One thing everybody in the paddock seems to agree on is that teams, perhaps Red Bull aisde, are yet to show their true form. That won't be apparent until race day.

Friday's press conference:

Participating: Jerome D'Ambrosio (Virgin), Nick HEIDFELD (Renault), Sergio Perez (Sauber), Paul di RESTA (Force India), Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull)

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q. Sergio, how did things go for you today? What are your first impressions?

Sergio Perez: I think it was a good day. I felt comfortable towards the end of the session. Tomorrow I need to improve a bit more. Apart from this I think it is a good first day and hopefully tomorrow can go the same way.

Q. This is your first grand prix, although I am sure you have been to grands prix before with GP2 etcetera, what is your first impression of it?

SP: It is very tough, it is very difficult to get the most out of it with the traffic, with the tyres, with all the things you have to be moving which I was not used to. In GP2 you do not have to move anything like this. It is very critical not to get everything right for just one lap but to be consistent as well, so it is quite a big step but overall I am comfortable.

Q. What's the most different thing from GP2 for you?

SP: I would say the amount of things you do have. Not only inside of the car, out of the car you have also a lot of people around you. You have to be very focused to be right and don't do any mistakes as it is very easy to do mistakes. You are very busy moving a lot of things on the steering wheel which I was not used to. You have to worry about the tyres, it is a big package. It is not only one thing, I think it is a bigger picture.

Q. Obviously a good time today.

SP: Yes, today was good day for me.

Q. Paul, you were also quicker than your team-mate as well. Your feelings about today?

PdiR: Again, it is quite difficult to come to your first grand prix. I obviously sat out FP1. Nico (Hulkenberg) was in the car and session two was quite tricky with the weather. Also the traffic, just trying to get some clear laps to give me a good idea going into tomorrow. I think it was quite positive. We ran through the programme we had to so we will certainly need to sit down and analyse it and try just to improve upon myself where I think most of the time will be.

Q. As you say, you sat out the morning session. That must have been quite difficult but on the other hand you had your morning session a year ago.

PdiR: Yeah, the morning session is a bit different. It gives you a bit more time. When you go out with all these guys and they are all up to speed a bit quicker, you obviously have to pace yourself a bit. But it is my first grand prix so I have to work from the bottom and try and work my way to the top. Every lap around Melbourne is key. You can quite easily make a mistake. I had to get through the programme going into tomorrow.

Q. How different for you is Formula One this year from last year?

PdiR: It is quite different. Thankfully I was able to go to all the grands prix last year and also take part in some of the testing in FP1 so it is not that new to me. But at the same time there is extra pressure, extra demands on you as a race driver. But you know what the case is when you take this job. I want to stay very focussed and put the effort in and keep a long-term relationship in Formula One and also with the team.

Q. A lot of people would say you were a touring car driver and now you are a single seater driver. That perhaps is over-extending it, but how different are the cars?

PdiR: They are quite different, there is no denying it. But Formula One has always been my dream to get here. It is the car I want to drive. You can't really compare them. They are both at a different level. Equally I enjoyed racing DTM with Mercedes-Benz. I had four great years there. I think it has prepared me well but this step is also very big and only time will tell how the transition is. But relatively, up until now, I feel quite confident, quite comfortable. I need to put a lot of effort in and work up.

Q. Jerome, how was today for you. It seemed to be fairly simple but not necessarily, particularly quick at the moment?

JD'A: Well it was a good day for us. Obviously we need to work hard. It is not easy, but we made progress throughout the day and for us in this situation the most important thing in the end is to get better every time we hit the track. That was our case between the two sessions. I believe it will be the case also for tomorrow so this is the main thing really.

Q. This is your first full season of Formula One, but you have driven Formula One cars quite a lot haven't you?

JD'A: About four morning sessions last year and then the Abu Dhabi rookie days. That was some experience. It was good for me to get up to speed in the winter testing. Last year I didn't know the buttons and the steering wheel. It is quite complicated with Formula One. But then a race weekend is obviously very different. It is something new. Being quick over a test day is not the same thing. I have got many things to learn from Timo (Glock) so I am really lucky to have him beside me this year so I can learn a lot.

Q. You did the Renault demonstrations as well?

JD'A: Yes.

Q. Which must have been fun anyway?

JD'A: That was fun. That was donuts things. Now I know how to do donuts in a Formula One car, but hopefully I won't have to use it in a grand prix weekend.

Q. How much of a worry is the 107 per cent rule as you were outside of that today?

JD'A: Well it is really nothing I should worry about as that is not going to be anything productive. The only thing I can do, and we all can do as a team, is to focus on getting the best out of what we have now. We will progress and we will get better but for now, for this weekend, we just have to focus on getting the best out of the package and that is the only thing which will bring us to a result that will hopefully be in the 107.

Q. Your aim for the season?

JD'A: It is difficult to give an aim in terms of results or points or things like that, quite concrete. There is a lot of data missing for that. I think for me I need to learn a lot from Timo and get as close to him as possible through the season. Get closer and closer and that's the main things really.

Q. Sebastian, World Champion of course. How have things changed for you in 12 months. Sebastian VETTEL: Well in terms of how I approach the first race nothing has changed. It is Friday afternoon, it is a very busy day and I cannot be in the garage now, I have to be here so potentially it is the worst possible moment of the weekend to answer your question unless you can answer me which ratios we put in the car or those sorts of things. But as I said in terms of approach, how you come here, what you want to achieve, nothing has changed. Looking back it makes me very happy and very proud. I think that is the same for everyone in the team as well. We enjoy where we are at the moment, but we know as well we have zero points at this stage just like everybody else.

Q. Looking at the various changes in Formula One. First of all the tyres, how different are the two types of tyres after today's sessions.

SV: Well they are different. I think it was good finally to come here and start the season and race on a different track. All winter we have been in Barcelona and I think we know it inside out and we know exactly what the tyres do. Today we were, I wouldn't say surprised, but in a way probably surprised as the tyre behaviour is different. No doubt compared to last year the tyres are different. You cannot compare. There is a big difference. But I think we expected worse conditions here in terms of how long the tyres last etcetera. I think this morning and this afternoon was quite useful and helped us understand what to do in the race on Sunday. So far I think it is positive. Still we cannot race with one stop only. I think we have to come in a couple of times so ultimately we will find out on Sunday if the track improves or not as it is also something we have seen in the test. In four days running the track does not rubber in so we will see how it is here, different tarmac, different track, different lay-out, different conditions but so far we are positively surprised.

Q. What about the Drag Reduction System. It was very interesting watching you how much you use the DRS in one lap today.

SV: Well I think it is not just me it is all the others as well.

Q. No, I don't think so. I think you used it more than anyone.

SV: Yeah, I don't think the others need to wake up. We said it often enough that it works in a similar manner to the F-Duct and surely it keeps us busy. Melbourne is a rough track with a lot of bumps, lot of corners and you really feel the speed here in some corners and you don't have much time between the corners. Everything is following up quickly so it keeps you busy. Similar to the F-Duct, you try to work on it as soon as you can to try to get the biggest benefit. I would be surprised if everyone else is much later operating it. I think that is partly what we have been talking about pre-season and not all of us yet probably do understand. As you can see and as you said it was the first time a lot of people got to see it. Qualifying and practice is very different to a race as in a race ideally you use it once a lap or maybe twice, but you know where and how so it is quite different to practice conditions.

Q. How do you balance using that with using KERS as well?

SV: Yes, you have to do that on top so there is no real balance. Either you do both...

Q. Have you got enough thumbs?

SV: It is up to us, the teams and drivers to find a lay-out that suits you. Nevertheless whatever part you use or if you use your thumb, another finger. Elbow hasn't come in yet. But you need to find a way according to your liking. It depends or it varies between the drivers. Just practice and get used to it. But I think all of us, you are very busy, with both of those things plus driving. Now imagine the phone rings, then the next wall is very close.

Q. Nick, good to see you but in sad circumstances. I believe you have something on your helmet to acknowledge Robert?

Nick HEIDFELD: Yes, I have his initials, RK, on the front of my helmet.

Q. It was obviously a late change for you to take over his seat. You were obviously working with Pirelli before then as a test driver; how much of an advantage was that?

NH: Well, I think one thing that could have been an advantage was that I helped in the early part of development on the construction, so at least that should have been something that suited me well. I wasn't there when they developed the compounds and what I found out in testing was that I had no advantage at all in knowing how to set up the car, because you can imagine that when you develop a tyre you don't try adjusting the set-up, you just put on new tyres, new tyres, new tyres all the time and we didn't actually touch the set-up.

