Vettel Triumphs In Melbourne
Vettel claims comfortable win in Melbourne (Foto: eurosport.com)
World champion Sebastian Vettel did start the new season the same way he finished the last one. The 23-year-old German has triumphed in Melbourne in high style after coming home 22 seconds faster than second Lewis Hamilton.
Vettel set a 1 hour and 29:30,259 time to clinch a much easier win than expected, leaving the Briton Hamilton 22,297 seconds and Vitaly Petrov 30,560 seconds behind. Former world champion Fernando Alonso came fourth, almost against all expectations, the Spaniard dropping to a 31,772 gap, a very big one, realizing that the Ferrari driver had claimed before the race he would struggle to clinch the first place. Alonso started the race fifth, but his efforts could barely bring him a place higher.
Said the German: “It wasn’t an easy win, the start was crucial and obviously I got a good getaway. “The second part of the race, Lewis dropped off and I could control the situation a bit better. It’s the first time I’ve finished in the Australian Grand Prix so I’m really happy.” The German, who is the youngest world champion in Formula One, failed to finish the race last year due to an incident.
Vettel’s team-mate Mark Webber came fifth after finishing the qualifying third, the Australian having lost his ‘privileged’ position at Red Bull and it is today that the German gets the more attention. Webber came 38,171 seconds later after being third at one point. He was also forced to make three stops, just like Alonso and Button did.
Button came sixth, 54,304 seconds behind the leader, while Alonso’s team-mate Felipe Massa set a 1 minute and 25,186 gap, going seventh in the standings. Finally, Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi and Adrian Sutil of Force India came eighth and ninth following a one-lap gap. The tenth position was taken by Paul di Resta from the same Force Indian team.
The race would also include three incidents. Williams’ Rubens Barrichello was the first to face some problems, while Lotus’s Kovalainen reached the grass minutes after the start. The same Barrichello and Rosberg would touch each other, but the Brazilian remained on the track. Barrichello would finally retire with ten laps left.
Mercedes and Sauber were the only teams to end poorly. Both former world champion Michael Schumacher and team-mate Nico Rosberg have also retired with 39 and 36 laps remaining. As for the Saubers, Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi have been disqualified. The German was forced to withdraw due to suspension problems. Jaime Alguersuari from Toro Rosso and Renault’s Nick Hiedfeld have all come one-lap later.
Lotus’s Jarno Trulli set a 2-lap gap, while Virgin’s Jerome d’Ambrosio and Timo Glock came 14th and 15th with a four and nine-lap gap respectively. The Australian Grand Prix is followed by the Malaysian one which is scheduled to take place on April 10.
