From F1-Live.com
After the excitement and drama of qualifying, the 58-lap Australian Grand Prix lived up to all expectations as Jenson Button recorded his second career victory and the first for the brand new Brawn Mercedes team.
Out of the ashes of the Honda team, Brawn GP stunned its rivals as soon as they took to the tests tracks in Spain for pre-season testing. The form continued into practice and the team aced the front row in qualifying in Melbourne.
Race day saw Button make a perfect start to lead the first lap by five seconds as Rubens Barrichello slipped down the field as his anti-stall device kicked in. As the drama played out in the closing stages, Rubens Barrichello inherited second position to make it a famous Brawn GP one-two result.
While Button was rarely troubled at the front of the field, the battle for second position looked set to go down to the wire a Sebastian Vettel defended his position from the charging Robert Kubica. A small error on his worn option tyres from the Red Bull Renault driver at the first turn saw the German racer lose momentum allowing Kubica’s BMW Sauber alongside heading into turn three.
Vettel, obviously keen to retain the position was not going to give in without a fight but then went in too deep eliminating himself and Kubica within sight of the chequered flag.
This allowed the recovering Barrichello through into second position for a dream Brawn Mercedes result and cost Red Bull Renault at least six valuable championship points.
Following the disappointment post-qualifying yesterday, Jarno Trulli put in a great drive from the pit lane to finish third in his Toyota, while team-mate Glock took the chequered flag in fifth position after a long battle with double world champion Fernando Alonso. While the TF109 has proven rapid all weekend there was sting in the tail for the team for the second straight day...
Following the chequered flag and the podium celebrations, Trulli was found guilty of passing Lewis Hamilton whilst behind the safety car. The Italian veteran was handed a 12 second penalty dropping him from third position to 12th.
Hamilton started the 58-lap race from 18th position following his gearbox issues in qualifying and made great progress on the option tyre in the opening laps. As Ferrari, Vettel and Kubica slipped up the 2008 race winner and defending champion found himself in a sensational fourth position at the flag and then third in the record books.
FINAL RESULTS: Note, as of 3/31/09, Lewis Hamilton was disqualified from this race for lying to stewards about his engine, thus moving everyone up below him one spot.
1) Jenson Button - Brawn GP - Mercedes
2) Rubens Barichello - Brawn GP - Mercedes
3) Lewis Hamilton - McLaren - Mercedes
4) Timo Glock -Toyota
5) Fernando Alonso -Renault
6) Nico Rosberg - Williams - Toyota
7) Sebastien Buemi - Scuderia Toro Rosso - Ferrari
8) Sebastien Bourdais - Scuderia Toro Rosso - Ferrari
