Vettel got off to a flying start and took the lead on the first lap and went on to win his 10th race this season.

With both the Driver’s and the Constructor’s Championship already won this season Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull still have one record still in their sights.  Vettel has already been likened to fellow countryman Michael Schumacher and if he can win the remaining three races in India, Abu Dhabi and Brazil he will equal Schumacher’s record 13 wins in a single season.

Over the past few seasons the FIA have attempted to address criticism aimed at F1 being dull and races becoming predictable with less overtaking and thrills.  But next season it will be up to the likes of Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso and McLaren and Ferrari to catch the 24 year old Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull team.

With four races still remaining Sebastian Vettel’s third place finish in the Japanese Grand Prix behind Jenson Button (McLaren) and Fernando Alonso (Ferrari), was enough to clinch his second title.

Mark Webber hasn’t had a bad season but it is his Red Bull team-mate that has a sensational season.  Vettel has won nine of the 15 F1 races so far this year, and managed to start in pole position on no less than 12 pole occasions.  That is an amazing record.

I still believe, given the same car, Lewis Hamilton would have been much closer to Vettel this season.  That said, Jenson Button’s achievements this year have been somewhat overshadowed by Hamilton courting the headlines for all the wrong reasons and Vettel’s sheer brilliance.

2011 F1 Japanese Grand Prix

1  Jenson Button (McLaren-Mercedes) 1:36.568
2   Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)  +00:01.160
3   Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) +00:02.006
4   Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault) +00:08.071
5   Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes) +00:24.268
6   Michael Schumacher (Mercedes GP) +00:27.120
7   Felipe Massa (Ferrari) +00:28.240
8   Sergio Perez (Sauber) +00:39.377
9   Vitaly Petrov (Renault) +00:42.607
10 Nico Rosberg (Mercedes GP) +00:44.322

F1 Drivers Championship 2011

1   Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) 324
2   Jenson Button (McLaren-Mercedes) 210
3   Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) 202
4   Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault) 194
5   Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes) 178
6   Felipe Massa (Ferrari) 90
7   Nico Rosberg (Mercedes GP) 63
8   Michael Schumacher (Mercedes GP) 60
9   Vitaly Petrov (Renault) 36
10 Nick Heidfeld (Renault) 34

Jenson Button came second and is the only driver who can mathematically stop Vettel retaining the 2011 Formula One Drivers’ Championship, though realistically that is not going to happen.

F1 Singapore Grand Prix
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1 1:59:06.757 25
2  Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 3 1:59:08.494 18
3 Mark Webber  Red Bull-Renault 2 1:59:36.036 15

Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull’s dominance of this year’s F1 season has been phenomenal.  The victory in Singapore was his ninth in 14 races this season.  He is now 124 points clear of second place Jenson Button with a maximum 125 points available with five races remaining. With his inevitable victory to come in the next few weeks, Vettel will be the youngest driver to retain the F1 Drivers’ Championship; and in doing so there is talk of Vettel dominating the sport in much the same way fellow German Michael Schumacher did before him.  And though Jenson Button has had a great season, both Button and Lewis Hamilton are not able to compete on a level playing field all the time the Red Bull cars are out performing their McLaren’s.

FIA Formula 1 2011 Drivers’ World Championship

1   Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) 309
2   Jenson Button (McLaren-Mercedes) 185
3   Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) 184
4   Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault) 182
5   Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes) 168
6   Felipe Massa (Ferrari) 84
7   Nico Rosberg (Mercedes GP) 62
8   Michael Schumacher (Mercedes GP) 52
9   Vitaly Petrov (Renault) 34
10 Nick Heidfeld (Renault) 34

The next race is the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka on 9th October.

There was no repeat of the Canadian Grand Prix where a lapse of concentration allowed Jenson Button to overtake Vettel on the last lap.  Yesterday the 23 year-old defending champion won the European Grand Prix with a fautless and somewhat effortless drive to give him his sixth victory of the 2011 season. He led from start to finish and never looked like being overtaken, even with a slight lead over Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber.

BBC1 commentator and former F1 driver, Martin Brundle remarked: “This has again been a study in dominance by Sebastian Vettel. [...] He was using his head, using his tyres better than anyone else and we haven’t seen him put a foot wrong.”

Following the race both Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and McLaren-Mercedes‘ Lewis Hamilton admitted they believe this season’s F1 Drivers Championship is already wrapped up.  Though today, Lewis Hamilton has vowed to continue trying his best to beat the unstoppable Red Bull-Renault driver.

Sebastian Vettel’s victory yesterday extends his lead to 77 points with eight races still to go.

Lewis Hamilton finished in fourth place with Jenson Button in sixth.