Q. So how did things go today?

NH: It was OK. It could have been better, could have been worse. We had some small issues on the car, didn't do all the mileage we wanted but most importantly we learned quite a bit. You spoke about the tyres before with Sebastian; I also thought it was quite interesting. From testing in the winter we thought the soft tyres would only last one lap. I did my quickest lap here today on the second lap; the third lap wasn't too bad either so this hopefully makes qualifying a bit less of a problem, because we will see more pit stops. And then on top of that, we see that the lap time difference between hard and soft tyres is quite big, huge - at least, compared to last year. That means that maybe only the very quick cars like the Red Bull may be able to use the hard tyres and save some soft tyres, but most other cars will already have to use soft tyres in Q1 to get through. That means that you only have two sets left for later on which you might also have to use in the race, so it makes things very different, quite interesting and complicated.

Q. And obviously if you get through to Q3, you're probably going to be on soft tyres, you've got to start the race on soft tyres.

NH: Yes, definitely. It's the same as last year. Of course they will last a bit longer but I don't think that is the big issue; the big question is how many stops is it after that? On simulations, in winter testing in Barcelona, we've seen most cars and people doing three stops but you also saw that their lap times became quite slow towards the end of the stint. That was just to find out where the limit is. So it might be that in a real race situation you would have seen four stops. That, again, will be interesting to see. Today's degradation was obviously a lot better but it should spice up the racing. It will be interesting to see how difficult it is to overtake during the race. It's going to be new for everybody.

Q. And also there's the possibility of better weather on Saturday, increased track temperatures as well. How much of a difference will that make?

NH: Nobody knows, because it wasn't that hot in winter testing. Some people believe that with higher temperatures we will see the circuit improving and the rubber sticking to the surface for once. Now we just see marbles off-line, which might also make overtaking more difficult, but as Sebastian said, throughout winter testing the circuit was pretty much the same from day one to the end.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q. (Frederic Ferret) Nick how difficult was it to find your way back to Formula One in such a short time, and do you feel happy to be there, just as you were in other teams?

NH: Well, of course I'm extremely excited - as we've discussed – I've said many times that this is not the circumstances I wished for, with Robert's really, really bad accident, but the team has made it very easy for me. They were very open right from the beginning and I only missed one test so I missed two days of driving. What I missed more was being with the team but the time that I've had up to now was enough to make up for that. I was probably a bit busier than the others in those early weeks but now I think I've caught up.

Q. (Joris Fioriti) Nick, we were normally used to seeing Robert in front of Vitaly in FP1, 2, 3, qualifying etc last year. Do you think it's going to happen to you too? Do you have the same level as Robert? How do you see it?

NH: Well, I guess you asked the question because you saw that in P1 I was not in front of Vitaly but of course I will try to do my best, to do the best performance I can. I'm quite confident that I will be able to do that and will show some good performance.

Q. (Andreas Gröbl) I have a question for Sebastian and Nick, maybe. Sebastian was talking about gear ratios before. Can you give us an idea as to how much the new drag reduction system influences gear ratios, in particular your highest gear? And if so, does that compromise you on straights where you're not using the system?

SV: Basically, that's the reason why we use it in qualifying and practice. Obviously, as I touched on earlier, it's like the question why you have to operate it for all of the lap whereas you only have it available at one or two sections of the track in the race. So it would be useful to have the same regulations in qualifying and practice as in the race but that's not the case. The reason why we're allowed to use it at all in qualifying and practice is because otherwise we would probably select a different gear – top gear especially in the car – which then would not allow us to overtake because we would be sitting on the limiter as soon as we stalled the wing. So that is obviously the background, so to have the ability in practice and qualifying, to have similar ratios to in the race, working in the same range, so of course, that's the first time we are now having to make this decision and it's extremely important. Obviously the engineers can do a lot of work, but I think the driver is still very, very important and his input is as well. Practice just finished half an hour ago, that's why, to be honest, I'm not so happy to be here now unless, as I said, you can give me an answer on our gear ratios.

Q. (Gert Vermersch) Question to all drivers: the moveable wing was introduced to improve overtaking: did anyone of you use it to overtake somebody, and if yes, was it easier?

NH: Didn't.

SV: Basically I tried, did not succeed. I tried but it was not enough to get past. In the end, that's a good thing because you don't want racing to be artificial, but to really answer this question I think we have to wait until Sunday when everyone is on similarly aged tyres and the same fuel load.

JD'A: I wasn't really in a position to try, I guess.

PdiR: I think a lot of people have been using the DRS through most of their runs to try and get data on it. In testing, you can't really get an idea when one car is not using it and one car is allowed to use it. SP: I didn't try it.

Q. (Thierry Wilmotte) Sebastian, you have a lot of rookies around you. Do you remember your first Grand Prix and do you have some advice to give to them?

SV: Of course I remember, it wasn't that long ago. I raced with Paul, for instance, in Formula 3. I might have been in Formula One now for a couple of years but it wasn't that long ago that my memory has suffered. Yeah, it's always difficult to give advice because everyone at the end of the day has his own style and needs to find his own way. It was a little bit the same when I came in. Of course I wanted to drive as fast as the guys who were winning races but sometimes you have to accept that you're probably not in the car to win races or finish on the podium, so really I think you need to find your own way and your own happiness, I guess. In the end, I did enjoy racing when I came into Formula One, my first race with BMW and then with Toro Rosso, even though I finished 17th or 12th in some races and obviously I do enjoy it now. I think that's the most important thing.

Q. (Ian Parkes) Sebastian, you mentioned about Paul being your former teammate. He, of course, beat you that particular year...

SV: Thanks for mentioning it! …are you surprised that it's taken him so long to get to Formula One? Obviously you went down very different routes after that season, and now that he's here, what does it meant to have him here?

I had the chance, obviously, to get to know him in '06 and get used to his Scottish accent. Yes, so I understand him now! As I said, routes can be very different and in the end you have to find your own way, so I think it was quite exceptional the way he came into Formula One finally. I think he rightly deserves to be here. He's quick enough, he's proven that many times in DTM and before. I'm not again mentioning… you did it already. You know what happened in 2006 when I finished second. It's good to have him here and I think we have a lot of young drivers now, but one day we might have old drivers again so if we all get old, we still want to be here and we don't want new drivers to come in. I'm happy for every single one that has made the step because you know yourself just how hard it is. If you ask Nick the same question, he remembers very well. It never goes according to plan, even though from the outside it might always look easy for some of the people, I don't think anyone had an easy route to get into Formula One. A lot of things have to turn your way.

Q. (Matthew Cochinos) Jerome, the fact that you're flirting with the 107 percent rule come qualifying tomorrow, has the comparative lack of performance in the car surprised you or caught the team unawares?

JD'A: Obviously we worked quite hard throughout the whole winter and we probably hoped for better progress but in the end, Formula One is tough, it's a high level competition and we improved a lot compared to last year. Obviously you guys only see performance, but there are a lot of things that go around that like reliability and things like that. We did make progress – obviously we would like to be quicker but again, sometimes it doesn't go exactly according to your plan and you've got to work hard to catch up and I'm sure we will do it, but we can only get better.

Q. (Luis Aguirre) Sergio, could you tell us a little bit about your first day in Formula One at a grand prix, and are you surprised to see you name in eighth position, and how real is this eighth position for you?

SP: I have to say it was really a good day for me because in the morning it wasn't so good, because I didn't know the circuit and I also had some traffic, but I have to say that the second practice was real, if I compare it to my teammate. It was a good session. I learned quite a lot about the tyres. Around here is quite different to what I was used to in testing. The conditions are really different. Normally you get your lap on lap one but now you can take more laps to set a time, so this is really something I experienced today. What really matters is tomorrow in qualifying and the race. We are trying to get the most out of it for tomorrow and try to do a good qualifying.

But yay F1 is back!

Katsuya · March 25, 2011

Definitely looks like there's some kind of early pecking order, with the top four clearly there, followed by the Saubers and Rubens (Maldonado's just a fail, but we knew that), then Renault/Toro Rosso. The Virgin just looks painfully slow and HRT won't make the 107% cut, that's a given. A point they made on commentary though was that Hispania can technically just send the cars out in qualifying if they want since it's actually "Qualifying Practice", it still counts as a practice session so they can't be fined or whatever.

Lotus just look like they're still too far off the pace to really trouble Force India and Maldonado, but they're so far clear of the Virgins that they're just going to be racing each other all season >_<

DJ Ice · March 25, 2011

Beat me too it

Can't wait for this season. Fucking sucks Kubica though, think I'm going to be rooting for Team Massa this year.

Again, can't wait!

MJB · March 26, 2011

I'm up for Qualifying . . . I must be mad, but I'm up solely based on McLaren's performance yesterday. I'm rooting for Lewis.

Katsuya · March 26, 2011

Jesus, Vettel. Pretty much sums up qualifying really, doesn't it? Just unstoppable, the guy's driving that car like mad. Pretty good show with people like Petrov, Kobayashi and Buemi all really nailing it, Kobayashi very nearly outqualified Massa then which would have been amazing for Sauber.

Also, that Hispania just looked painfully slow. Admittedly, Liuzzi seemed to be getting better with it whereas Karthikeyan was shit as to be expected, but there's no way they should be able to race. This is turning in to Andrea Moda version 2...

MJB · March 26, 2011

Vettel. Wow. And without KERS apparently. Big props to Lewis Hamilton though, great lap to get second and as with previous years, I expect McLaren to find some really good race pace tomorrow. But man, those tyres are hard to tell apart. Especially at 6am <_<

Adam · March 26, 2011

Are they going to be allowed into the race? Woeful car that Hispania is.

Disappointed to see Webber so far off Vettel's pace. Hopefully the race will be better for him, he needs to try and get ahead of Hamilton at the first turn obviously, we'll see what happens there.

Also, what happened to Heidfeld? The car clearly is good enough to compete at the top end since Petrov made the top 6.

Rich · March 26, 2011

Hispanas request to race under the "exceptional circumstances" rule has been rejected by the race stewards, not the teams, so I expect and assume the stewards thought it too dangerous to have cars which are THAT slow on the grid.

Katsuya · March 26, 2011

Heidfeld got hold up by traffic and pretty badly. It was weird because the commentary team even noticed it but then seemed to forget it when he was going round and trying to set the time, it was the Hispania and the Virgin ahead of him coming in to Turn 10/11 (the chicane) that he pretty much had to pass going around there that will have held him up really badly.

Hornswoggle4PM · March 26, 2011

Vitaly Petrov has improved a lot since I last saw him, the guy could get a spot on the podium the way he's going. Kobayashi looks better too, and Buemi's going faster than Jaime at the moment. Should be a good race.

Katsuya · March 26, 2011

Petrol is going to have to keep it on the road first and foremost though, then he'll look like a real threat. It'll be interesting to see how things go with him and Alonso at the start after Abu Dhabi, too.

Katsuya · March 26, 2011

Petrol is going to have to keep it on the road first and foremost though, then he'll look like a real threat. It'll be interesting to see how things go with him and Alonso at the start after Abu Dhabi, too.

LUKIE · March 26, 2011

Petrov and Kobayashi are very similar. EXTREMELY talented drivers, but their inexperience usually leads to mistakes that see them bomb out in races. I hope they both have fantastic seasons though. I need someone to get behind since Kubica is out :crying:

Lineker · March 26, 2011

Red Bull gave its rivals a glimpse of its true potential after dominating the third free practice session for the Australian Grand Prix - with world champion Sebastian Vettel heading team-mate Mark Webber.

Vettel set a breathtaking 1m24.507s lap in the final minutes of the session on the soft Pirellis. But interestingly, the German's fastest time on the harder prime tyre - set 15 minutes earlier - was also quicker than anyone else could manage all session long.

That might not have been the case for Webber, whose two quick runs on the softs were ruined on successive laps by the slow-moving cars of Narain Karthekiyan and Nick Heidfeld.

The McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button maintained yesterday's promise by going third and fourth fastest. The pair were split by a hundredth of a second at the end of a session which saw Button lock up and run off track at Turn 3 early on.

Vitaly Petrov was one of the surprises of FP3, setting the fifth fastest time for Renault, having been deep inside the top ten for much of the hour.

Fernando Alonso could only manage the sixth fastest time for Ferrari, having looked reasonably ragged on his soft-tyre run. Kamui Kobayashi put Sauber an impressive seventh ahead of Nico Rosberg, Heidfeld in the second Renault and Michael Schumacher completing the top ten.

Sebastien Buemi was another surprisingly impressive performer, only slipping out of the top ten in the final moments of the session for Toro Rosso.

Paul di Resta once again outpaced Force India team-mate Adrian Sutil in 14th, while Rubens Barrichello could only manage 16th after a disastrous session for the Williams team. Having watched team-mate Pastor Maldonado beach his car in the gravel, the Brazilian had to abandon the session before the end because of a suspected oil leak related to the gearbox.

HRT finally managed to get Karthikeyan on track - the Indian completed five laps, 17s off the pace - but Vitantonio Liuzzi was forced to stop his car on the out-lap.

FP3

Pos Driver Team Time Laps

1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m24.507s 15

2. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m25.364s + 0.857 14

3. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m25.553s + 1.046 15

4. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m25.567s + 1.060 16

5. Petrov Renault 1m25.906s + 1.399 18

6. Alonso Ferrari 1m26.121s + 1.614 16

7. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m26.417s + 1.910 17

8. Rosberg Mercedes 1m26.520s + 2.013 17

9. Heidfeld Renault 1m26.746s + 2.239 17

10. Schumacher Mercedes 1m26.856s + 2.349 15

11. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m27.008s + 2.501 17

12. Massa Ferrari 1m27.011s + 2.504 15

13. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m27.066s + 2.559 14

14. di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m27.087s + 2.580 15

15. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m27.180s + 2.673 15

16. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1m28.068s + 3.561 7

17. Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m28.077s + 3.570 9

18. Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 1m29.772s + 5.265 17

19. Trulli Lotus-Renault 1m30.003s + 5.496 18

20. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1m30.261s + 5.754 15

21. Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 1m30.496s + 5.989 5

22. D-Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 1m30.704s + 6.197 18

23. Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m41.554s + 17.047 5

24. Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth No time 1

All Timing Unofficial[/code]

Sebastian Vettel started his world championship defence in imperious form by dominating qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix.

The Red Bull driver was comfortably quickest in Q1 and Q2, then 0.8 seconds ahead of the rest of the field after the first Q3 runs were complete. That 1m23.529s effort was sufficient to secure the 16th pole of Vettel's Formula 1 career, though he ended the session with a 1m23.6s for good measure - also quicker than anyone else could manage.

Lewis Hamilton denied Red Bull a front row sweep by getting his McLaren up to second in the final moments, pushing Mark Webber back to third.

Jenson Button completed the top four in the second McLaren, ahead of Fernando Alonso in the best of the Ferraris. His team-mate Felipe Massa was only eighth after a troubled session that saw him only just make it out of Q1, then spin on his out-lap at the end of Q3.

Vitaly Petrov took a superb sixth for Renault, while the Mercedes resurgence was not as dramatic as the final test had indicated. Nico Rosberg was seventh and Michael Schumacher missed out on a Q3 slot by the agonising margin of 0.089s after a poor run to his final Q2 lap.

Sauber and Toro Rosso showed their winter improvements were real as Kamui Kobayashi and Sebastien Buemi completed the top 10, with their team-mates Jaime Alguersuari and Sergio Perez not far off Q3 pace in 12th and 13th.

Force India's Paul di Resta and Williams's Pastor Maldonado will start their maiden grands prix from 14th and 15th respectively, ahead of their team-mates after mistakes by Adrian Sutil and Rubens Barrichello. Sutil miraculously avoided the wall in a spectacular spin out of the final corner, triggered when he activated his wing flap while hitting the kerb, unsettling the Force India.

Barrichello's error was more embarrassing: he touched the grass under braking for Turn 3 and spun into the gravel before he could set a Q2 time.

Fellow veteran Nick Heidfeld's season also got off to a poor start. He was unable to get the Renault out of Q1 and will start 18th.

Last year's new teams have so far failed to show any progress, with Lotus back in its 2010 position behind the rest of the field, but ahead of the Virgins, which were at least quick enough to make the 107 per cent cut today.

The Hispanias were not, and Tonio Liuzzi and Narain Karthikeyan must rely on the kindness of the rest of the pitlane if they are to be given dispensation to race.

[code]Qualifying

Pos Driver Team Time

1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m23.529s

2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m24.307s + 0.778s

3. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m24.395s + 0.866s

4. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m24.779s + 1.250s

5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m24.974s + 1.445s

6. Vitaly Petrov Renault 1m25.247s + 1.718s

7. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m25.421s + 1.892s

8. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m25.599s + 2.070s

9. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m25.626s + 2.097s

10. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m27.066s + 3.537s

Q2 cut-off time: 1m25.882s

11. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m25.971s

12. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m26.103s

13. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m26.108s

14. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m26.739s

15. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 1m26.768s

16. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m31.407s

17. Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth

Q3 cut-off time: 1m27.222s

18. Nick Heidfeld Renault 1m27.239s

19. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 1m29.254s

20. Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 1m29.342s

21. Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1m29.858s

22. Jerome D-Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 1m30.822s

23. Tonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 1m32.978s

24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m34.293s

107% time: 1m31.266s

All TIming Unofficial

What a session from Vettel. Absolutely stonking - only his own mistakes and car reliability could cost him the championship this year. Webber should take solace in the fact that at least he also gets to start on the non-dirty side of the track which should be an advantage.

What do we make of David Coulthard on commentary? I thought he was pretty decent, an improvement on Legard for sure. He made a good spot on Sutil's rear wing flap being responsible for his big spin. Well done to di Resta btw, as well as the Sauber's and Buemi who also did very well. BBC's coverage in general was superb as usual, Eddie Jordan aside (stupid Petrov hate, loud shirts in HD etc). Disappointing for Lotus who need to look to do better tomorrow and HRT are just a disgrace.

Post-quali press conference:

TV UNILATERALS

Q. Sebastian, a totally dominant performance. Half-a-second faster than last year's pole position and you didn't even use the KERS button. You must feel on top of the world?

Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, I mean it was a bit of a funny winter. A lot of things changed. The cars changed a lot. Winter testing has been busy and we all try and work our way around the tyres, the new Pirelli tyres, but coming here we were all surprised how well they were working on one lap and also what we have seen on Friday with a bit more fuel in the car was quite promising for Sunday, so we will see how we get on. Surely we have done the first step and starting the season that way is like you want to and it is just a good sign for all of us in the team. We have been working very hard to get that new car, the RB7, where it is now, so I think it is mostly down to the people back in the factory plus the people Down Under now preparing the car and making it ready. I think it was a pleasure today, quite fast, and I am very happy with the result. But if you look at the points we have zero points just like everybody else so we will have to see tomorrow.

Q. Lewis, eight-tenths off Sebastian is a lot but after the very poor winter testing you had I bet you couldn't even dream you'd be sitting on the front row for the first grand prix.

Lewis HAMILTON: Absolutely. I'm absolutely thrilled to be up here today. The guys back at the factory have done an unbelievable job. Really a massive step this weekend. The car is feeling fantastic. Of course, we still have a lot of work to do but I think we have really got ourselves on the right track and a great foundation for us to build upon. I know the guys back at the factory will keep going but a big thank you to everyone at home. Keep pushing.

Q. Mark, it was seven-one-hundredths-of-a-second between you and Sebastian here last year. It is a lot more than that this year. What went wrong?

Mark WEBBER: Yeah. Couldn't do the times today. I was disappointed, obviously, with my performance. Seb put in a very good lap. Obviously, disappointed to get bumped off the front row as well. Tried my best. Mystified to the gap to Seb, to be honest. I will have to go through it and have a look at where I can improve and go from there. So bit frustrating, of course, but credit to the team. The guys have done an incredible job. It is not the best day for me. The bar is high but I would like to have done better today but we still have to reflect on the performance of the team today and what they have done over the winter is a great effort.

Q. Sebastian, in the race tomorrow looking after the tyres is going to be crucial. It is a step into the unknown really for all of you on these new tyres. What are you looking for and what are the key indicators going to be for tomorrow's race.

SV: Well, I think the key is always to finish the race, to see the chequered flag. Last year, half-way through, we had to retire. But I am quite confident. We had a very, very good preparation in the winter. We hardly suffered any reliability issues. The car was reliable from the first minute and obviously not too slow, so things are looking good. But it is a hard race with the new tyres. It is a bit racing into the unknown. We kind of can guess how the tyres will behave, but in the end we have to see how it is and also racing all the others, having probably more than one stop, it will be quite entertaining for us as well. A lot of things that we need to keep an eye on and focus on, so looking forward, but today was the base and couldn't have been any better.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q. Sebastian, that margin over the rest of the field. Does it come as a surprise to you?

SV: Yes. I just said it was a long winter and we all tried to find our way with these new tyres, which always wasn't easy. Coming here, since Friday onwards, we were surprised how good the tyres worked. It should be fine tomorrow. We were a bit afraid after what we have seen, the degradation we have seen in Barcelona, so that's positive and, car wise as well, we came here with a good feeling but never kind of knew where we would be. Even though the gap now might appear to be very big, it is a long season, a lot of things can happen and today no-one has scored any points. It is a good position to be in, it is the best position, pole position, so I am very happy with that. I think for all the guys who have been working very hard on that car, some were a bit, how can I say, surprised that not a lot of things changed in the car compared to last year but we have proven that things changed and we have done a good step. As I said we need to keep our feet on the ground and see how we get on tomorrow.

Q. James Allen just said you didn't use KERS? Is that correct and, if so, why not?

SV: We didn't use it in qualifying, that's correct.

Q. Reason?

SV: Not fully charged.

Q. You were particularly good in the third sector. Is that something you have concentrated on?

SV: Well, third sector I think, end of sector two, is just before the high-speed section, 11/12, so after that there is not that many straights anymore. We know that we are probably not the fastest guys on the straights for couple of reasons but in the corners we tend to do not too bad. If you look sector one, sector two there are some straights or more straights and maybe that is the reason. I don't think today, even though the result looks for some people quite clear, you know, I think we don't get over-excited what happened now. We have to keep on working and we want to improve the car. We have things coming up, good things coming up, so let's see what we can do.

Q. Lewis, a phenomenal effort by the guys to transform what was a difficult car into a front row car?

LH: Absolutely fantastic and superb effort from the guys back at the factory. It was a very brave and tough decision for us to kind of pull back from what we had been developing over the winter test and after the last test to decide 'okay, we are going to come back in another direction'. I think since I have been here we have never ever done that before but the results from the wind tunnel looked good and the guys worked harder than they have ever pushed before to get the components here and the car feels a huge improvement for us and a great stepping stone for us. A great foundation for us to really push on. I know we have got some good things in the pipeline from this base where we are but, of course, the gap. If he didn't use KERS, that is another half-a-second so that is 1.3 seconds, which is not normal.

Q. You talked about that margin. Are we going to see that margin eroded and how soon do you think you can do that as, obviously, the pace of development is massive?

LH: It is, yeah. We, as a team, have good development rate. I think over the years you have seen us come from quite far back and be able to develop a little bit faster than some others. At least we are in the fight and from there we can score good points, continue to work on our reliability and, of course, closing the gap is going to be very tough. It is a big gap still, but the car feels fantastic so I can't even imagine what he (Vettel) feels like round the corners.

Q. You were shaking your head when we were talking about KERS. Is that because you didn't use it or were thinking 'wow, without it'.

LH: No, I used it for half my lap and I ran out towards the end of the lap. I didn't have any more. No, I had probably, like, 40 per cent still left. That is a little bit of time but nothing which would get me close enough to them. That is a staggering lap time they did, so well done to Sebastian but like I said I'll catch you up.

Q. Mark, third, not where you hoped to be, but some people are saying that qualifying isn't quite as important as it used to be, due to the factors introduced to liven up the race. Do you agree?

MW: Well, today didn't go to plan for me, obviously. I'm not overly rapt to be third on the grid. Seb did a very very good lap time, so I need to... It's our first qualifying of the year. We've had some reasonable exposure with this car in performance runs, but today's obviously absolutely serious and everything counted, so we put everything forward. I wasn't in the fight for pole, clearly, so we need to address that and take it into tomorrow's race. You have a point, obviously. It's not like last year in terms of qualifying, how powerful it was, but nevertheless it's still important, you know. I would rather to be here than eighth or ninth. I think the most important thing out of today is that we can see the potential of the car. It's the first time that everyone's got into things. The team have done a phenomenal job, so I'm looking forward to a good race tomorrow, get some good points and we will come away from here having learned a lot, as we already have done today.

Q. How unknown is the race tomorrow? How much are you going into the unknown?

MW: We got a snapshot on Friday, what we might expect on Sunday; there's still some questions, for sure but not as many as... We've had a reasonable build-up in testing. Seb and I had a smooth run on Friday so the team's got some good data to lean on, to go into the grand prix tomorrow, and obviously we'll put everything forward to get the best result for us.

Q. Can you beat Sebastian tomorrow?

MW: Well, it's never impossible, but unfortunately I've let Lewis onto the front row as well. Obviously I'm not happy with that for the team. It's a long season, so today you can be disappointed, of course, but we'll go into tomorrow's race hoping to get the best result possible and as the boys have already said, it's a long grand prix, a lot of things can happen.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q. (Ralf Bach) Seb, do you think Melbourne is the best track for your car?

SV: I don't know. There are a lot of tracks to come, that's for sure. Last year we were competitive here, the year before as well. We seem to like the place. I like coming here as well, the track is a challenging one, it's quite rough in some places. It's a demanding track for the driver and the rhythm is right, so after one lap you feel happy, I would say, not that you don't feel happy at other tracks but I think here the satisfaction you get is quite good. You feel and you sense the speed around here, so that's something I enjoy a lot and obviously our car likes it as well. All in all, I think that's a good match. So far it has been quite good.

Q. (Ralf Bach) What I mean is that the aerodynamics are not that important here.

SV: I don't think so. I think aerodynamics are very, very important everywhere.

