Australian F1 GP - Vettel off to a good start to title defence

The 2011 F1 season finally got on its way with the Australian F1 Grand Prix.

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel got his world championship defence off to the best possible start in Albert Park.  Vettel took the checked flag with Hamilton about 22 seconds behind him.  


Mercedes' Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg did not have a good day.  Both having to not complete the race.   


Vettel now leads the world championship with 25 points to Hamilton’s 18, Petrov’s 12, and Alonso’s 10, while Red Bull lead the constructors’ title chase with 35 points from McLaren on 24, Renault on 15, Ferrari on 14, Sauber on 10 and Toro Rosso on one.


     

2011 season starting soon

Yes!! the F1 season for the year 2011 is starting soon.. With the Australian F1 GP as the first stop, since Bahrain withdrew due to its current national situation.

Australian Grand Prix will start off another season from 25 to 27 Mar.

Much remains to be seen if Michael Schumacher will triumph and improve on last season.  I hope he does.

I guess the teams to watch would probably still be Redbull, Ferrari, McLaren.

There are a number of changes this year.  Different tires - Pirelli, the return of KERS, and the new moveable rear wings.

It will be difficult to predict who will prevail.  Only time will tell how the new changes will affect each team.

Can't wait for the season to begin.

Vettel - F1 Champion !!!!

Sebastian Vettel has done it ... he's the youngest-ever F1 Champion.  Vettel led from start to finish in the last race of the season at Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina.  A wrong pit stop strategy practically ended Alonso's chances as he was held up behind Petrov all the way to the checkered flag after his pit stop.  

    

The top 10 Driver's championship table: 

Pos	Driver	Nationality	Team	Points
1	Sebastian Vettel	German	RBR-Renault	256
2	Fernando Alonso	Spanish	Ferrari	252
3	Mark Webber	Australian	RBR-Renault	242
4	Lewis Hamilton	British	McLaren-Mercedes	240
5	Jenson Button	British	McLaren-Mercedes	214
6	Felipe Massa	Brazilian	Ferrari	144
7	Nico Rosberg	German	Mercedes GP	142
8	Robert Kubica	Polish	Renault	136
9	Michael Schumacher	German	Mercedes GP	72
10	Rubens Barrichello	Brazilian	Williams-Cosworth	47

Results after Turkish F1 Grand Prix

If you had watched the Turkish F1 GP, you must have wondered - What was Vettel or Webber thinking?  The 2 drivers crashed into each other and, as a result, handed the victory to McLaren.   Really dramatic.  McLaren finished in 1-2 fashion with Hamilton taking the checkered flag.

Michael Schumacher also did well, finishing 4th, ahead of fellow Mercedes teammate Rosberg.  


Drivers' Championship table (Top 10 only):

Pos	Driver	Nationality	Team	Points
1	Mark Webber	Australian	RBR-Renault	93
2	Jenson Button	British	McLaren-Mercedes	88
3	Lewis Hamilton	British	McLaren-Mercedes	84
4	Fernando Alonso	Spanish	Ferrari	79
5	Sebastian Vettel	German	RBR-Renault	78
6	Robert Kubica	Polish	Renault	67
7	Felipe Massa	Brazilian	Ferrari	67
8	Nico Rosberg	German	Mercedes GP	66
9	Michael Schumacher	German	Mercedes GP	34
10	Adrian Sutil	German	Force India-Mercedes	22

Constructor's Championship:

Pos	Team	Points
1	McLaren-Mercedes	172
2	RBR-Renault	171
3	Ferrari	146
4	Mercedes GP	100
5	Renault	73
6	Force India-Mercedes	32
7	Williams-Cosworth	8
8	STR-Ferrari	4
9	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	1
10	Lotus-Cosworth	0
11	HRT-Cosworth	0
12	Virgin-Cosworth	0

       

Championship standings

Red Bull does it again.  Another 1-2 finish at Monaco.

Driver's Championship (Top 10)

Pos	Driver	Nationality	Team	Points
1	Mark Webber	Australian	RBR-Renault	78
2	Sebastian Vettel	German	RBR-Renault	78
3	Fernando Alonso	Spanish	Ferrari	75
4	Jenson Button	British	McLaren-Mercedes	70
5	Felipe Massa	Brazilian	Ferrari	61
6	Robert Kubica	Polish	Renault	59
7	Lewis Hamilton	British	McLaren-Mercedes	59
8	Nico Rosberg	German	Mercedes GP	56
9	Michael Schumacher	German	Mercedes GP	22
10	Adrian Sutil	German	Force India-Mercedes	20

Constructor's Championship  

Pos	Team	Points
1	RBR-Renault	156
2	Ferrari	136
3	McLaren-Mercedes	129
4	Mercedes GP	78
5	Renault	65
6	Force India-Mercedes	30
7	Williams-Cosworth	8
8	STR-Ferrari	4
9	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	0
10	Lotus-Cosworth	0
11	HRT-Cosworth	0
12	Virgin-Cosworth	0

      

Webber pips Vettel for pole position in Spain

Once again, the two Red Bull drivers are out driving each other in every qualifying.  One moment it was Vettel, and the next moment it was Webber.  In the end, it was Mark Webber who took the pole position.  The only car that went below 1m20s.

Schumi did well and he finally qualifies ahead of Rosberg in the Mercedes GP, which has some radical changes to make the car for suited to Michael's driving style and competitiveness.

Hometown favourite, Fernando Alonso is in 4th, just behind Hamilton in 3rd.  Alonso 4th placing split the 2 McLaren with Button qualifying in 5th.

It will be an interesting race tomorrow.  Hope to see Schumi on the podium soon.

       

Results after Shanghai F1

McLaren got their 1-2 finish in Shanghai.  After the Shanghai F1 Grand Prix, this is how the drivers' and constructors' tables look like.

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Driver's Championship Table:

Pos	Driver	Nationality	Team	Points
1	Jenson Button	British	McLaren-Mercedes	60
2	Nico Rosberg	German	Mercedes GP	50
3	Fernando Alonso	Spanish	Ferrari	49
4	Lewis Hamilton	British	McLaren-Mercedes	49
5	Sebastian Vettel	German	RBR-Renault	45
6	Felipe Massa	Brazilian	Ferrari	41
7	Robert Kubica	Polish	Renault	40
8	Mark Webber	Australian	RBR-Renault	28
9	Adrian Sutil	German	Force India-Mercedes	10
10	Michael Schumacher	German	Mercedes GP	10
11	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Italian	Force India-Mercedes	8
12	Vitaly Petrov	Russian	Renault	6
13	Rubens Barrichello	Brazilian	Williams-Cosworth	5
14	Jaime Alguersuari	Spanish	STR-Ferrari	2
15	Nico Hulkenberg	German	Williams-Cosworth	1

Constructor's Championship Table. 

PosTeamPoints1McLaren-Mercedes1092Ferrari903RBR-Renault734Mercedes GP605Renault466Force India-Mercedes187Williams-Cosworth68STR-Ferrari29BMW Sauber-Ferrari010Lotus-Cosworth011HRT-Cosworth012Virgin-Cosworth0