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Last seasons' info Melbourne Australia
In 2010 Jenson Button claimed an emphatic Melbourne GP victory at Albert Park. Sebastian Vettel started from pole position at Albert Park, after holding the same position at the start of the Bahrain Grand Prix. But he was not able to hold his leading position during the Australian F1 Grand Prix race as he locked his rear brake and pitched into the gravel. Button overtook the leading position and secured his first win of the 2010 season as he had built an 18 second lead at one point. Kubica held on for an impressive 2nd place and Massa completed the Australian F1 Grand Prix podium.
Winner + pole + fastest lap Melbourne Australia
2010 winner: Jenson Button, McLaren, 1:33:36.531
Pole Position: Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 1:23.919
Fastest lap: Michael Schumacher, Ferrari, 1'24:125 min
Historic info Melbourne Australia
Australia became part of the F1 world championship in 1985 with the last race of the season held on the street circuit in Adelaide. Circuit Albert Park, whilst not as ridiculously tight as Monaco, was notoriously tough on drivers and gearboxes. The most famous Australian F1 Grand Prix race there was undoubtedly the 1986 event, where Nigel Mansell, and Nelson Piquet in a Williams, and Alain Prost in his McLaren were still competing for the title. Mansell needed only third to guarantee the title, whilst Prost and Piquet needed to win and for Mansell to finish lower than third to take the title. Whilst leading comfortably with a few laps to go, Mansell's Williams suffered a spectacular mechanical failure, with a rear tire puncture at very high speed near the end of the main straight creating a huge shower of sparks as the floor of the vehicle dragged along the bitumen surface. Mansell fought to control car and steered it to a safe stop. Prost took the lead and won the race and the championship. Prost himself came incredibly close to failure, as his vehicle came a halt on his warm-down lap, out of fuel.
In 1996 the Australian F1 Grand Prix race was shifted to a rebuilt Albert Park street circuit in Melbourne. The Australian F1 race was struck by tragedy in 2001, when a flying tire from a crash between Ralf Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve flew through a gap in the barrier fence and killed a volunteer track marshal during the Melbourne GP.
The 2002 Australian F1 event saw the best performance by an Australian driver when Mark Webber, in the uncompetitive Minardi, finished an unlikely fifth, holding off a fast-closing Mika Salo in a much faster Toyota. He and the Australian-born team owner Paul Stoddart became instant national celebrities well beyond the motor racing world, the minor placing receiving far more attention in Australia than Michael Schumacher's win.
Listings of past winners (last 10 years)
2010 Jenson Button (McLaren-Mercedes)
2009 Jenson Button (Brawn-Mercedes)
2008 Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)
2007 Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
2006 Fernando Alonso (Renault)
2005 Giancarlo Fisichella (Renault)
2004 Michael Schumacher (Ferrari)
2003 David Coulthard (McLaren-Mercedes)
2002 Michael Schumacher (Ferrari)
2001 Michael Schumacher (Ferrari)
2000 Michael Schumacher (Ferrari)
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