Sebastian Vettel Wins Australian Grand Prix

As anyone watching the news recently will know, with the Bahrain Grand Prix cancelled for security reasons, Australia, as it has many times in recent seasons, played host for the first race of the 2011 F1 season.

And while Vettel won convincingly there are signs that the year ahead could be a good one with Lewis Hamilton in his McLaren Mercedes coming second, with Vitaly Petrov joining them on the podium in third place.

But it's Vettel who everyone will be needing to catch this year, and the reigning champion showed the rest of the field what he is capable of, starting in pole position and driving a near faultless race.

If anyone can keep the season alive it will probably be Lewis Hamilton, who post-race spoke with confidence about his chances for the rest of the season:

'I'm back in the fight. I'm only a few points behind the guy in front who has a much faster car. We will close that gap. I have no doubts about that.'

And acknowledging that Vettel and Red Bull really will be the ones to try to beat this year Lewis added:

It is very clear that Red Bull have a fantastic car - they have had the fastest car since the end of 2009 and they continue to have the fastest car. We clearly showed today after the first stint that we can compete with them in the race.'

It could be the street circuit of Monaco at the end of May that will really see the two drivers have the closest battle, and the demand for Monaco Grand Prix tickets will be high in the weeks ahead.

Meanwhile Sebastian Vettel had his own thoughts on the Australian Grand Prix and his victory, playing down thoughts that 2011 will be a repeat of last year:

"It was not easy, the start was crucial. I had a good getaway, but didn't know if it was enough until I saw Lewis and Mark Webber battling for position.'

The top six final positions for the 2011 Australian Grand Prix are:

1 Sebastian Vettel 1:29:30.259
2 Lewis Hamilton 1:29:52.556
3 Vitaly Petrov 1:30:00.819
4 Felipe Alonso 1:30:02.031
5 Mark Webber 1:30:08.430
6 Jensen Button 1:30:24.563

The next race is in Malaysia at the Sepang Circuit, on Sunday April 10, over 56 laps with Red Bull the team to catch there


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