2011 Australian Grand Prix

 2011 Australian Grand Prix

Racing data
1st of 19 races in the 2011 Formula 1 World Championship
Surname:	2011 Formula 1 Qantas Australian Grand Prix
Date:	March 27, 2011
Place:	Melbourne
Course:	Albert Park Circuit
Length:	307.574 km in 58 laps of 5.303 km
Weather:	slightly cloudy
Spectator:	~ 115,000
Pole position
Driver:	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault
Time:	1: 23.529 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Felipe Massa	Ferrari
Time:	1: 28.947 min (lap 55)
Podium
First:	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault
Second:	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes
Third:	Vitaly Petrov	Renault

The 2011 Australian Grand Prix took place on March 27th at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne and was the first race of the 2011 Formula 1 World Championship .

Reports

background

Originally, the season opener should not take place in Australia, but in Bahrain. However, due to political unrest , the Bahrain Grand Prix was canceled.

The KERS energy recovery system returned to Formula 1 with this Grand Prix. It was last used at the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix . The use of KERS is not mandatory. While the front wing can no longer be adjusted from 2011, the rear wing can be adjusted. The so-called Drag Reduction System (DRS) was used for the first time. The use of the F-slot and double diffuser has been prohibited since this Grand Prix.

With this Grand Prix, Pirelli replaced Bridgestone as the tire manufacturer. At the Australian Grand Prix, the riders had the tire compounds hard (silver) and soft (yellow), as well as intermediates (light blue) and full wets (orange) for wet conditions .

The 107 percent rule was reinstated from this Grand Prix. This means that drivers who are seven percent slower than the fastest in practice in the first qualifying section are not allowed to take part in the race. However, there is the possibility that under special circumstances a start can still be allowed.

For the first time since 1970 , Fernando Alonso , Jenson Button , Lewis Hamilton , Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel, five Formula 1 world champions , competed in a Grand Prix. In 1970 these were Jack Brabham , Graham Hill , Denis Hulme , John Surtees and Jackie Stewart .

Lotus changed its engine partner this season and is now competing with Renault engines.

Jérôme D'Ambrosio , Pastor Maldonado , Sergio Pérez and Paul di Resta made their Formula 1 debut. Narain Karthikeyan returned to Formula 1 for HRT after he was last active as a Grand Prix driver at the 2005 Chinese Grand Prix. He and his teammate Vitantonio Liuzzi could not qualify for the race. Nick Heidfeld (Renault) and Liuzzi (HRT) competed for their new team for the first time.

With Schumacher (four times), Button (twice), Alonso and Hamilton (once each), four former winners competed in this Grand Prix.

training

Heikki Kovalainen in free practice

In the first free practice, Mark Webber achieved the fastest lap ahead of Vettel and Alonso. Daniel Ricciardo drove the training in this Toro Rosso of Jaime Alguersuari and participated for the first time in a Formula 1 training meeting. In addition, Nico Hülkenberg took over Force India from di Resta and Karun Chandhok took over the Lotus from Jarno Trulli . HRT did not attend this training session because of technical problems. In the second free practice, Button took over the lead in front of his teammate Hamilton. Alonso finished third again. Towards the end of the training, Liuzzi made the track debut of the HRT F111 . Karthikeyan did not drive a lap again. In the third free practice session, Vettel set the fastest lap and was almost a second faster than his team-mate Webber, who came second. Hamilton finished third. Karthikeyan completed his first laps in the HRT 111 in this training.

Qualifying

Close to the 107 percent hurdle: Jérôme D'Ambrosio (front) succeeds in qualifying; Narain Karthikeyan does not create enough time

In the first section of qualifying, Vettel posted the fastest time. The HRT, Virgin and Lotus pilots as well as Heidfeld were eliminated. Liuzzi and Karthikeyan failed because of the 107 percent rule and did not qualify for the Grand Prix. In the second section, Vettel stayed in first position. The Williams and Force India pilots as well as Pérez, Jaime Alguersuari and Schumacher were eliminated. In the third segment, Vettel was again the fastest driver and secured pole position in front of Hamilton and Webber.

After the race, it turned out that Red Bull had decided not to use KERS in qualifying and in the race on both cars, as the team feared reliability problems.

run

At the Australian Grand Prix, the drivers used different pit stop strategies

Vettel kept the lead at the start from Hamilton, who was attacked by Webber. Alonso didn't get off to a good start and fell back to ninth place. Vitali Petrow and Felipe Massa , on the other hand, got off to a good start and finished fourth and fifth. Button, Nico Rosberg and Kamui Kobayashi followed in sixth to eighth place. In the first round, however, there were minor incidents. Alguersuari collided with Schumacher. Both of them suffered tire damage and had to pit. Towards the end of the first lap there was a collision between Heidfeld and Buemi. Buemi drove to Heidfeld's side, making sure that Heidfeld's Renault was undrivable. After the race, the two racing drivers who were able to continue blamed each other for the collision.

