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Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel opened his Formula One title defense by driving a flawless race, outpacing McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton to win the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Sunday.
Starting from the pole, Vettel maintained his lead after the first turn and had already opened a gap of more than 2 seconds over Hamilton following the first lap and the German’s lead was never seriously threatened.
“Very cool,” he radioed to his team after taking the checkered flag. “Excellent car. Excellent stops.”
“Lewis didn’t push so hard any more. It was not an easy race,” Vettel said. “The start was crucial, I was on the clean side and I had a good getaway.”
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Formula 1: Pole Sitter Sebastian Vettel Wins Australian Grand Prix
Formula 1: Sebastian Vettel Grabs Pole For Australian Grand Prix
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Formula 1: Australian Grand Prix - Post Qualifying Quotes
Renault’s Vitaly Petrov was a surprise third, claiming his first-ever podium finish with a strong showing. The Associated Press
While the top three made it to the finish on two stops, three-stop plans consigned Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) and Mark Webber (Red Bull) to fourth and fifth - though this was better than Alonso might have expected after falling to ninth at the first corner. Jenson Button was only sixth for McLaren after being penalised for an incident with Ferrari’s Felipe Massa.
Sergio Perez was a remarkable seventh on his debut, having managed to get through the distance with just a single tyre change on lap 23. That left him not far adrift of Button, and clear of Sauber team-mate Kobayashi.
Sebastien Buemi took the last point for Toro Rosso, with the Force Indias of Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta running in the points for a while before falling back to 11th and 12th. Yahoo! Eurosport UK
POS DRIVER ENTRANT TIME/RETIRE 1 Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault 1h29m36.259 2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 22.297 3 Vitaly Petrov Renault 30.56 4 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 31.772 5 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 38.171 6 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 54.304 7 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m05.845 8 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m16.872 9 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m25.186 10 Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1 Lap 11 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1 Lap 12 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1 Lap 13 Jaime AlguersuariToro Rosso-Ferrari 1 Lap 14 Nick Heidfeld Renault 1 Lap 15 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 2 Laps 16 Jerome d'AmbrosioVirgin-Cosworth 3 Laps R Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth R Rubens BarrichelloWilliams-Cosworth R Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP Damage R Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault Water leak R Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP R Pastor Moldonado Williams-Cosworth
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