Frome-born Jenson Button conceded Brawn GP were simply outpaced as Sebastian Vettel secured Red Bull Racing’s first ever win at the Chinese Grand Prix.

The championship leader went into the race hoping to complete a hat-trick of race wins and remained confident of achieving that despite only qualifying fifth on Saturday.

His hopes were dealt a blow when clouds gatheredfor the first time this weekend earlier yesterday before rain fell steadily a few hours before the race.

Consequently, organisers decided to start the grand prix behind the safety car, but once it left the circuit Vettel managed to stay ahead for the majority of the race before, in the end, comfortably holding on for his second victory.

That left Mark Webber and Button vying for second, but the Australian came out on top of that battle when he neatly swept around the outside of the Briton midway through the race.

“They seemed to be very strong from the word go,” said Button, who extended his championship lead by six points with his third-place finish.

“It was a very difficult race and I am so pleased that we got both cars to the end of 56 laps and scored as many points as possible.

“The conditions were pretty crazy, with rivers of water all over the circuit which changed every time you encountered them.

“Mark Webber and I had a good fight for a few laps but I just couldn’t stay with him. However to finish the race today is an achievement in itself and to be on the podium is fantastic. We couldn’t have beaten the Red Bulls and congratulations to Sebastian and Mark on a great result.”

Brawn GP had been unable to do any testing in the wet prior to the start of the season and the struggle with the car’s tyres in the conditions is a cause for concern for Button.

“I don’t know if anyone else struggled but Rubens (Barrichello) and myself struggled quite a bit,” he added.

“I don’t know what reason for that is. Obviously the car is working in a different way, but we will solve those problems I hope in the future because we can’t have these guys that far in front. We just couldn’t challenge these two guys (Vettel and Webber) today, who were immensely quick. But it is great to score six points and that’s important so that we can keep the consistency.”