Championship leader Sebastian Vettel achieved his 17th career pole position in Sepang and denying Lewis Hamilton from the top spot in a thrilling qualifying session.

Hamilton’s first flying lap in Q3 was impressive with a time of one minute, 35.000 seconds. Edging out Vettel by a tenth of a second at that moment.

The McLaren driver went even faster on his second run with one minute, 34.974 seconds but the world champion was able to react to the challenge and produced a fantastic time of one minute, 34.870 seconds to maintain his perfect qualifying record this season. Although Vettel’s margin was only 0.104 seconds compared to Melbourne.

After setting the pace in Friday’s two practice sessions, Mark Webber could only manage third but was only 0.309 seconds adrift to his Red Bull Racing team-mate. As for Jenson Button, who was the quickest in Q2, the McLaren driver will start in fourth position, only 0.021 seconds away from Webber.

That quartet had the pole position fight to themselves, with the rest of the frontrunners a long way off the pace and without enough soft ‘Option’ tyres to do more than one Q3 run.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso led this ‘best of the rest’ group in fifth, with his team-mate Felipe Massa down in seventh. This qualifying form is very disappointing for the Scuderia and questions will be asked on why that impressive winter testing form has disappeared over the course of two qualifying events in Australia and here in Malaysia.

The Renaults made it to Q3 despite the difficult start to the weekend, as during practice both Nick Heidfeld and Vitaly Petrov suffered suspension uprights failure. The former recorded the sixth fastest time, putting aside his Melbourne misery while the latter will start in eighth.

Rounding out the top ten is Nico Rosberg for Mercedes ahead of Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi.

For the second race in a row, Michael Schumacher missed out on a Q3 spot and will start P11 – this time after his Mercedes team-mate Rosberg’s late improvement knocked him out.

Neither Toro Rosso reached Q3 at Sepang, with Sebastian Buemi losing a large part of his sidepod bodywork in Q1, which required a brief red flag period. The Swiss driver was able to recover from this to qualify ahead of his team-mate Jaime Alguersuari in P12.

The Force Indias will start the Malaysian Grand Prix in P14 and P17, with Paul di Resta out-qualifying Adrian Sutil once again. Split in-between is Rubens Barrichello for Williams, while Melbourne hero Sergio Perez was only P16 for Sauber.

Even though Team Lotus didn’t get through to Q2, there is a great sign of encouragement as Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli got within half a second of the Williams of Pastor Maldonado. Plus beating Virgin Racing by a margin of two seconds.

As for Hispania, both Tonio Liuzzi and Narain Karthikeyan made the 107 per cent qualifying cut very comfortably in Q1 and will take part in Sunday’s race.

Sunday’s Malaysian Grand Prix will be intriguing as the excessive tyre degradation seen in the practice sessions could see three to four pit-stops during 56 laps. In addition, the weather forecast has hinted a chance of rain meaning we could see an exciting race!

Can the Drag Reduction System – which can be used on the main start and finish straight, which is significant longer than in Melbourne – provide a better representation on the new rules to make cars overtake one another? We will find out and more come race day in Sepang.

Qualifying times from Sepang:

1.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m34.870s
2.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes     1m34.974s
3.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m35.179s
4.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m35.200s
5.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m35.802s
6.  Nick Heidfeld         Renault              1m36.124s
7.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m36.251s
8.  Vitaly Petrov         Renault              1m36.324s
9.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m36.809s
10.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari       1m36.820s
11.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes             1m37.035s
12.  Sebastien Buemi       Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m37.160s
13.  Jaime Alguersuari     Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m37.347s
14.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m37.370s
15.  Rubens Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth    1m37.496s
16.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari       1m37.528s
17.  Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes 1m37.593s
18.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Cosworth    1m38.276s
19.  Heikki Kovalainen     Lotus-Renault        1m38.645s
20.  Jarno Trulli          Lotus-Renault        1m38.791s
21.  Timo Glock            Virgin-Cosworth      1m40.648s
22.  Jerome D’Ambrosio     Virgin-Cosworth      1m41.001s
23.  Tonio Liuzzi          HRT-Cosworth         1m41.549s
24.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth         1m42.574s

107 per cent lap time: 1m43.516s

Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel kicked off his 2011 season with a perfect start by winning the Australian Grand Prix in his ‘Kinky Kylie’.

It was a comfortable victory for the German, his eleventh career Grand Prix win and Red Bull Racing’s first in Melbourne. Vettel’s victory was more than 20 seconds from Lewis Hamilton, underlining the speed advantage with the RB7.

The season-opening Australian Grand Prix proved intriguing but to be honest, did not deliver the level of drama many predicted especially with the new Drag Reduction System and the Pirelli tyres.

Lewis Hamilton finished in second position for McLaren despite a damaged underfloor, while the star of the race was Renault’s Vitaly Petrov. The Russian made the most of his excellent start and thanks to a clean, consistent driving Petrov achieved his maiden podium in third.

While the top trio made it to the finish on a two-stop strategy, the idea of stopping three times were consigned to Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Red Bull Racing’s Mark Webber. This gamble didn’t work out and the pair finished in fourth and fifth respectively.

For Alonso, he was able to recover following a bad start in which he was pushed down to ninth at Turn 1. As for Webber, the home crowd favourite, he was unable to match the pace compared to his team-mate and fifth was the result. Equalling his finishing position the Australian scored for Minardi in 2002 and for Williams in 2005.

As for Jenson Button, the McLaren driver was only sixth after being penalised with a drive-through penalty for an incident with Ferrari’s Felipe Massa.

Vettel broke away from the 22-car field in the opening stages of the Australian Grand Prix, 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’s Sauber and the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg, and was soon catching Massa and Button – whose battle for fifth place was frantic. With his Drag Reduction System making little difference, Button tried all kinds of creative racing lines to get ahead the Ferrari, with no success until lap 10, when he went around the outside into the fast left-right 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 his Ferrari team-mate 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 pit stop on lap 14 and emerged behind the McLaren. Hamilton had reduced the flying Red Bull lead down to 1.5 seconds 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 6.5 seconds clear of Hamilton once both were back up to speed.

That time gap rapidly grew to 12 seconds 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 MP4-26 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 in the RB7.

Webber was unable to keep up with the leading two and by half-distance was 26 seconds adrift and only just ahead of Petrov and Alonso. Both the Red Bull and Ferrari chose to make three pit stops, 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 ‘Option’ 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 P12 following his penalty but recovered to sixth, finally making it past Massa again with 12 laps to the flag. The Ferrari then made a late tyre stop, leaving Massa ninth behind the Saubers.

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

Sebastien Buemi took the remaining point for Toro Rosso, edging out the Force Indias of Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta.

For Paul di Resta, to finish in his maiden Grand Prix in P12 was a solid performance from the DTM champion. His drive was consistent and if he keeps this performance up, the Scot will be scoring championship points soon.

In fact, Paul di Resta was rewarded his first championship point following the disqualification of Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi over a technical infringement post-race. See comments below for further details.

Rubens Barrichello provided plenty of entertainment in the first half of the Grand Prix, 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 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 Mercedes 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 P13.

Petrov’s Renault team-mate Nick Heidfeld made little progress from his poor grid position and was only P14 ahead of final finishers Jarno Trulli in the Lotus and Virgin Racing’s Jerome D’Ambrosio. Timo Glock’s Virgin, Heikki Kovalainen’s Lotus and Pastor Maldonado’s Williams all retired with mechanical issues.

It wasn’t a classic Australian Grand Prix despite the pre-season hype and the new rules introduced this season to make overtaking that bit easier. Still, it was a great result for the world champions Down Under. Can the others catch Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull Racing in the next Grand Prix in Malaysia? Lewis Hamilton and McLaren hope so, in order to challenge for the world title.

Australian Grand Prix, 58 laps:
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.  Massa         Ferrari                    +1:25.100
8.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1 lap
9.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes       +1 lap
10.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +1 lap
11.  Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1 lap
12.  Heidfeld      Renault                    +1 lap
13.  Trulli        Lotus-Renault              +2 laps
14.  D’Ambrosio    Virgin-Cosworth            +3 laps
DSQ. Perez Sauber-Ferrari +1:05.800*
DSQ. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari +1:16.800*

*Disqualified from the Australian Grand Prix over a technical infringement. Rules: 3.10.1 and 3.10.2.

