Australian Grand Prix Formula 1 Qualifying: Sebastian Vettel on Pole with Lewis Hamilton Second and Mark Weber third!

Sebastian Vettel in a RedBull at Qualifying in the 2011 Australian F1 Grand Prix

Team RedBull Renault dominated proceedings all through this weekend of Free Practices and maintained the same tempo for the Qualifying with reigning F1 Champion Sebastian Vettel going fastest with an incredible 1:23.529, even after locking up at turn 15. Team mate Mark Webber went third fastest with 1:24.395.

Amidst overcast conditions at the Albert Park Formula1 Circuit in Melbourne, Australian, the RedBulls clearly looked faster than every other car in the paddock to post those blistering times. With that, the RedBulls most certainly look like the teams to beat this season, but the Mclarens are surely showing signs of being the team who can give the RedBulls a tough fight even after having a horrid time in pre-season testing.

This, as Lewis Hamilton put in a blinder of a qualifying lap just ahead of the final closure of the Q3 session to split the Redbulls with his timing of 1:24.307 which just pushed Webber to third. Jenson Button completed Qualifying at 1:24.858, giving him a fourth starting position. Fernando Alonso in the Ferrari went fifth fastest with 1:24.974 while Vitaly Petrov in the Renault managed sixth with 1:25.247.

Nico Rosberg of Mercedes went seventh fastest after clocking 1:25.421 while Ferrari’s Felipe Massa could only manage eighth with 1:25.599. Japanese driver Kamui Kobayashi went 1:25.626 in the Sauber with Sebastian Buemi doing 1:27.066 in a Toro Rosso. This completes the top ten qualifiers for tomorrow.

Both the F1 cars of the Hispania Racing Team did not qualify for the race as they were outside the 107% time set by the FIA in qualifying and hence, we will probably not see Narain Karthikeyan driving at tomorrow’s raceday. The only other possibility of the HRT cars taking the field being if the other teams agree to let the HRT cars onto the field.

Seven time world champion Michael Schumacher struggled with what appeared to be poor tyre grip, as was the concern with most teams and finished out of the top ten with a lap time of 1:25:971 which gave him the 11th place on the starting grid. Meanwhile Force India’s Adrian Sutil spun out of Q2 to end up 16th with a timing of 1:31:407. His team mate and rookie, Paul Di Resta out qualified him for 14th place on the starting grid with 1:26:739. Meanwhile, here’s the complete time sheet of the qualifying session.

Qualifying

	Driver	Teams	Time
1	S Vettel (GER)	Red Bull	1’23.529
2	LC Hamilton (GBR)	McLaren	1’24.307
3	M Webber (AUS)	Red Bull	1’24.395
4	J Button (GBR)	McLaren	1’24.779
5	F Alonso (ESP)	Ferrari	1’24.974
6	V Petrov (RUS)	Renault	1’25.247
7	N Rosberg (GER)	Mercedes-Benz	1’25.421
8	F Massa (BRA)	Ferrari	1’25.599
9	K Kobayashi (JPN)	Sauber	1’25.626
10	S Buemi (SUI)	Toro Rosso	1’27.066
11	M Schumacher (GER)	Mercedes-Benz	1’25.971
12	J Alguersuari (ESP)	Toro Rosso	1’26.103
13	S Perez (MEX)	Sauber	1’26.108
14	P di Resta (GBR)	Force India	1’26.739
15	P Maldonado (VEN)	Williams	1’26.768
16	A Sutil (GER)	Force India	1’31.407
17	RG Barrichello (BRA)	Williams	1’26.270
18	N Heidfeld (GER)	Renault	1’27.239
19	H Kovalainen (FIN)	Lotus	1’29.254
20	J Trulli (ITA)	Lotus	1’29.342
21	T Glock (GER)	Virgin	1’29.858
22	J d’Ambrosio (BEL)	Virgin	1’30.822
23	V Liuzzi (ITA)	HRT	1’32.978
24	KRN Karthikeyan (IND)	HRT	1’34.293