Champion drive from Button

Defending world champion Jenson Button has scored his second successive Australian Grand Prix victory in Melbourne.

World Champion cleans up after Vettel suffers another retirement

Defending world champion Jenson Button has scored his second successive Australian Grand Prix victory in Melbourne. In only his second start for McLaren, Button overcame a first-corner collision to take the chequered flag ahead of Renault's Robert Kubica and Ferrari's Felipe Massa. As was the case in Bahrain, however, there was disappointment for Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, who led from pole position before suffering a brake failure and spinning out midway through the race. The winner two weeks ago, Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, finished fourth in Albert Park ahead of Mercedes GP's Nico Rosberg. Lewis Hamilton finished sixth after an eventful race which ended with him surviving a collision with Red Bull's Mark Webber, who finished ninth. Force India's Vitantonio Liuzzi came home seventh, ahead of Williams' Rubens Barrichello, with Michael Schumacher claiming the final world championship point with 10th. Although he enjoyed the good fortune of Vettel's demise, Button's victory was a well-deserved one - his performance a blend of good judgement and smooth driving in difficult conditions. He was the first driver to react to a drying track following a damp start and, having pitted for slick tyres, Button preserved them to the end.

Aggrieved

Hamilton, meanwhile, who led his team-mate during the very early stages, was pitted twice - a tactic which clearly aggrieved him post-race and which might have prevented a McLaren one-two finish. For the sport as a whole, though, Australia thankfully did not serve up a repeat of the season-opener - the first half of the race alone offering more excitement than 10 Bahrain grands prix. With cars lining up on the grid on intermediate tyres owing to the wet conditions, Vettel led from pole, with Massa getting a flier from fifth and moving up to second past Webber. Alonso made a slow start, however, and clipped Button at first corner. His Ferrari then spun and also clipped Schumacher, who suffered wing damage and needed to pit. There followed a nasty incident further round the lap after Kamui Kobayashi suffered a front wing failure on his Sauber and speared into wall at high speed before collecting Sebastien Buemi's Toro Rosso and Nico Hulkenberg's Williams, bringing out the safety car. Kubica was the big net gainer, climbing to fourth, and Webber had to fend the Renault off on the lap-five restart. Hamilton, meanwhile, climbed to eighth from 11th on the grid, one place behind Button and he passed his team-mate one lap later, with Webber also getting back past Massa. Button pitted for dry tyres on lap seven and immediately ran wide but all the frontrunners bar the Red Bulls followed his lead two laps later - the McLaren by now up to speed. Having stopped on lap 10, Vettel led Button, Kubica and Rosberg but Webber, who stopped one lap later, stayed out too long on intermediates and dropped to sixth as a result - the Australian soon being harried by Hamilton.

From bad to worse

His day went from bad to worse on lap 17 when, having passed Massa for fifth, the Red Bull then tagged Hamilton, who had also nipped past the Ferrari before trying to pass Webber around the outside into turn three. Massa moved back up to fifth ahead of Hamilton but the McLaren passed him again after the Brazilian ran wide at the end of lap 22. Webber, meanwhile, had fallen to eighth behind Alonso - who had climbed from 22nd place - but got back ahead soon after when the Spaniard backed off to avoid hitting his team-mate. Hamilton rapidly closed on Rosberg and took fourth on lap 26, which became third shortly afterwards when Vettel landed in the gravel trap at turn 13. Button assumed the lead, with a McLaren one-two on the cards just as soon as his team-mate had disposed of Kubica. He couldn't find a way past though and instead pitted on lap 35, rejoining in fifth directly ahead of Webber and Rosberg, who had respectively stopped on the previous two laps. Button, meanwhile, held a 12-second lead over Kubica, Massa and Alonso - the top four all staying out on old rubber. Indeed, Button increased his gap, with Hamilton and Webber setting fastest laps as they hauled in a 10-second gap to the Ferrari pair - the second McLaren gaining 2.6 seconds on lap 47 alone.

Desperate

Hamilton was on Alonso's tail with eight laps remaining but could not find a way past the double world champion - a desperate attempt to pass on the outside with one lap remaining instead seeing the McLaren driver forced to back off and Webber hitting him for the second time. The Australian salvaged ninth after stopping for a new front wing and he finished one place ahead of Schumacher, who never recovered after being hit by Alonso on lap one. In fact, the seven-times world champion needed to some late manoeuvring to take a solitary point. Schumacher spent too many laps trying to find a way past Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari - finally muscling his way past three laps from home - before taking Sauber's Pedro de la Rosa on the 58th and last lap. Australian Grand Prix: 1 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 1hr 33mins 36.531secs, 2 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault 1:33:48.565, 3 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:33:51.019, 4 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 1:33:52.835, 5 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:33:53.214, 6 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1:34:06.520, 7 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Force India 1:34:36.378, 8 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams 1:34:37.067, 9 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:34:43.850, 10 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:34:45.922, 11 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:34:47.832, 12 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) BMW Sauber 1:34:50.615, 13 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus F1 at 2 laps, 14 Karun Chandhok (Ind) HRT-F1 at 5 laps Not Classified: 15 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin Racing 41 laps completed, 16 Lucas di Grassi (Bra) Virgin Racing 26 laps completed, 17 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 25 laps completed, 18 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 9 laps completed, 19 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 9 laps completed, 20 Bruno Senna (Bra) HRT-F1 4 laps completed, 21 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 0 laps completed, 22 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Williams 0 laps completed, 23 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) BMW Sauber 0 laps completed, 24 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Lotus F1 0 laps completed
World Championship Standings: 1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 37pts, 2 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 33, 3 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 31, 4 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 23, 5 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 20, 6 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault 18, 7 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 12, 8 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 9, 9 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Force India 8, 10 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 6, 11 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams 5, 12 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 0, 13 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) BMW Sauber 0, 14 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 0, 15 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus F1 0, 16 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Williams 0, 17 Karun Chandhok (Ind) HRT-F1 0, 18 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin Racing 0, 19 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 0, 20 Lucas di Grassi (Bra) Virgin Racing 0, 21 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Lotus F1 0, 22 Bruno Senna (Bra) HRT-F1 0, 23 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 0, 24 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) BMW Sauber 0
Manufacturers: 1 Ferrari 70pts, 2 McLaren 54, 3 Mercedes GP 29, 4 Renault 18, 5 Red Bull 18, 6 Force India 8, 7 Williams 5, 8 Scuderia Toro Rosso 0, 9 BMW Sauber 0, 10 Lotus F1 0, 11 HRT-F1 0, 12 Virgin Racing 0