However, the Venezuelan crashed out on the final lap, seemingly through no
discernible reason, hitting a wall and leaving his car stricken on track.
There was no safety car, though, as instead the field behind went past under
yellow flags, albeit bunching up and sparking a furious fight to the finish.
Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi grabbed sixth, with Kimi Raikkonen seventh on his
Lotus debut and return to F1 after two years away in rallying.
The second Sauber of Sergio Perez was eighth, and despite a previously
troubled race Daniel Ricciardo was ninth in his Toro Rosso on home soil,
whilst Paul Di Resta jumped from 13th to 10th on the final lap to grab the
last point in his Force India.
Forming on the grid, it was the first all-British front row for 17 years – the
last in Adelaide in 1995 with Damon Hill on pole ahead of David Coulthard –
and McLaren’s first for two and a half years.
That followed a captivating qualifying showdown yesterday in which Hamilton
claimed the 20th pole of his Formula One career.
But once the five reds lights disappeared to signal the start of the 2012 F1
season, it was Button who made the better getaway in comparison to his
compatriot, getting his nose in front going into the first corner.
Further down the field the starts for Ricciardo, Nico Hulkenberg in his Force
India, as well as Williams’ Bruno Senna, were not what they would have
wished for.
A midfield tangle saw Ricciardo clip Senna, momentarily sending the Brazilian
up into the air, the collision forcing both men into an early pit stop.
As for Hulkenberg, who had qualified in a fine ninth place, the young German
retired almost instantly as he was tagged from behind, picking up a flat
tyre and was unable to make it back to the pits.
He was followed into retirement on lap two by Romain Grosjean, whose dream of
qualifying third in his Lotus yesterday turned into a nightmare just three
minutes into the race.
Having appreciably dropped down the pecking order at the start, Grosjean was
tagged by Maldonado which led to a break of his front-right suspension.
Ahead, though, it was the perfect start from Button who simply had the edge on
Hamilton who appeared not to do anything wrong.
A rare mistake from Vettel on lap six almost proved costly as he came under
pressure from behind from Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg and Alonso.
That was at a point when he was attacking Michael Schumacher in his Mercedes,
the seven-times champion retiring five laps later due to a loss of drive
under braking into turn one.
For Button, there followed a stroll around Melbourne’s Albert Park, although
there would have been some consternation on lap 37 when the safety car was
brought into play.
That was due to Vitaly Petrov on his Caterham debut retiring his car along the
start-finish straight.
Having pitted for a second time moments earlier, the safety car cost Hamilton
and aided Vettel who had yet to stop again, the latter leapfrogging the
Briton into second.
Four laps behind the safety car followed, with half of one of those comically
behind the flatbed recovery truck sent out to collect Petrov’s car as it
would have been too dangerous for the entire field to lap the vehicle.
Once the safety car disappeared, though, it was a straightforward run to the
line for the leaders, with the exception of the highly-unfortunate Maldonado.