Race Report
Australian GP
Revised
Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello made it a dream start for the new Brawn GP team by scoring a 1-2 finish in a dramatic Australian GP. The race finished with the safety car pulling in on the last lap after a collision between 2nd and 3rd placed Vettel and Kubica. Both crashed as a result but were classified 14th and 15th. Jarno Trulli and Lewis Hamilton benefited taking 3rd (see revision at bottom) and 4th. Timo Glock and Fernando Alonso rounded out the top 6. The race started with Button streaking into the lead but Barrichello's car faltered on the line dropping him to 7th. There was contact in the first corner involving Barrichello, Webber and Heidfeld the latter 2 pitting for repairs. Button established a good lead despite pressure from Vettel with Massa and Kubica 3rd and 4th. Drama came on lap 18 as Nakajima hit the wall in the Williams bringing out the safety car. Button and Barrichello pitted with Rubens having a new nose cone fitted. the order at this point was Button, Vettel, Massa, Kubica, Piquet, Fisichella. As the safery car pulled in Piquet spun out at the first corner with brake problems. Lap 43 saw Raikkonen spin and hit the wall, then to compound the Ferrari woes Massa retired on Lap 46. Button retained his lead after a slow second pit stop but Vettel was right on his tail with Kubica closing fast on prime tyres. This was a great battle and in the closing stages inevitably the pair clashed as Kubica tried to pass. Nico Rosberg finished 7th after a strong performance, falling back at the end as his tyres went off. A great debut from Sebastian Buemi with 8th place ahead of Sebastien Bourdais and Adrian Sutil who were the other top ten finishers. Finally a word on Lewis Hamilton who did well to finish 4th after starting from last on the grid. Hamilton was third but there was an issue with Trulli under the safety car, this could potentially be investigated by the stewards.
Revision - It has been confirmed post race that Trulli has received a 25sec penalty by the race stewards for passing under the safety car, dropping him to 12th place.
