Jenson Button recorded the perfect start to the Formula One season with a controlled victory in Melbourne on Sunday.

The McLaren driver burst past his teammate and pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton on the starting straight and was never heavily challenged.

Reigning World Champion Sebastien Vettel leapt from sixth on the grid to second after surpassing Hamilton thanks to a safety car appearance.

Home favourite Mark Webber, Red Bull was fourth ahead of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso who showed a surprising amount of speed after poor qualifying and winter testing.

The excitement went to the final lap as Williams driver Pastor Maldonado crashed out at the Turn Seven kink while chasing Alonso handing Kamui Kobayashi three points in sixth.

The chaos continued down the field. Former world champion Kimi Raikkonen, driving for Lotus, benefitted from Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg clash with the one stopping Sergio Perez and was able to finish seventh on his return to the sport ahead of Perez.

Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo of Toro Rosso, Force India's Paul di Resta, Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne and the Mercedes of Rosberg all battled it out to the line outside the points.

It was, however, an awesome drive by Button to escape the field not once but twice after a safety car situation brought the challenges back onto his exhaust fumes.

He had created a 10 second gap to Hamilton before the second pit-stop allowing McLaren to daringly try and pit both their drivers straight after each other.

But when Vitaly Petrov parked his Caterham onto the final straight a safety car was brought out. This meant Vettel pitted and drove out in front of Hamilton who had slowed under yellow flags.

Button’s resolve held strong at the restart as Vettel, who gained a reputation for controlling restarts himself last season, was unable to pounce and the McLaren driver eased to the chequered flag at the front of the field.

"We had a strong winter and qualifying really shows that. It's nice to come away with a win in the first race of the season,” the 2009 world champion said.

"Every win means a lot to you."

Red Bull’s Vettel said: "Jenson was unbeatable, coming away with second was great - not a lot of people would have expected that after yesterday.

"The car has a lot of potential, we just need to get on top of it and it will be very close with these guys."

Lotus’ Romain Grosjean, who qualified third on the grid, disappointingly crashed after one lap after a sluggish start saw him fall down the field.

Seven time champion Michael Schumacher retired with a gearbox failure when in third place on lap 11, a moment which handed Vettel clear air to catch Hamilton. 

The championship moves on to race two at Sepang, Malaysia scheduled for next weekend.