Australian GP belongs to Sebastian Vettel

Reigning Formula One Champ Sebastian Vettel shows off his shiny hardware
after winning the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.
(Vincent Thian/Associated Press)

Things are looking up for the youngest Formula One Champ Sebastian Vettel this season. Now that he's the top dog in the competition, defending his title won't be an easy task. Thanks to him, he elevated Red Bull Racing to new heights. Winning the title has eluded him many times in his young F1 career. Last season was last season. This time around, he's the target of every driver in Formula One.

Winning the Australian GP in Melbourne was just the first step of his title reign. He got the top spot at the starting grid in the qualifiers thus gave him an advantage in the race. He jump started the race as soon as the red lights were lit. He somehow maintained his lead all throughout despite the track's warm temperature -- a concern by most drivers that prompted most of them to change tires early in the race. He only made one pit-stop enough to get him to the checkered flag for his first place podium as F1 champion.

2009 Formula One champ Lewis Hamilton finished 2nd and Lotus-Renault's Vitaly Petrov took got 3rd place. While Vettel had a great performance in Melbourne, there was a lot of chaos during the race. British driver Jenson Button of Mclaren and Williams' Rubens Barrichello were both slapped with Drive-Through penalties. Button's penalty came when he overtook Felipe Massa while heading out of the pits. In Barrichello's case however, it was similar to that of Button's but took a toll on Nico Rosberg of Mercedes GP's chances of getting championship points. The Brazilian driver made a move to overtaking Rosberg but miscalculated when his car's front spoiler/nose hit the side of the Mercedes Silver Arrow and crashed. At least Button was able to continue and finish the race at 6th place even after serving his violation, Barrichello never did.

It's worth noting that Michael Schumacher got an early exit from the competition after his car crashed after 20 laps in the race.

Schumi had a few words on the latter:

"A bit entertaining whatever 20 laps I did but it wasn't worth it and I think the team quite rightly decided for safety to come in and not risk anything," the seven-times world champion said.

Oh and he had video talking about The Silver Arrow F1 car, by the way.



It's actually good stuff coming from the 7-time world champ. Gotta give him props.

As expected, Nick Heidfeld replaced the injured Robert Kubica for Lotus-Renault. There was a lot of talk on the new rules and regulations of the 2011 season -- the adjustable rear spoilers (wings to some) and Pirelli Tires for all F1 cars are 2 of the changes/additions this year. Apparently, the KERS is still an issue for some teams. Nevertheless the new changes could prove to be a good thing for Formula One as we expect each race to be more competitive.

Now that the inuagural 2011 Formula One season is in the books, racking up W's is perhaps the least of Sebastian Vettel's worries at the moment. He's gonna do just fine as long as he stays focused.