Melbourne, Australia (My Sportsbook) - Jenson Button on Sunday won the Formula One season-opening Australian Grand Prix in dominating fashion at Albert Park in Melbourne. Rubens Barrichello finished second to give the new Brawn GP team a 1-2 finish in its maiden race.

Button started on the pole and led all 58 laps to record his second career grand prix victory. His first win came in 2006 in the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The only time Button came close to relinquishing the lead was when he made his final pit stop with 11 laps remaining. The Briton had a slow stop after his crew encountered problems with the fuel hose. He made it out of the pits just ahead of second-place runner Sebastian Vettel.

Button began to pull ahead, but with three laps remaining, Vettel and Robert Kubica made contact and crashed as Kubica attempted to pass him. That allowed Button's teammate, Rubens Barrichello, to move up from fourth to second just before the safety car came out for the final laps.

"Some people might say that it was a pity it finished under the safety car, but I don't care, I won the race today, and that's all I care about" Button said. "It's been a dramatic few months for all of us, but I can't put it out as to how tough it's been."

Brawn GP team principal Ross Brawn recently acquired the former Honda team and immediately surprised the competition in testing at Barcelona and Jerez, Spain where Button and Barrichello turned in the fastest times in their BGP 001 car.

Button and Barrichello both were uncertain of their futures in F1 before Brawn purchased the team.

Barrichello, who started on the outside pole, and Mark Webber collided as they headed into turn one on the opening lap. Heikki Kovalainen, Nick Heidfeld and Adrian Sutil also were caught up in the incident.

Barrichello battled his way back for his first podium finish since the British Grand Prix last July.

"I've been hit from behind, and I hit someone in front," Barrichello said. "For me, I never thought I could finish on the podium after the start."

Toyota's Jarno Trulli finished third, despite starting from the rear of the field. Trulli, along with teammate Timo Glock, had their qualifying times cancelled after stewards found their TF109 cars to have "extreme flexibility" in their rear wings. Glock ended up finishing fifth.

Defending World Champion Lewis Hamilton was a surprise fourth-place finisher after disappointing performances in qualifying and practices. Hamilton started 18th but patiently made his way through the field.

Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi was impressive in his F1 debut with an eighth- place finish.

Not so impressive were Ferrari drivers Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen, who both failed to finish the race. Massa ran in third, but on lap 45, sustained a reliability issue that put him out of the event. Three laps later, Raikkonen spun out and smacked the wall.

Hamilton's teammate, Kovalainen, became the first driver to retire after his front suspension was damaged beyond repair from the first-lap crash.

Kazuki Nakajima slammed into the wall on lap 18, forcing the safety car to be deployed for the first time.

The next F1 race is scheduled for Sunday, April 5, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.