The routine was familiar, the outcome the same. Three times Jenson Button has stayed in the same room of the same hotel in Melbourne. Three times, Button has taken Jessica Michibata, his girlfriend, and Mike Collier, his trainer, to his favourite beachfront café in St Kilda for coffee on race morning.
Three times, Button has won the Australian Grand Prix. Button was quick to dismiss superstition or coincidence, and so he should. The flyer from Frome, in Somerset, won this first grand prix of the new season on pure merit, pure speed and pure elegance.
Button has been given the most beautiful car on the Formula One grid — a McLaren of sleek, silver grace — and he made it perform beautifully around Albert Park’s patchy track on the edge of the quiet St Kilda suburb. This was nothing to do with luck but the calculated and confident drive of a man reaching the most sublime form of his career.
“I don’t believe in any of that [superstition] stuff,” Button said late last night as the final champagne bottles were being cleared from the McLaren motorhome. “We did a bloody good job and that is why we won. Not because of the hotel room or anything else.”
It was a simple case of leaving nothing to chance. Button has been all over his engineers this winter, bombarding them with suggestions as to how they could produce a car that would allow him to hit the ground running to challenge for another world championship to add to his 2009 title. He has trained his body, put himself on a diet and focused his mind on this campaign.
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When McLaren’s engineers wanted advice or ideas, they turned to Button. Even in Friday practice, he was the go-to man as they tweaked the aerodynamics of their new challenger for the 2012 season.
Lewis Hamilton, his team-mate, is the man with the raw speed, as he proved by taking pole position, but it was Button who raced to the first corner in the lead yesterday and Button who held his nerve and kept his throttle down to pull away and control the race from the front.
There were few who would deny Button the superlatives of an utterly dominant performance, and hearty congratulations even came from Sebastian Vettel, the driver who has reigned supreme for two years as world champion. “He was just too fast, I couldn’t catch him,” Vettel said.
That McLaren had made a crucial error and not put enough fuel in Button’s tank made victory all the more impressive. Button was told to hold back minutes after starting and to put his McLaren on a petrol drip feed “Frankly, we didn’t have enough fuel on board,” Martin Whitmarsh, the McLaren team principal, said. “From lap eight we were saving fuel so we were not quite in the fire, but we were close to it and hot, and if we hadn’t managed it, we would have been in trouble.”
No wonder that Button’s usual laid-back demeanour was a front. Like the rest of Formula One, he has been spooked by the complete supremacy of Vettel and Red Bull in recent times and he was not prepared to breathe easily until he was absolutely sure this race was secure.
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Vettel had qualified a lowly sixth, a place so unfamiliar to the young German in the past two years that it is a wonder that Formula One did not employ a man with a special sign to direct him to his position on the grid. Vettel was close to shocked after qualifying, but there is grit in this young man now and the disappointment of Saturday was banished as he set about his task on Sunday.
The emotions were reversed for Hamilton. For him, the Saturday delight of pole position turned into the despair of finishing third yesterday.
He was not just beaten by his team-mate, who jumped him into the first corner, but also by Vettel, who jumped him at the pitstops.
The familiar glum expression had returned to Hamilton’s countenance, the frustration just too difficult to hide last night as he left Albert Park with Nicole Scherzinger, his pop-star girlfriend, and Simon Fuller, his manager. “We have 19 more races ahead, so I will just have to get my head down,” Hamilton said, which was about as much as he could muster as he faced his press conference questions.
If Hamilton was the loser, Button was the ultimate winner, and Vettel was greeting his second place as a successful rescue mission that helped establish some semblance of order, with two McLarens and two Red Bulls — with Mark Webber fourth — filling the first four positions.
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After that, though, came a chaotic mix: drivers from five different teams filled the next six places, led by Fernando Alonso, of Ferrari.
Stefano Domenicali, Ferrari’s team principal, can count himself fortunate that he employed the stocky Spaniard, the keen amateur magician who pulled a rabbit from a miraculous hat to salvage some respectability for Formula One’s most famous team.
