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For the second successive weekend, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button maintained McLaren’s excellent qualifying form this season with a front row lock-out at Sepang.

Michael Schumacher continues to impress with his best qualifying performance since making his Formula One comeback for Mercedes by taking third.

While defending world champion Sebastian Vettel elated to run the harder compound Pirelli and will start the Malaysian Grand Prix in fifth for Red Bull.

As was the case in Australia, Hamilton’s first flying lap in Q3 was enough to secure the top grid slot, as his one minute, 36.219 seconds proved unbeatable.

Button was second fastest after those runs, but was pushed back by Schumacher. Mercedes had left it late in Q2 and looked in danger of being eliminated before surging into the top ten, and then went for just one run in Q3.

That meant Schumacher was back in the pits by the time Button launched his retaliation, the McLaren edging the Mercedes off the front row by just 0.023 seconds. Schumacher beat team-mate Nico Rosberg by five places and a little under three tenths.

The Q3 battle was incredibly close, with just a small margin of four tenths covering pole to eighth position.

In fact, Mark Webber and Kimi Raikkonen set times that were identical to one-thousandths of a second – but the Australian claims the place ahead as he set the time first. Kimi’s grid penalty means he will start the race in tenth.

Red Bull was not a pole contender again, despite Mark Webber setting the quickest lap in Q1. He will start in fourth while team-mate Vettel gambled on the hard compound for his second Q3 run, meaning he will start the race on the more durable tyres.

After topping the time sheets in Q2, Kimi Raikkonen qualified his Lotus in a superb fifth but will drop down to tenth following his gearbox penalty. His team-mate Romain Grosjean was sixth quickest.

Against the team’s own expectations, Fernando Alonso got Ferrari into Q3 – although he could only manage to beat Sergio Perez’s Sauber to ninth.

Felipe Massa was closer to Alonso’s pace than he had been for most of the Melbourne weekend but he missed the Q2 cut and was P12.

Several of the underdog stars of Melbourne qualifying fell back into the midfield in Malaysia.

Pastor Maldonado briefly got into the top ten despite an early trip through the gravel in Q2, but he was pushed back to P11 as the Mercedes delivered their late laps. Maldonado will start two positions ahead of Williams team-mate Bruno Senna.

There were no Force Indias or Toro Rossos in Q3 compared to last weekend.

The closely-matched Paul di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg claimed P14 and P16 for Force India, just 0.013 seconds apart and split by Daniel Ricciardo, whose Toro Rosso team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne locked-up in Q1, flat-spotted a tyre and consigned himself to P18.

Kamui Kobayashi’s Sauber brought up the rear of the Q2 pack.

Both HRTs made the 107 per cent cut this time around, and will not even start last on the grid, as Heikki Kovalainen’s penalty for passing under the safety car in Australia will drop the Caterham from P19 to last.

So a fantastic result for McLaren and Lewis Hamilton. The MP4-27 certainly has the edge over their rivals and thanks to the Mercedes engine; the car is so fast down the Sepang straights.

Can Hamilton takes his first win of the 2012 season or will Button score his second successive triumph? What about Schumacher? The seven-time world champion has a great opportunity to go for his 92nd Grand Prix victory on Sunday.

Qualifying times from Sepang:

1.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes     1m36.219s
2.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m36.368s
3.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes             1m36.391s
4.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m36.461s
5.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m36.634s
6.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m36.658s
7.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m36.664s
8.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m37.566s
9.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari       1m37.698s
10.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault        1m36.461s*
11.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     1m37.589s
12.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m37.731s
13.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault     1m37.841s
14.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m37.877s
15.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m37.883s
16.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes 1m37.890s
17.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari       1m38.069s
18.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m39.077s
19.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault     1m39.567s
20.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth    1m40.903s
21.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth    1m41.250s
22.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth         1m42.914s
23.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth         1m43.655s
24.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault     1m39.306s**

107 per cent time: 1m43.974s

*Five-place grid penalty for changing gearbox
**Five-place grid penalty for passing under the safety car

 

Jenson Button opened the 2012 world championship with the perfect result by recording his thirteenth career victory with a brilliant drive in the Australian Grand Prix.

The McLaren driver made a great start from the front row to lead into Turn 1 and from then, drove a strong controlled race to take his third Albert Park win.

