Race
Tyre supplier Pirelli brought its silver-banded hard compound tyre as the harder "prime" tyre and the yellow-banded soft compound as the softer "option" compound. This was the same tyre selection that Bridgestone had chosen to bring to the Australian Grand Prix in the previous year. Vettel made the best start from pole whereas the McLarens of Hamilton and Jenson Button started slowly from second and fourth on the dirty side of the grid. This left Vettel unchallenged into the first corner, with Hamilton's KERS button allowing him to just keep second from Webber. Button was unable to defend his position as he was under challenge from Fernando Alonso and Vitaly Petrov . Petrov took fourth and Alonso was pushed on the grass and dropped back, while Button dropped to sixth behind... Sebastian Vettel was 2.4 seconds ahead of Hamilton at the end of the first lap, and he increased it to 3.2 seconds at the end of lap 2, with Webber right behind Hamilton. Hamilton then began to respond to Vettel's fast laps, easily pulling away from Webber and keeping the gap to Vettel around 3 seconds. Webber and Petrov were comfortable in third and fourth, with the main battle on the track being Jenson Button's repeated attempts to get fifth from Massa. Button tried many times to pass Massa, b...
Practice
Despite claiming during the off-season that they were a second behind their rivals, McLaren followed Red Bull in claiming the two fastest times in the second session, with Jenson Button a tenth of a second faster than Lewis Hamilton , Alonso and Vettel. Intermittent showers late in the afternoon led to race control declaring the circuit to be wet, but no driver used the wet or intermediate tyres, and a dry line was quickly established. The final half hour was run under race conditions as a simul...
Qualifying
The second session opened with a mistake from Rubens Barrichello that saw him spin off. He failed to set a time, and so qualified seventeenth on the grid. Sauber 's Sergio Pérez also struggled with a hydraulics problem that cost him track time. Michael Schumacher failed to advance to Q3 by one hundredth of a second. Jaime Alguersuari qualified twelfth, followed by rookie drivers Pérez, Paul di Resta and Pastor Maldonado . Adrian Sutil was left sixteenth on the grid when, on a fast flying lap, he... The final session started with Sebastian Vettel setting a time that quickly proved to be unbeatable. Mark Webber held second place for much of the period before Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button were able to split the Red Bull cars. Webber was able to reclaim third from Button, but was mystified as to his lack of pace compared to his team-mate; Vettel was almost a second faster than Hamilton. He was observed to set a similar time later in the session without using his KERS device at all during th...
Race Result
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Part 1 | Part 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:25.296 | 1:24.090 |
| 2 | 3 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:25.384 | 1:24.595 |
| 3 | 2 | Mark Webber | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:25.900 | 1:24.658 |
| 4 | 4 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:25.886 | 1:24.957 |
| 5 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:25.707 | 1:25.242 |
| 6 | 10 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1:25.543 | 1:25.582 |
| 7 | 8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:25.856 | 1:25.606 |
| 8 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:26.031 | 1:25.611 |
| 9 | 16 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:25.717 | 1:25.405 |
| 10 | 18 | Sébastien Buemi | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1:26.232 | 1:25.882 |
Championship Standings After This Race
The Paddock Breakdown
Barry · Gary · KatGary — 33 · Three Fantasy F1 leagues
The rain, a sullen grey smear across the Albert Park sky, felt less like a threat and more like a judgment. Vettel's Red Bull, a beast of 680 horsepower – the naturally aspirated V8 roaring with a displaced 2. 4 liters – seemed to relish the slickness, a predatory grace honed by countless simulations. Hamilton, in his McLaren, wrestled with the rear end, a frustrating dance dictated by the McLaren's complex tire management system, a subtle but crucial difference in grip compared to Red Bull's aggressive setup. Petrov, meanwhile, held onto the podium, a quiet triumph for Renault, their engine's 6. 0-liter V8 a surprisingly potent force in the damp conditions.
The rain, a persistent, sullen guest, seemed determined to rewrite the script entirely. Petrov's podium, a solitary flash of Renault's potential, was a curious anomaly; considering the team's 13% chance of a top three finish this season, it hinted at a volatility simmering beneath the surface. Hamilton, predictably, shadowed the Red Bull, a frustrating 1. 8 seconds adrift, demonstrating a consistent, if ultimately insufficient, challenge.
Kat — 30 · Technical journalist
The rain, a venomous grey slick, clung to Albert Park, mirroring the desperation in Petrov's eyes. A fractured radio message, a frantic plea for confirmation – was it the blue car ahead, or simply the ghosts of a misjudged braking point? Hamilton, a glacial calm behind the wheel, was a predator, patiently stalking the Russian's every move. Vettel, of course, held the advantage, a sculpted statue of precision, utterly impervious to the chaos. Petrov's gamble – a late-race surge – had vanished, swallowed by the track's merciless embrace. The Australian sun, obscured, seemed to mock the fragility of ambition.
The rain hadn't truly ceased, not in the way a driver expects, but rather, settled into a sullen grey film clinging to Albert Park. Petrov, a man sculpted by the steely resolve of a Siberian winter, watched Vettel disappear into the mist. He'd felt the shift, that subtle tightening in the Renault chassis – a consequence, perhaps, of his own cautious approach. A veteran of the army, Petrov understood the value of measured aggression; a principle betrayed by the Red Bull's relentless surge. He wondered, with a flicker of something akin to frustration, if the championship was already slipping away, not through speed, but through the quiet, almost imperceptible, accumulation of advantage. The air hung thick with the scent of damp asphalt and the unspoken pressure of a nation's sporting hopes.