While Vettel was leading the way in the next few laps and held a few seconds ahead of Hamilton, there were several duels in the front field. Alonso passed Kobayashi and Rosberg and was then behind Button, who put Massa under pressure. Massa defended his position and had to adjust his braking balance due to his hard driving style, as his brakes had become too hot. Button used KERS and DRS, but did not manage to overtake on the start-finish straight. On the eleventh lap, Button drove next to Massa before Turn 11. In the combination of curves 11/12, Button finally used the emergency exit and passed Massa. A little later, Alonso also passed Massa.

Lewis Hamilton finished the race he led for three laps in second place

While Maldonado had to fail with a technical problem with the power transmission, the first drivers made their regular pit stops. Webber was the first pilot in the pits and switched from soft to hard tires. The two Ferrari drivers, from whom Alonso initially pitted, switched from soft to soft. After Hamilton had shortened his deficit on Vettel, Vettel came to the pits and stayed on soft tires. Hamilton took over the leadership position. Meanwhile, Button, who was now in front of Vettel, received a drive-through penalty because of the maneuver against Massa. Button tried to keep Vettel behind him, but he couldn't because Vettel benefited from the fresh tires. After Hamilton had completed his pit stop three laps after Vettel and also switched from soft to soft, Vettel took over the leadership position again. Hamilton did not fall behind Button. Button pitted twice in the following laps. The first time he took the drive-through penalty and the second time he switched from soft to soft.

Several incidents occurred over the next few laps. Glock initially pitted with technical problems. He took up the race again after a few laps and drove to the end, but was not classified, nine laps behind. However, Schumacher and Kovalainen gave up their race in the pits. A little later, the race for Schumacher's team-mate Rosberg was over. Barrichello dared a risky maneuver against Rosberg and drove him in the side. Rosberg's car was so badly damaged that he had to give up the race. Barrichello drove on and was punished a little later with a drive-through penalty for triggering a collision.

While Vettel was now increasing his lead over Hamilton, Webber pitted on hard tires, with which he could not keep up with the leading drivers, and switched back to soft tires. Alonso also pitted a little later for his second stop. He switched to soft tires again. This enabled him to set faster lap times and shortened the gap to Petrov, who was in third place. After 31 laps, Massa also pitted for the second time. In contrast to Alonso, however, he switched to hard tires and would have been able to drive through without a pit stop.

Felipe Massa set the fastest lap of the race

After Hamilton damaged his underbody due to his committed driving style, this had no noticeable effect on his racing pace. After 36 laps, Vettel and Hamilton finally pitted at the same time. Both switched to hard tires and the gap remained unchanged. Petrow also came to the pits to switch to hard tires and thus fell behind Webber and Alonso. Alonso put Webber under pressure but couldn't get past him on the track. Although Webber had already ridden both sets of tires, he switched to soft tires again. As he was then briefly off the track, he was unable to take advantage of the tire advantage and Alonso, who switched to hard tires shortly afterwards, overtook Webber. Webber, who did not have a KERS, initially put Alonso under pressure. However, Webber's initial tire advantage quickly turned into a tire disadvantage and Alonso stayed ahead of him. Both pilots then caught up with Petrov, but never got close enough to overtake him.

After Massa had been overtaken by Button and shortly afterwards was put under pressure by Pérez, he switched to soft tires. He fell behind Buemi, but with the fresher tires he passed him after a few laps. Then he achieved the fastest race lap. Shortly before the end of the race, Barrichello finally gave up with problems with the power plant transmission.