Defending world champion Sebastian Vettel finished in second for Red Bull, ahead of pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton.

While Mark Webber recovered from a poor start (clashing with Nico Hulkenberg into the first corner) to take fourth for Red Bull with Fernando Alonso dragging his Ferrari from a lowly grid position to a respectable fifth.

Button claimed the lead at the start with a better getaway than his pole-sitting team-mate, and then quickly established a lead of three seconds, which stayed stable through the opening stint.

The two Mercedes occupied third and fourth initially, but Vettel overtook Nico Rosberg on the second lap with an amazing round-the-outside pass.

Michael Schumacher’s run in third lasted only until lap 10, when he retired with a gearbox problem.

That elevated Vettel into third, but the defending champion was 12 seconds down on the McLarens by then and could make little impression.

Third-place qualifier Romain Grosjean dropped to sixth off the line, and was another early retirement when he clashed with Pastor Maldonado on lap two. Maldonado would lose ground with a trip through the Turn 6 gravel three laps later, but rejoined in ninth.

The gap between the McLarens grew to ten seconds at the first stops when Hamilton emerged behind Kimi Raikkonen and Sergio Perez, who were running extremely long first stints.

That allowed a train of cars to develop for second, as Vettel gained and brought Alonso – who made a great start then jumped Rosberg in the first pitstops – with him, and Rosberg, Webber and the recovering Maldonado closed in too.

Webber had initially fallen back with a poor start and a first corner clash with Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg, who had to retire.

The lead order remained unchanged until Vitaly Petrov’s Caterham brought out a safety car by stopping on the pits straight with a steering problem in the middle of the final pitstop sequence.

The McLarens had both just pitted, whereas Vettel had not, and the Red Bull was able to get in for its tyre change under the safety car and get back out between Button and Hamilton.

Vettel was still no threat to Button, though, as the 2009 world champion confidently pulled away from his successor at the restart and left the Red Bull to fend off Hamilton through the final stint.

Webber also benefited from pitting under the safety car to get in front of Alonso at the last pitstops.

The Ferrari could not keep up with the Red Bull thereafter, and as Webber chased Vettel and Hamilton home, Alonso had to focus on successfully defending fifth from Maldonado – who made the task easier when the Williams crashed heavily on the final lap.

Behind, a huge battle between the Saubers of one-stopper Perez and Kamui Kobayashi, Rosberg’s Mercedes – which fell back with tyre wear and early pitstops – and Raikkonen also ended in last-lap drama, as Kobayashi emerged with sixth ahead of Raikkonen and Perez, while Rosberg’s Mercedes jammed in second gear and tumbled down to P12.

The final-lap chaos ahead allowed Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo to pick up his first Formula One points at home with ninth place, despite having lost ground in a first-corner clash with Bruno Senna, which also sent Jean-Eric Vergne off track. Paul di Resta completed the top ten for Force India.

Felipe Massa briefly made it into the top ten, but struggled with poor pace and high tyre wear, making three pitstops and falling back to P13 before retiring with damage following a collision with Senna’s Williams.

So a great result for Jenson Button and McLaren. Not only does the MP4-27 look beautiful, the Mercedes-powered car is fast. Can Button keep this winning form in Malaysia? We will find out in the next seven days.

Australian Grand Prix, race results after 58 laps:

1.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           1h34:09.565
2.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           +2.100
3.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +4.000
4.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +4.500
5.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +21.500
6.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +36.700
7.  Raikkonen     Lotus-Renault              +38.000
8.  Perez         Sauber-Ferrari             +39.400
9.  Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +39.500
10.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +39.700
11.  Vergne        Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +39.800
12.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +57.600
13.  Maldonado     Williams-Renault           +1 lap
14.  Glock         Marussia-Cosworth          +1 lap
15.  Pic           Marussia-Cosworth          +2 laps
16.  Senna         Williams-Renault           +4 laps

Fastest lap: Button, 1:29.187

Not classified/retirements:

Massa         Ferrari                      47 laps
Kovalainen    Caterham-Renault             42 laps
Petrov        Caterham-Renault             37 laps
Schumacher    Mercedes                     11 laps
Grosjean      Lotus-Renault                2 laps
Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes         1 lap
Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth                 1 lap
De la Rosa    HRT-Cosworth                 1 lap

World Championship standings, round 1:

Drivers:
1.  Button        25
2.  Vettel        18
3.  Hamilton      15
4.  Webber        12
5.  Alonso        10
6.  Kobayashi      8
7.  Raikkonen      6
8.  Perez          4
9.  Ricciardo      2
10.  Di Resta       1

Constructors:
1.  McLaren-Mercedes           40
2.  Red Bull-Renault           30
3.  Sauber-Ferrari             12
4.  Ferrari                    10
5.  Lotus-Renault               6
6.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari          2
7.  Force India-Mercedes        1

Next race: Malaysian Grand Prix, Sepang. March 23-25.

Lewis Hamilton kicked off his 2012 season with a perfect result by achieving his twentieth career pole position for the Australian Grand Prix, ahead of McLaren team-mate Jenson Button and the impressive Romain Grosjean in the Lotus.

Hamilton’s single flying lap of one minute, 24.922 seconds was enough to edge him ahead of his rivals, with a margin of seven tenths of a second.

Romain Grosjean took a spectacular third for Lotus on his Formula One return. Such a remarkable performance from the GP2 champion when compared to his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, who was knocked out in Q1.

Michael Schumacher achieved his best qualifying result for Mercedes in fourth.

As for the Red Bulls, home crowd favourite Mark Webber could only manage fifth out-qualifying defending world champion Sebastian Vettel.

This is quite a setback for the championship-winning team with only a row three start. For Vettel, to start in sixth is a disappointing result.

Further back, Ferrari’s fears of an awful start to the 2012 season came true as neither of its cars reached the top ten.

While Raikkonen’s Formula One comeback got off to a surprisingly bad start as he was eliminated in Q1. The Iceman will start in P18.

Hamilton looked assured of pole after his first Q3 run, and although his rivals closed in, none could match his lap time.

Instead they fought over second position, which changed hands in quick succession in the closing moments as Webber – who chose to do just a single Q3 run – Schumacher, Grosjean and finally Button taking turns to close in on Hamilton.

Vettel never looked like being a pole contender and his sixth place was his worst qualifying result since he took the same position at Monza back in 2010.

Mercedes had appeared like a pole challenger as it led the way in Q2, but Schumacher and team-mate Nico Rosberg had to be content with fourth and seventh respectively.

Neither Ferrari got beyond Q2. Fernando Alonso spun into the Turn 1 gravel, causing a brief red flag. Fifth at the time, the Spaniard could only furiously watch as others demoted him down to P12.

But that was still better than Felipe Massa could manage. The Brazilian was a second off his Scuderia team-mate in both Q1 and Q2, despite having more laps than the sidelined Alonso. Massa ended up P16.

Raikkonen’s disastrous first qualifying session back in the sport was the biggest story. The Finn made a mistake on his final Q1 run, backed off to go for another attempt, only to find that he ran out of time… Kimi will line up in P18 for Lotus.

At the tail end of the Q3 field, Pastor Maldonado gave Williams huge encouragement after its difficult 2011 season with eighth position, with Nico Hulkenberg claimed ninth for Force India in his first race back after a year as a reserve driver at the team.

Daniel Ricciardo made sure that both Formula One’s Australians will start from the top ten as he got his Toro Rosso into the pole shoot-out, although he did not complete a flying lap in Q3.

Jean-Eric Vergne only just missed joining his team-mate in Q3, lapping a tenth slower as he secured P11 for his maiden Grand Prix start.

Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi set a surprise fastest time in Q1, but could not repeat that performance and qualified only P13. Team-mate Sergio Perez was unable to set a time in Q2 and will take a five-place grid penalty for changing the gearbox.

Bruno Senna and Paul di Resta were outperformed by their Q3-bound team-mates and were only P14 and P15.

While at the back of the grid, Caterham was some way off Q2 pace but clearly ahead of Marussia. As for HRT, both cars failed to make the 107 per cent cut-off time, with Narain Karthikeyan also blocking Alonso during qualifying.

So a McLaren one-two in Melbourne. Not only is the MP4-27 beautiful, the Mercedes-powered car is fast. Can Lewis Hamilton or Jenson Button score that first win on Sunday? It looks likely judging by the speed advantage over Red Bull.

