Sebastian Vettel could not have asked for a better start, as he drove his Red Bull to his first victory in Australia at the first race of the season. The young German started the race from the first place, after a dominant pole position on Suturday and kept his position without serious difficulties during the race, resulting in him crossing the finish line first. McLaren's Lewis Hamilton finished 2nd, 22.2 seconds behind the German, after starting from the first row, and staying in the top places during the whole race. A surprise came from fantastic Vitaly Petrov, who without a doubt gave the best performance of his career finishing 3rd, scoring the first podium of his career and a very good start both for him and Renault team. The team may have started the season without Robert Kubica, after his serious accident in a high speed rally race in Italy, but Vitaly Petrov seems to fill in the place with great success, bringing back to the team a result which might have been the best possible for Renault.
The Ferrari's tried to keep the pace, with Fernando Alonso finishing in 4th place, after a bad start which caused him to lose his starting position and Felipe Massa finishing in 9th place scoring just 2 points for the team. Red Bull's Mark Webber finished in 5th place with McLaren's Jenson Button finishing in 6th place. Rookie Sergio Perez with Sauber finished the race in 7th place with teammate Kamui Kobayashi in 8th place and Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi completing the first 10, scoring one point as he finished 10th.
Mercedes' 7-time world champion Michael Schumacher made a very early pit stop, after he lost the right-back tyre and a few laps later retired from the race. Teammate Nico Rosberg was also forced to retire after a collision with Rubens Barrichello, that caused him a damage to the cooling system, few seconds later resulting in his engine to blow. It was not a good start for the team, and both drivers as also Ros Brawn was obviously disappointed after that.
Results
1 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault Winner
2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes +22.2 secs
3 Vitaly Petrov Renault +30.5 secs
4 Fernando Alonso Ferrari +31.7 secs
5 Mark Webber RBR-Renault +38.1 secs
6 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes +54.3 secs
7 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari +65.8 secs
8 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari +76.8 secs
9 Felipe Massa Ferrari +85.1 secs
10 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari +1 Lap
11 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes +1 Lap
12 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes +1 Lap
13 Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari +1 Lap
14 Nick Heidfeld Renault +1 Lap
15 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault +2 Laps
16 Jerome d'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth +4 Laps
Ret Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth
Ret Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth
Ret Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP
Ret Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault
Ret Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP
Ret Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth
