Jenson Button won the 2012 Australian Grand Prix season opener, with Mark Webber achieving the best Australian home result since 1984.
Key Facts
- Race Winner
- Jenson Button (McLaren)
- Number of Laps
- 58 laps
- Button's Albert Park victories
- 3rd victory at Albert Park
- Polesitter
- Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)
- Mark Webber's finish
- 4th — best Australian home result since 1984
- Season round
- Opening round of 2012 F1 season
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
As the opening round of the 2012 Formula One World Championship, all teams and drivers arrived at Melbourne's Albert Park Circuit having prepared new cars under updated technical regulations, with McLaren's Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton expected to challenge reigning double World Champion Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing.
Over 58 laps on 18 March 2012, Jenson Button took victory ahead of Sebastian Vettel in second and polesitter Lewis Hamilton in third. Australian driver Mark Webber finished fourth, representing the best result by an Australian in the home Grand Prix since Alfredo Costanzo's fourth-place finish in 1984.
Button's win signalled McLaren's early-season competitiveness against Red Bull Racing. Webber's fourth-place finish was historically notable as the finest home result by an Australian driver in nearly three decades, drawing renewed attention to Australian participation at their own Grand Prix.
Result
at Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit, Albert Park