Qualifying positions from Albert Park:

1.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes      1m24.922s
2.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m25.074s
3.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault         1m25.302s
4.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes              1m25.336s
5.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault      1m25.651s
6.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m25.668s
7.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1m25.686s
8.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault      1m25.908s
9.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes  1m26.451s
10.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    No time
11.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m26.429s
12.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1m26.494s
13.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari        1m26.590s
14.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault      1m26.663s
15.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes  1m27.086s
16.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari               1m27.497s
17.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault         1m27.758s
18.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault      1m28.679s
19.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault      1m29.018s
20.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth     1m30.923s
21.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth     1m31.670s
22.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari        No time*
23.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth          1m33.495s
24.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth          1m33.643s

107 per cent time: 1m32.214s

*Five-place grid penalty for changing gearbox

The 2012 season is almost upon us, with new drivers and new rules joining an expanded 20-race calendar, this year’s world championship is likely to be the most thrilling and aggressively fierce in the history of Formula One racing.

There will be six champions on the grid this season, with the youngest double world champion Sebastian Vettel aiming to win his third consecutive title for Red Bull Racing.

Only two drivers in the past sixty-three years in the pinnacle of motor racing have achieved the title hat-trick. The legendary Juan Manuel Fangio was the first back in 1956, while Michael Schumacher achieved his third straight championship with Ferrari in 2002. Can Sebastian join this exclusive club? He is the favourite to claim the big prize but this year’s competition is closer than ever.

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Spanish national team HRT have unveiled its new racer for the upcoming Formula One season with the F112.

The F112 completed its first laps at the Circuit de Catalunya today (March 5th), ahead of its Grand Prix debut in Australia in less than a fortnight’s time.

HRT took advantage of the filming day regulations in order to shakedown its new car after having been unable to get the car ready in time for the final pre-season test last week.

Narain Karthikeyan had the honour in driving the F112 on its maiden outing late in the afternoon at the track, after a frantic effort by the team to get the car ready in time.

Karthikeyan’s team-mate Pedro de la Rosa was also at the track following the proceedings.

The F112 will be powered by Cosworth engines for the third year in succession.

HRT’s car was unveiled on the same day as rivals Marussia, although the Anglo-Russian team is yet to pass all the mandatory crash tests set out by the FIA.

The Marussia was in action at the Silverstone circuit.

With both teams missing out on pre-season testing, it will be a race against time to become competitive in the opening few races of the new season.

Marussia has unveiled its new Cosworth-powered racer during a promotional event at Silverstone.

The Anglo-Russian team is running the MR01 for the first time at the venue of the British Grand Prix after the car had failed the mandatory crash tests outlined by the FIA and was therefore unable to join its rivals in the final pre-season test at Barcelona.

“We are very pleased to be running the new MR01 for the first time this morning (March 5th),” said team principal John Booth. “It has been a long and frustrating wait for everyone in the team but we can now get back on track – literally – and start working towards the first race of the season in Australia next weekend.

“Today is the first of two promotional events, so while the drivers will be able to get a feel for the car, they won’t be able to draw any real conclusions until we start running in anger in Melbourne. Nevertheless, this is an important day for us and we’ll enjoy every minute on track with the new car.”

The team said the MR01 is the result of a ground-up re-evaluation of the way it designs its racing cars after having used only CFD technology for its previous challengers.

The design team for the MR01 was led by Marussia’s technical consultant Pat Symonds. Marussia said the technical partnership agreed with McLaren Applied Technologies last year has been a big influential in the design process.

Timo Glock and Charles Pic will form Marussia’s driver line-up this season but both will face a steep learning curve in the opening few races due to the late showing of the MR01.

But at least the car looks elegant and has gone against the steeped nose compared to its rivals. Let see if the new car is competitive.

Former Williams driver Rubens Barrichello will start a new chapter in the IndyCar Series after signing a race deal with KV Racing.

The most experienced driver in Formula One history will contest the full season, including ovals, racing for the team co-owned by 1996 CART champion Jimmy Vasser.

His team-mates in the three-car outfit will be Tony Kanaan and EJ Viso.

“I am thrilled, it is something very new to me,” Barrichello said. “I need to thank everyone involved, especially Tony [Kanaan] because he has been involved for a long time.

“I will start as a rookie, but I think I will get better as the year progresses. My main thing is to be an addition to the team.

“They have been doing very well and Tony brought them to a different level last year, so I hope with my contribution we can build on this and take the team to another level. I am extremely happy and have a big smile on my face.”

KV also confirmed that Kanaan, who joined from Andretti Autosport ahead of the 2011 season, will remain with the team for the next two years.

“I am very excited to be returning to KV Racing Technology not only with a two year deal but also to have Rubens as my team-mate,” Kanaan said.

“We have always dreamed about racing together but never imagined it would actually happen and certainly not in the near future or in Indycars.”

Team co-owner Kevin Kalkhoven added: “I was at Sebring when Rubens first got into an Indycar. The smile when he got out of the car was a great moment and lasted for three days.

“Teamed with his ‘brother’ Tony Kanaan this is going to be an exciting season for the drivers, the team and the fans.”

Barrichello, who holds the record for most F1 starts with 322, will make his IndyCar debut as a rookie on March 25th in the season-opening race on the St Petersburg street circuit in Florida. The fourth race of the season will be his home event at another street track in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

His first oval race will be the Indianapolis 500 on May 27th. Former Formula One driver Jean Alesi has said he will compete in this year’s race as a one-off.

Barrichello will race the Dallara DW12 IndyCar, which is being introduced this year.

Video of Rubens Barrichello testing for KV Racing:

The new Mercedes W03 was officially unveiled to the world’s press just prior to the start of the second week of official Formula One testing at the Circuit de Catalunya.

As seen in the spy shots earlier last week, the W03 features the stepped nose, similar to that of several other Formula One cars.

The new car has already been shaken down at Silverstone last week, and conducted a private test at Catalunya on Sunday – which the team were permitted to undertake because it had only been present for three of the four days of running at Jerez earlier this month.

Mercedes chose to stick with its 2011 car for Jerez in order to gain valuable data on this season’s Pirelli tyres, and was quickest on two of the days it was present – though it was running to full 2011 specification, including the no-longer-permitted exhaust-blown diffuser.

Norbert Haug, Mercedes motorsport chief, has commented that the W03 would not feature any radical innovations – contrary to speculation that the team had waited until the second test to reveal the car because it featured technical breakthroughs it did not want rivals to copy.

The most obvious outward change is the move to a stepped nose, in common with the majority of rival teams.

Having been unable to beat rivals Red Bull Racing, McLaren and Ferrari to race wins in its first two years, Mercedes GP is hoping to get among the top three on a more regular basis this season.

Last year it revamped its technical team with the addition of former Renault engineer Bob Bell, ex-Ferrari design chief Aldo Costa, and Geoff Willis, formerly of Williams, BAR and Red Bull Racing.

Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher continue in an unchanged driver line-up at Mercedes. With Schumacher coming into the final season of what was initially planned as a three-year comeback deal, speculation about whether the seven-time world champion will stay on into 2013 and beyond is likely to be one of the biggest stories around Mercedes this season.

The Williams-Renault FW34 has been revealed to the world’s press just a few hours before the start of the opening pre-season testing in Jerez.

After a very poor 2011 season, in which the Grove-based team scored just five points and finished ninth in the constructors’ standings, Williams are hoping for a changes in fortunes this year.

The FW34 is the first Williams to be produced since the major change of technical line-up at the team, which saw erstwhile technical director Sam Michael head for McLaren and co-founder Patrick Head step away from the Formula One side of the operation. Mark Gillan now leads the technical side of the operation.

The FW34 also sees the reunion of the multiple championship winning Williams-Renault partnership, as the Grove-based squad switches from its previous Cosworth V8s to the engine that powered Red Bull Racing to the last two titles.

On the driver side, Bruno Senna has replaced Rubens Barrichello, while Pastor Maldonado remains for a second season. Test driver Valtteri Bottas gets an enhanced role that will include some Friday practice running.

Team principal Frank Williams said: “One could say that looking at the Williams F1 Team today we are off to a truly fresh start. We have a new car, new driver line up, new engine and new senior personnel.

“We also have a number of new partners who have joined the team in the past few months. I’d like to take this opportunity to welcome them formally and sincerely wish that they have an enjoyable and, most importantly, a valuable experience with us. The team has had a good winter at the factory and we feel ready and strong for the fight.”