Australian GP: Race – Sebastian Vettel wins decisively, Lotus Renault makes a big impact

The start of the first race of the season brought joy to some and misfortune to others. The top three drivers maintained their positions while Vitaly Petrov moved up to fourth place at the expense of Fernando Alonso, who was overtaken by Felipe Massa and Jenson Button in addition to the Russian, after a disastrous start. Unfortunate at the start, Michael Schumacher had to return to the pits due to a complete tire blowout, causing him and Jaime Alguersuari to drop down the standings. Jenson Button, despite the movable wing system meant to facilitate overtaking, failed to gain an advantage over the Brazilian from Scuderia. Strangely, despite the rumors, Red Bull did not use its KERS at the start, in addition to not using it during qualifying.

On the eleventh lap, the tires start to drop in performance, while Pastor Maldonado retires at the side of the track. Jenson Button cuts a chicane to overtake Felipe Massa during a controversial move, and the Spanish double world champion takes advantage to pass his teammate a few corners later. Mark Webber, in his Red Bull, is the first to pit, on hard tires while Fernando Alonso switches to soft tires! Schumacher is already a lap down, an unfortunate race for the seven-time world champion, while Jenson Button’s overtake is under investigation. Pit stops follow one another as the race seems to turn into a tire wear battle. Jenson Button is handed a penalty—a drive-through—due to his off-track move during his overtake on the Brazilian Scuderia driver.

The strategies are extremely different with pit stops at different laps, dictated by real-time tire wear. Pirelli seems to have successfully met its challenge, especially when we see how Sebastian Vettel gets past Jenson Button after fitting new tires, before Button takes his penalty, causing him to lose many places. Meanwhile, Vitaly Petrov justifies his new contract, making a mistake-free race in fourth position, under threat from Fernando Alonso, who surely wants to finally overtake the Russian driver who blocked him in Abu Dhabi. A second retirement occurred on the 22nd lap with Heikki Kovalainen in his modest Lotus, while Barrichello makes a double overtake by slipping between Kamui Kobayashi and Michael Schumacher, in one lap. The latter retires on the next lap with a right-rear issue. But the Brazilian driver, wanting to climb up the hierarchy a bit too quickly, misses his braking and harpoons Nico Rosberg, forcing him to retire. No more Mercedes on the track, resulting in a catastrophic first Grand Prix.

On lap 27, Mark Webber switches to new soft tires. It seems that drivers are on a three-stop strategy, while some were only predicting two yesterday. Fernando Alonso also stops while closing in on the Russian Lotus Renault driver, who is having a very consistent race, showing that the Enstone team has done a great job, with lap times not so far off Vettel’s on the same lap. Vettel, meanwhile, is doing his job, widening the gap on Lewis Hamilton, while Rubens Barrichello serves his penalty for forcing the second Mercedes driver to retire. The top three drivers are still only on one stop, while Felipe Massa enters the pits opting for hard tires, as his teammate sets the fastest laps in the race. Given the varying degrees of tire wear at this point in the race, some drivers might only make two stops. On lap 36, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton’s tires lose performance, while Vitaly Petrov is lapping a second faster than both before all three switch to hard tires. The Russian emerges behind Webber and Alonso, who are on soft tires, indicating another stop is likely.

The race is turning into a tire war of attrition, with no driver yet assured of their position. It is at this moment that Sergio Perez sets the fastest time, going under the 1’30 mark on worn tires. Meanwhile, the Russian in the Lotus Renault is running at the same pace as Sebastian Vettel, while Fernando Alonso struggles to overtake Mark Webber, even with heavy use of KERS and the adjustable wing, which doesn’t seem effective on a car of similar performance.

The Australian from Red Bull makes his 3rd stop to switch to soft tires, which need to last 16 laps for him to reach the finish. Fernando Alonso imitates him by switching to hard tires and begins to be caught by the Australian, who is closing in at a frightening speed on the Ferrari. However, the use of the rear wing and the fastest lap in the race don’t allow the Red Bull driver to overtake the double world champion. The absence of KERS in the Red Bull is felt. The two drivers engage in a frenzied race, catching up with Vitaly Petrov at a rate of 1 to 1.5 seconds per lap… But he has an 11-second lead, with 11 laps to go. The Russian might play referee in this battle at the end of the race. A little further back, Jenson Button overtakes Felipe Massa on the straight, squeezing the Brazilian to return the favor, given that the same move by Massa caused the penalty for the Briton. And the Sauber rookie, Sergio Perez, is visible behind, while the Mexican has only made one stop! Impressive tire management performance.

A long-distance battle is underway between Vitaly Petrov and Fernando Alonso for third place on the podium, and the Russian reacts but remains slower by several tenths than the Spaniard, who has fresher tires. However, the Lotus Renault driver sets his best lap on track, giving himself some breathing room five laps from the end. Only the top ten drivers are on the same lap as the leader, and the battle between Massa and Buemi for ninth place unfolds only five or six seconds behind the world champion, who is alone at the front with a fifteen-second lead. The world champion controls his race and begins the year as he ended it, with a very beautiful leading race following a brilliant pole.

In the seventh position, Sergio Perez makes an impression, as an extremely tire-efficient driver, given that he is ahead of his teammate, Kamui Kobayashi, with only one pit stop. He is the only driver to achieve this remarkable performance. Two laps before the end, Fernando Alonso chases Vitaly Petrov and his Lotus Renault GP, just one second behind, before Petrov gains some breathing space, preventing Alonso from activating his adjustable rear wing.

Sebastian Vettel secures his eleventh victory with this early season win, ahead of Lewis Hamilton and a surprising Vitaly Petrov. A very strong performance by Sergio Perez who outpaces his teammate in the first race, while Toro Rosso scores its first point at the start of the season with Sebastien Buemi.

A race that saw Pirelli’s hopes come true, with numerous different strategies and the emergence of a new force in the paddock with a very strong Lotus RenaultGP. The weekend also raises questions for Red Bull with a significant performance gap between Webber and Vettel, and a seemingly nonexistent KERS system. Disappointment for Ferrari, which was outpaced by Lotus, and for Mercedes, which did not see the finish line.

The Melbourne circuit being atypical, see you in two weeks in Malaysia for a more classic race!