Numero Uno Fernando Alonso 2 Time F1 World Champion

[Jam_Van_Dam]

2011 Formula 1 World Championship
Team: Ferrari
Driver: Fernando Alonso
Difficulty: Legend
Objective: Win Drivers and Constructors Championship
Other Information: 100% Race Distance, Full Race Weekend

2011 Season Teams and Drivers

Red Bull Racing
Sebastian Vettel
Mark Webber

McLaren
Jenson Button
Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari
Fernando Alonso
Felipe Massa

Mercedes
Michael Schumacher
Nico Rosberg

Renault
Vitali Petrov
Nick Heidfield

Williams
Rubens Barrichello
Pastor Maldonaldo

Force India
Adrian Sutil
Paul Di Resta

Sauber
Kamui Kobayashi
Sergio Perez

Toro Rosso
Sebastien Buemi
Jamie Alguersuari

Lotus
Heikki Kovalainen
Jarno Trulli

HRT
Narian Karthikeyan
Vitantonio Liuzzi

Virgin
Timo Glock
Jerome D'Ambrosio

[Jam_Van_Dam]

"Red Bull are the team to beat"

With the start of the 2011 Formula One season only 1 week away, 2 time world champion and Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso has publicly stated that Red Bull Racing are the team to beat heading into the 1st race in Australia during a interview with The Sun newspaper. "Going by pre-season testing times we are not as fast as the Red Bull's or the Mclaren's especially over 1 lap runs however over the longer distance we seem to be a little bit closer in terms of performance and pace" said Alonso. The Melbourne track has not been kind to Ferrari in recent years and you have to go back to 2007 until a Ferrari driver won here. Fernando is not expecting that to change this time around "Offcourse we would love to challenge for the victory but at the moment it does not look likely. Red Bull are the team to beat so maybe a podium finish would be good for us. The championship is a long distance and it cannot be won here in the 1st race so it's important we remember that!"

[Jam_Van_Dam]

Melbourne
2011 Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix


Friday Free Practice Session 1
Sebastian Vettel: 1:25:678 1st
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Fernando Alonso: 1:26:343 7th
Felipe Massa 1:25:838 4th


It was reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel who was fastest in the 1st practice session here in Melbourne. Red Bull kicked off their championship in the best way possible with Vettel posting the fastest lap of the session beating team mate Mark Webber in 2nd by just 0.060 seconds. It was a dissapointing session for Alonso who finished in 7th and was slower than team mate Massa by over half a second however the Spaniard seemed upbeat about it. "We knew coming here that we didn't have the pace of the Red Bull's so we are not suprised with the position we are in. Also when i was in the process of setting my best times the track temperature was dropping and there was spits of rain which obviously hindered my lap times. Anyway we look forward to the 2nd practice session coming up later and hopefully we get a nice dry track and improve our times."

[Jam_Van_Dam]

Friday Free Practice Session 2
Sebastian Vettel: 1:24:858 1st
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Fernando Alonso: 1:25:796 11th
Felipe Massa 1:25:210 5th

Friday Practice session 2 ended pretty much the same as session 1 with Red Bull dominating the time sheets. Once again young German Vettel topped the table ahead of team mate Mark Webber. The suprise of the session was undoubtly Alonso finishing a very low 11th! The Ferrari driver looked quick in sector 1 and 2 but was severly lacking pace in sector 3 and just could not seem to hook a good lap togethor!

[Jam_Van_Dam]

Saturday Free Practice Session 3
Sebastian Vettel: 1:24:150 1st
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Fernando Alonso: 1:24:959 8th
Felipe Massa 1:24:396 2th


Once again it was Sebastian Vettel who proved his dominance by going fastest in the last practice session before qualifying. The reigning champ was 0.246 seconds faster than his nearest competitor Ferrari driver Filipe Massa. However all these table topping times will mean nothing if he fails to produce them in qualifying in a few hours time.

[Jam_Van_Dam]

Australian Grand Prix Qualifying

Q3

1. L Hamilton 1:23:675
2. J Button 1:23:720
3. M Webber 1:23:758
4. F Alonso 1:24:159
5. S Vettel 1:24:195
6. M Schumacher 1:24:520
7. F Massa 1:24:557
8. N Heidfeld 1:24:638
9. V Petrov 1:24:796
10. K Kobayashi 1:24:797

Q2 11-17 Alguersuari, Perez, Buemi, Rosberg, Di Resta, Barrichello, Sutil

Q1 18-24 Maldonaldo, Glock, Kovalainen, Karthikeyan Trulli, D'ambrosio, Luizzi


Mclaren shocked Red Bull in qualifying as Lewis Hamilton led a Mclaren 1,2 with team mate Jenson Button. The English duo had been slower than the Red Bull's all weekend however when it really mattered they delivered and now put Mclaren in a great position for the race. Meanwhile Vettel the fastest man all through Friday and early this morning could only manage 5th position. Mark Webber however managed to salvage 3rd for Red Bull and he will start on the second row of the grid along side Fernando Alonso. The Ferrari driver appeared to be struggling all week however he proved the doubters wrong with a strong 4th position. More news and driver reactions to follow...

