2011 Australian Grand Prix: complete race weekend review

2011 Australian Grand Prix

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Vitaly Petrov, Renault, Melbourne, 2011

Find all the F1 Fanatic Australian Grand Prix coverage in one place below – from Friday practice to the post-race review.

Race results and reaction

Vettel dominates to win Australian Grand Prix – Race report.

Perez: "A dream start I will remember forever" – Sauber’s rookie star had a great debut but…

Kobayashi and Perez disqualified from results – Both Sauber were thrown out of the results.

Button frustrated after drive-through penalty – “I was in front before we entered the corner.”

Horner reveals Red Bull never used KERS – Red Bull took KERS off their car after Friday.

Vettel: ‘It wasn’t an easy race’ – “After my stop it was crucial to get past Jenson.”

2011 Australian Grand Prix result – Vettel wins and Petrov scores his first podium.

2011 Australian Grand Prix championship points – Red Bull take a nine-point championship lead over McLaren.

Race analysis

Who was the best driver of the Australian Grand Prix weekend? – Review each driver’s race weekend in detail below and vote for who you thought did best.

Rate the race: 2011 Australian Grand Prix – What did you think of the first race of the season?

Australian Grand Prix stats and facts – Hamilton matches Clark’s record of team loyalty.

Australian Grand Prix analysis – Lack of KERS no problem for Vettel at start.

If you’re interested in overtaking statistics from the race have a look at this thread on the forum: 2011 Australian GP overtaking data for review.

Detailed analysis of every team and driver in the Australian Grand Prix

No home advantage for Webber at Red Bull
Relief at McLaren after last-minute changes pay off
Ferrari look for answers on missing pace
Collisions spoil Mercedes’ start to the season
Petrov fires Renault with fine drive to first podium
Unreliability and driver errors hold Williams back
Di Resta handed debut point for Force India
Just one stop for Perez in remarkable Sauber debut
Toro Rosso score points despite drivers’ clash
Lotus not on terms with midfield yet
HRT finally run new car but fail to reach race
Virgin narrowly qualify and race at the back

Qualifying

Vettel storms to Melbourne pole as Hamilton snatches second – Qualifying report.

2011 Australian Grand Prix grid – Red Bull and McLaren occupy the front rows.

HRT to miss race after failing to beat 107% time – Team misses the cut by almost two seconds.

Liuzzi: HRT "will be up to speed" in Malaysia – HRT fail to start first race of the year.

Heidfeld knocked out in Q1 after KERS problem – Kubica’s replacement tstarts 18th in first race.

Hamilton hails "massive step" for McLaren – McLaren bounce back after testing woes.

Schumacher: Mercedes face "major job" – Mercedes driver missed out on Q3.

Vettel: "We still have zero points like everybody" – Vettel takes first pole position of the year.

Qualifying analysis – Final sector key to Red Bull’s advantage.

Pre-race analysis – New rules unlikely to halt Vettel’s winning ways

Practice

Practice one report – Webber snatches fastest time from Vettel

Practice one analysis – Ferrari and Red Bull closely matched on early stints

Lap one crash was my fault, admits Chandhok – Lotus reserve crashes on first lap of practice.

Practice two report – McLaren lead second practice in Australia

Button "not getting carried away" after topping times – McLaren showed better pace on Friday.

Practice two analysis – Four drivers at risk of not qualifying in Australia

‘We were expecting tyres to be worse" – Vettel – Pirelli tyres degrade less slowly than expected.

Practice three report – Red Bull dominate final practice in Melbourne

Find coverage of every race this season here: F1 2011 Season

How can we improve our coverage?

What else would you like to see in F1 Fanatic’s Grand Prix coverage? How can we make it better? Please post your suggestions in the comments.

Image © Renault/LAT, Force India F1 Team, Motioncompany, Sauber F1 Team

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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10 comments on “2011 Australian Grand Prix: complete race weekend review”

  1. You really do have your work cut out after any GP weekend Keith, keep it up :)

    All in all, a good weekend. It provided some answers but also raised a good few questions moving forward.

    Looking forward to Malyasia.

  2. seriously keith i dont think there’s anything more you could do in terms of Grand Prix coverage. Considering the wealth of information and detail compared to other F1 sites, i have half a mind to write to FOM to make this the official Formula 1 website ;)

    1. Don´t do that, what will happen is that the FOM will hire Keith and then we no longer will have f1fanatic

      1. But think of what Keith could do to overhaul the official F1 page! :-)

  3. Bigbadderboom
    29th March 2011, 14:07

    Great coverage, been working long hours recently with little time for TV, but kept well afoot of all developments through F1Fanatic, Mobile version and your tweets. Thanks a lot mate, great work! ;)

  4. You don’t realise how many articles are produced over the weekend. Great work Keith,!!

  5. An amazing job you do Keith. Looking forward to the Prediction results, I think I did ok for once! 4 out of 5 in the top 5 and Pole Position correct!

  6. excellent work, this site gets better and better.

  7. paranoid ubermensch (@)
    30th March 2011, 0:21

    I concur with all the comments above. You do a consistently excellent job, Keith. This is without a doubt, the best F1 site on the net.

Comments are closed.