Button puts in supreme drive to victory

F1 Grand Prix, GP Australia, Albert Park

Jenson Button has masterfully driven to his first win of the year, his first for McLaren. In the early stages he switched tyres at the right time while he succesfully nursed his option tyres to the end of the race. Robert Kubica is a happy second for Renault, followed by Felipe Massa.

Although the weather has been unusual thus far in the Australian GP weekend, a rainy race is certainly not what many expected beforehand. The track is wet and it is constantly raining al around the track. Conditions however cause very little grip due to this now being a continuous race track.

Most drivers are opting for intermediate tyres as the track is more wet than damp. Vettel is on pole with Webber aside of him. The Virgin cars and Trulli are starting from the pits.

As the lights go out, Vettel makes a good start, while Webber immediately loses his second place to Felipe Massa. Fernando Alonso is touched on the right rear wheel by Button in the first corner and is facing the wrong way, in his spin reaking Schumacher's front wing.

Half a lap later Sebastian Buemi finds himself in the gravel trap, as well as Kobayashi and Hulkenberg. The Sauber driver lost his front wing, lost control of the car and consequently put Hulkenberg and himself out of the race in a spectacular crash.

The event quickly triggered the safety car, neutralising the race for 3 laps. Positions are Vettel, Massa, Webber, Kubica, Rosberg, Button, Hamilton, Sutil, Barrichello and Petrov. Bruno Senna is suddenly in 14th position. Jarno Trulli is meanwhile sitting in the pitlane as he didn't make it to the start with a hydraulic problem.

On lap 6 Hamilton passes Button in turn 3, and 3 turns further Massa makes a slight mistake of which Webber profits to regain his lost place.

On lap 7 Button is the first to gamble and change for slick tyres but it looks just the right time for a change. Button is off as early as his 5th turn on the softer slicks, but the tyres are working well in the middle sector.

In lap 9, lots of drivers are entering the pits to change for slicks, many teams in fact changing both their cars in the same lap. The Red Bulls, Liuzzi and Alguersuari are waiting, and when one lap later suddenly Button is 5 seconds a lap quicker than anyone else, Vettel is also in and just managed to stay ahead of Button when he comes back on track. Mark Webber waited one more lap and dropped down to 6th after also going through the gravel in turn 1 on the fresh tyres.

Senna has meanwhile stopped in the pits while Vitaly Petrov got stuck in the track in turn 4. Sutil is also out one lap later as he stops his car in the box.

By lap 14, Alonso has moved his way up through the field and is back in the points and moves to 9th after passing De La Rosa. Another lap later the Spaniard also passes Barrichello and now has a gap of 6 seconds to close to Lewis Hamilton.

Massa then is holding back Webber and Hamilton, resulting in a succesful passing attempt by Webber in the first corner. Hamilton profits to pass the Ferrari, but as a result of defending his position to Hamilton in turn 3, Webber is off the track, allowing Hamilton to pass again and Massa to also regain his previous position.

On lap 22 Massa makes another slight mistake in the final corner, allowing Hamilton to pass on the main straight. Hamilton however kept came a bit too close to the Ferrari and lost a few parts of his front wing. Behind them, Alonso found himself on the wet line and got passed by Webber.

In lap 26 Vettel simply misses his corner, locking the rear brakes and gets stuck in the gravel, leaving his leading position to Button. Kubica is now second, ahead of Hamilton who passed Rosberg. The latter is clearly slower than anyone around him, as he quickly finds Massa, Webber and Alonso behind him.

By lap 30 Hamilton has closed up to Kubica while Mark Webber is right on the tail of Rosberg.

Several divers are starting to suffer tyre problems and Michael Schumacher is the first to put on a new set of soft tyres, and several laps later Webber does the same. This allows the Australian to gain track position as Rosberg drop a place when he does the same one lap later.

On lap 35 Hamilton also stops for new tyres and set fastest time 3 laps later, 1.6 faster than Jenson Button who is still lapping on his first set of slicks.

It now appears that Vettel was suffering a left front brake failure, making him a sitting duck as soon as he touched the brakes in the approach to turn 13.

Kubica is starting to hold up the Ferraris while Alonso is still stuck behind Massa, despite showing all through the first half of the race to be considerably quicker than his teammate.

The end of the race is unfolding into an exciting phase as Kubica and the two Ferraris are vastly slower on their old tyres than Hamilton and Webber. After a chase of 15 laps, Hamilton is only 2 seconds behind the Spaniard.

Once in the fighting position however, it loks to be a lot harder than expected for Hamilton to get around Alonso. The Spaniard's defences are at the same time giving some space to Kubica and Massa while Webber is trying to find a chance himself to get past Hamilton.

One lap from the end Hamilton finally attempts to pass Alonso in the inside of turn 13, but as he dives into the corner, Webber overcooks it and bumps into Hamilton, sending both into the gravel trap. Hamilton ends up in 6th place, while Webber pitted for a new front wing and catches just 2 points thanks to a 9th position finish.