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McLaren top dire 2013 at first attempt as debutant Kevin Magnussen flies to podium

Both Kevin Magnussen and Jenson Button promoted in final standings after Daniel Ricciardo's late-night disqualification

By James Galloway

Sunday 16 March 2014 13:49, UK

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McLaren topped their miserable 2013 campaign in one fell swoop at the season-opening Australian GP as they returned to the podium for the first time in 16 months and took an early lead of the Constructors' Championship - a result Jenson Button admits is a big early 2014 boost for the team.

Button's own promising start to the weekend had already been compromised by the yellow flags triggered by Kimi Raikkonen's crash at the end of Q2 in qualifying. However, he enjoyed better fortune on Sunday as undercuts at both of his pitstops - the first of which came immediately after the Safety Car was deployed - brought him up the order. "Starting tenth was always going to be tricky and I said to the guys 'I want to get a good start'," Button explained. "It's the easiest place to gain places but it's also the easiest place to have a shunt and especially with the way the cars are under braking there were so many accidents on lap one so I actually found myself going backwards a little bit. "But an enjoyable race and the team did a great job in the pitstops. Also when the safety boards flashed up I saw it and quickly dived in the pits, which made a big difference as well. After losing the tip of his MP4-29's nose at his second pitstop, Button added: "It wasn't the prettiest car at the end of the race but it was an enjoyable car at the end of the race. The last stint I didn't have to save fuel, I pushed as hard as I could to catch Kevin and Daniel but there just wasn't enough in the tyres, they were pretty old." The 35-year-old also expressed his gratification with the support he had received from the paddock on the first grand prix following his popular father John's death. "It's been a tough weekend emotionally. I'm not the sort of person who likes to show it in front of a TV camera, I don't think that's right," he said. "In the background it's very, very tough but I've had the most amazing support from the paddock, my family, friends, and all the guys within the team. They've been wearing this little pink shirt and it really does mean a lot. He'll have a big smile on his face looking down and knowing everyone's talking about him right now, he loved that!"