McLaren Victory Buttoned Down Under
Jenson Button Celebrates Victory in Oz (Photo Courtesy Pirelli Tires)
Melbourne, Australia – RIS – Jenson Button praised his Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team for his dominating victory March 18 in the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park. He led all but three of the 58 laps.
“I think, as we all know sat here, every win means a lot to you,” the 2009 Formula 1 World Champion said after his win. “And for us as a team it really shows how important the winter is. We’ve had a strong winter – yesterday’s qualifying really showed that – so it’s nice to come away with a victory today (at the) first race of the new season. The guys back at Woking have done an amazing job this winter. This will definitely help them to push harder into the extra hours in the morning when they’re making that extra little part. So, big thank you to everyone at Woking and the whole of the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team for this victory here in Melbourne.”
Defending, two-time F1 World champion Sebastian Vettel, racing for Red Bull Racing, finished second, 2.139 seconds behind Button. His eye is firmly planted on the McLaren team and sees them as the team to beat. “They had a very solid winter, no issues with the car,” Vettel said, speaking of McLaren. “They did a lot of laps every day so we expected them to be strong. Yesterday they did surprise everyone a little bit with their pace in qualifying. Today in the race I think it was looking a bit better for us, but nevertheless, they are the ones to beat at the moment.”
Button’s teammate at McLaren, Lewis Hamilton was on the pole after qualifying up front, but lost the lead to Button on the first turn of the first lap. The 2008 World Champion wasn’t quite sure what happened to slow him down and let Button slip by. “I’m not really sure what happened but I lost at least too many positions,” he said about the start.
Mark Webber (Red Bull) and 2005-2006 F1 World Champion Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) rounded out the top five.
Up next is the Grand Prix of Malaysia March 25, 2012.
Dave Chess
Dave Chess has been writing for RIS since the late 1980s during the CompuServe days. His work has also appeared in Auto Week magazine, Chicago Gearhead News newspaper, ATA airlines in-flight magazine, National Speed Sport News and on many websites.