Button grabs pole on Brawn front row

F1 Grand Prix, GP Australia, Albert Park

Jenson Button has confirmed that Brawn GP is the dominant car in Formula One by solidly driving to the pole position at the Australian Grand Prix. His teammate Rubens Barrichello is second while Sebastian Vettel will be third on the grid with his Red Bull RB5.

Under a sunny sky, the Australian qualifying session at Albert Park finally kicked off. First man out on track was Force India's Giancarlo Fisichella. The Italian was quickly followed by the rest of the pack who streamed out of the paddock for a first run.

The first man to take the lead is once again Nico Rosberg, the man who topped all the Australian free practices. With 13 minutes left on the clock of the first heat, Williams proves to be one of the strongest teams out there as Kazuki Nakajima takes over the lead of his team mate.

The only drivers not yet on track are both BMW Sauber F1 Team drivers, Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld.

Ferrari seems to be determined to battle with its new rivals at front. Kimi Raikkonen's fast lap on the harder tyre is faster than the one of Nakajima. But the Finn doesn't stay on top for long as Brawn GP's Rubens Barrichello takes over the lead with a time of 1:25:815.

What was already obvious after the three free practice sessions at Albert Park, and confirmed during this first heat of the qualifying session, is that the established pecking order in Formula One has been overturned. Williams and Brawn GP seem the teams to beat this weekend.

With four minutes left, Ferrari driver Felipe Massa is completely at the back of the pack after running 7 laps. The Brazilian pushes very hard to fight himself to the front. He sets the second lap time for now.

Few minutes ahead of the end of Q1 the action builds in the pits now as everybody is preparing for a final run with only three minutes left on the clock. Home driver Mark Webber is the one to clock the fastest lap as the other drivers try everything to make it to Q2.

Sebastien Bourdais, Adrian Sutil, Giancarlo Fisichella, Nelson Piquet Jr. and Sebastian Buemi are eliminated for the second heat. Lewis Hamilton on the other hand just managed to get through in 15th place while his teammate only managed marginally better.

Raikkonen is obviously hungry for some action and is the first to leave the pits for Q2. He is all alone for two laps before Trulli and Massa also join the action. One minute later Glock puts in a fastest time with 1/25.281.

At the front of the field, all drivers look to be closely matched. Alonso for instance who is 0.4 seconds slower than the fastest time is only 9th and in the danger zone. Renault is certainly struggling, but the McLaren's are currently 14th and 15th.

With just 4 minutes to go, Kovalainen is out for an attempt to get into Q3. Impossible it appears, as he stays on the same place and is out without a chance. Hamilton even doesn't take the track anymore. Their performance is in stark conrast with the Brawn GP cars who set the best two times, 0.3 seconds ahead of the rest.

This results in 5 drivers to fall out again, starting with Alonso who pushed a bit too hard on his final attempt and immediately returned to the pitlane. He is joined with Heidfeld, Nakajima and both McLarens.

Halfway Q3, Button is again on top, ahead of Barrichello, Webber, Vettel, Kubica, Rosberg, the two Toyota's and both Ferrari's. Massa is in fact so slow that he suspects a puncture although Ferrari reply they can't see anything unusual.

The second attempts didn't change much and Button gets his first pole position since 2006 after two dismal years at Honda. Barrichello completes the Brawn GP joy by locking out the front row. Sebastian Vettel is third, ahead of Kubica, Rosberg, Glock, Massa, Trulli, Raikkonen and Webber.