Fastest lap: Massa, 1:28.947

Not classified/retirements:
Glock         Virgin-Cosworth              50 laps
Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth            49 laps
Rosberg       Mercedes                     22 laps
Kovalainen    Lotus-Renault                19 laps
Schumacher    Mercedes                     19 laps
Maldonado     Williams-Cosworth            10 laps
Liuzzi        HRT-Cosworth                 1 lap
Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth                 1 lap

World Championship standings, round 1:

Drivers:
1.  Vettel        25
2.  Hamilton      18
3.  Petrov        15
4.  Alonso        12
5.  Webber        10
6.  Button         8
7.  Massa          6
8.  Buemi      4
9.  Sutil          2
10. di Resta           1

Constructors:
1.  Red Bull-Renault           35
2.  McLaren-Mercedes           26
3.  Ferrari                    18
4.  Renault                    15
5.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari             4
6.  Force India          3

Next race: Malaysian Grand Prix, Sepang. April 8-10.

The reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel kicked off his 2011 season in style by taking pole position in Melbourne.

Even without the aid of the Kinetic Energy Recovery System his lap around the 3.295-mile circuit was highly impressive with a time of one minute, 23.529 seconds.

Vettel’s sixteenth career pole position underline the performance of the Red Bull RB7. The gap between the young German and the next fastest was eight tenths of a second. A true dominate performance from the new world champion.

With a new exhaust system fitted to the MP4-26 after a disappointing pre-season testing – to improve the balance and handling – Lewis Hamilton rewarded the McLaren team with a solid second position.

Hamilton denied Red Bull Racing a front row start in the final moments of Q3 by beating Mark Webber by less than a tenth of a second, despite his Kinetic Energy Recovery System also failing during his last lap.

Home crowd favourite Mark Webber will start in third for Red Bull Racing, while two-time Australian Grand Prix winner Jenson Button is fourth for McLaren.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso could only manage fifth while his team-mate Felipe Massa suffered a troubled qualifying session with a spin at the end of Q3 and nearly being knocked out in Q1.

Vitaly Petrov took a superb sixth for Renault, while the Mercedes GP 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 pre-season improvements were real as Kamui Kobayashi and Sebastien Buemi completed the top ten, with their team-mates Jaime Alguersuari and Sergio Perez not far off Q3 pace in P12 and P13.

Force India’s Paul di Resta and Pastor Maldonado in the Williams will start their maiden Grands Prix from P14 and P15 respectively, ahead of their experienced team-mates following mistakes by Adrian Sutil and Rubens Barrichello. Sutil miraculously avoided the pit wall in a spectacular spin out of the final corner, triggered when he activated his Drag Reduction System while hitting the kerb, unsettling the Force India.

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

Renault’s Nick Heidfeld, who replaces the injured Robert Kubica this season, suffered a lack of pace in qualifying and will start in P18.

Last season’s new teams have so far failed to show any progress with Lotus back in its 2010 position behind the rest, but ahead of Virgin Racing, which were at least quick enough to make the 107 per cent cut in qualifying.

The same cannot be said to Hispania. Both Vitantonio Liuzzi and Narain Karthikeyan must rely on the kindness of the rest of the pitlane if they are to be given dispensation to race.

Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix is going to be intriguing especially the degradation nature from the Pirelli tyres. Will we see lots of pit-stop action? And what about the Drag Reduction System? Can this new adjustable rear wing aid overtaking? We will find out over the course of 58 laps around Albert Park, Melbourne.

Qualifying times from Melbourne:

1. Vettel    Red Bull-Renault    1m23.529s
2. Hamilton    McLaren-Mercedes    1m24.307s
3. Webber    Red Bull-Renault    1m24.395s
4. Button    McLaren-Mercedes    1m24.779s
5. Alonso    Ferrari        1m24.974s
6. Petrov    Renault        1m25.247s
7. Rosberg    Mercedes    1m25.421s
8. Massa    Ferrari        1m25.599s
9. Kobayashi    Sauber-Ferrari    1m25.626s
10. Buemi    Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m27.066s
11. Schumacher    Mercedes    1m25.971s
12. Alguersuari    Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m26.103s
13. Perez    Sauber-Ferrari    1m26.108s
14. di Resta    Force India-Mercedes    1m26.739s
15. Maldonado    Williams-Cosworth    1m26.768s
16. Sutil    Force India-Mercedes    1m31.407s
17. Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth    1m26.270s
18. Heidfeld    Renault        1m27.239s
19. Kovalainen    Lotus-Renault    1m29.254s
20. Trulli    Lotus-Renault    1m29.342s
21. Glock    Virgin-Cosworth    1m29.858s
22. d’Ambrosio    Virgin-Cosworth    1m30.822s
23. Liuzzi    HRT-Cosworth    1m32.978s*
24. Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth    1m34.293s*

*Liuzzi and Karthikeyan failed to meet the Q1 107 percent qualifying time – 1m31.266s.