LH: That's the only place where's he's getting a gap to us, the aerodynamics, otherwise it would be even better.

SV: I think the bottom line is that we have a good package and we're happy to be where we are. We didn't really know, after the long winter, so that's a good and a positive surprise which we take on board. As I said, there are no points yet and there will be a lot of races and there will be races where it will be difficult for us to beat some other teams. We're not looking to those, but we go step by step.

Q. (Paul Gover) Mark, were you using the KERS in your car today?

MW: No.

Q. (Paul Gover) Would it have made a difference to getting you on the front row if you had been?

MW: Maybe. We didn't run it today for reasons we will keep in the team.

Q. (Joris Fioriti) Lewis, one week ago you were saying that you had a car that was far from being a winning car and a week later you come up with a very fast car which could be a winning car, so what happened? I don't understand.

LH: Well, I was never saying that the car was bad, it already felt better than last year's car. It was just lacking downforce. What downforce enables you to do is brake later, to attack the corners faster, to get on the power earlier so in improving your downforce you improve your minimum speed, so you can improve your kilometres per hour through each corner by ten kilometres. That's a lot of time, because you carry that all the way down the straights. So we've improved the rear end of the car which means that I'm able to attack corners a lot more, massively faster in the higher speed corners and so we've basically just fixed an area of the car which was lacking and it clearly shows, this weekend, that by fixing that one part, the rest of the car is working quite well around it. But we still have a lot of work to do, but it's really due to a fantastic job by the guys back at the factory.

Q. (Livio Orricchio) To all of you: are you surprised by Ferrari's performance?

SV: Yeah. I think they had a very good run in the winter. Yesterday it was a bit difficult to judge. I thought they're reasonably competitive and more or less there. I was surprised in qualifying. Q1 I saw that they put on some option tyres already. It was quite tight for Felipe to get through - not tight, but he had one last shot. And then it's difficult to judge from the inside of the car what was going on, so that's really all I saw, more or less. After that, you focus more on yourself. In Q1 you have a bit more time to watch TV, I would say. Yeah, I was surprised.

MW: Well, yeah, a little bit but I think today it's pretty clear that people are still getting used to the tyres and maybe it's not the right window for some people, so this is moving the lap times around a lot. I think we saw Nick Heidfeld go out very early. Some people are still finding their way. Maybe Ferrari are in that boat.

LH: Yeah, I think they've got a great car. I find these tyres very easy to use, and obviously these guys have found them quite easy to use, but I guess some people down the field have not really been able to switch them on how they would like but this is very early, we're all learning as we go along. At the end of the testing, it was obvious that they (Red Bull) were the fastest, they were the championship winners the previous year, they were the fastest and won the last race, so clearly, rolling into next year, they were going to be the most competitive, so it was no surprise that they were the quickest this weekend. I would have thought that Ferrari would have been a bit closer to us but I think, again, it's just the tyres. Maybe if they got the tyres working they would be able to close the gap.

Q. (Matthew Cochinos) Mark, how hungry are you going into your home grand prix tomorrow?

SV: You'll have lunch before, no?

MW: Yeah, Seb said I would have lunch before the race! I think you want to do well at every grand prix, clearly. I think there's a little bit extra emotion, obviously, as both these guys can relate to: Germany for Seb and UK for Lewis. That's normal. Any sportsman competing in a big event at home, there's a fraction more emotion attached to it. It shouldn't really make you perform better, you've got to perform everywhere you go, but also keep in mind that it's a long season this year. You need to get off to a good start in the championship. I didn't put myself into the best position today but I've had tough Saturdays before and Sunday… it's a long, long day, so I hope I will see you guys again tomorrow.

Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg have escaped grid penalties despite being found guilty of impeding other cars during qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix.

The FIA stewards, including three-time grand prix winner Johnny Herbert, opted only to warn the trio despite having the power to demote them on the grid for Sunday's race after viewing video evidence and hearing evidence from the drivers themselves.

Hamilton and Rosberg's offences occurred in Q2, when they were found to have baulked Vitaly Petrov and Sergio Perez respectively, while Nick Heidfeld was impeded by Schumacher during Q1.

In each case, and FIA statement indicated that "the stewards decide to warn the driver as to his future conduct."

Starvinho · March 26, 2011

Early 7am start for the race tomorrow then, well here in the UK anyways. After P2 yesterday I had high hopes for the McLarens, but after Vettel blew everyone away in qualifying I'm not looking much further for the winner. My prediction is an easy Vettel win, Hamilton second and a toss-up between Webber/Button for third.

Anyone know what the weather forecast is for the race, I'm guessing a slim chance if any for rain?

maninblack · March 27, 2011

Damn, both Schumacher and Rosberg DNF.

But Petrov's gonna score a podium!

Edited March 27, 2011 by maninblack

LUKIE · March 27, 2011

PPPPPPPPPPEEEEEEEEEETTTTTTTTTTTTRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Katsuya · March 27, 2011

Get in there Vitaly! Amazing drive from the beginning, he kept Alonso behind him all race and showed how much he's matured, his stock has just shot up from Abu Dhabi and now today.

KERS wasn't actually on the Red Bull car all weekend, which explains Webber not being able to pass Alonso in the mid part of the race. Still, scary pace from Vettel at the start without KERS so there's something big to cone if they get KERS sorted and in that car.

Also, what an amazing drive from Perez, that boy has got serious pace. I cant imagine he's better on the tires than Kobayashi though (especially after his performance last year) so it must be the Sauber, so it's odd that Kobayashi was on a 2 stop and not the 1 stop strategy. Only thing I can think of is that they thought Kamui would be in the mix a lot more than he was, probably with Rosberg and Massa, but that got thrown off by Barrichello's charge, Rosberg crashing and Massa actually starting well for a change.

Also, YAY overtaking!

Lineker · March 27, 2011

Sebastian Vettel opened his title defence with a comfortable victory in an Australian Grand Prix that proved intriguing, but not did deliver the level of incident predicted with the new DRS overtaking system and Pirelli tyres.

Lewis Hamilton coped with a broken floor on his McLaren to take second, but the star of the race was Renault's Vitaly Petrov, who made the most of an excellent start and a fine race drive thereafter to take his maiden podium in third.

While the top three made it to the finish on two stops, three-stop plans consigned Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) and Mark Webber (Red Bull) to fourth and fifth - though this was better than Alonso might have expected after falling to ninth at the first corner. Jenson Button was only sixth for McLaren after being penalised for an incident with Ferrari's Felipe Massa.

Vettel tore away from the field in the opening stages, leading by three seconds after just two laps, with Hamilton and Webber holding second and third.

Petrov had made an excellent start to blast through to fourth, with Button and Alonso going wide at Turn 1 as they went three-abreast with the Renault, allowing Massa to slip ahead of Button and leaving Alonso right down in ninth by the time he got off the kerbs and grass.

Alonso made very swift progress past Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber) and Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) and was soon catching Massa and Button - whose battle for fifth place was frantic. With his DRS making little difference, Button tried all kinds of creative lines to get ahead the Ferrari, with no success until lap 10, when he went around the outside into the fast right-left Turn 11/12 at the end of the back straight, but had to take to the escape road and cut the second part of the corner to complete it.

That would lead to a drive-through penalty, while Alonso immediately pounced and passed Massa into Turn 13 as the Brazilian regained momentum after his near-miss with Button.

Before he took his penalty, Button had a brief battle with Vettel, who had made a relatively early pitstop on lap 14 and emerged behind the Briton. Hamilton had whittled the Red Bull's lead down to 1.5s by then, but staying out two laps later before his first tyre stop cost the McLaren time to the leader rather than being an advantage - as even after having to battle past Button around the outside of Turn 4, Vettel was 6.5s clear of Hamilton once both were back up to speed.

That gap rapidly grew to 12s over the next stint - and the reason became clear when sparks started shooting out from under the McLaren, the front part of its floor having become detached and started rubbing on the ground. Aside from a trip over the Turn 1 grass, Hamilton did a remarkable job to keep his car both on the road and near the lead pace - though his chances of pressuring Vettel were over and the German cruised to an ultimately comfortable victory.

Webber could not keep up with the top two and by half-distance was 26s adrift and only just ahead of Petrov and Alonso. Both the Red Bull and Ferrari chose to make three pitstops, while Petrov - like Vettel and Hamilton - changed tyres just twice.

Alonso got ahead of Webber at the third stops, helped by the Red Bull running wide at Turn 3 on its out-lap. With Webber on the softer tyres for the final stint, he was able to attack Alonso at first, before the Ferrari pulled out some breathing space. Both charged up behind Petrov in the final laps, but the Russian had just enough in hand to hold on and take a brilliant third. Fifth-placed Webber parked his Red Bull on the grass immediately after crossing the line.

