The race carried several notable firsts. Pirelli returned as sole tyre supplier, replacing Bridgestone, which had supplied Formula One between 1997 and 2010. It was Pirelli's first race as a tyre supplier since the 1991 edition and their first victory since the 1991 Canadian Grand Prix. The Drag Reduction System made its race debut, with the FIA extending the deployment zone on the Thursday before the race to cover the full 867-metre length of the front straight. Sergio Pérez made his Grand Prix debut driving for Sauber, while Daniel Ricciardo ran in practice for Toro Rosso in place of Jaime Alguersuari.
Vettel arrived having won three of the last four Grands Prix and claiming the 2010 World Championship. Both he and the new Red Bull RB7 appeared formidable going into the season.
Q1 created uncertainty around several teams. The Hispania cars were both eliminated for setting lap times outside 107 percent of the provisional pole time, and their subsequent request to race citing exceptional circumstances was refused. Lotus were also eliminated in Q1, surprising the team. Nick Heidfeld was caught out by a KERS problem and traffic.
Rubens Barrichello spun at the opening of Q2 and failed to set a time, qualifying seventeenth. Schumacher missed Q3 by one hundredth of a second. Adrian Sutil activated both his DRS and KERS simultaneously on a flying lap and pitched into a spin, costing him a faster time.
Vettel set a time in Q3 that proved unbeatable, nearly a second faster than Lewis Hamilton in second. Webber qualified third, with Hamilton and Button splitting the Red Bulls. Alonso was fifth, bemused by the car's lack of pace after promising free practice runs. Petrov qualified sixth, his highest grid position of the season.
Red Bull ran without KERS in the race — a decision kept secret to mislead rivals. Team principal Christian Horner confirmed post-race that neither car had been fitted with the system during qualifying or the race.
Vettel made the best start from pole. Hamilton used KERS to hold second from Webber. Button, on the dirty side of the grid, could not defend against Alonso and Petrov; Petrov took fourth while Alonso was pushed onto the grass. A collision between Schumacher and Alguersuari in the midfield sent both to the pits for repairs.
Vettel was 2.4 seconds clear of Hamilton at the end of the first lap and extended the gap methodically. In the mid-race, Button overtook Massa around the outside at Turn 11 but was forced to cut the chicane to complete the move and received a drive-through penalty. The Pirelli tyres opened up multiple strategic options: Vettel, Hamilton, and Petrov ran two-stop strategies while Alonso and Webber took three stops. Rookie Pérez made a single stop in his Sauber.
Nico Rosberg retired after Barrichello attempted a pass at turn three and damaged the Mercedes' side pod. Barrichello also eventually retired with a similar problem to his Williams teammate Pastor Maldonado, who had stopped with a transmission issue.
With five laps remaining, Webber and Alonso were closing on Petrov. Hamilton had an off-track excursion at the first corner that damaged his undertray and ended any challenge to Vettel. Alonso rapidly caught Petrov in the final laps but could not find a way past. Vettel won by 22 seconds from Hamilton, becoming the first driver to win three consecutive Grands Prix since Button won four in succession in May and June 2009. Alonso was fourth and Webber fifth. Button recovered to sixth despite his penalty. Sébastien Buemi scored the final championship point in tenth, one lap down.
Post-race scrutiny of the Sauber cars found a technical infringement involving the uppermost element of the rear wing on both Kobayashi's and Pérez's cars. Both were disqualified from seventh and eighth, with the points redistributed down to Massa, Buemi, and the Force Indias of Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta. Sauber's subsequent investigation found a manufacturing fault in the parts, and the team elected not to appeal. A race start in Melbourne also meant Rubens Barrichello had officially started a race in 19 separate Formula One seasons, breaking the previous record of 18 held by Graham Hill.
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