Hamilton after pole position

[Jam_Van_Dam]

Austalian Grand Prix
Race Day

JH: Hello i am Jake Humphreye and i am along side my broadcast partner Eddie Jordan. We are only 15 minutes away from the start of the race and news coming from the Ferrari camp is that they are predicting rain for a large part of the race. Alonso's race enigneer Andrea Stella had the following to say: "Yes we are expecting rain for most of the race offcourse it ain't raining at the moment but that could change quickly so we will keep that in mind with the set up and strategy."

Meanwhile former F1 driver and fellow presenter David Coulthard is ready for today's gridwalk.

DC: Thank you guy's im just going to try and get a word with some of the title contenders but both Mclaren drivers appear to be busy and i can't find Webber so we will go to 4th placed Alonso. Fernando quick word if that's ok, what are you capable of in the race?

FA: Well it's a long race and we are expecting rain so anything can happen! We have set the car up slighty towards a wet set up so now we just need to wait and see what the other's have done.

DC: Can you win today?

FA: It's gonna be tough but we will see

DC: Ok thanks Fernando, i'm moving down the grid now obviously i would like a word with the current world champion Vettel but he doe's not look in a good mood after yesterday so we will give it a miss. Michael Schumacher is just about to get in his car i'll see if he wants to talk. Michael just a couple of question's if thats ok, what can you acheive in the race and how did you qualify up in 6th while your team mate sits down in 14th.

MS: I think we can get on to the podium today especially with the changable weather that's predicted and well about qualifying you would need to be a 7 time world champion to understand!.

DC: Thanks for that Michael well that's all we have time for as we are moment's away from the start.

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Race lap by lap

1/58 Hamilton holds on to his lead but a great start by Alonso get's him up into 2nd while Jenson Button drops 2 places.

2/58 Race order by end of lap 1 Hamilton, Alonso, Webber, Button, Vettel, Schumacher, Massa, Petrov, Alguersuari, Perez.

4/58 Hamilton posts the fastest lap of the race 1:30:265 and already has a lead of 4.952 seconds over 2nd placed Alonso. Meanwhile Vitaly Petrov who was running in 8th has some damage done to his car! he makes a early pit stop and rejoins last out of the 24 cars still running.

7/58 We hear Andrea Stella tell Alonso that they are expecting rain in 15 minutes through the radio. However the Ferrari driver is already 10.688 seconds behind race leader Hamilton and is beginning to hold up a cue behind him which includes Button, both Red Bull drivers and team mate Felipe Massa.

10/58 Hamilton bangs in a new fastest lap 1:29:038 and now has a lead of 17.584 seconds over Alonso who just set his fastest of the race 1:30:428

11/58 Fernando tell's his team that his tyres are badly worn and he need's to pit however the team urge him to stay out until the rain arrives. Hamilton with another new fastest lap 1:28:624 and now leads Alonso by over 22 seconds

12/58 Disaster for most of the front runners! Button and Massa in 3rd/4th both trying to find a way past Alonso collide into each with both Red Bull drivers behind being unable to avoid run into the back of the pair. All 4 drivers are out of the race! Schumacher had to take to the grass and has lost alot of positions.

13/58 It begins to rain and Alonso is a sitting duck, he is being passed for fun out there. He manages to make it round to the end of the lap to pit in 10th place and a huge 52 seconds behind race leader Hamilton.

15/58 Alonso appears to have pitted too early! The track is too dry for the intermediate tyres Fernando switched too early and already blisters are starting to appear. Amazingly race leader Hamilton over laps Alonso.

17/58 Nico Rosberg has a problem and has had to retire from the race. Out of the top 4 teams only 3 out of the 8 drivers remain....amazing.

23/58 Safety Car Deployed! Indian driver Narian Karthikeyan crashed his HRT at turn 5. Alonso pits for wet tyres while everyone else is using intermediates.

26/58 Safety Car pits. Race Order as follows Lewis Hamilton, Heidfeld, Kobayashi, Alguersuari, Di Resta, Barrichello, Perez, Sutil, Schumacher, Maldonaldo, Petrov, Buemi, Alonso, Glock, Kovalainen, Liuzzi, D'ambrosio, Trulli

31/58 Alonso passes Buemi, Petrov and Maldonaldo all in the same lap to move upto 10th. Next up is Schumacher in 9th just under 10 seconds ahead.

35/58 Alonso overtakes 9th placed Schumacher. Gap to 8th placed Sutil is 25.301 Seconds

47/58 Alonso pits for a set of intermediates with 11 laps to go. He was only 3.401 seconds behind Sutil before he made his stop!