Button fell to 12th following his penalty but recovered to sixth, finally making it past Massa again with 12 laps to go. The Ferrari then made a late tyre stop, leaving Massa ninth behind the two Saubers.

Sergio Perez was a remarkable seventh on his debut, having managed to get through the distance with just a single tyre change on lap 23. That left him not far adrift of Button, and clear of Sauber team-mate Kobayashi.

Sebastien Buemi took the last point for Toro Rosso, with the Force Indias of Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta running in the points for a while before falling back to 11th and 12th.

Rubens Barrichello provided plenty of entertainment in the first half of the race, as he recovered from a first-lap trip over the Turn 3 gravel and scorched through the field with a series of overtaking moves. But a wild long-distance dive down the inside of Nico Rosberg's Mercedes at Turn 3 on lap 23 was just too bold, and left Barrichello spinning, needing a new front wing and earning a drive-through penalty. Rosberg had to retire in a cloud of smoke, his cooling system seemingly damaged in the impact, while Barrichello eventually parked his car too.

His team-mate Michael Schumacher sustained a puncture when hit by Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari on the first lap, and eventually retired due to the after-effects after 19 laps trailing around at the back. Alguersuari needed a new front wing and finished 13th.

Petrov's Renault team-mate Nick Heidfeld made little progress from his poor grid position and was only 14th ahead of final finishers Jarno Trulli (Lotus) and Jerome D'Ambrosio (Virgin). Timo Glock's Virgin, Heikki Kovalainen's Lotus and Pastor Maldonado's Williams all retired with mechanical issues.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS

The Australian Grand Prix
Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia;
58 laps; 307.574km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos Driver Team Time
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h29:30.259
2. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 22.297
3. Petrov Renault + 30.560
4. Alonso Ferrari + 31.772
5. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 38.171
6. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 54.300
7. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 1:05.800
8. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1:16.800
9. Massa Ferrari + 1:25.100
10. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
11. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap
12. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap
13. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
14. Heidfeld Renault + 1 lap
15. Trulli Lotus-Renault + 2 laps
16. D-Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth + 3 laps

Fastest lap: Massa, 1:28.947

Not classified/retirements:

Driver Team On lap
Glock Virgin-Cosworth 50
Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 49
Rosberg Mercedes 22
Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 19
Schumacher Mercedes 19
Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 10
Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth DNS
Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth DNS

World Championship standings, round 1:

Drivers: Constructors:
1. Vettel 25 1. Red Bull-Renault 35
2. Hamilton 18 2. McLaren-Mercedes 26
3. Petrov 15 3. Renault 15
4. Alonso 12 4. Ferrari 14
5. Webber 10 5. Sauber-Ferrari 10
6. Button 8 6. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1
7. Perez 6
8. Kobayashi 4
9. Massa 2
10. Buemi 1

All timing unofficial[/code]

What a fantastic race. Maldonado aside (who we all know is shit), all the rookies did a good job, Perez in particular considering that he's come out and admitted that his one-stop strategy was unplanned! It's tragic that him and Kobayashi in the Sauber's were both disqualified (more in next post). Stunning from Vettel as predicted, and a supreme effort from Petrov. In Sepang I imagine things will be very different as the teams now know how the tyres will behave over a race distance, as well as the fact they now know a lot more about their rivals' cars.

Post-race press conference:

[spoiler]TV UNILATERALS

Q. Sebastian, pole position and victory. It looked under control, was it?

Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, obviously, it was a good race. In the end, things calmed down a bit. Lewis didn't push as hard anymore, so we tried to control the last part of the race. But I don't think it was an easy race. The start was crucial and being on the clean side I had a very good getaway but I did not know it was enough until I saw that Lewis and Mark (Webber) were battling for position, so I was clear with that, and then the first stint more or less tried to hold the gap. But we saw how quickly you reach at some point the cliff and the tyres start to see some more degradation. Lewis caught up, we came in, I think it was the right timing, just. I could not really have done more laps. After my stop, it was crucial to get past Jenson (Button), which I could do immediately, so that was very, very important. After that, the second part of the race, I did not know what was going on behind Lewis, if he was under pressure or not. With him dropping off, in terms of the amount of pressure he put on, I could control the situation a bit better. All in all, a very good race. A lot of things to learn today and we need to definitely have another look at the race and move forwards from here.

Q. It was the first race on Pirelli tyres, the first with the DRS wings. What do you make of the new rules for 2011.

SV: I think very positive. We have to make some compliments to Pirelli. After the tests we were all a bit scared but coming here in the end we didn't see as many stops as expected. All in all, I think it was a smooth race. The rear wing is still very fresh. This is a special circuit. Turn one I don't think is the best place for overtaking in the whole year, so we need to see. But surely it helps to come closer. I was getting closer to Jenson, which helped me then (and) two corners later to pass him. So far, it worked as expected. Obviously, you can only judge what happened with me. I don't know what happened behind.

Q. Lewis, similar strategy to Sebastian. Second today. How do you assess this result given where you and the team were in testing about a month ago?

Lewis HAMILTON: I think we can definitely take this and be very proud of ourselves. The guys did a great job coming into this weekend. Just a week or two ago we were not expecting to be anywhere near the top five, so to come sway with second... the car was reliable, it is the longest the car has ever lasted or we have been able to take it, so I think it is a great achievement from us guys. Clearly we were catching Sebastian earlier on in the race. Strategy is one that we can work on but generally we have got good pace and I am looking forward to the next race.

Q. Two talking points for you. The start with Mark (Webber) and then your floor-stay looked like it broke. Is there any concern that the plank might be damaged. You are not worried about scrutineering after the race.

LH: The plank and part of the floor is massively damaged. I don't know when it happened. It might have happened when I went off but I think it maybe happened before that. I was losing quite a lot of downforce so in the end I was just trying to nurse the car home and bring in those points as we need them for the rest of the year.

Q. And the start with Mark?

LH: The start was not particularly great. I really got a lot of wheel spin and lost quite a bit of ground to Sebastian. There was nothing I could do, just try to keep my position and fortunately with the KERS I was able to hold second and from then on it was quite a smooth race.

Q. Vitaly, congratulations: your first Formula One podium in your 20th grand prix start. Tell us how you are feeling right now?

Vitaly PETROV: To be honest, I am very happy to be here, sitting with these guys. All weekend was pretty good for us but after the test we did not know where we were. But when we came here we had some new parts, and from free practice our car looked very strong and also qualifying was not too bad. Then we just focused on our race and today the team did everything perfectly and we must be proud about our place today.

Q. You had a fantastic start, going from sixth up to fourth. But describe your feelings at the end when Fernando Alonso was catching you at a great rate of knots.

VP: Well, he was still quite far. I could still control my drive and try to save the tyres, as in the final few laps my tyres started to go off. The start was not bad. I tried to attack Fernando but then I saw Jenson was in front so I must brake early, so I just release the brake and try to pass both of them. I think it was great.

Q. Sebastian, perfect start to the year. We now know a little bit more about the pace of all the different teams. Where do you see your threat coming from this season?

SV: Well, yesterday was a very good day for us and the gap was big to Lewis and McLaren, but, nevertheless, it is a long, long season. I try to keep saying to the team that we have to keep our feet on the floor. It was a very good race today. A lot of points, very important and I think we enjoyed ourselves, which is even more important. But it is a long year, a lot of things can happen. This is a special track, so we have to stay focused for the next one and then the next one. After this comes race two, then race three, so step-by-step really, trying to keep on doing what we are doing now. Enjoying plus working hard and then I think we have a good chance. Giving you some names on some teams now is obvious. Those guys who are sitting next to me plus Ferrari is always very strong. Obviously, Mercedes did not have a great start but I think they will come back and will be stronger this year than last year, so I think it will be very close, sooner or later. So it was important to finish, which we did not really succeed last year, so big, big compliments again to all the people back in the factory. The car was quick from the first moment on, which we know now, but also very reliable. That is the key. It is the first time I have finished the Australian Grand Prix as well, so I am really, really happy.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q. Sebastian, can we call that a dominant performance. It seemed to be?

