Another race, a familiar result—Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel keeps winning, and he did the same at the 2011 Spanish Grand Prix. Vettel held off a furious challenge from McLaren-Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton to claim the top spot, while Jenson Button grabbed third place. Meanwhile, the Mercedes GP drivers took consecutive places with Michael Schumacher having an impressive outing at sixth and Nico Rosberg getting seventh.

Schumacher, starting at tenth position on his 272nd grand prix, was able to finish strong to take the sixth spot. This was a good way of silencing critics who were questioning whether the 42-year-old driver was still fit to compete. Incidentally, Schumacher is the sole active F1 driver that had been at the inaugural Spanish GP held at the Circuit de Catalunya back in 1991. He’s won this GP six times over his famed F1 career. Mercedes GP teammate Rosberg, on the other hand, was able to hold his starting position of seventh.

With the win, Vettel further solidified his lead on the drivers standings. His 118 points opened up a 41-point lead over second-placer Hamilton. Heidfeld is sixth among drivers at 26 points, while Schumi is tenth with 14 points so far.

Sometime after the race ended, stewards announced that Hamilton, Button, Webber, and Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari will be investigated for not slowing during a yellow flag situation. The McLarens were already given reprimands.

Nico Rosberg rode momentum from his strong finish at the previous race by getting fifth place at the just-concluded Chinese Grand Prix, and Michael Schumacher was able to finish in the points at eight place. McLaren-Mercedes also posted an incredible victory with Lewis Hamilton leading the charge, and teammate Jenson Button was at fourth place behind the Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.

It was also nice seeing Michael Schumacher battle it out with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso around laps 24 and 25—arguably two of the top 5 racers in the past two decades. Of course, Alonso managed to squeeze past Schumi on a corner to slip into third place somewhere in lap 26, right before Schumi went into the pits on Lap 27.

The McLarens roared off the five red lights to start the race, overtaking Vettel even despite his KERS. Hamilton overcame some hiccups along the way and sailed to victory with Vettel right behind him.

Rosberg finished well in qualifying, snagging a second-row start with a P4 qualifying result. Schumacher started farther back down the field at P14. The two McLaren-Mercedes vehicles copped P2 and P3.

After 56 grueling laps at the humid Sepang Circuit at the Malaysian Grand Prix, Mercedes GP Petronas finally shook off a rocky start to the 2011 Formula 1 season and managed to get into the scoring column as Michael Schumacher finished 9th for 2 points.

Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing copped his second win in two GPs. McLaren Mercedes’ Jenson Button was second and Renault’s Nick Heidfeld withstood a furious charge by RBR’s Mark Webber to finish in the podium at third.

Schumi actually started at 11th, two spots behind teammate Nico Rosberg. However, Schumi was able to take ninth after passing the Force India Car of Paul di Resta, who was suffering from tire wear on his Pirellis. Rosberg finished 12th.

The Malaysian Grand Prix is set to start in 20 minutes, and we’re here to recap you about the results of qualifying for the second race of the young Formula 1 season. In a qualifying session that saw Sebastian Vettel take yet another pole (and in the last second of Q3, to boot), Nico Rosberg edged out fellow Merc GP driver Michael Schumacher out of the top 10 with his 1:36.809 to Schumi’s 1:37.035.

Mercedes GP Petronas is hoping to bounce back from a disastrous first 2011 race at the Australian GP, with both cars getting retired after an accident to Rosberg’s on lap 22 and puncture damage to Schumi’s on lap 19. Malaysia, after all, is the home of Petronas, so we expect nothing less than a points finish from at least either driver.

In Australia, defending champion Vettel, the youngest ever F1 champion, took the win. Lewis Hamilton took second place, and Renault’s Vitaly Petrov was a surprising third on the podium.

Anyway, if you haven’t tuned in yet, the race at Sepang Circuit in Malaysia is just about to start.

With the 2011 Formula 1 season set to start this weekend, with 24 of the fastest cars competing at the Australian Grand Prix, the F1 organizers have bolstered its ranks with a powerful vehicle of its own: its new medic car, a 2012 C63 AMG Estate.

