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Jenson Button got his 2012 season off to an almost flawless start by winning last Sunday's Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park.
After qualifying on the front row behind pole-sitter, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson took full advantage of his team-mates slow start to dive ahead into the first corner. From there Jenson was relatively untroubled for the majority of the race, as he put in a cool, collected and calm drive to rack up his 13th career victory and his 3rd around Albert Park.
It was impressive display from the 2009 World Champion who was almost dripping with confidence before and after the race. He well and truly put his team-mate in the shade as well as doing well to outclass the Red Bulls of Vettel and Webber.
The two Red Bulls did well to salvage 2nd (for Vettel) and 4th (for Webber) after their slightly unnerving qualifying. Sebastian Vettel in particular was impressive to finish ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who was unlucky to come out of the pits behind Vettel when the Safety Car was deployed.
Mercedes didn't capitalise on their good qualifying with a 12th for Rosberg and a DNF for Schumacher. Lotus also had a mixed barrel with Grosjean being punted off at Turn 13 by Maldonado but Raikkonen doing well to finish 7th on his Formula 1 return.
Despite Alonso coming home 5th, it can be said that Ferrari won't have fond memories of Australia this year. A car that looks unlikely to trouble the top 3 for a while and a under-performing Felipe Massa, if Melbourne is anything to go by, it could be a long year for the Scuderia.
It was also a bitter-sweet moment for Williams when Maldonado put it in the wall on the final lap: his drive so far had been so full of promise but it was all thrown away. Coupled with Senna's incident with Massa and it was also a day to forget at Williams.
Mercedes didn't capitalise on their good qualifying with a 12th for Rosberg and a DNF for Schumacher. Lotus also had a mixed barrel with Grosjean being punted off at Turn 13 by Maldonado but Raikkonen doing well to finish 7th on his Formula 1 return.
Despite Alonso coming home 5th, it can be said that Ferrari won't have fond memories of Australia this year. A car that looks unlikely to trouble the top 3 for a while and a under-performing Felipe Massa, if Melbourne is anything to go by, it could be a long year for the Scuderia.
It was also a bitter-sweet moment for Williams when Maldonado put it in the wall on the final lap: his drive so far had been so full of promise but it was all thrown away. Coupled with Senna's incident with Massa and it was also a day to forget at Williams.
It bodes well for both Jenson and Mclaren going into the long season ahead: both him and the car look hugely competitive. By no means does this mean that the two will go unchallenged; on the contrary, if Sunday's race proved anything, it's that this season will be closely fought.
Red Bull, Mclaren, Lotus, Mercedes and maybe Ferrari look most likely to take the share of wins this year with Williams, Sauber and Toro Rosso not too far behind. The mid-field all seem to be fairly close as well; I expect Force India to be added to this mix as the season goes on. This could all be set to change in the coming week however; this Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix will offer a greatly different challenge to the tight Melbourne circuit. Hopefully, we will get an even clearer barometer of the pecking order after the race in Sepang.
Red Bull, Mclaren, Lotus, Mercedes and maybe Ferrari look most likely to take the share of wins this year with Williams, Sauber and Toro Rosso not too far behind. The mid-field all seem to be fairly close as well; I expect Force India to be added to this mix as the season goes on. This could all be set to change in the coming week however; this Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix will offer a greatly different challenge to the tight Melbourne circuit. Hopefully, we will get an even clearer barometer of the pecking order after the race in Sepang.
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