Dubai: Defending champion Sebastian Vettel gave the F1 world a sign of what was to come throughout 2011 with a flawless pole-to-flag victory in the first race of the season in Australia.
The Red Bull star was never seriously threatened at Albert Park. He finished the first lap 2.4secs clear of the field, but he never disappeared into the distance and his final winning margin was just over 22s ahead of Lewis Hamilton.
Indeed, Hamilton kept him within sight for much of the race, as McLaren showed better than expected.
Renault's Vitaly Petrov was the surprise third-place finisher, the Russian fully meriting his first F1 podium position after a strong showing throughout the weekend, including a career-best qualifying effort, a rapid start and a flawless drive thereafter.
Petrov soaked up pressure from a closing Fernando Alonso in the closing stages, the Ferrari driver having spent the race in catch-up mode after losing four positions on the opening lap.
Malaysia
Malaysia made it two races, two wins for Red Bull's German world champion Sebastian Vettel. Although his triumph in Kuala Lumpur was far less straightforward than in Australia.
Vettel had looked set for another relative cruise after opening up a comfortable lead over Renault's Nick Heidfeld, but he suddenly appeared to have a race on his hands from mid-distance thanks to the quickly-closing presence of Lewis Hamilton and problems with his car's KERS system.
But, once he gave up on using his energy-storage system, Vettel's pace suddenly picked up and he pulled away from Hamilton once more, whose fortunes nosedived in the final 20 laps.