F1 Drivers’ World Championship 2011
1   Sebatian Vettel (Germany) Red Bull-Renault 186 points
2    Jenson Button (Great Britain) McLaren-Mercedes 109
3    Mark Webber (Australia) Red Bull-Renault 109
4    Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain) McLaren-Mercedes 97
5    Fernado Alonso (Spain) Ferrari 87
6    Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 42
7    Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes 32
8    Vitaly Petrov (Russia) Renault 31
9    Nick Heidfeld (Germany) Renault 30
10 Michael Schumacher (Germany) Mercedes 26

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The Montreal circuit is known for serving up exciting formula one grand prix races but no one was quite ready for this astonishing race.

The rain came down and threatened to spoil the whole event as spectators were first denied the excitement from the start.  No rush for the first corner, as the Montreal Grand Prix was started with the safety car.  But as the safety car moved over Lewis Hamilton tried one of his familiar over-taking manoeuvres and ran into and span Mark Webber’s car off the track.  Fortunately, both cars were able to continue.  Webber appeared to see Hamilton and move over giving Hamilton enough space to pass. Hamilton also had a light collision with Michael Schumacher before a crash with Jenson Button had Lewis Hamilton retire from the race with a tyre and rear suspension problem on lap 8.

And then the rain came down even heavier.  The safety car was called upon again and it was decided the race should be stopped due to the poor visibility from the spray.

After a long delay the race was restarted. Sebastian Vettel, who had led the race from the start, looked like claiming yet another victory in this season’s F1 championship.  Jenson Button survived collisions with Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso and entered the pits six times, five for tyre changes and once to serve a drive-through penalty for driving too fast behind the safety car.  The safety car restarted the race four times in all.  After three restarts and 30 laps remaining, Jenson Button looked completely out of contention in last place.

But Vettel made a mistake and was amazingly out manoeuvred and beaten to the flag by Jenson Button who had come from last to first place as he passed the championship leader with half a lap to go to win the Canadian Grand Prix – a race and victory that will be remembered for a very long time.  Sebatian Vettel was second and Mark Webber third. The victory sees Jenson Button move into second place in the F1 2011 Championship.

F1 2011 Championship

1   Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Red Bull-Renault 161 points
2   Jenson Button (GB) McLaren-Mercedes 101
3   Mark Webber (Australia) Red Bull-Renault 94
4   Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren-Mercedes 85
5   Fernando Alonson (Spain) Ferrari 69
6   Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 32
7   Vitaly Petrov (Russia) Renault 31
8   Nick Heidfeld (Germany) Renault 29
9   Michael Schumacher (Germany) Mercedes GP 26
10 Nico Rosberg Germany (Mercedes) GP 26

So what of Lewis Hamilton?  Is he a dangerous driver or just frustrated with not having a car to match his ability?  Some commentators would argue that though Sebastian Vettel is a worthy champion, Hamilton is the best driver in the world.  Furthermore, statistics show that no one overtakes as much as Lewis Hamilton which probably accounts for the amount of collisions he is involved in.

Would Lewis Hamilton be even more prolific than Vettel this season if he was driving a Red Bull?

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso was second with McLaren’s Jenson Button finished third. Alonso & Button had closed in on Vettel’s lead with less than one second between the three of them, but with seven laps remaining Renault’s Vitaly Petrov got caught in a pile-up and crashed into the barriers.

The race was then held up by the safety car for 20 minutes.  When the race reconvened and all three had changed their tyres, it was Sebastian Vettel who finished the fastest and with it extended his lead in the 2011 F1 championship.

F1 2011 Monaco Grand Prix Result
1.  Sebastian Vettel 2:09:38.373
2.  Fernando Alonso     +1.1 secs
3.  Jenson Button +2.3 secs
4.  Mark Webber +23.1 secs
5.  Kamui Kobayashi +26.9 secs
6.  Lewis Hamilton +47.2 secs
7.  Adrian Sutil +1 Lap
8.  Nick Heidfeld +1 Lap
9.  Rubens Barrichello +1 Lap
10.Sebastien Buemi +1 Lap

Once again Lewis Hamilton has found himself in trouble after being controverisal.  After being penalised in the Monaco Grand Prix Hamilton made a comment on his Twitter account which was allegedly a joke suggesting “Maybe it’s because I’m black. That’s what Ali G says.” Lewis Hamilton later apologised for the outburst.

F1 2011 Drivers Championship
1.   S Vettel 143 points
2.   L Hamilton 85
3.   M Webber 79
4.   J Button 76
5.   F Alonso 69
6.   N Heidfeld 29
7.   N Rosberg 26
8.   F Massa 24
9.   V Petrov 21
10. K Kobayashi 19

The next F1 Race is the Canada Grand Prix on 12th June 2011.

