Formula One: Jenson Button rekindled memories of his title-winning campaign of 2009 with a season-opening victory in today's Australian Grand Prix.
Button took the chequered flag that year in Melbourne, then with Brawn GP, and went on to claim his maiden crown in glorious fashion.
Three years on and Button was again triumphant in Melbourne for McLaren, romping to his third success Down Under in the past four years and the 13th win of his Formula One career.
Despite a safety car event two thirds of the way through the 58-lap race, Button was relatively untroubled, finishing 2.2 seconds clear of reigning double world champion Sebastian Vettel, with Lewis Hamilton third.
Red Bull’s Mark Webber was in close attendance in fourth, whilst Ferrari will view Fernando Alonso’s fifth place as a triumph of sorts given their troubled winter and the fact he started 12th.
Williams’ Pastor Maldonado should have finished a stunning sixth, which would have given the team more points from this one race than they scored in the whole of last season.
However, the Venezuelan crashed out on the final lap, seemingly through no discernible reason, hitting a wall and leaving his car stricken on track.
There was no safety car, though, as instead the field behind went past under yellow flags, albeit bunching up and sparking a furious fight to the finish.
Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi grabbed sixth, with Kimi Raikkonen seventh on his Lotus debut and return to F1 after two years away in rallying.
The second Sauber of Sergio Perez was eighth, and despite a previously troubled race Daniel Ricciardo was ninth in his Toro Rosso on home soil, whilst Paul Di Resta jumped from 13th to 10th on the final lap to grab the last point in his Force India.
Forming on the grid, it was the first all-British front row for 17 years – the last in Adelaide in 1995 with Damon Hill on pole ahead of David Coulthard – and McLaren’s first for two and a half years.
That followed a captivating qualifying showdown yesterday in which Hamilton claimed the 20th pole of his Formula One career. But once the five reds lights disappeared to signal the start of the 2012 F1 season, it was Button who made the better getaway in comparison to his compatriot, getting his nose in front going into the first corner.
Further down the field the starts for Ricciardo, Nico Hulkenberg in his Force India, as well as Williams’ Bruno Senna, were not what they would have wished for.
A midfield tangle saw Ricciardo clip Senna, momentarily sending the Brazilian up into the air, the collision forcing both men into an early pit stop.
As for Hulkenberg, who had qualified in a fine ninth place, the young German retired almost instantly as he was tagged from behind, picking up a flat tyre and was unable to make it back to the pits.
He was followed into retirement on lap two by Romain Grosjean, whose dream of qualifying third in his Lotus yesterday turned into a nightmare just three minutes into the race.
Having appreciably dropped down the pecking order at the start, Grosjean was tagged by Maldonado which led to a break of his front-right suspension.
Ahead, though, it was the perfect start from Button who simply had the edge on Hamilton who appeared not to do anything wrong.
A rare mistake from Vettel on lap six almost proved costly as he came under pressure from behind from Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg and Alonso.
That was at a point when he was attacking Michael Schumacher in his Mercedes, the seven-times champion retiring five laps later due to a loss of drive under braking into turn one.
For Button, there followed a stroll around Melbourne’s Albert Park, although there would have been some consternation on lap 37 when the safety car was brought into play.
That was due to Vitaly Petrov on his Caterham debut retiring his car along the start-finish straight.
Having pitted for a second time moments earlier, the safety car cost Hamilton and aided Vettel who had yet to stop again, the latter leapfrogging the Briton into second.
Four laps behind the safety car followed, with half of one of those comically behind the flatbed recovery truck sent out to collect Petrov’s car as it would have been too dangerous for the entire field to lap the vehicle.
Once the safety car disappeared, though, it was a straightforward run to the line for the leaders, with the exception of the highly-unfortunate Maldonado.
If you believe in omens five of the past six winners of this race have gone on to win the world title.
Savouring his latest success Button said: “As we all know every win means a lot, and for us as a team it shows how important the winter is
“We’ve had a strong winter, so it’s nice to come away with a victory. The guys back in the factory in Woking have done a fantastic job. This will help them push harder so a big thank you to everyone. It’s a fantastic day.”
Vettel appreciated the safety car probably aided his cause as he said: “We would have had a good shot at it anyway even without that, but surely it did help a little.
“Congratulations to Jenson, he drove a fantastic race, he was unbeatable today. But I’m very happy with second, it’s good points and a lot of people would not have thought this possible after yesterday.”
Hamilton naturally looked downcast as he said: “Congratulations to Jenson and McLaren. But we’ve plenty more races ahead, so I’ll just have to keep my head down. This was a tough race, but quite a positive to come here with good pace, and we can build on that.”