FORMULA 1 Live

WIN! JENSON BUTTON WINS!!! What an amazing result for Button and Brawn, who did not even have a drive this time last month. Just a remarkable reversal of fortune. Rubens Barrichello is second, Jarno Trulli third and Lewis Hamilton takes an excellent fourth place.

58/58 Vettel has now pulled over from seventh place. And it seems Hamilton will NOT finish third - somehow Jarno Trulli has got in front of him...

57/58 Get this: Lewis Hamilton is going to finish third! What a result for the world champion. Meanwhile, Vettel is coasting round behind the safety car with his front left wheel hanging off - that is not strictly legal so we'll have to see what the stewards make of that.

57/58 Vettel tells his team: "I'm very, very, very, very sorry." He probably should have let Kubica through there, but the Pole cut things fine. Kubica lost his front wing and had a big smash into the wall.

56/58 CONTACT!!! Kubica and Vettel are side by side and they collide!!! There is debris all over the place and both men crash as they attempt to drive off!! The safety car is out and Jenson Button is surely the winner of the race.

56/58 Kubica is al over the back of Vettel, who can do Button a favour by keeping the Pole at bay for a lap or two.

55/58 Button leads by 2.5 seconds from Vettel with Kubica another 1.3 seconds back. It is looking good but he cannot relax yet.

54/58 Rosberg is slowing and Trulli overtakes him now - Hamilton is next in line to target the Williams man.

54/58 Barrichello and Rosberg are wheel to wheel in the battle for fourth place. The Brawn man nips around the outside and takes the position.

53/58 Button leads by 1.5 seconds over Vettel and this is far from over. Kubica is another couple of seconds back and closing on both men.

52/58 Barrichello comes in, and that means he is no longer blocking off Kubica - the Pole now has clear track in front of him.

51/58 Nick Fry has confirmed that Button has enough fuel to get to the end of the race. Let's hope there are no dramas.

50/58 Fisichella pits and that means Trulli is now eighth and Hamilton ninth.

49/58 Ten laps to go, and Button leads by a second and a half. It seems that pit stop was OK in the end, but the leader needs to get his skates on to keep Vettel at bay.

48/58 Massa is out of the race and in comes Jenson Button... it's a terrible stop! Did they even get the fuel in? He comes out in front of Vettel but that looked shaky.

47/58 Nightmare for Ferrari! First Raikkonen spins, now Massa is touring! This is not a bad weekend for Lewis Hamilton...

46/58 Barrichello is right on the back wheel of Vettel and applying some serious pressure.

45/58 Raikkonen spins!! He nudges the barrier and must have damaged his Ferrari. Whatever, his chances of a points finish have surely gone.

44/58 Sebastian Buemi is all over Felipe Massa! And the Brazilian has to use the KERS system to keep the debutant at bay.

43/58 Lewis Hamilton pits from fifth place, this third stop of the race.

41/58 Button continues to press on with his father John looking nervoursly on in the garage.

39/58 Button continues to lead Vettel by four seconds or thereabouts, and Barrichello is up to third after Kubica pits.

37/58 Lewis Hamilton is in the points and this is not abad race for the Briton, all things considered. Massa has taken an extra stop, remember.

36/58 How they stand: 1-Button, 2-Vettel, 3-Kubica, 4-Raikkonen, 5-Barrichello, 6-Buemi, 7-Rosberg, 8-Hamilton, 9-Alonso, 10-Glock.

34/58 We have a charging Pole! Robert Kubica is in third and hot on the heels of Vettel. The BMW man is the fastest man on the track at the moment.

32/58 Ferrari's Rob Smedley tells Massa to get a move on - he is down in 13th after that pit stop.

31/58 Button leads by 4.3 seconds over Vettel who - from a British point of view - is hanging around like a bad smell. In comes Massa.

30/58 A bit of a Force India civil war as Sutil and Fisichella nearly come together.

29/58 We reach half distance and Jenson Button has not put a foot wrong so far. Let's hope he can keep this up.

28/58 How they stand: 1-Button, 2-Vettel, 3-Massa, 4-Kubica, 5-Raikkonen, 6-Trulli, 7-Barrichello, 8-Buemi, 9-Rosberg, 10-Hamilton.

26/58 Lewis Hamilton recreates the most famous overtaking manoeuvre in F1 history by overtaking Timo Glock. The bad news is he is still just 11th.