Vettel eventually won the race ahead of Hamilton and Petrow, who stood on the podium for the first time. Alonso, Webber and Button took fourth to sixth place. The Sauber drivers Pérez and Kobayashi finished in seventh and eighth. Pérez managed to do 35 laps of the race on a soft set of tires and was the only driver with a one-stop strategy. The joy about the good result for the Sauber team did not last long, however, as both pilots were disqualified for illegal rear wings. The remaining points therefore went to Massa, Buemi, Sutil and di Resta. Di Resta took the first point in his debut Grand Prix.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Red Bull Racing	01	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull RB7	Renault 2.4 V8	P
	02	Mark Webber
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	03	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren MP4-26	Mercedes-Benz 2.4 V8	P
	04th	Jenson Button
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	05	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari 150 ° Italia	Ferrari 2.4 V8	P
	06th	Felipe Massa
Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team	07th	Michael sSchumacher	Mercedes MGP W02	Mercedes-Benz 2.4 V8	P
	08th	Nico Rosberg
Lotus Renault GP	09	Nick Heidfeld	Renault R31	Renault 2.4 V8	P
	10	Vitaly Petrov
AT&T Williams	11	Rubens Barrichello	Williams FW33	Cosworth 2.4 V8	P
	12	Pastor Maldonado
Force India F1 Team	14th	Adrian Sutil	Force India VJM04	Mercedes-Benz 2.4 V8	P
	15th	Nico Hulkenberg
		Paul di Resta
Sauber F1 Team	16	Kamui Kobayashi	Clean C30	Ferrari 2.4 V8	P
	17th	Sergio Perez
Scuderia Toro Rosso	18th	Sébastien Buemi	Toro Rosso STR6	Ferrari 2.4 V8	P
	19th	Daniel Ricciardo
		Jaime Alguersuari
Team Lotus	20th	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus T128	Renault 2.4 V8	P
	21st	Karun Chandhok
		Jarno Trulli
HRT F1 team	22nd	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT F111	Cosworth 2.4 V8	P
	23	Vitantonio Liuzzi
Marussia Virgin Racing	24	Timo Glock	Virgin MVR-02	Cosworth 2.4 V8	P
	25th	Jérôme D'Ambrosio

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b} Hulkenberg drove the Force India with the number 15 in the first free practice. Di Resta then took over the vehicle for the remainder of the race weekend.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Ricciardo drove the Toro Rosso with the number 19 in the first free practice. Alguersuari then took over the vehicle for the rest of the race weekend.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Chandhok drove the Lotus with the number 21 in the first free practice. Trulli then took over the vehicle for the rest of the race weekend.

Classifications

Qualifying

Item	driver	constructor	Q1	Q2	Q3	begin
01	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	1: 25.296	1: 24.090	1: 23.529	01
02	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1: 25.384	1: 24.595	1: 24.307	02
03	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1: 25,900	1: 24.658	1: 24.395	03
04th	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1: 25.886	1: 24.957	1: 24.779	04th
05	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1: 25.707	1: 25.242	1: 24.974	05
06th	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	1: 25.543	1: 25.582	1: 25.247	06th
07th	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1: 25.856	1: 25.606	1: 25.421	07th
08th	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1: 26.031	1: 25.611	1: 25.599	08th
09	Kamui Kobayashi	Clean Ferrari	1: 25.717	1: 25.405	1: 25.626	09
10	Sébastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1: 26.232	1: 25.882	1: 27.066	10
11	Michael sSchumacher	Mercedes	1: 25.962	1: 25.971	-	11
12	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1: 26.620	1: 26.103	-	12
13	Sergio Perez	Clean Ferrari	1: 25.812	1: 26.108	-	13
14th	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	1: 27.222	1: 26.739	-	14th
15th	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Cosworth	1: 26.298	1: 26.768	-	15th
16	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	1: 26.245	1: 31.407	-	16
17th	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	1: 26.270	no time	-	17th
18th	Nick Heidfeld	Renault	1: 27.239	-	-	18th
19th	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus Renault	1: 29.254	-	-	19th
20th	Jarno Trulli	Lotus Renault	1: 29.342	-	-	20th
21st	Timo Glock	Virgin Cosworth	1: 29.858	-	-	21st
22nd	Jérôme D'Ambrosio	Virgin Cosworth	1: 30.822	-	-	22nd
107 percent time : 1: 31.266 min (based on Q1 best time of 1: 25.296 min)
DNQ	Vitantonio Liuzzi	HRT-Cosworth	1: 32.978	-	-	-
DNQ	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT-Cosworth	1: 34.293	-	-	-