When there are injuries or severe crashes, the medical car will be on the scene in no time. There wasn’t much modification done to the car, which replaces the previous medical car, a C63 wagon model. Still, this particular C63 AMG Estate is fitted with the optional performance kit to ensure good numbers. The 2012 C63 AMG was first showcased at this year’s Geneva Motor Show. It sports a 6.2L V8 engine.

On the medical side of things, this particular 2012 C63 AMG Estate comes with emergency lights, a couple of integrated dash monitors, four bucket seats that have six-point harnesses, a radio, and a boot that is replete with the kind of medical equipment that is required of such a sport as Formula 1.

It just goes to show how elite the competition is in F1. If you have an updated C63 AMG Estate as your medic car and there’s also the SLS AMG safety car, there’s definitely no shortage of high performance vehicles on any given F1 race.

One cannot but be reminded of the mobiles we see for babies when when faced with Mercedes’ Formula 1 car at the exhibit opened by Nick Fry, CEO of Mercedes GP Petronas. This is because the Forumula 1 car, all 3,200 parts of it, has been suspended in exploded view at the Mercedes-Benz World in Surrey, UK. According to the official press release, “The display is a breathtaking work of art and brings a whole new perspective to literally everything that goes into creating a modern day Formula 1 car. This uniquely impressive work has enabled the chassis’ detailed systems and components to become visible, from the large bodywork items such as the engine cover and floor to the minutiae of the powertrain such as gear ratios and clutch plates.”

Arranged for maximum visual impact by Dutch artist Paul Veroude, the car and its components were supplied by the MERCEDES GP PETRONAS Formula One Team. Every piece is suspended individually, hung by wire from a purpose-made frame. The engine itself was provided by Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines. The high-tech mobile shows a lot of secrets to how modern Formula 1 cars work, although surely, the Mercedes and Petronas would not have revealed the most critical elements of the car’s winning ways.

Daimler has just announced that it has completed its takeover of Formula One racing team Mercedes GP after purchasing team principal Ross Brawn and team management’s remaining 24.9 percent share in the team. The purchase was made with Aabar Investment PJS, the biggest shareholder of Daimler.

After the takeover, Daimler will now own 60 percent of the team (from 45.1 percent previously), and Aabar will increase its stake to 40 percent (from 30 percent). Daimler first took the 45.1 percent share in November of 2009, when it invested in what was then Brawn GP, which was the F1 constructor’s champion in its first and only year of existence.

“This majority stake holding demonstrates our determination to build a long-term Formula One involvement on an even more successful platform,” said Daimler AG CEO and Mercedes-Benz Cars chief Dr. Dieter Zetsche. “Our company’s founders invented the automobile 125 years ago and the very first Mercedes was a racing car. These are the reasons why we see our Formula One programme as an important element of our brand history.”

“Daimler and Aabar’s acquisition of the remaining 24.9 per cent stake in Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix will be a further step in the consolidation and strengthening of our team for the future,” said team principal Brawn. He added that he, along with the rest of the management team, still has a long-term commitment to the team.

The 2011 FIA Formula One season has gotten underway, with the first rounds of testing starting in Spain’s Valencia circuit. Among the many official race car entries to be revealed on that day were the defending Constructors titlist Red Bull Racing’s RB7 car, Toro Rosso’s STR6, and Mercedes GP’s MGP W02. The 2010 driver lineup is intact, with Nico Rosberg and living legend Michael Schumacher going behind the wheels of the 2011 car.

In terms of exterior qualities, a higher nose is most apparent, along with some new green accents to highlight sponsor Petronas some more.

“It is always a thrill to see a new car ready to take the track for the first time and this year is no exception,” exclaimed Ross Brawn, the Mercedes GP team principal. “After our first year as the Mercedes-Benz works team, we are now seeing the benefits of our chassis group and our engine group working well together.”

Mercedes GP finished fourth in the Constructors race in the 2010 season, its first back in F1 since the 1950s. Rosberg finished seventh among drivers, while Schumi had a respectable ninth-place finish.

Schumacher, a seven-time F1 World Champion, expressed his excitement about the upcoming season. “Even if I have been involved and updated all winter on the developments, and even if I know the improvements are significant, it is still different to see the new car literally for the first time in front of you.”