Spanish Grand Prix

1. Sebastian Vettel 1:39:03.301
2. Lewis Hamilton +0.6 sec
3. Jenson Button +35.7 sec
4. Mark Webber +48 sec
5. Fernando Alonso +1 Lap
6. Michael Schumacher +1 Lap
7. Nico Rosberg +1 Lap
8. Nick Heidfeld +1 Lap

The next F1 race of the 2011 will be the Monaco Grand Prix on 29th May at 1:00pm.

F1 2011 Drivers World Championship

1 Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Red Bull-Renault 118 points
2 Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren-Mercedes 77
3 Mark Webber (Australia) Red Bull-Renault 67
4 Jenson Button (GB) McLaren-Mercedes     61
5 Fernando Alonso (Spain) Ferrari 51
6 Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes GP 26
7 Nick Heidfeld (Germany) Renault 25
8 Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 24
9 Vitaly Petrov (Russia) Renault 21
10 Michael Schumacher (Germany) Mercedes GP 14

The Red Bull – Renault cars of Sebastian Vettel & Mark Webber were once again too strong for the rest of the field.  There was never any doubt that Vettel & ebber were going to win the race.  Vettel said after the race that he was confident they were always in control.

“Throughout this race we had this cushion and were able to act, rather than react,” Vettel said in the post-match press conference “We never really had anybody close behind, which would have been a different situation.”

Turkish Grand Prix Results:

1.    Sebastian Vettel        1:30:17.558
2.    Mark Webber        +8.8 sec
3.    Fernando Alonso        +10 sec
4.    Lewis Hamilton        +40.2 sec
5.    Nico Rosberg        +47.5 sec
6.    Jenson Button        +59.4 sec
7.    Nick Heidfeld        +60.8 sec
8.    Vitaly Petrov        +68.1 sec

Sebastian Vettel has now won three races this season and leads McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton by 34 points.

2011 F1 Drivers World Championship:

1 S Vettel         93 points
2 L Hamilton     59
3 M Webber     55
4 J Button     46
5 F Alonso     41
6 F Massa     24
7 N Heidfeld     21
8 V Petrov     21
9 N Rosberg     20
10 K Kobayashi     8

The next Formula One race is the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday 22 May.

Tyre supplier Pirelli made the racing all the more exciting for the fans and teams alike with their specially manufactured F1 rubber, making team strategy a massive player into how many stops are needed to get the maximum effect from tyre changes.

McLaren driver Jenson Button was first into the corner from the start with Sebastian Vettel getting bogged down at the start and going into the corner side by side with Lewis Hamilton. It was Hamilton who got the better of the scrap leaving Vettel to have to fight off the advances of Nico Rosberg in lap one.

Button was first to pit on lap 14 followed down the pit lane by Vettel and much to the embarrassment of the McLaren driver he turned into the Red Bull box, before continuing into his own.

The mistake allowed Vettel to jump Button and as the pit stops unfolded so did the race leaders, making it difficult to keep tabs on who was on what strategy. As time ticked away it was clear that Vettel was on a two stop race and Hamilton on three stops suddenly became the man to watch as he scythed his way through the field after putting a brilliant overtake on his team mate that forced Button to yield.

Button, Nico Rosberg and Fillipe Massa were sucked in and blown out by Hamilton as he clearly sensed his chance of victory with a handful of laps remaining, only Vettel remained in his way and the defending World Champion was defending for his life.

Having been blocked following a move at the hairpin, Hamilton soon caught the German off guard at turn seven with four laps to go and left Vettel in his wake as he scampered off towards his first win of the season.

A spectacular effort from Mark Webber who started the race in 18th position on the grid saw the Australian come into his own in the final part of the race, showing more pace than any of the other drivers as he worked his way through the field overtaking the likes of Alonso, Rosberg and Button with apparent ease.

From eighteenth to third is no mean feat in a race devoid of safety cars and Webber’s heroics at the wheel of the Red Bull were enormous, but on the day it was Lewis Hamilton who stole the show with an electrifying performance of controlled aggressive driving and sublime clinical overtaking throughout the afternoon.

