Jenson Button wins the 2012 Australian Grand Prix - A thrilling season opener, with surprising retirements
Published by Christine
Welcome to F1Minute - Jenson Button wins the 2012 Australian Grand Prix.
A beautiful sunny evening in Melbourne played host to the first round of 2012, with Lewis Hamilton starting on pole position. He didn’t stay there for long, as Jenson Button stormed into the lead during some first lap mayhem. Nico Hülkenberg and Romain Grosjean retired early on, joined by Michael Schumacher and both Caterham drivers as the race unfolded.
Vitaly Petrov came to a halt on the main straight, bringing out the safety car. That allowed Sebastian Vettel to jump Lewis Hamilton in the pits, as the McLaren drivers had just finished their scheduled stops. The restart was clean, and Jenson Button stormed away towards the finish line.
Felipe Massa retired after a difficult afternoon, Sergio Pérez ran a great one-stop strategy to finish eighth, whilst it was Pastor Maldonado who brought the race to a thrilling conclusion.
The Williams driver, running sixth, crashed into the wall on the final lap, falling out of the points to 13th place. Jenson Button, though, was already past the trouble to take his first victory since Japan last year.