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p} racing cars with KERS

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	tires	time	begin	Fastest lap
01	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	58	2	W / W / H	1: 29: 30.259	01	1: 29.844 (44th)
02	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	58	2	W / W / H	+ 22.297	02	1: 30.314 (41st)
03	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	58	2	W / W / H	+ 30.560	06th	1: 30.064 (55th)
04th	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	58	3	W / W / W / H	+ 31.772	05	1: 29.487 (49.)
05	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	58	3	W / H / W / W	+ 38.171	03	1: 29,600 (50th)
06th	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	58	3	W / W / H	+ 54,304	04th	1: 29.883 (49.)
07th	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	58	3	W / W / H / W	+1: 25.186	08th	1: 28.947 (55th)
08th	Sébastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	57	2	W / W / H	+ 1 lap	10	1: 30.836 (44th)
09	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	57	2	W / H / H	+ 1 lap	16	1: 31,526 (55.)
10	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	57	2	W / W / H	+ 1 lap	14th	1: 31.941 (40th)
11	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	57	3	W / W / H	+ 1 lap	12	1: 30.467 (41st)
12	Nick Heidfeld	Renault	57	2	W / W / H	+ 1 lap	18th	1: 32.377 (43.)
13	Jarno Trulli	Lotus Renault	56	2	H / W	+ 2 rounds	20th	1: 32,550 (52nd)
14th	Jérôme D'Ambrosio	Virgin Cosworth	54	2	W / W	+ 4 rounds	22nd	1: 34,523 (44.)
DSQ	Sergio Perez	Clean Ferrari	58	1	H / W	+1: 05.845	13	1: 29.962 (39.)
DSQ	Kamui Kobayashi	Clean Ferrari	58	2	W / W / H	+1: 16.872	09	1: 30.384 (51st)
-	Timo Glock	Virgin Cosworth	49	2	W / W / H	+ 9 rounds	21st	1: 35.789 (48th)
-	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	48	4th	W / W / W / H	DNF	17th	1: 31.404 (47.)
-	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	22nd	1	W / H	DNF	07th	1: 33.503 (21.)
-	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus Renault	19th	1	W / W	DNF	19th	1: 34.918 (19.)
-	Michael sSchumacher	Mercedes	19th	2	W / H	DNF	11	1: 35.319 (13.)
-	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Cosworth	09	0	W.	DNF	15th	1: 34.102 ( 07.)

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p} racing cars with KERS

World Cup stands after the race

The first ten of the race got 25, 18, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 and 1 point (s) respectively.

Driver ranking

Item driver constructor Points 01  Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 25th 02  Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 18th 03  Vitaly Petrov Renault 15th 04th  Fernando Alonso Ferrari 12 05  Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 10 06th  Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 8th 07th  Felipe Massa Ferrari 6th 08th  Sébastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 4th 09  Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 2 10  Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1 11  Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 0

Item driver constructor Points 12  Nick Heidfeld Renault 0 13  Jarno Trulli Lotus Renault 0 14th  Jérôme D'Ambrosio Virgin Cosworth 0 -  Sergio Perez Clean Ferrari 0 -  Kamui Kobayashi Clean Ferrari 0 -  Timo Glock Virgin Cosworth 0 -  Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 0 -  Nico Rosberg Mercedes 0 -  Heikki Kovalainen Lotus Renault 0 -  Michael sSchumacher Mercedes 0 -  Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 0

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  Red Bull-Renault 35 02  McLaren-Mercedes 26th 03  Ferrari 18th 04th  Renault 15th 05  Toro Rosso-Ferrari 4th 06th  Force India-Mercedes 3

Item constructor Points 07th  Lotus Renault 0 08th  Virgin Cosworth 0 -  Clean Ferrari 0 -  Williams-Cosworth 0 -  Mercedes 0

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "Official: Season opener in Bahrain canceled" (Motorsport-Total.com on February 21, 2011)
2. ↑ "Pirelli: Six tire types, six colors" (Motorsport-Total.com on March 18, 2011)
3. ^ "GP Australia in Melbourne / 1st free practice" (Motorsport-Total.com on March 25, 2011)
4. ↑ "HRT is missing at the start of training in Melbourne" (Motorsport-Total.com on March 25, 2011)
5. ^ "GP Australia in Melbourne / 2nd free practice" (Motorsport-Total.com on March 25, 2011)
6. ^ "GP Australia in Melbourne / 3rd free practice" (Motorsport-Total.com on March 26, 2011)
7. ↑ "Red Bull and the big KERS feint" (Motorsport-Total.com on March 27, 2011)
8. ^ "Alguersuari: 'A Continuous Struggle'" (Motorsport-Total.com on March 28, 2011)
9. ↑ "Heidfeld doesn't let his head hang" (Motorsport-Total.com on March 27, 2011)
10. ↑ "Melbourne: Last Mystery Solved" (Motorsport-Total.com on March 29, 2011)
11. ↑ "Heidfeld wonders about Buemi's assignment of blame" (Motorsport-Total.com on April 1, 2011)
12. ↑ ^{a b} "Williams only with good approaches" (Motorsport-Total.com on March 27, 2011)
13. ^ "Formula 1 - Sauber deeply impressed by Perez" (Motorsport-Magazin.com on March 31, 2011)
14. ↑ "Rear wing illegal: cleanly disqualified!" (Motorsport-Total.com on March 27, 2011)

Web links

Commons : Australian Grand Prix 2011  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Weekend statistics at Motorsport-Total.com