A new Formula One season is upon us once again and with new drivers plus new rules joining a 19-race calendar, this year’s world championship is likely to be the most unpredictable and exciting in the past six decades of the sport.

Entertaining the worldwide fans and creating a greener message are now the main focus set by the sport’s governing body (the FIA) and with that an adjustable rear wing has been adopted to aid overtaking, plus KERS making a return, last seen in the 2009 season.

Read More

This is the new VJM04 from Force India and the first to be designed by new technical director Andrew Green. Its predecessor achieved the team’s best-ever constructors’ championship position of seventh.

This season Force India is aiming for a top five result with the Mercedes-powered car.

Chairman Vijay Mallya said: “This year there is even more to be optimistic about. We’ve got three race drivers that are hungry to take the next steps in their careers, whether that be points, podiums or wins.

“We have an experienced technical team that have the ingenuity, flexibility and drive to adapt to the new wave of rule changes, and we also have the tools and resources in our partnerships with McLaren Applied Technologies and Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines to aim even higher.

“Not to mention the very special event, and one that I personally can’t wait for, the inaugural Indian Grand Prix. What better place would there be to reach some of those aims than on our home soil?”

Adrian Sutil said he hopes to finish in the top ten in the drivers’ championship for the first time this year:

“The progress the team has shown over the past two years has been very impressive and what I’ve seen in the factory and at the wind tunnel over the past weeks indicates that the rate will continue this year.”

Paul di Resta makes his Formula One debut with Force India this year. The 2010 DTM champion said: “‘I don’t want to say exact targets on record as there are so many factors that can come into play.

“What I do want to do is to have a positive approach, finish, be consistent and contribute strongly to the team’s overall performance. We’ve got high aims of finishing in a good constructors’ championship position and I know that I’ve got to play my part in this.”

Technical director Andy Green explained some of the changes on the VJM04:

“The most obvious visual change is that we’ve gone away from a conventional roll-hoop to a blade. This gives us a small packaging improvement compared to a more conventional style.

“The engine cover is different, in-line with the abolition of the F-duct system. But there are a lot of differences under the skin that people won’t necessarily notice.”

“We’ve recovered a lot of the aerodynamic performance, we believe. We still have a little bit to go, but we are still in the process of the realignment after the end of last season, because it does take a long time to move aerodynamically from one position to another.

“The movable wing is a whole new game, and we’ll be trying to exploit its performance to the max.

“Exhaust management will also be a big area of development this year. There will be an upgrade for the first race, so there are some changes that will come into effect at the Bahrain test. Further down the line there are some big updates for the front of the car coming in for the first European race.”

Force India have also recruited a new senior tyre engineer, Jun Matsusaki, to help with the switch to Pirelli tyres.

Green also confirmed the new car will use a Kinetic Energy Recovery System: “The Mercedes KERS system looks very strong, and we’re really happy with it.

“We’ve done a lot of running in the simulator, so the drivers are well up to speed with how to use it. We’re well developed with what we have to do for harvesting and deployment. It’s smaller and lighter than in 2009, and packaging required very few vehicle compromises.”

This is the new HRT F111 from Hispania Racing. Team principal Colin Kolles said: “The F111 represents a significant step forward for Hispania Racing.

“We have made a big improvement for starting our second season in Formula 1 and what you see in our new car confirms Hispania Racing´s commitment to F1.”

Designed by Geoff Willis and Paul White, the F111 will feature the adjustable rear wing but not the Kinetic Energy Recovery System.

Team president Jose Ramon Carabante said: “We feel really proud of the car our drivers will run this forthcoming season.

“Despite a challenging first year, we managed to finish on the eleventh position in the World Constructors Championship. Now, we are very pleased to introduce the first specification of the F111, which means a huge design-effort from our side.

“This is only a first step as we are planning several updates during the season.”

The car’s distinctive livery was designed by Daniel Simon of Cosmic Motors. He said: “I miss fearless visual statements and large beautiful numbers on today’s racing cars.

“Playing with the restrictions of what you can do to a complex F1 body is fun. There are many don’ts, but I found a way to lay courageous racing essence on the car.”

However aside from sponsorship from Tata, thanks to new driver Narain Karthikeyan, the F111?s bodywork features few sponsors.

Instead the bodywork shown includes the messages: “This could be you” and “This is a cool spot”.