50/48 Fernando Alonso is now lapping over 4 seconds a lap faster than the leaders! He should have made the switch to intermediates a long time ago.

52/58 Sutil can do nothing to stop Alonso from taking away his 8th position. Perez up next but he is 31.028 infront! Surely Fernando cannot reduce that sort of gap in only 6 laps.

54/58 Kobayashi, Alguersuari, Di Resta and Barrichello all pit from high positions for fresh tyres and come out in 4th-7th. Barrichello only leads Alonso by 7 seconds

55/58 Perez pits from 3rd and comes out just infront of Alonso but 2 corners later and the spaniard is already past!

56/58 Alonso passes Barrichello and Di Resta and moves upto 5th. 10.435 Seconds behind 4th placed Alguersuari.

57/58 Alonso reduces the gap to 3.458 but it is not enough.

58/58 Lewis Hamilton wins the Australian Grand Prix! Nick Heidfeld is 2nd for Renault and Kamui Kobayashi 3rd for Sauber. Hamilton fully deserved the win with a faultless drive. Alonso showed great strength and determination to get himself back up the order after a terrible opening round of pitstops. Amazingly Red Bull and Mercedes score no points this weekend. Who would have predicted that?

Hamilton crossing the finish line

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Race Classification

Driver/Team/Nationality/Grid Position/Time
1.L Hamilton/Mclaren/English/04/1:29:35:702
2. N Heidfeld/Renault/German/08/ +1 lap
3.K Kobayashi/Sauber/Japanese/10/ +1 lap
4.J Alguersuari/Toro Rosso/Spanish/11/ +1 lap
5.F Alonso/Ferrari/Spanish/04/ +1 lap
6.P DiResta/Force India/Scottish/15/ +1 lap
7.R Barrichello/Williams/Venezuelan/16/ +1 Lap
8.S Perez /Sauber/Mexican/12/ +1 lap
9.A Sutil/Force India/German/17/ +2 laps
10.V Petrov/Renault/Russian/09/ +2 laps
11.M Schumacher/Mercedes/German/06/ +2 laps
12.S Buemi/Toro Rosso/Swiss/13/ +2 laps
13.P Maldonaldo/Williams/Venezuelan/18/ +2 laps
14.T Glock/Virgin/German/19/ + 3 laps
15.H Kovalainen/Lotus/Finnish/20/ + 4 laps
16.V Liuzzi/HRT/Italian/24/ + 4 laps
17.J D’ambrosio /Virgin/German/23/ +4 laps
18.J Trulli/Lotus/Italian/22/ +4 laps
19. N Karthikeyan/HRT/Italian/21/DNF
20.N Rosberg/Mercedes/German/14/DNF
21.S Vettel/Red Bull Racing/German/05/DNF
22.M Webber/Red Bull Racing/Australian/03/DNF
23.F Massa/Ferrari/Brazilian/07/DNF
24.J Button/Mclaren/English/02/DNF

Fastest Lap: 1:28:677 L Hamilton

[Jam_Van_Dam]

Australian Grand Prix
Post Race Aftermath

Drivers Championship Standings

1. L Hamilton 25 Pts
2. N Heidfeld 18
3. K Kobayashi 15
4. J Alguersuari 12
5. F Alonso 10
6. P Di Resta 8
7. R Barrichello 6
8. S Perez 4
9. A Sutil 2
10. V Petrov 1

Constructors Championship Standings

1. Mclaren 25 Pts
2. Renault 19
3. Sauber 19
4. Toro Rosso 12
5. Ferrari 10
6. Force India 10
7. Williams 6



Driver comments

Lewis Hamilton 1st: That's more like it baby. I dominated the race from start to finish nobody even got close! The fact i overlapped everyone shows just how good it was. This is gonna be my year i can feel it!

Nick Heidfeld 2nd: I'm very happy to get 2nd place for myself and the team. Coming here we knew we could compete for a good amount of points but we thought the podium would be just out of reach. However there were several retirements and we took advantage of them.

Kamui Kobayashi 3rd: 1st ever podium is honour for me and team. It feel good finish 3rd unbelievable. We work so hard and now it pay off. It been a dream for long time and now it true.

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Fernando Alonso 5th: In a way it's good to have salvaged 10 points from the weekend after the position we were in half way through the race but at the same time it's frustrating for us knowing we had the pace to win but that's racing! We go to Malaysia knowing we need to improve and i'm sure we will do that!

Sebiastian Vettel DNF: Well what can i say. I feel i should be on the top step of the podium. I was fastest all through practice, was unlucky in qualifying and then today i get taken out the race by Massa and Button. It was a bad day for me, my team mate Mark and the team but i'll make sure the same doe's not repeat in Malaysia!