Formula 1 season debuts with Australian Grand Prix win by Sebastian Vettel

Formula 1: Vettel wins Australian Grand Prix

Formula 1 kicked off yesterday with the Australian Grand Prix, and defending champion Sebastian Vettel carried over his winning form from last season en route to his first triumph in Melbourne and his eleventh overall.

The Red Bull driver was in pole position at the start of the race and never relinquished it as he cleared the checkered flag 22.2 seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton of McLaren. Third place went to Vitaly Petrov of Lotus Renault, the Russian's first podium finish in his Formula 1 career.

Germany's Vettel clinched the Formula 1 title last year in dominating fashion in Abu Dhabi. With his win at this year's Australian Grand Prix, he became the second defending champion since Fernando Alonso in 2006 to start the season with a race victory.

"Sebastian's been dominant all weekend and to turn up and win the first race with a faultless drive was fantastic," Christian Horner of Red Bull Team said in a statement. "To have book-ended the two championships by winning the last race in Abu Dhabi and the first race here is a fantastic achievement," Horner added.

Hometown driver Mark Webber, Vettel's teammate, can only muster a fifth place finish, while Fernando Alonso of Ferrari just missed the podium with fourth place. Jenson Button of McLaren ended up in sixth place after receiving a penalty for a prohibited passing move.

The inaugural Formula 1 race consisted of 58 laps around the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit. Six out of 22 drivers were not able to complete the race due to technical problems. Among them was Michael Schumacher, seven-time champion of Formula 1.

Posted by Andre Monohan on Monday March 28 2011, 5:25 AM EST. Ref: Bloomberg. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0