The opening race of 2011 delivered a intriguing 58 laps instead than an all time traditional but there was several discussion details afterwards. Here is my ideas on some of the stories of the weekend…

Red Bull take KERS totally free approach: Sebastian Vettel delivered a gorgeous lap to get pole position on Saturday night in Melbourne and followed it up with a controlled push. It was the German’s 4th win in the final 5 races. So all pretty simple for him but a distinct story for Mark Webber. He was nearly a 2nd off in qualifying and was not quick for the duration of the race. The Australian also suffered with large tyre put on and Helmut Marko explained that there may possibly have been an situation with his chassis. The team will be seeking for answers just before Sepang in two weeks. Webber also stopped right after the race and Christian Horner claimed this was because of to being marginal on fuel. It could have been that some teams ran with less fuel than common as they reckoned there would be a security auto at some phase. Red Bull, and specifically Vettel, received great begins on Sunday regardless of no KERS soon after reliability concerns on Friday. This could yet be an concern. Even if they lock out the front row they will be quite susceptible at some circuits off the line so the group will want to solve their concerns quickly.

McLaren rapidly but Button tends to make uncommon error: After a winter of troubles, McLaren’s radical new car produced the products as they led the chasing pack hoping to hunt down Red Bull. Lewis Hamilton took 2nd while Jenson Button had an aggressive race and held his tyres nicely. However his night was compromised by a negative call. Disappointed behind Felipe Massa he was forced to lower a corner when aspect by facet with the Brazilian. It was apparent that he ought to give the area back but he argued he should not and the pitwall did not intervene. Jenson is one of the smartest motorists all around so for him not to realise this was extremely shocking to see. He obtained a deserved generate by means of penalty but recovered to 6th. Extremely intriguing to see how shut McLaren get to Red Bull in Malaysia and whether they can apply a lot more stress. Some wondered why Sebastien Buemi and Vettel failed to get in problems for passing off track at turn four. The purpose for this was the motorists were instructed in their briefing that utilizing the ‘car park’ region on the outdoors of the corner would be deemed ok and not be penalised.

Sergio surprises but Sauber stripped of details: I did not know much about Sergio Perez prior to the weekend but had examine a good deal of very good points about him so was searching ahead to seeing what he could do. The Mexican failed to disappoint, gorgeous everybody with a 35 lap stint on possibilities to finish 7th, ahead of staff mate Kamui Kobayashi. The Sauber car in 2010 was sort to it can be tyres and it seems to have carried this characteristic into 2011. It is a single that will be extremely valuable to the group. Even so a rear wing infringement meant that each automobiles had been disqualified. A large error inside the crew and pricey. Sauber have respectable tempo, 7th and 8th was far more down to good strategy and the crew will want to utilise their options early in the year.

Combined fortunes for Renault: It was a weekend of total contrasts for Vitaly Petrov and Nick Heidfeld. The Russian did a good job of qualifying 6th, manufactured an outstanding start and drove a cleanse race to get a excellent podium. He looks to be significantly a lot more comfy and confident right after his debut time. For Heidfeld, Q1 concerned an off track second, KERS troubles and site visitors. He then experienced hefty sidepod hurt and crawled home. He has a good document in Malaysia and will want to bounce back and demonstrate his well worth in what is a aggressive car.

‘New’ teams eliminate tag but fail to uncover speed: The new teams from 2010 enter their second season but it was all going mistaken for them from Friday morning. Lotus reserve Karun Chandhok crashed forty seconds into the opening practice session and the group struggled to get the tyres heated. Jarno Trulli claimed Pirelli have changed the tyres since testing. Virgin ended up five-six seconds off the pace and Timo Glock had his race affected by a loose wheel. I feel sorry for the German who is a excellent driver but the Virgin undertaking is actually puzzling me. You have to wonder no matter whether this method of CFD only is a bit of a fantasy and it’s time to get a wind tunnel. The subsequent months will inform a huge story. Hispania barely acquired a lap in and failed to qualify. Vitantonio Liuzzi was two seconds off the 107% mark so with more working he ought to be able to boost but Narain Karthikeyan struggled albeit he had very little time to get up to pace. Still you would believe they have a lot more pace in the bag and they will require it just to qualify but they could however discover on their own battling with Virgin.

DRS gets combined assessments:A good deal of various views on the new DRS (Drag reduction system) on message boards and Twitter over the weekend. I in fact felt it labored ok. It additional a new factor to qualifying and caught out Adrian Sutil in stunning trend. In the race it allowed autos to get closer to others and we seen some overtaking into flip 1 but it was not a situation of it becoming as well simple. What was noticeable is that getting KERS – regardless of whether to include to your DRS becoming open, or to defend from a DRS activated car – was extremely important. Malaysia will be extremely intriguing to see how it works with the blend of 2 lengthy straights and two hairpins. I in fact think that the gap you have to be in to another car need to be enhanced to 2 seconds. This is not meant to be an overtaking gadget but rather some thing that helps make up for the loss in turbulent air and 2 seconds powering is close adequate to be affected by it. Vehicles would not pass straight away but it would aid a driver haul by themselves nearer to a rival and perhaps lead to a battle a handful of laps later.