25/58 GOOOOO!!! The safety car comes in and we are back under way - Piquet slides out into the gravel trap, possibly after a collision with Rosberg. Button keeps his lead ahead of Vettel but both men are driving cautiously on cool tyres.

24/58 Massa locks his brakes up behind the safety car... not much grip at low speed.

23/58 The safety car should come in at the end of the lap and it will be race on again!

22/58 This will certainly make things interesting. Button, Vettel, Massa, Kubica, Raikkonen, Rosberg, Piquet, Trulli, Buemi and Barrichello is the top 10. Lewis Hamilton is backn in 12th - ahead of his nemesis Fernando Alonso. Nakajima, of course, is out.

21/58 Button cruises round and eventually catches up with the safety car. He still leads the race and although he has lost his gap it could have worked out worse for the Briton.

20/58 Well, that's pretty embarrassing - Giancarlo Fisichella comes in and misses his pit box! Not his finest hour.

20/58 Barrichello comes in for a new front wing and gets an enormous amount of fuel on board. Now BUTTON PITS - 14 seconds dead and he is away. Decent stop, and here comes the safety car...

19/58 Nakajima whacks his Williams into the wall and leaves debris all over the track - the safety car will surely come out and Button must now pit.

18/58 1:28.020 - fastest lap for Jenson Button. He is applying the pressure ahead of his pit stop.

17/58 Vettel and Rosberg come in for their stops - Button still on track. Nightmare 21-second pit stop for Rosberg and Williams he emerges just in front of Kimi Raikkonen.

16/58 How they stand: 1-Button, 2-Vettel, 3-Rosberg, 4-Barrichello, 5-Nakajima, 6-Piquet, 7-Buemi, 8-Fisichella, 9-Alonso, 10-Glock. Kovalainen the only retirement.

14/58 Kubica has also come in for a change of tyres - Button still leads Vettel by 4.5 seconds. Pretty steady up front.

13/58 Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton both come in early to dispose of their super-soft tyres which have already gone off...

12/58 Fourth-placed Robert Kubica makes a mistake and Rosberg tries to make a move down the outside - but the Pole shuts the door, a good recovery.

10/58 Wallop! Rubens Barrichello knocks a bit of front wing off as he makes contact with Kimi Raikkonen - he then overtakes the Finn! A damaged wing is seemingly no obstacle to driving quickly in today's F1.

9/58 Vettel is maintaining his pace four seconds behind Button - Brawn won't mind, as they started the race with 7kg more fuel than Red Bull.

8/58 Race order after seven laps: 1-Button, 2-Vettel, 3-Massa, 4-Kubica, 5-Raikkonen, 6-Rosberg, 7-Barrichello, 8-Nakajima, 9-Hamilton, 10-Piquet.

6/58 Jenson Button is four and a half seconds clear of Sebastian Vettel, and Lewis Hamilton nudges in front of Nelson Piquet to take ninth.

5/58 Lewis Hamilton is going great guns and is already into the top 10. He is using the KERS system to good effect, giving himself some timely power boosts.

4/58 Kovalainen is forced to retire with a suspension problem. A dreadful weekend for McLaren gets even worse.

3/58 It was Barrichello who started that shunt on lap one, smashing into Mark Webber.

2/58 Heidfeld comes into the pits - nightmare for BMW - Heikki Kovalainen and Mark Webber are also in. Maybe there was some contact after all!

1/58 Lights out, GO!!!!!!! Pole sitter Jenson Button gets a flying start, but team-mate Rubens Barrichello has a nightmare. Everybody is safely through the first corner - and Button is already a second clear!

- Here we go...

- The drivers are off on their formation lap. The shadows are already lengthening across the track - this race starting three hours later than usual.

- Just have a look at the grid on the left-hand side. Go on, look. Bonkers.

- The Albert Park circuit is wedged close to central Melbourne and makes for some spectacular pictures - click the link to check out of photo gallery - race on in a couple of minutes! Australian GP photo gallery

- Richard Branson looks even more pleased than usual as he discusses the Virgin-sponsored Brawn. That self-satisfaction only increases as Eddie Jordan insists on calling Brawn 'you' as he chats to the blonde-maned mogul.

- It is a sunny afternoon, although the 5pm start means the edge will be taken off the heat. Jenson Button is wearing some rather odd glasses, but sounds confident as he talks to the TV on the grid.

- Welcome to Formula One in 2009! We are in Albert Park, Melbourne, for the Australian Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton's title defence might not be going well but Britain has a new hope - polesitter Jenson Button.