Melbourne - Jenson Button held off a challenge from Brawn GP team-mate Rubens Barrichello Saturday to take pole position for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

The Briton posted a time of one minute 26.202 seconds for the 5.303-kilometre lap on the Albert Park circuit with Barrichello clocking 1:26.505.

Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull took third place in his first race for the Austrian team in a time of 1:26.830.

Button's success with the successor team to Honda is the first time a team has taken pole position on its F1 debut since Jackie Stewart in a Tyrrell-Ford at the 1970 Canadian Grand Prix.

"The last five or six months for both of us has been so tough going from having no drive or no future in F1 racing to this is just amazing," said Button.

"This is where we deserve to be after the tough times we have had."

Barrichello echoed Button's comments, saying it had been a critical three or four months waiting for news from the time Honda announced it was pulling out of the sport last December.

"It has been a great day, I was hoping i could put my car on pole," said the Brazilian. "I think the first row for both of us is a credit and we must be happy."

Vettel, meanwhile, admitted he had settled in well with Red Bull following his move from Toro Rosso.

"I'm surprised how close the feeling in the car is," said the German. "This is for sure a good starting point but points we get tomorrow so it is only a good start."

Robert Kubica claimed fourth in his BMW-Sauber, followed by Nico Rosberg of Williams and Toyota's Timo Glock.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa could only manage seventh place while team- mate Kimi Raikkonen fared even worse, qualifying in ninth ahead of Jarno Trulli in the second Toyota.

World champion Lewis Hamilton, who last year won the race for McLaren-Mercedes, will start from 15th place on the grid after failing to register a time in the second round of qualifying.

"There was something on the car so I couldn't continue," said Hamilton. "I just lost all drive so I'm sure they'll fix it."

If Hamilton's McLaren team have to do have to replace the gearbox on his car then the 24-year-old Briton faces a penalty that would see him drop a further five places on the grid.

Team-mate Heikki Kovalainen will start from 14th while two-time world champion Fernando Alonso of Renault qualified down in 12th spot. (dpa)