(Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)
Jenson Button has won the Australian Grand Prix after completing a Brawn GP 1-2 in the opening race of the season.
It was only Button’s second career victory, his first for three years after a long-overdue win in Hungary in 2006.
However, it’s the team headed by Ross Brawn that will get most of the attention, as they completed an amazing 1-2 finish, with Rubens Barrichello finishing behind the Brit. This caps a story that is sure to overshadow the current protests over the diffuser system, used by Brawn car amongst others.
Jarno Trulli finished third after starting from the pit lane, but might could see his podium place taken away from him after surpassing Lewis Hamilton during the final safety car lap at the end of the race.
Hamilton himself drove nobly throughout the race, despite starting at the back of the grid as he saw his attacking strategy pay off, something that could result in an unforeseen six-point reward.
In truth, grid positions were slightly disjointed after the safety car was deployed twice, once when Kazuki Nakajima went off on lap 16, and again three laps from the end when both Sebastian Vettel and Robert Kubica crashed out after striking each other in contention for a podium place.
Both teams seemed to be devastated at the crash, with vital points missed out on, and what BMW claim to be a winning position for Kubica with just three laps to go.
It was a bad day for Ferrari however, who saw both Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa retire early on, to compound a miserable weekend for the team, and a repeat performance of last year's Grand Prix, where both men again failed to finish the race.
Button began the race on pole position and after a solid start to the race he started to open a gap on Vettel, who along with many others had surpassed Barrichello.
The Brazilian’s start left a lot to be desired, but he was soon moving up the field, and he was one of a number of drivers who took advantage later in the race.
The superiority of the Brawn car was obvious to see even at this early stage of the season, and if their main competitors, especially the loaner of the car’s engine McLaren don’t change the fortunes of there own car a different Brit could be topping the podium for the rest of this season.
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