Race Notes - Jenson Button wins Australian GP

Jenson Button won his first victory of the season at the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park today in his McLaren-Mercedes, driving in commanding style over Robert Kubica in the Renault in second, and Felipe Massa in the Ferrari in third place.

After the race began in damp conditions, the reigning world champion switched to dry tyres early on putting him into second place, and when a brake failure ended polesitter Sebastian Vettel's day in the gravel trap, Button inherited the lead and never looked back.

Kubica held off Massa, Fernando Alonso in the other Ferrari, and Nico Rosberg in fifth in the Mercedes. Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren and Mark Webber in the Red Bull-Renault had stopped for new tyres in the middle of the race, and stormed back to challenge Alonso until a tangle with two laps to go saw Webber touch Hamilton, causing both men to spin off and continue, the Australian having to pit for a new nose. Hamilton finished sixth, Vitantonio Liuzzi taking seventh in his Force India-Mercedes, followed by Rubens Barrichello in his Williams-Cosworth, Webber in ninth, and Michael Schumacher in his Mercedes in tenth, taking the last point.

The win is Button's first for McLaren, and the eighth of his career.