Jenson Button secures vital season opening win at Australian Grand Prix – Formula 1 news
Jenson Button billed as a proper contender for the top spot in the season filled that role comprehensively in the opening Grand Prix of the season.
The Australian GP was always going to be extremely exciting as it had the x-factor. It was unknown how each team’s cars will perform, who are the teams that are race ready and Sunday showed a good measure of what will be on display during the season.
It is most certainly going to be a McLaren vs. Red Bull throughout the season and from what was on display McLaren are nipping ahead.
Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull was sandwiched by the two McLarens with Mark Webber at fourth place. At fifth was Fernando Alonso in the troublesome Ferrari which did not look like a car that could secure any wins this season, even if Alonso is going to be driving
it.
Kamui Kobayashi sprung a pleasant surprise as his Sauber showed good pace to be placed at sixth ahead of a disappointing Kimi Raikkonen.
Raikkonen did not have the luck with him on the race day but it was still a fairly good job as he started the race placed at 17th and finished it at 7th, while his team-mate Romain Grosjean had to end his race early by retiring. Grosjean’s could not control
his car and spun his car on to the gravel which ended his race.
The biggest setback of the race was the Mercedes down and out of the opening race of the season with so much hype built up around the team pre season. Schumacher explained after the race that he was losing the drive of the car which caused him to retire.
The German’s retirement gave way to Vettel to claim the third position, but the way the RB8 was gaining on Schumacher it seemed inevitable that Vettel was going to cross him.
The other Sauber driver Sergio Perez was right under Raikkonen, and was further confirming the Sauber pace. Daniel Ricciardo also showed good pace in his Toro Rosso and finished 9th while his team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne finished 11thsandwiching Paul di Resta
who was disappointed over his result as Force India looked much better than they performed on race day. Nico Hulkenberg in the other Force India car retired early on in the opening lap it was unfortunate and they will be looking to improve on that in Malaysia.
Pastor Maldonado was driving impressively but a technical fault caused him to lag behind in the final lap
Bruno Senna and Felipe Massa were an addition to the casualties who did not make it to the chequered flag.
Position
Driver
Nationality
Team
Points
1
Jenson Button
British
McLaren
25
2
Sebastian Vettel
German
Red Bull Racing
18
3
Lewis Hamilton
British
McLaren
15
4
Mark Webber
Australian
Red Bull Racing
12
5
Fernando Alonso
Spanish
Ferrari
10
6
Kamui Kobayashi
Japanese
Sauber
8
7
Kimi Räikkönen
Finnish
Lotus
6
8
Sergio Perez
Mexican
Sauber
4
9
Daniel Ricciardo
Australian
STR
2
10
Paul di Resta
British
Force India
1
Tags: