2011 Australian Grand Prix Results

After the cancellation of the Bahrain Grand Prix, the Australia Grand Prix, or Qantas Australian Grand Prix, became the first race of the 2011 F1 Season. The season already started in controversy, as the Hispania Racing team got stuck on the new 107% qualifying rule. Under the new qualifying rule this season, drivers must qualify within 107% of the top qualifying driver. This left 11 teams and 22 drivers to compete in the Australia Grand Prix. Sebastian Vettel went from pole position to podium, in a race run under blue Australian skies. He was followed by Lewis Hamilton in second place and Vitaly Petrov in third place.

All eyes were on last season’s winner, Sebastian Vettel, and he delivered. Setting a fast pace during the qualifying race, Vettel easily took pole position for Red Bull, his 16th. He was followed by Lewis Hamilton for McLaren Mercedes, who was almost a full second behind Vettel. Vettel’s qualifying time was 0.5 seconds faster than his pole position qualifying time last year. Red Bull team mate, Mark Webber, qualified in third place.

Vettel started the race strong from pole position and pretty much kept the lead the entire race. He won with a blistering 22 second lead ahead of second place Hamilton. This clearly shows that Red Bulll have a fast car again this season. The first lap saw a small altercation between Michael Schumacher and Jaime Alguersuari, forcing both to pit with damages and eventually forcing Schumacher to retire from the race. Frustrating Schumacher, who just stated the he was in top shape for this season. Vettel was closely followed by Hamilton, Webber and Petrov during the first few laps.

Back in the pack, in fourth and fifth place, the battle between Jenson Button and Felipe Massa was heating up. Button unsuccessfully trying to pass Massa on numerous occasions. Finally, in lap 11, Button tries to pass Massa at the chicane and ends up cutting the chicane to finish his overtaking manoeuvre. This move, unfortunately, landed Button with a drive-through penalty. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes tried to appeal this decision, but were rebuffed by the stewards.

It was a race with a high attrition rate, with seven drivers not finishing the race. The two Sauber drivers not qualifying to start with and Timo Glock, who only managed to complete 49 laps of the race was not ranked. First to retire was Pastor Maldonado, with technical transmission problems in lap 9. He was followed by Schumacher, who suffered collision damage and his team decided to have him retire, rather than damage the car. Other retires, included Heikki Kovalainen, Nico Rosbery and Rubens Barrichello.

The Australian Grand Prix makes a nice start to the 2011 F1 Season. On the Drivers’ Championship standings, Vettel garners a nice 25 points for his win, followed by Hamilton with 18 points and Petrov with 15 points. On the Constructors’ Championship standings Red Bull is in first place with 35 points, followed by McLaren-Mercedes with 26 points and Ferrari with 18 points. Team Force India should be elated to win their first points in F1 racing. The 9th place finish of Adrian Sutil and 10th place finish of newcomer, Paul di Resta, gives the team 3 points, hoisting them out of the zero points section from last season. Great finish for di Resta, who wins his first-ever F1 point!

Full Race Results

  1. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Racing-Renault) 1:29:30.259
  2. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes) +22.297s
  3. Vitaly Petrov (Renault) +30.560s
  4. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) +31.772s
  5. Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault) +38.171s
  6. Jenson Button (McLaren-Mercedes) +54.304s
  7. Felipe Massa (Ferrari) +1:25,186s
  8. Sebastian Buemi (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) +1 lap
  9. AdrIian Sutil (Force India-Mercedes) +1 lap
  10. Paul di Resta (Force India-Mercedes) +1 lap
  11. Jaime Alguersuari (Torro Rosso-Ferrari) +1 lap
  12. Nick Heidfuld (Renault) +1 lap
  13. Jarno Trulli (Lotus-Renault) +2 laps
  14. Jerome d’Ambrosio (Virgin-Cosworth) +4 laps

Timo Glock (Virgin-Cosworth) +9 laps (not ranked)

Rubens Barrichello (Williams-Cosworth) Retired, lap 48

Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) Retired, lap 22

Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus-Renault) Retired, lap 19

Michael Schumacher (Mercedes) Retired, lap 19

Pastor Maldonado (Williams-Cosworth) Retired, lap 9

Sergio Perez (Sauber-Ferrari) Did Not Qualify

Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber-Ferrari) Did Not Qualify