Australian GP Qualifying : Sebastian Vettel, Pole Position

Melbourne - Sebastian Vettel began his campaign to defend the world title by taking pole position for Australian GP. Meanwhile, second place belonged to Lewis Hamilton.

Undergoing qualification at the Albert Park circuit on Saturday (03/26/2011), Vettel topped with a smooth first qualifying session, second and third. Finally, Vettel recorded a best time of 1 minute 23.529 seconds.

At the recent qualifiers, Vettel failed to improve the note and even carve a worse time, which is 1 minute 23.6 seconds-an. Still, the record is still superior to the other drivers record.

Hamilton held second place with a record start time of 1 minute 24.307 seconds best. Hamilton split the Red Bull duo for three positions occupied by Mark Webber with 1 minute 24.395 seconds.

A row in fourth position up to 10 are Jenson Button, Fernando Alonso, Vitaly Petrov, Nico Rosberg, Felipe Massa, Sebastien Buemi and Kamui Kobayashi.

Australian GP qualifying results
Pos Driver Team Time Difference
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 0.778s 1m23.529s
2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 0.866s 1m24.307s
3. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault + 1.250s 1m24.395s
4. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes + 1.445s 1m24.779s
5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m24.974s + 1.718s
6. Vitaly Petrov Renault 1m25.247s + 1.892s
7. Nico Rosberg Mercedes + 2.070s 1m25.421s
8. Felipe Massa Ferrari + 2.097s 1m25.599s
9. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 3.537s 1m25.626s
10. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 2.442s 1m27.066s

Worst time in Q2: 1m25.882s
11. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m25.971s
12. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m26.103s
13. Sergio Perez-Sauber Ferrari 1m26.108s
14. Paul in Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m26.739s
15. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 1m26.768s
16. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m31.407s
17. Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth

Worst time in Q1: 1m27.222s
18. Nick Heidfeld Renault 1m27.239s
19. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 1m29.254s
20. Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 1m29.342s
21. Timo Glock-Cosworth Virgin 1m29.858s
22. Jerome D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 1m30.822s
23. Tonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 1m32.978s
24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m34.293s

107 percent of the best time: 1m31.266s
Free practice III result Click here

Photo: AFP / Paul Crock