2011 F1 World Championship – China Grand Prix Results

1.     Lewis Hamilton     Britain     McLaren-Mercedes     56     1h36m58.226
2.     Sebastian Vettel     Germany     Red Bull-Renault     56     5.198
3.     Mark Webber     Australia     Red Bull-Renault     56     7.555
4.     Jenson Button     Britain     McLaren-Mercedes     56     10.000
5.     Nico Rosberg     Germany     Mercedes GP     56     13.448
6.     Felipe Massa     Brazil     Ferrari     56     15.840
7.     Fernando Alonso     Spain     Ferrari     56     30.622
8.     Michael Schumacher     Germany     Mercedes GP     56     31.026
9.     Vitaly Petrov     Russia     Renault     56     57.404
10.     Kamui Kobayashi     Japan     Sauber-Ferrari     56     63.273
11.     Paul di Resta     Britain     Force India-Mercedes     56     68.757
12.     Nick Heidfeld     Germany     Renault     56     72.739
13.     Rubens Barrichello     Brazil     Williams-Cosworth     56     90.189
14.     Sebastien Buemi     Switzerland     Toro Rosso-Ferrari     56     90.671
15.     Adrian Sutil     Germany     Force India-Mercedes     55     1 Lap
16.     Heikki Kovalainen     Finland     Lotus-Renault     55     1 Lap
17.     Sergio Perez     Mexico     Sauber-Ferrari     55     1 Lap
18.     Pastor Moldonado     Venezuela     Williams-Cosworth     55     1 Lap
19.     Jarno Trulli     Italy     Lotus-Renault     55     1 Lap
20.     Jerome d’Ambrosio     Belgium     Virgin-Cosworth     54     2 Laps
21.     Timo Glock     Germany     Virgin-Cosworth     54     2 Laps
22.     Vitantonio Liuzzi     Italy     HRT-Cosworth     54     2 Laps
23.     Narain Karthikeyan     India     HRT-Cosworth     54     2 Laps

Off the line it was the same story for Webber who saw most of the pack of cars pass him as he got bogged down at the start with a failed KERS  system, while Vettel made a text book start to the race ensuring a clear track ahead entering turn one.

It was the Lotus-Renault’s of Nick Heidfeld and Vitaly Petrov that immediately impressed as the red lights went out at the start of the race, Heidfeld going the long way round both McLaren’s in an extraordinary move at turn one to grab second place, while Petrov’s heroics in the same corner put him into fifth place.

With rain threatening to liven up an already exciting race the first round of pit stops saw Heidfeld get jumped by both McLaren’s and the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso, dropping to fifth in the proceedings.

Hamilton began making inroads into Vettel’s lead while Alonso mounted a charge, passing Button with both drivers pulling a substantial lead on Heidfeld.

It was all change again following the second round of pit stops with Button moving back past Alonso and mounting pressure on his team mate Hamilton in a fight for second place.

Hamilton’s pursuit of a podium place was fast disappearing after his third stop for tyres, the harder compound rubber causing all sorts of problems for the Brit and the faster Ferrari of Alonso looming large in his mirrors.

With Hamilton clearly struggling for grip Alonso tucked the Ferrari close in behind the McLaren but was unable to haul his car out of the slipstream quick enough to pass, and caught the rear tyre of his former team mate damaging his own front wing.

With Alonso needing to pit for a new nose cone Heidfeld, Massa and Webber mounted their own final charges on Hamilton who by now was easy meat for the baying pack.

A wonderful overtake on Hamilton with five laps remaining took Heidfeld into third with Webber breathing down the German’s neck as he appeared to at last find some pace in the car with his final set of tyres.

Sebastian Vettel finished another flawless race in first place followed home by Jenson Button and the final podium place going to a richly deserving Nick Heidfeld.

Malaysian Grand Prix 2011 Results:

1.     Sebastian Vettel     Germany     Red Bull-Renault     56     1h37m39.832
2.     Jenson Button     Britain     McLaren-Mercedes     56     3.261
3.     Nick Heidfeld     Germany     Renault     56     25.075
4.     Mark Webber     Australia     Red Bull-Renault     56     26.384
5.     Felipe Massa     Brazil     Ferrari     56     36.958
6.     Fernando Alonso     Spain     Ferrari     56     57.248*
7.     Kamui Kobayashi     Japan     Sauber-Ferrari     56     1m06.439
8.     Lewis Hamilton     Britain     McLaren-Mercedes     56     1m09.957**
9.     Michael Schumacher     Germany     Mercedes GP     56     1m24.896
10.     Paul di Resta     Britain     Force India-Mercedes     56     1m31.563
11.     Adrian Sutil     Germany     Force India-Mercedes     56     1m41.379
12.     Nico Rosberg     Germany     Mercedes GP     55     1 Lap
13.     Sebastien Buemi     Switzerland     Toro Rosso-Ferrari     55     1 Lap
14.     Jaime Alguersuari     Spain     Toro Rosso-Ferrari     55     1 Lap
15.     Heikki Kovalainen     Finland     Lotus-Renault     55     1 Lap
16.     Timo Glock     Germany     Virgin-Cosworth     54     2 Laps
17.     Vitaly Petrov     Russia     Renault     52     DNF, Accident

The incident involving Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton led to both drivers being penalised by the race stewards. Both drivers were given a twenty second time penalty on their finishing position, while this did not affect the outcome for Alonso* who retained his sixth place, Hamilton** was not so lucky and slipped to eighth in the final reckoning.