Formula One: Australian Grand Prix, Raceday – Preview
SebastianVettel starts from pole for the second time in a row at Melbourne and this time the Red Bull looks even quicker after the German driver admitted that he did not even use KERS. McLaren seem to have left the demons behind as Lewis Hamilton lines up
on the first row on the grid ahead of Aussie, Mark Webber.
Jenson Button finished ahead of the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso in fourth. Vitaly Petrov is at Renault's helm with a fifth place, placing the R31 in front of Nico Rosberg and Felipe Massa. Kamui Kobayashi and Sebastien Buemi round up the top ten, leaving Michael
Schumacher eliminated after Q2. Williams and Force India would be disappointed with their performance but not as much as Nick Heidfeld who was knocked out in Q1.
Staying with disappointments, HRT's times did not make it within the 107 percent time and there has been no real progress within the Spanish outfit at all.
Turning our attention back at the head of the grid, Sebastian Vettel has proven yet again exactly why he’s gained the reputation of the next big thing in Formula One. The young German was extremely impressive throughout the course of the 2010 campaign; virtually
dominating qualifying last year. Presently, the Red Bull driver finds himself in a somewhat different dilemma: While 2010 was all about proving himself, this term, Vettel’s task is to ‘stay’ at the top. Will the youngster be able to display the required level
of maturity that one often associated with Michael Schumacher in his hay days or will he merely turn out to be a one-hit wonder?
Looking at the Ferrari camp, it is perhaps safe to assume that the Scarlet machine under-performed so far this weekend. The Italian team was understood to be right on Red Bull’s toes during pre-season testing and comfortably ahead of McLaren Mercedes. Secondly,
Felipe Massa was under immense pressure heading into this season after a rather forgettable term at the office last year. The Brazilian should ideally be joining the top 5 party.
McLaren appear to be the surprise package at the season opener. After having a couple of technical issues in pre-season, it appears that the Britain based team is well on course to be a thorn in Red Bull’s title ambitions this term. Importantly for the constructors,
both drivers qualified ahead of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso which further puts them in a promising position to make their mark on the race.
Michael Schumacher’s middle-aged crisis continues as he was once again out-performed by his relatively inexperienced teammate. The seven time World Champion would ideally be looking to make a quick start to make up some places if he intends on having any
influence at the front-end of the pack.
The race is scheduled to start at 0600 GMT on Sunday. It promises to be an exciting one so be sure to follow bettor.com for our in-depth coverage of the action that unfolds at Albert Park, Australia.
Tags: