MELBOURNE – Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel made a perfect start to his Formula One world title defence with a pole to flag victory at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Sunday.
The 23-year-old German blasted off the grid and never looked troubled as he notched up his 11th career victory and third in a row going back to last season by 22.2 seconds from McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton.
Renault’s Vitaly Petrov claimed his and Russia’s first ever podium in third place as the top three all ran two-stop strategies, despite the new Pirelli tyres which are supposed to degrade more quickly.
Ferrari’s double world champion Fernando Alonso was fourth ahead of local hope Mark Webber in the other Red Bull. Mexican rookie Sergio Perez was an impressive seventh for Sauber on his Formula One debut.
The provisional results are as follows:
1. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) RedBull 1hr 29:30.259 seconds
2. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren +00:22.297
3. Vitaly Petrov (Russia) Renault 00:30.560
4. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Ferrari 00:31.772
5. Mark Webber (Australia) RedBull 00:38.171
6. Jenson Button (Britain) McLaren 00:54.304
7. Sergio Perez (Mexico) Sauber 01:05.845
8. Kamui Kobayashi (Japan) Sauber 01:16.872
9. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 01:25.186
10. Sebastien Buemi (Switzerland) Toro Rosso 1 lap
11. Adrian Sutil (Germany) Force India 1 lap
12. Paul Di Resta (Britain) Force India 1 lap
13. Jaime Alguersuari (Spain) Toro Rosso 1 lap
14. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) Renault 1 lap
15. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Lotus 2 laps
16. Jerome d’Ambrosio (Belgium) Virgin 4 laps
nc. Timo Glock (Germany) Virgin 9 laps
r. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Williams 10 laps
r. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes 36 laps
r. Michael Schumacher (Germany) Mercedes 39 laps
r. Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) Lotus 39 laps
r. Pastor Maldonado (Venezuela) Williams 49 laps
(rank: r = retired, nc = not classified)
Fastest Lap: Felipe Massa, 1:28.947, lap 55.
