Mark Webber's dream of a maiden podium finish at his home Grand Prix was crushed by Red Bull teammate Sebastian Vettel today when the 2010 world champion claimed his first Australian GP victory.

Vettel led from start to finish and steadily increased his margin over the field, eventually crossing the finish line 14 seconds ahead of McLaren Mercedes' rival Lewis Hamilton.

In front of a bumper crowd of 111,000 at the Albert Park circuit, Vettel showed why he was the man to beat again this season as the German wunderkind picked up from where he left off last year, continuing the rich vein of form that saw him win his first drivers' championship.

Vettel made it look easy as he constantly posted quick laps and, even as the sun was setting over the closing stages  and the glare each driver endured was hazardous, he showed no signs of slackening off the pace and was greeted by the chequered flag with Hamilton a distant second.

"The car was perfect today. The crew worked very, very hard over the past week and worked a lot of hours so for that I thank them," Vettel said.

"The first stint proved that there are a lot of things that we must learn to understand the tyres. Lewis was using his tyres better in the first stint until we pitted."

"Obviously it was crucial that I got past Jenson and into clean air and that worked. I only used the rear wing once and that was to pass Jenson and obviously I won so I am very happy with it."

Although Vettel was able to gain several seconds after the first lap on Hamilton he still felt that his car wasn't running at its potential and changes were needed.

"We made some small tweaks at our pit stop and that appeared to work quite well. The crew showed today that they have worked hard and put the effort in this week so as a reward they can now enjoy some pizza and beer."

Vitaly Petrov claimed the final position on the podium as the Lotus Renault driver improved from sixth on the grid to claim his highest ever finish in Melbourne.

The 2005 and '06 drivers' champion Fernando Alonso finished fourth after taking advantage of a blunder by Webber who had an extra tyre change.

The Australian finished a full 38 seconds behind his German teammate to take fifth place and miss out on that elusive Australian podium finish he has been chasing for 10 years.

Webber immediately pulled onto the exit of pit lane after he crossed the finish line as a little smoke drifted from near his front left wheel.

"It was frustrating, I wanted to get more out of it and I think we could have got more out of it today," Webber said.

"I wish it was already tomorrow. We were struggling with the tyres, every stint much earlier than everyone so already I was on the back foot in terms of strategy," he added.

Webber was the first of the front runners to pit and change tyres after starting from third on the grid. The Australian swapped from the softer compound to the harder tyre. Following the change in rubber, Webber was considerably slower losing 15 seconds to Vettel and Hamilton in the space of 20 laps.

The Red Bull driver pitted for the second time on lap 28 after failing to match the two leaders' times. He elected to run with a softer compound in an attempt to make up the considerable loss of time that he experienced after his first stop.

Webber then pitted for the third and final time where he changed to the softer rubber and recorded his best lap of the race with a 1min 30.397sec. The Red Bull driver was the only one of the top four to have three stops and it appeared the strategy cost the Australian at least fourth position and maybe even a spot on the podium.

Fernando Alonso was the fly in Webber's ointment as he continually dogged the Australian for the fourth position. Alonso used his drag reduction system on the strait to close the gap on Webber but was unable to pass.

However on lap 42, Webber ran wide after exiting the pits in an error that appeared to have cost him fourth position. Massa pitted on the next lap and came out ahead of Webber who would have no doubt been ruing his lapse in concentration during the previous lap.

Further down the field a fierce battle between Jenson Button and Felipe Massa played out with Button attempting several passing manoeuvres that were viciously defended by the Brazilian. On numerous occasions, Button appeared to have the speed entering a corner before Massa would violently cover the racing line and stymie any passing attempt.

This battle came to a climax when Button was attempting pass on the outside and instead passed on the inside of the circuit. He was then duly handed a drive through penalty for passing outside track limits. Clearly there was no direction from McLaren to redress the positioning of himself and Massa and therefore a penalty was enforced by the race director.