Vettel On Top Of The World Down Under

There's plenty of dedicated sports sites out there to give the full report on today's 2011 Formula 1 curtain-raiser in Melbourne, but here's just a quick word from Tyre Roar after the first racing weekend of the new season.

Having a world championship to defend obviously agrees with Sebastian Vettel. The young German was imperious all weekend, on form with typically clinical one lap pace in qualifying and then a near-flawless race win today, from green light to chequred flag. The Red Bulls look very strong again but Vettel's prowess this weekend meant team mate Mark Webber never had a hope of getting a look in at his home grand prix. His slightly off-piste excursion on his flying lap while position rival Alonso's Ferrari was pitting didn't really help either.

Vitaly Petrov put in a decent shift, advocating my personal decision to name his as part of my fanstay F1 team for this season, alongside Mark Webber. (Renault chassis, Cosworth engines...could be a dark horse.) Lewis Hamilton also did sterling service to bring home the largely untested and much-derided MP4-26 home in second place. With so much pre-season speculation focusing on how hard Fernando Alonso would be chasing the Red Bulls this year to avoid his last gasp efforts in 2010, Hamilton could be the quiet one to watch if the car stays on the boil for his drving style. Vettel may yet prove petulant where the more experienced Brit remains cool in high stakes split second decisions.

As per usual, Kamui Kobayashi proved excellent value, drifting his willfully tail-happy Sauber through qualifying in banzai D1 style; pity then that the Saubers were disqualified after today's race for an apparently illegal rear wing design.

On the subject of the cars, to the casual eye the differences may not be all that apparent, but the adjustable rear wings did make themselves known, especially in causing Adrian Sutil's absolutely epic save on the home straight in Q2, after he opening his rear wing just a fraction too early exiting the final corner. The spin that resulted from the back of the car snapping round looked catastrophic but Sutil powered the Force India out of it to bring the car home from its ruined hot lap all but unscathed.



KERS remains debatable: is the weight penalty worth the 12mph straight line advantage? Tracks such as China or Abu Dhabi with long straights will really show the real value of the new adaptive aero and KERS systems, but so far the 'boost button' looks to be one of those rare items of tech that is allowed in F1, but not neccessarily particularly useful. Much more debate to come on that one feels.

Certain drivers will surely need to book up their ideas in coming races as well. Michael Schumacher's puncture-blotted race ended in retirement and Felipe Massa not only spun out in qualifying but then struggled to match the promise his Ferrari could potentially posses, finishing a relatively lowly seventh. Something is clearly afoot in Formula One when a Scuderia Ferrari and a seven-time world champion are very much 'also rans'

Finally a word for young Scottish rookie Paul di Resta. A thoroughly nice lad, it seems from his performance in recent interviews, and appreciative of his F1 drive following the classic move up through the ranks from karting, Formula Renault and DTM. Tenth place on his Force India debut is fully commendable, as as he settles down into the travelling circus of F1 racing he could yet upset the old order. Fingers crossed for him.

New drivers, new teams, new tyres, new aero, and the same tried-and-tested formula (no pun intended) of the ultimate driving machines screaming round the world's most glamourous and historic racetracks every fortnight. As ingredients for sporting gold go, this has all the makings of a gripping season.

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