SV: I don't really like the word dominant at this stage to be honest. It is a long, long way to go. First of all, I am very happy because I think all of us, the whole team and myself, we had a lot of fun today and we won the Australian Grand Prix. It is really always very nice to come here. The atmosphere is something special. You do the drivers' parade and see the people going crazy. Obviously, Mark is the local hero and I was slipstreaming him on the drivers' parade. It is nice to see so many people coming and cheering for our sport. That is something we don't get everywhere. We really enjoy that and we have to keep coming here. The sun came out today. I was missing it all week and it was really great. The car was perfect. The first stint we have seen there is a lot of things that we need to learn and understand with the tyres. Lewis was a bit better in control of his tyres in the first stint, so he was catching up, right up to the point that we pitted. Then it was crucial for myself to get past Jenson, which worked. He was on used tyres, so it was quite a big difference at that stage plus, because of the wing, I could get really close after turn one and then into turn three/four pass him around the outside. It was crucial to stay ahead of Lewis. After that the car was getting a bit better. We made some small tweaks at the pit-stop, which seemed to help a lot, also for tyre life, tyre wear and from then onwards, I think, second part of the race, I didn't know what was going on behind Lewis. If he was under pressure or not but he took it a bit easier, wasn't pushing that hard anymore, So, I could do the same and just control the gap to him. The last part of the race was a bit more quiet. At some stage it was quite entertaining when I had Sergio Perez behind me. We can see how big a difference it can make being on different tyres even though you are on the same fuel load. I think he behaved well. I was hoping not to do something silly at that stage so all in all very happy. We worked a lot of hours, it is not an easy car to work on, so compliments to the mechanics. I was joking with them yesterday. They have been working all week long now to prepare for this weekend and now they can have pizza and beer tonight so it was a nice reward.

Q. We didn't seem to see the massive drop off in times that perhaps we had seen in testing?

SV: Well, naturally that is our job to avoid that. Job from the teams and job from us inside the car to make our own judgements, so before it really starts to happen make sure you find a gap and you can change tyres. We had a lot of laps at the test, a lot of experience. Barcelona was very different in terms of tyre wear compared to here. Coming here, first of all big compliments to Pirelli. They did a great job. Not that easy to prepare a tyre that quickly. Including myself, we were giving them a hard time over the winter as it looked quite frightening to be honest with a lot of stops but I think we saw way less stops today and even a one-stop strategy, so, all in all, I think they did the right job. Regarding the wing: I can only judge it for myself. It helped me to get close to Jenson and ultimately to pass him. It is pretty straightforward if you are on really different tyres, different wear life, So, as far as I can judge, it all worked very good. WE won the race so I am very happy.

Q. And KERS?

SV: Yeah. I mean, what do you want to know?

Q. Did you use it?

SV: I don't know which source you have, so it could be quite a challenge for you to find out. I don't know, so maybe I keep it for myself.

Q. Okay, that is your privilege.

SV: I was pressing some buttons, yes.

Q. Lewis, tell us about that floor, as we could see the damage and you weren't certain if it was cause or effect of your off. How does it affect the handling of the car?

LH: Well, when the floor... I went underneath and you can lift it up and it is flapping, so when that touches the ground it just stalls the underneath of the car and disturbs a lot of the flow. I was having some oversteer moments every now and then, some stalling through high speed corners, and under braking, particularly, the car was a little bit unstable. Maybe that was the reason, when I was braking into turn one it was on the floor, and I just locked up my left and right and went straight on. I had to bring the braking back quite a bit after that, so I am not really sure, maybe I had a bit of debris or something on the circuit, I don't know. We will try and find out.

Q. You managed to maintain pretty much the pace for several laps then it began to drop off a bit.

LH: Yeah, I think today our pace was very, very good. Everyone always says that I have a very aggressive driving style but today I proved that is not the case. I looked after my tyres even better than the guy next to me (Vettel) and I think I was able to attack. I could have gone for many more laps in the first stint. The only reason I had to pit is really because you have to try... you know, nowadays, stopping before them is always the best but if they have stopped before you, you need to stop immediately afterwards to defend and keep your position. The tyres were handling fantastic today and the tyres were great. The guys did a great job in the pit-stops. This is a great position, a great platform, for us to push on into the next races. We have upgrades coming and we have a better understanding of the car and a better understanding of the tyres and strategy.

Q. Was there a big difference between the tyres?

LH: Not really. For me it was very much the same. You do find slight difference in the front tyres which has always been generally the same but I think coming here it feels almost like they have changed the tyres completely because they just behaved fantastically well. Very very similar, if not better to what I have experienced in the past. Very, very consistent and the graining was nowhere near as heavy as it was in Barcelona. But I guess we have a lot more downforce now so that contributes to that. You don't see as many marbles on the outside of the circuit. There are some but nowhere near as bad as we saw in Barcelona.

Q. Vitaly, what do you think about being on a podium in Formula One.

VP: I am quite happy to be with these guys. Sitting here and also on the podium.

Q. Well a fantastic performance, but a fairly lonely race in many ways for you? Not too many people to battle with?

VP: It is not true, as I watching Mark Webber in front. I tried to push as hard as I could, then he pit. I just tried to push to the maximum what I had on the tyres. Then also the same, we tried to pull away from Fernando, but then during the middle of the race I didn't understand where I am and what I should do. My radio wasn't working very well, but I just tried to save the tyres and push as hard as I can. I think everything was good.

Q. How much pressure from Fernando at the end?

VP: It was not so much, just last lap maybe and he was still quite a way from me. Even if he wanted to attack me, he needed some time, but my tyres were still in quite good shape, so I could do a good pull-away from the last corner.

Q. At one time there was the possibility that you wouldn't have your drive with Renault this year, and here you are on the podium.

VP: Yeah, I'm really proud of this team and we're on the podium now.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q. (Ian Parkes - The Press Association) Lewis, I'm going to have to disappoint Sebastian but our source is a good one, because his team principal, Christian Horner said that they didn't use KERS all weekend. On that basis, how impressive does that make Sebastian's performance in that car without KERS?

LH: I think it makes it very clear that they have a fantastic car as they have had for the last year and a half. They've had the fastest car since towards the end of 2009, and they continue to have the fastest car, but to turn it over to what we've done, coming from a car which was probably going to arrive here probably two seconds off the pace to being maybe a second off in qualifying, if they had KERS, and race pace being very, very similar, I think that's probably the most impressive part for me. I think it's very rare that you see such a big leap in performance in Formula One. I feel really privileged to be up here because we thought it was going to be quite a bad weekend and I'm back up here, back in the fight, only a few points behind the guy in front who has a much, much faster car. But we'll close that gap, I have no doubts about that, and clearly showing from today, after our first stint, we can compete with them in the race, so get ourselves up at the front and we can give them some pressure.

Q. (Sarah Holt – BBC Sport) Vitaly, your team boss, Eric Boullier said that you'd worked hard over the winter to make sure that you could finish races to your true potential. Can you explain what you did over the winter, and also, does this show that you can now lead the team in place of Robert?

VP: Winter testing was quite long. You know we have a new exhaust and we didn't know how it would work. We spent quite a long time trying to understand the aerodynamics and a lot of things, and really when we came here we didn't know where we are, we didn't know how quick our car was, but it looks like we were quite strong, but not like these guys. We still need to continue to push the same way, work hard. In Malaysia we will have some new parts so we will see.

Q. (Sarah Holt – BBC Sport) Do you think you can lead the team in place of Robert?

VP: I don't think I need to answer anything. I think you can see and also.... Yes!

Q. (Sarah Holt – BBC Sport) Sebastian, as Christian told the BBC that you haven't been running with KERS after trying it on Friday and deciding that it was perhaps a bit unreliable, does it seem as if you don't need to use KERS for the rest of the season, then you're super confident that your car is so quick in other areas that you don't need to use it at all?

SV: You could have told me that before the race, because I was wondering. I pushed the button all the time and nothing happened, so I should have had a word with you! No, I think it's pretty obvious. If you ask Lewis how much KERS is worth, there is performance in there. Obviously we work very, very hard on that. It's something we're not proud of, but we need to keep working hard and improve for two weeks' time. We have solutions, more or less, which should help us and make it possible to answer your question. But surely, you can't rely on just having a good car or everything running smoothly. You want every single bit that you can get to make your car go quicker so KERS is one of the basic things this year and it's worth something between three to five tenths a lap. I don't need to tell you how much that is over a race distance. So, yes, we are working on that.

Q. (Livio Orricchio - O Estado do Sao Paulo) Vettel, Hamilton said just now that the most important thing to him was that the gap in race conditions was reduced in comparison to yesterday. In your point of view, did you expect a better gap in comparison to your competitors in race conditions.

SV: First of all, in Abu Dhabi we said that I also have a first name, so you are allowed to call me Sebastian. It's always a long way before you start racing. We have been working very hard on that, to make the car quick in both scenarios, qualifying and racing. I was very happy today. Obviously, as I said, at the stop we made a bit of a change. There's not much you can do. You can't stop and change the set-up but it seemed to work quite a lot better and if anything, at the second stint, I was out on the tyres two laps longer than Lewis who pitted on the same lap. I think the pace was fine so we controlled the gaps well. The last stint was obviously hard to read, but all in all I'm happy with our pace yesterday and today, so it's not as if there's reason to panic.

