Australian GP: Button wins, Brawn GP double. Ferrari disaster

Double for Brawn GP at the Australian Grand Prix. Jenson Button dominated in Melbourne, winning the race ahead of his teammate. Third place for Trulli (Toyota), fourth for Hamilton (McLaren Mercedes). Also scoring points were Glock (Toyota), Alonso (Renault), Rosberg (Williams) and Buemi (Toro Rosso). A contact in the final laps put Vettel (Red Bull) and Kubica (BMW Sauber) out of the race, the only ones able to keep up with the Brawns. Ferrari disaster: Massa and Raikkonen both retired due to technical problems.

Chronicle:
Relegated to the back of the grid at the end of qualifying due to irregular flexible wings, the Toyotas started from the pitlane. The air temperature is 21 degrees, the asphalt 31. Ferrari, Renault, McLaren and Heidfeld's BMW have KERS and could therefore have an advantage at the start.

At the start Button starts well and maintains the lead while Barrichello has a slow start and the others go wild behind him. At turn 1 Vettel is second, Rosberg third. Massa is aggressive and manages to get into third place ahead of Kubica. Excellent start also for Raikkonen who moves up to fifth position ahead of Rosberg, Barrichello, Nakajima. The Finn also tries to attack Kubica but the Pole defends himself well.

Barrichello hits Webber at the first corner and the Australian ends up on top of Heidfeld's BMW and Kovalainen's McLaren. Sutil is also involved in the accident. Heidfeld returns to the pits with a puncture, while Sutil has lost his front wing. Webber also returns and replaces the nose while Kovalainen suffered damage to his suspension and retires.

Button tries to escape, on the fourth lap he has a 4"4 lead over Vettel. Lewis Hamilton meanwhile is already tenth, ahead of Buemi and Fisichella.

Brawn GP warns Barrichello of damage to the left side of his car. Vettel takes the fastest lap while Hamilton attacks Piquet. Bad start also for Alonso, who fell to 15th position. Excellent start from Trulli, already 13th after the start from the pits. On the sixth lap Hamilton also overtakes Piquet and is now ninth.

The Ferraris are starting to struggle to keep up with the pace of the pacesetters. While Vettel reduces the gap to Button, Massa and Raikkonen with the soft tires lap around 1'30″, a delay of almost two seconds per lap. Raikkonen must now watch out for Rosberg and Barrichello, now in his exhaust pipes. The Finn also begins to feel almost half a second behind his teammate per lap, perhaps indicating set-up problems.

On lap nine Rosberg attacks Raikkonen at the end of the straight and passes him. Barrichello also attacks Raikkonen but touches the right rear of the Ferrari F60 and further ruins his front wing. Ferrari in crisis with the tires, the times of Massa and Raikkonen are increasingly high.

Raikkonen returns on lap 10 to fit hard tyres. Trulli and Bourdais also return. Rosberg also goes to attack Kubica after a mistake by the BMW Pole. On lap 11 Massa also comes back to fit the harder compound, as does Hamilton who takes on a lot of fuel. On the following lap Kubica also stops and switches from the soft to the hard. The Pole returns to the track behind Massa and ahead of Raikkonen, in 12th position.

Button now has a 4"5 lead over Vettel while Rosberg is already 31" behind. Good recovery for Williams, Nakajima is now hot on Barrichello's heels with a greater fuel load.

Piquet is sixth ahead of Buemi, Fisichella, Alonso and Glock. On lap 16 Vettel returns for his stop and restarts after 11 seconds, fuel for 6 laps. Rosberg also returns on lap 32, the mechanics have problems with the front left, the German therefore loses a lot of time and returns ahead of Raikkonen who however manages to overtake him. Button sets the fastest lap in 16. On lap 1.28.020, Nakajima hits the wall at turn 18. Barrichello returns to stop and replace the nose. Buemi and Glock also return. Shortly afterwards Button also returns and starts again after 3 seconds, fuel for 14 laps. Heidfeld also returns just as the safety car comes onto the track.

Fisichella returns to the pits but arrives wide, creating havoc in the Force India pits. Piquet and Alonso also return. The safety car lets all the drivers parade waiting for the leader, Button.

The classification on lap 20: Button, Vettel, Massa, Kubica, Raikkonen, Rosberg, Piquet, Trulli, Buemi, Barrichello, Glock, Hamilton, Alonso, Fisichella, Bourdais, Sutil, Heidfeld, Webber.

Ferrari reminds Massa to use KERS on the restart. The race restarts on lap 24. Piquet spins and retires. Hamilton overtakes Glock in 10th position, as does Alonso. Button takes 9 tenths off Vettel and extends his lead to 2 seconds. On lap 31 Button increased his lead to 4 seconds while Massa returned for the second stop and was still on hard tyres. The Brazilian returns to 3th position.

On lap 34 Kubica set the fastest lap in 1.27.989 and moved within two seconds of Vettel. On lap 40 the Pole returns to the pits, followed by Raikkonen. Kubica is now seventh, Raikkonen tenth, among them Alonso and Glock. The German spins but continues, Raikkonen takes the opportunity to overtake him.

The top ten on lap 42: Button, Vettel, Barrichello, Rosberg, Hamilton, Kubica, Alonso, Raikkonen, Glock, Fisichella.

Hamilton returns on lap 43 for his second stop, followed by Raikkonen who had previously spun and touched the wall. The Englishman returns to the track just ahead of Massa, in 10th position. Vettel put on soft tires on lap 45 and maintained second place but now had to watch out for Barrichello. Massa has problems, proceeds slowly while Button returns to the pits, putting on soft tires after a hesitation with the pipe. On lap 48 Massa retires while Button manages to maintain the lead ahead of Vettel and Barrichello. Raikkonen meanwhile fell to 15th position after some difficulties during the stop.

Rosberg sets the fastest lap in 1.27.706, Glock, Barrichello and Alonso return to the pits. The Brazilian returns to the track in fifth position, behind Rosberg and in front of Trulli. On lap 52 Barrichello manages to overtake Rosberg and moves into fourth position. The German has problems with the soft tires and is also overtaken by Glock and Hamilton.

Kubica is now in Vettel's wake. Meanwhile, Glock and Alonso also overtook Rosberg. Vettel makes a small mistake, Kubica attacks him, the two come into contact, the Toro Rosso and the BMW lose their front wing, Vettel crashes and shortly afterwards Kubica also hits the wall. Safety Car on track with 3 laps to go to remove debris from the two cars. Vettel curiously continues to spin on three wheels with the front left on the verge of falling off.

Barrichello is second and Brawn GP is therefore on its way to a double. In the meantime, Vettel retires, as does Raikkonen. Trulli suddenly finds himself third ahead of Hamilton. Followed by Glock, Alonso, Rosberg and Buemi.

Button therefore goes on to win with the restart after the safety car!

Pos Driver Team Time 1. Button Brawn GP (B) 1h34:15.784 2. Barrichello Brawn GP (B) + 0.807 3. Trulli Toyota (B) + 1.604 4. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) + 2.914 5. Glock Toyota ( B) + 4.435 6. Alonso Renault (B) + 4.879 7. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) + 5.722 8. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) + 6.004 9. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) + 6.298 10. Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) + 6.335 11. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) + 7.085 12. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) + 7.374 13. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) + 1 lap 14. Vettel Red Bull -Renault (B) + 2 Laps 15. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) + 3 Laps 16. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) + 3 Laps