Vettel dominates 2011 Australian GP qualifying
P2 for Hamilton, P3 for Webber.
Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel has grabbed the first pole position of the 2011 season ahead of Sunday’s season opener Grand Prix in Australia.
The reigning world champion dominated the qualifying session and clocked a best time of 1:23.529, beating by 0.778 seconds McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton (1:24.307).
Local Australian hero Mark Webber ended up third (1:24.395) ahead of McLaren’s Jenson Button (1:24.779), Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso (1:24.974), Lotus Renault GP’s Vitaly Petrov (1:25.247) and Mercedes GP’s Nico Rosberg (1:25.421).
Ferrari’s Felipe Massa (1:25.599) qualified 8th and was followed by Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi (1:25.626) and Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi (1:27.066).
Seven time world champion Michael Schumacher failed to enter Q3 by qualifying 11th ahead of Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari, Sauber’s rookie Sergio Perez, Force India’s Paul di Resta, Williams’s rookie Pastor Maldonado, Force India’s Adrian Sutil and Williams’s Rubens Barrichello.
2011 Australian Grand Prix, Qualifying Session results:
| Pos. | No | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault | 1:25.296 | 1:24.090 | 1:23.529 | 16 |
| 2 | 3 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:25.384 | 1:24.595 | 1:24.307 | 19 |
| 3 | 2 | Mark Webber | RBR-Renault | 1:25.900 | 1:24.658 | 1:24.395 | 15 |
| 4 | 4 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:25.886 | 1:24.957 | 1:24.779 | 18 |
| 5 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:25.707 | 1:25.242 | 1:24.974 | 19 |
| 6 | 10 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1:25.543 | 1:25.582 | 1:25.247 | 18 |
| 7 | 8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes GP | 1:25.856 | 1:25.606 | 1:25.421 | 17 |
| 8 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:26.031 | 1:25.611 | 1:25.599 | 18 |
| 9 | 16 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:25.717 | 1:25.405 | 1:25.626 | 17 |
| 10 | 18 | Sebastien Buemi | STR-Ferrari | 1:26.232 | 1:25.882 | 1:27.066 | 15 |
| 11 | 7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes GP | 1:25.962 | 1:25.971 | 13 | |
| 12 | 19 | Jaime Alguersuari | STR-Ferrari | 1:26.620 | 1:26.103 | 11 | |
| 13 | 17 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:25.812 | 1:26.108 | 9 | |
| 14 | 15 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1:27.222 | 1:26.739 | 16 | |
| 15 | 12 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Cosworth | 1:26.298 | 1:26.768 | 17 | |
| 16 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1:26.245 | 1:31.407 | 15 | |
| 17 | 11 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 1:26.270 | 12 | ||
| 18 | 9 | Nick Heidfeld | Renault | 1:27.239 | 10 | ||
| 19 | 20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Renault | 1:29.254 | 10 | ||
| 20 | 21 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Renault | 1:29.342 | 12 | ||
| 21 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:29.858 | 10 | ||
| 22 | 25 | Jerome d’Ambrosio | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:30.822 | 8 | ||
| 23 | 23 | Vitantonio Liuzzi* | HRT-Cosworth | 1:32.978 | 11 | ||
| 24 | 22 | Narain Karthikeyan* | HRT-Cosworth | 1:34.293 | 11 |
* Liuzzi and Karthikeyan did not qualify after failing to meet the Q1 107 percent time of 1:31.266.
Image © Red Bull
2014 F1 Australian Grand Prix
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