Q. (Phil Brannagan – Australian Motorsport News) Sebastian, if you started the race knowing you didn't have KERS, were you worried about the first lap, given that the cars near you did? Were you particularly determined to pull out that 2.4s gap? We don't often see a gap that big after one lap.

SV: Well, I think I had a good start. Obviously starting from the clean side here is a bigger advantage than other years. As Lewis said, he struggled with some wheelspin. We have seen throughout the winter that the tyre behaviour is different to what we were used to with the Bridgestones, so starting on Pirellis is different to starting on Bridgestones, in terms of the actual race start. I was happy with my start. I don't think it was 100 percent perfect but obviously better than the cars behind me, at least the ones I could see. Obviously I can't see Lewis in the mirror straightway but then I saw that I was pulling away… I felt I was pulling away well. Then I saw him in the mirror fighting with Mark which was a bit of a relief, just as all the other races you start and if the guy next to you has a worse start or you catch the guy in front of you it gives you a good feeling. So after that, obviously I used the first lap - not stupid - but obviously tried to pull out a gap as much as I could.

Q. (Michael Schmidt – Auto Moto und Sport) Lewis, was it just a dirty line that was the problem at the start, because it seemed that it ate up the whole advantage of KERS in comparison to Sebastian?

LH: I don't know. I would have to sit down and analyse it. I don't know if it was too much. I'm sure the dirty side had an effect on that, but the guys behind me had a better start, at least, I saw Jenson had a slightly better start than me. I don't know if it was the input that I had into it or… What I know is that when I dumped the clutch, I just got masses of wheelspin. I did make a change to the clutch settings on the way around as I was asked to, and maybe it was too aggressive, and after that I was just really trying to recover from it, so I was just wheel spinning. Fortunately I had KERS to save me, but if I hadn't had that I would have lost position to Mark and potentially to Jenson.

Q. (Dan Knutson – National Speedsport News) Lewis, we saw a lot of marbles in testing. When you were lapping people or going around backmarkers, were there less marbles in the race?

LH: There definitely seemed to be slightly less marbles, yes, but by the end of the race there was still quite a lot of pick-up, maybe definitely more than what we used to have. I didn't really do too much overtaking, to be honest, but the guys generally went off-line. It was quite dirty off-line but I don't think there was too much pick-up.

Q. (Frederic Ferret – L'Equipe) Sebastian, is there a kangaroo on your trophy?

SV: No. I'm not disappointed. In my mind there is a kangaroo on the trophy.

Q. (Frederic Ferret – L'Equipe) Vitaly, the first time you saw your car and the aggressive design of the exhausts, were you thinking that you could get a podium so quickly?

VP: No. It's difficult to say. It's racing. Qualifying is one story, racing is another story, so it can be everything. What happened today we will take and we can be quite happy but in qualifying it's difficult to fight with these guys in front, but sixth position was quite a good result yesterday. I always believe because anything can happen in a race, as it happened today.

Q. (Livio Orricchio - O Estado do Sao Paulo) To all of you: one of the stars of this race was the movable wing. Does it really help to overtake?

SV: Well, I think the massive advantage that you all have is that you actually saw the race. We didn't. As far as I know, I had the opportunity to use it a couple of times, as I said, getting close to Jenson, sometimes when I was close to a lapped car, for instance. I cannot really answer your question because I don't know what happened behind me.

LH: I only used it once and it didn't really make too much difference because I wasn't close enough to the car in front, so I can't really comment too much on it.

VP: I used it a few times. I was lapping some cars and Alonso was behind and it helped me pull away from him a little bit. So as soon as I saw my blue light come on, I used it, so I think I used it two or three times.[/spoiler]

Lotus Wars continues, with David Hunt now switching his support back to Tony Fernandes' side.

Team Lotus has received a message of support from David Hunt, the man who used to own the name - just a few days after he had hit out at team principal Tony Fernandes.

Ahead of the first race for the Team Lotus moniker since the 1994 Australian Grand Prix, Hunt has now said he is fully behind the outfit.

"This is an emotional weekend for me," said Hunt, who has been in court this week for the Team Lotus v Group Lotus legal battle, in a statement released on Sunday. "The journey has been long and hard and, as many know, it's not yet quite over, which is why I've been unable to travel to Melbourne to witness the event to which I've been dedicated since 1995 when I promised the loyal Team Lotus staff and fans that we would bring it back to Formula 1.

"I therefore wish to thank the many Team Lotus fans around the world who have kept faith and encouraged me over the years, and to wish the new Team Lotus staff both in Melbourne and back in the UK, who are now charged with creating a new chapter of success in the marque's history, the very best of success for this weekend."

Hunt said that one of the key factors that had come out of the court case has been how important Colin Chapman's legacy remains.

"Sitting in a London courtroom all week listening to unpleasant legal wranglings has, however, reminded all present of the towering impact on both the racing and road car industries made by Colin Chapman. His presence dominates the room.

"Whatever the legal issues over his legacy 30 years after his death, racing was his love, Team Lotus the 'jewel in the crown' of his business empire, and Formula 1 the arena in which all of his extraordinary qualities and talents were most passionately unleashed and expressed.

"Living up to 'Chunky's' unique legacy is a big task, but I know the boys and girls of this new Team Lotus relish the challenge and I wish them well in keeping the Chapman racing spirit alive and adding to the marque's glittering history."

The Lotus case continues next week, with several witnesses having already taken to the stand - including former FIA president Max Mosley, Group Lotus CEO Dany Bahar and former Lotus technical director Peter Wright.

Lineker · March 27, 2011

Sauber drivers Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi have been disqualified from the Australian Grand Prix over a technical infringement.

Perez, making his grand prix debut, had finished in a strong seventh position, one place ahead of his Japanese team-mate Kobayashi.

After the race, however, the race stewards excluded both cars over the infringement of technical rules 3.10.1 and 3.10.2.

The infringement occurred in the uppermost rear wing element.

Article 3.10.1 reads: "Any bodywork more than 150mm behind the rear wheel centre line which is between 150mm and 730mm above the reference plane, and between 75mm and 355mm from the car centre line, must lie in an area when viewed from the side of the car that is situated between 150mm and 350mm behind the rear wheel centre line and between 300mm and 400mm above the reference plane. When viewed from the side of the car no longitudinal cross section may have more than one section in this area.

"Furthermore, no part of this section in contact with the external air stream may have a local concave radius of curvature smaller than 100mm.

"Once this section is defined, 'gurney' type trim tabs may be fitted to the trailing edge. When measured in any longitudinal cross section no dimension of any such trim tab may exceed 20mm."

3.10.2 states: "Other than the bodywork defined in Article 3.10.9, any bodywork behind a point lying 50mm forward of the rear wheel centre line which is more than 730mm above the reference plane, and less than 355mm from the car centre line, must lie in an area when viewed from the side of the car that is situated between the rear wheel centre line and a point 350mm behind it."

The exclusion of the Sauber drivers means Ferrari's Felipe Massa is elevated to seventh, ahead of Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi, and Force India duo Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta.
REVISED RESULTS AND STANDINGS


Classified:


Pos  Driver        Team                      

 1.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault

 2.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes

 3.  Petrov        Renault

 4.  Alonso        Ferrari

 5.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault

 6.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes

 7.  Massa         Ferrari

 8.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari

 9.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes

10.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes

11.  Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari

12.  Heidfeld      Renault

13.  Trulli        Lotus-Renault

14.  D-Ambrosio    Virgin-Cosworth


World Championship standings, round 1:


Drivers:                    Constructors:             

 1.  Vettel        25        1.  Red Bull-Renault           35

 2.  Hamilton      18        2.  McLaren-Mercedes           26

 3.  Petrov        15        3.  Ferrari                    18

 4.  Alonso        12        4.  Renault                    15

 5.  Webber        10        5.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari          4

 6.  Button         8        6.  Force India                 3

 7.  Massa          6

 8.  Buemi          4

 9.  Sutil          2

10.  di Resta       1


All timing unofficial[/code]


The Sauber team has signalled its intention to appeal its disqualification from the Australian Grand Prix.

The Swiss squad's drivers Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi were excluded from the Melbourne race after the stewards found the car was in breach of the technical regulations.


More specifically, the infringement occurred in the uppermost rear wing element of the car.


Sauber confirmed on Sunday evening that it had lodged a statement of intent to appeal its exclusion from the race.


"This is a very surprising and disappointing result," said technical director James Key.


"It appears that there is a question over the top surface of the uppermost rear wing element, this area is not the working surface of the component and therefore relatively unimportant to its function.


"Certainly this has not led to any performance advantage. We are checking the design of the parts now to better understand the situation and we intend to appeal the decision made by the stewards." 


. Hopefully they'll be successful - although I won't grumble about di Resta getting points on his debut.

Formula One 2011

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