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 one-two 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.

Not since the French Grand Prix in 1954 has a new F1 team finished first and second in their debut. Juan Manuel Fangio and Karl Kling did it for Mercedes- Benz.

"We have worked incredibly hard for this victory today and to see the dedication, commitment and sheer hard work come to fruition with Jenson and Rubens bringing home a one-two finish for Brawn GP at the first race of the season is immensely rewarding," Brawn said. "After everything that our team has been through over the past four months, this is quite simply a sensational result."

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

"It's not just for me but for the whole team," Button said, "A fairy tale ending really to the first race of our career together, and I hope we can continue this way. We are going to fight every way we can to keep this car competitive and at the front. This has got to continue and this is where we want to be. Bring on Malaysia."

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 crossed the finish line third, despite starting from the rear of the field.

However, Trulli lost his third-place run after stewards penalized him for passing under the safety car in the closing laps. He ran off road and lost his third place position to McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, but then repassed the defending world champion once the safety car had been deployed. The Italian was later handed a 25-second penalty and therefore dropped to 12th in the finishing order.

"I can't say how disappointed I am to finish third but have the result questioned," Trulli said. "When the safety car came out towards the end of the race, Lewis passed me but soon after he suddenly slowed down and pulled over to the side of the road. I thought he had a problem so I overtook him as there was nothing else I could do."

Hamilton was a surprise third-place finisher after disappointing performances in qualifying and practices. He started 18th but patiently made his way through the field.

"We scored way more points than we could have realistically expected," Hamilton said. "I was looking to try and get one point, so to get six is a great achievement."

Glock, who also started from the rear of the field, ended up finishing fourth, while two-time world champion Fernando Alonso completed the top-five.

Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi was impressive in his F1 debut with an seventh- 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 with a 17th-place finish. Three laps later, Raikkonen spun out and smacked the wall. He finished 16th.

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.

Meanwhile, Vettel has been slapped with a 10-place grid penalty for next weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix in Kuala Lumpur following his collision with Kubica. In a post-race investigation, stewards decided to penalize Vettel for "causing a collision and forcing a driver off the track." He had been racing in second, behind leader Button, with Kubica running a close third.

"We were in second and a strong position, but then, a couple of laps from the end, I had a stupid racing accident with Robert," Vettel said. "At the time I turned in I was ahead, but I couldn't keep up speed in the corner and Robert was on a harder tire, so I was much quicker. At the time we collided, he was in front, but I had no where to go. I couldn't stop the car or turn to the right, and my tires were gone."

Stewards have additionally fined the German $50,000 for continuing to drive a damaged car.