More of the Same? Vettel Takes Pole for F1 Opener in Australia

Photo Credit: Nissan/Infiniti

After nearly four months of off-season preparations, the 2013 edition of the Formula 1 racing tour kicks off its 19-race schedule Down Under at the Albert Park circuit in Australia. A track known to be a true test of drivers and car equipment, 22 well-prepared Formula 1 entrants will face additional complications of brand-new combinations. Entering time trials to set the 2013 Australian Grand Prix, the season-opening event would deliver another challenge. 

The first qualifying session of the 2013 Formula 1 season took roughly 17 hours to complete. Delayed around 30 minutes on Saturday due to wet track conditions, the initial Q1 session was a rude awaking for drivers. The wet Albert Park circuit proved unforgiving as cars were barely able to stay on course in the timed session. Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa and Charles Pic would damage their cars during in qualifying attempts on the wet track surface. As time ticked down on the Q1 session, newcomer Esteban Gutierrez wrecked his Sauber-Ferrari in a trying area of the track. Nico Rosberg for Mercedes AMG claimed the fastest time on track at 1 minute, 43.380 seconds.
After Q1 ended, race conditions on the Albert Park circuit worsened. The FIA, eventually, elected to move the remainder of qualifying to Sunday morning.

Photo credit: Sauber Motorsport AG

On Sunday, 16 Formula 1 drivers and cars concluded the Q2 and Q3 sessions of qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix. On a dryer 5.303-kilometer Albert Park circuit, qualifying times improved over the saturated track on Saturday. At the front of the first 2013 Formula 1 season starting grid is an unsurprising victor. Sebastian Vettel in the new RB9 Red-Bull-Renault grabbed pole in Q3 with a 1-minute, 27.407-second lap. The top spot is the 37th time in Vettel's career he will start a Formula 1 race at the prime place on the starting grid. Showing true strength of the 2013 RB9 race car, Mark Webber took the second spot on the 2013 Australian Grand Prix with a lap time roughly four-tenths of a second slower than Sebastian Vettel.

In his first qualifying outing with the Mercedes AMG race team, 2008 World Driving Champion Lewis Hamilton has placed his race car in the third starting spot. Hamilton overcome a rough Saturday Q1 session as well as a challenge from the Ferrari F138 race cars. With the Ferraris in fourth and fifth place on the 2013 Australian Grand Prix grid, it was Felipe Massa prevailing over teammate Fernando Alonso by less than a tenth of a second.

Charles Pic driving a Caterham-Reanult was the only driver not to qualify within the set 107 percent time rule. Missing the mark by only one-hundredth of a second on the outside of the criteria, it's likely the Formula 1 race stewards will allow the second Caterham to participate in the first grand prix of the season.

The 2013 Australian Grand Prix will start at 5 PM local Melbourne time. For the Eastern time zone, the start time translates to 2 AM Sunday morning.  


2013 Formula 1
Australian Grand Prix
Qualifying Results

Pos #	Car #	Drive	Team	Engine
1	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull	Renault
2	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull	Renault
3	10	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG	Mercedes-Benz
4	4	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	Ferrari
5	3	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	Ferrari
6	9	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes AMG	Mercedes-Benz
7	7	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus	Renault
8	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	Renault
9	14	Paul di Resta	Force India	Mercedes-Benz
10	5	Jenson Button	McLaren	Mercedes-Benz
11	11	Nico Hulkenberg	Sauber	Ferrari
12	15	Adrian Sutil	Force India	Mercedes-Benz
13	18	Jean-Eric Vergne	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Ferrari
14	19	Daniel Ricciardo	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Ferrari
15	6	Sergio Perez	McLaren	Mercedes-Benz
16	17	Valtteri Bottas	Williams F1	Renault
17	16	Pastor Maldonado	Williams F1	Renault
18	12	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber	Ferrari
19	22	Jules Bianchi	Marussia	Cosworth
20	23	Max Chilton	Marussia	Cosworth
21	21	Giedo van der Garde	Caterham	Renault
22	20	Charles Pic	Caterham	Renault