Fifth place was probably more a reflection of the Spaniard’s awesome talent than the new Ferrari’s potential to become a key factor in this new Formula One season.
But there is every sign that this season will be a duel between McLaren and Red Bull. Button struck the first blow in Australia but not every hotel at each of the next 19 venues in this F1 season will have the same room with a view of the World Championship.
Leading final positions after race (58 Laps): 1 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 1hr 34mins 09.565secs, 2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1:34:11.704, 3 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1:34:13.640, 4 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:34:14.112, 5 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 1:34:31.130, 6 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Sauber-Ferrari 1:34:46.331, 7 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Lotus F1 Team 1:34:47.579, 8 Sergio Perez (Mex) Sauber-Ferrari 1:34:49.023, 9 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:34:49.121, 10 Paul di Resta (Gbr) Force India 1:34:49.302, 11 Jean-Eric Vergne (Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:34:49.413, 12 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:35:07.207, 13 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Williams at 1 Lap, 14 Timo Glock (Ger) Marussia at 1 Lap, 15 Charles Pic (Fra) Marussia at 5 Laps
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Not Classified: 16 Bruno Senna (Bra) Williams 52 Laps completed, 17 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 46 Laps completed, 18 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Caterham 38 Laps completed, 19 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Caterham 34 Laps completed, 20 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 10 Laps completed, 21 Romain Grosjean (Swi) Lotus F1 Team 1 Laps completed, 22 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Force India 0 Laps completed
Leading World Championship Standings after Australian Grand Prix:
Drivers: 1 Button 25pts, 2 Vettel 18, 3 Hamilton 15, 4 Webber 12, 5 Alonso 10, 6 Kobayashi 8, 7 Raikkonen 6, 8 Perez 4, 9 Ricciardo 2, 10 Di Resta 1.
Constructors: 1 McLaren 40pts, 2 Red Bull 30, 3 Sauber-Ferrari 12, 4 Ferrari 10, 5 Lotus F1 Team 6, 6 Scuderia Toro Rosso 2, 7 Force India 1.
How the teams fared in Mebourne
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McLaren Not quite the perfect start, but first and third and a car that looks quick out of the box. Jenson Button drove with ease and confidence, Lewis Hamilton looks fractious again.
Red Bull From down and out on Saturday to race pace almost equal to McLaren. They are not as dominant but they will be there or thereabouts at the next grand prix in Malaysia.
Sauber As good as it gets from Formula One’s quiet men. Kamui Kobayashi turned in a good drive but Sergio Pérez was spectacular, coming from last place on the grid to eighth.
Ferrari Oh dear. Thank the Lord for the talent of Fernando Alonso. Felipe Massa, though, is writing his own P45, spending much of his time in Melbourne looking bewildered.
Lotus Disaster for Romain Grosjean as third on the grid turned into a bump and barge first lap that ended in the gravel. Kimi Raikkonen will rue his qualifying mess up because the car has pace.
Toro Rosso The new boys done good. Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne looked up to the job while the car seems neat and tidy. If they carry on this way, both drivers have a bright future in Formula One.
Force India Nico Hulkenberg’s solid qualifying in ninth was ruined by a first corner crash. Paul di Resta looked uncomfortable but rescued a point in a last dash for the flag.
Mercedes After the hype, they leave empty-handed. Michael Schumacher was desperately unlucky to lose his gearbox when sitting third, while Nico Rosberg clashed with Pérez and dropped to twelfth.
Williams If only. Bruno Senna was in the wars from the start, but Pastor Maldonado drove superbly and would have been sixth until he dropped a rear wheel on the grass and hit the wall.
Marussia Solid. After no worthwhile pre-season running with this car, they finished, which was the key. The team believe this car can be improved, while new boy Charles Pic came through unscathed.
Caterham Difficult to see the bright spot for F1’s most optimistic team. Heikki Kovalainen and Vitaly Petrov qualified 18 and 19 and both failed to finish. Bad start when they want to be in solid midfield.
HRT Just like last year, the Spanish team failed to qualify, signalling an uphill struggle that continues to climb to muggy Malaysia next week. They are miles off the pace. Very worrying.