Jenson Button won the Formula One season-opening Australian Grand Prix yesterday, beating his teammate Rubens Barrichello and giving Brawn GP a 1-2 finish in its debut race.
Button led from start to finish, with the race finishing under safety car conditions following a late accident.
Barrichello recovered after being slow off the start, while world champion Lewis Hamilton crossed the line fourth but was promoted to third place by a post-race stewards decision which penalised Toyota’s Jarno Trulli for overtaking under safety-car conditions.
It was the first time since 1977 – when Jody Scheckter won for Wolf – that a team had won its debut F1 race, and the third time that a team had finished first and second at its first attempt. Alfa Romeo did it in the first ever Grand Prix in Britain in 1950, and Mercedes did it at the French GP in 1954.
It was only the second GP win for Button, who is in his 10th year of F1.
The win capped a remarkable turnaround for the former Honda team which was at real risk of extinction in the offseason when the Japanese automaker pulled out of F1 in December. Team principal Ross Brawn took over the team, which has benefited greatly from 2009 development spending by its former owner last year.
“This is a fairytale ending for the first race,” Button said. “Some people may say its a pity the race finished under the safety car but I don’t care, I won the race and that’s all I care about.”
Further boosting Brawn GP spirits was the knowledge that the past three winners of the Australian GP went on to win the championship.
Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel and BMW’s Robert Kubica collided while running second and third with only four laps to go, ending their races and bringing out the safety car. Kubica had been gaining rapidly on Vettel, and even appeared to be a chance of catching Button before the crash.
Vettel, who later crashed into a wall as he struggled for control, was fined $50,000 by race stewards for continuing on around the track on three wheels.
Hamilton grabbed third despite starting 18th on the grid, finishing ahead of Toyota’s Timo Glock, Renault’s Fernando Alonso, Nico Rosberg of Williams, Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi – in his first race – and his teammate Sebastien Bourdais.
For the second year running, Ferrari finished without a point in the season opener. Felipe Massa was running in third place before sustaining a steering failure on lap 45, three laps after Kimi Raikkonen spun out.
“Its true we are not where we want to be, so we will need to do some work to improve it,” Raikkonen said.
A crash at the first corner ended the race for McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen, and forced BMW’s Nick Heidfeld, Red Bull’s Mark Webber and Force India’s Adrian Sutil to immediately pit, effectively ending their chances.
Button quickly established a buffer of between four and five seconds to second-placed Vettel that held for most of the race, but the Englishman struggled with his tires as the temperature fell in the twilight conditions and a braking error created a tire flat spot. The gap was sliced to 1.5 seconds, but he held on to win.
“It wasn’t my best race I must say, but I still won so I’m chuffed to bits,” Button said, adding he felt there was still room for improvement.
Barrichello looked to have blown his podium chances with a poor start that dropped him from second to seventh. But he survived contact in the first corner shunt and a safety car period – brought about by a Kazuki Nakajima spin – closed the gap to those in front. The Brazilian appeared destined for fourth before Kubica and Vettel took each other out.
“After qualifying in second place yesterday I was hoping we could finish first and second, but a millisecond after the start I never really thought we could imagine to finish that way,” Barrichello said.
It was his best finish since leaving Ferrari following the 2005 season.
Trulli, who started in pitlane after stewards determined the Toyotas used in Saturday’s qualifying were illegal due to over-flexible rear wings, had the pleasure of standing on the podium, before stewards penalised him 25 seconds, dropping him to 12th.
Trulli was found guilty of overtaking under the final safety car period.
Buemi became the fourth-youngest driver in history to earn a championship point.
Button’s win and Brawn’s performance will all be subject to an FIA hearing following next weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix. Ferrari, Red Bull and Renault had appealed a stewards’ decision here to clear Brawn, Toyota and Williams to race, arguing the rear diffusers of the three teams breached F1 regulations.
Results from yesterday’s Grand Prix at the 5.3-kilometre Albert Park
circuit with driver, nationality, car, laps completed, time and winner’s average speed:
1. Jenson Button, England, Brawn GP, 58, 1:34:15.784, 195.775 kph.
2. Rubens Barrichello, Brazil, Brawn GP, 58, 1:34:16.591.
3. Lewis Hamilton, England, McLaren, 58, 1:34:18.689 .
4. Timo Glock, Germany, Toyota, 58, 1:34:20.219.
5. Fernando Alonso, Spain, Renault, 58, 1:34:20.663.
6. Nico Rosberg, Germany, Williams, 58, 1:34:21.505.
7. Sebastien Buemi, Switzerland, Toro Rosso, 58, 1:34:21.788.
8. Sebastien Bourdais, France, Toro Rosso, 58, 1:34:22.082.
9. Adrian Sutil, Germany, Force India, 58, 1:34:22.119.
10. Nick Heidfeld, Germany, BMW, 58, 1:34:22.869.
11. Giancarlo Fisichella, Italy, Force India, 58, 1:34:23.158.
12. Jarno Trulli, Italy, Toyota, 58, 1:34:17.388.
13. Mark Webber, Australia, Red Bull, 57
14. Sebastien Vettel, Germany, Red Bull, 56.
15. Robert Kubica, Poland, BMW, 56.
16. Kimi Raikkonen, Finland, Ferrari, 55.
Not Classified
17. Felipe Massa, Brazil, Ferrari.
18. Nelson Piquet, Brazil, Renault.
19. Kazuki Nakajima, Japan, Williams.
20. Heikki Kovalainen, Finland, McLaren.
Fastest Lap
Nico Rosberg, Germany, Williams, 1:27.706 on lap 48.