Vettel begins defence in fast lane

MOTOR SPORT AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX:DRAG REDUCTION systems, the return of KERS, unpredictable tyres. For Sebastian Vettel none of the supposed variables brought to Formula One to improve the show had any impact at the season-opening Melbourne Grand Prix, as the defending champion began the 2011 season just as he ended the last campaign, with a dominant victory.

Alarmingly quick through winter testing, and this time aided by the kind of reliability that necessitated a last-ditch victory at last season’s final race in order to take the title, Vettel sailed through the opening sessions in Melbourne with an almost blithe facility.

All smiles and confident banter, the young German joked that his trophy cabinet lacked anything with a kangaroo on it and that the Australian GP winner’s platter would do nicely.

He breezed one step closer to the target on Saturday rocketing to pole some eight tenths of a second clear of McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton. With the champion revealing his team had opted not to run its KERS system in the session, an already serious advantage began to look commanding, prompting Hamilton to comment that Vettel’s time was “staggering”.

And when the lights went out at the race start, Vettel quickly expanded the comfort zone. Hamilton, starting from the dirty side of the track, failed to make his KERS-assisted start count and Vettel held his lead into turn one. By the time the cars were streaming across the line at the end of the first lap, the Red Bull driver had pulled out a two-second gap back to Hamilton. Game over.

“I don’t really like the word dominant at this stage, to be honest,” Vettel said of his lights to flag win. “It is a long, long way to go.

“I am very happy because I think all of us, the whole team and myself, we had a lot of fun today and we won.

“We worked a lot of hours – it is not an easy car to work on, so compliments to the mechanics,” he added.

“I was joking with them yesterday: they have been working all week long to prepare for this weekend and now they can have pizza and beer tonight, so that’s a nice reward.”

Hamilton, meanwhile, is likely to greet the second place he achieved in spite of a broken floor with the same fervour usually granted a win. As recently as a fortnight ago, following the final test in Barcelona, the Briton had worriedly insisted McLaren were a second or more off the pace as a complex new exhaust system failed to bring rewards.

In the time since the team has navigated a vast U-Turn, reverting to a simpler exhaust and introducing a host of updates designed to put them back on track. In Australia, the retrenchment seems to have worked.

“Coming from a car which was going to arrive here probably two seconds off the pace to the race pace being very, very similar, I think that’s probably the most impressive part for me,” he said. “I think it’s very rare that you see such a big leap in performance in Formula One. I feel really privileged to be up here because we thought it was going to be quite a bad weekend and I’m back up here, back in the fight, only a few points behind the guy in front, who has a much, much faster car.”

The same should be true of Ferrari, whose Red Bull-matching pre-season form began to evaporate from the moment practice began on Friday. In qualifying, the team was left mystified as the off-season’s most consistent performer suddenly developed handling problems, both Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa complaining the balance of their cars changed from lap to lap.

It left Alonso fifth on the grid with Massa eighth. With his usual aggressive aplomb, Alonso barged his way around the Albert Park circuit but aside from dismissing a lacklustre Mark Webber during the pit stops, he could make no impression on the leaders, save for closing on third-placed Vitaly Petrov of Renault in the final laps.

“It seems that I have a season ticket for fourth place here, as it’s the third time in four years I’ve finished the race in that position,” Alonso lamented. “But we are in the right zone for us to be able to win a title, but definitely not if we keep finishing third or fourth. We have to improve.”

As will Webber. The Australian must now be beginning to feel like Salieri to Vettel’s Mozart, his best efforts consistently being eclipsed by the easy, flashing brilliance of his younger rival. But yesterday, Webber left the circuit sure there was more to his bad afternoon than met the eye.

“It’s not normal for me not to go and match the rhythm at the front,” he said. “I should be able to stay with these guys but today I finished a long way behind. I was pushing as hard as I could but I couldn’t get much back. But let’s stay cool; it’s just the first race.”

If Webber had been harshly treated by Albert Park the worst punishment was reserved for the Sauber’s of Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez. The rookie Mexican drove a superb race, making just one stop, to claim seventh on his debut with Kobayashi finishing just behind. But the joy was shortlived, both cars later being disqualified for a technical infringement of the rules governing the rear wing.

As for Vettel, the German climbed onto the podium to undisguised glee, and when handed the trophy stole a glance at the surface of the platter. “No kangaroo,” he later smiled. “But in my head there is.”

HOW THEY FINISHED

1Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Red Bull-Renault 58 laps 1hr 29m 30.259s; 2L Hamilton (Brit) McLaren-Mercedes +00m 22.2s; 3V Petrov (Rus) Renault-Renault +00m 30.5s; 4F Alonso (Spn) Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 31.7s; 5M Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault +00m 38.1s; 6J Button (Brit) McLaren-Mercedes +00m 54.3s; 7F Massa (Bra) Ferrari-Ferrari +01m 25.1s; 8S Buemi (Swi) Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap; 9A Sutil (Ger) Force India-Mercedes +1 lap; 10P di Resta (Brit Force India-Mercedes +1 lap; 11J Alguersuari (Spn) Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap; 12N Heidfeld (Ger) Renault-Renault +1 lap; 13J Trulli (It) Lotus-Renault +2 laps; 14J d'Ambrosio (Bel) Virgin-Cosworth +4 laps; 15T Glock (Ger) Virgin-Cosworth +9 laps; Retired: R Barrichello (Bra) Williams-Cosworth 48 laps completed; N Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes-Mercedes 22 laps completed; L H Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus-Renault 19 laps completed; M Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes-Mercedes 19 laps completed; P Maldonado (Ven) Williams-Cosworth 94 laps completed; Disqualified: S Perez (Mex) Sauber-Ferrari +01m 05.8s; K Kobayashi (Jap) Sauber-Ferrari +01m 16.8s;

Did not qualify: V Liuzzi (It) HRT-Cosworth; N Karthikeyan (India) HRT-Cosworth.

World standings: 1S Vettel 25.0pts, 2L Hamilton 18.0, 3V Petrov 15.0, 4F Alonso 2.0, 5M Webber 10.0, 6J Button 8.0, 7F Massa 6.0, 8S Buemi 4.0. 9A Sutil 2.0, 10P di Resta Force India 1.0.