23 year old German sensation Sebastian Vettel has kicked-off his title defence with a comfortable win in Melbourne. The Red Bull driver finished 22.2 seconds faster than 2nd placed Lewis Hamilton.
Vettel started from pole position and sped away to win in a race where he was never challenged. Vettel’s Australian teammate Mark Webber was looking for his first win in ten attempts at his home Grand Prix.However, poor tyre management cost him as he finished 5th.
The German was 2.4 seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton at the end of the first lap but a problem with the floor of Hamilton’s car cost the McLaren Mercedes driver dearly on the first turn of lap 32 and allowed Vettel to increase his lead to 22.2 seconds.
Last year’s winner Jenson Button had a horror race. He struggled to pass a defensive Felipe Massa in the early stages of the race despite new technology in the rear wing designed to reduce drag (thus making it easier to overtake). On lap 11 Button was squeezed off the track in an attempt to overtake Massa and was forced to take a shortcut, coming out ahead of the Ferrari. Button received a drive-through penalty which destroyed any hopes of him going back-to-back in Melbourne. Button managed to come back and overtake Massa, finishing 6th.
Michael Schumacher collided with Jaime Alguersuari on turn 3 and was out early due to a torn tyre. However Alguersuari continued in after an early pit stop to fix his Toro Rosso’s front wing and finished 11th behind rookie Paul di Resta.
On turn three Rubens Barrichello hit Nico Rosberg while trying to overtake on the inside which resulted in both Mercedes GP’s and both Williams-Cosworth car’s retiring.
Lewis Hamilton is eyeing revenge in Malaysia however he finished 6th last year and it was a Red Bull 1-2 as Vettel got his first win. I went to qualifying on Saturday and Lewis Hamilton was fast. He definitely has the talent to win but he will have to out-do superstar Sebastian Vettel and make sure his car is up to scratch. Hamilton put together a great chase for 1st on Sunday but his car let him down when it mattered.
Vettel now leads the world championship on 25 points, closely followed by Lewis Hamilton on 18 and Petrov on 12. For more info on leader boards and race results visit http://www.formula1.com
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