Button makes it three wins from four in Bahrain

Button makes it three wins from four in Bahrain

Jenson Button made it three wins out of four for Brawn GP in Bahrain on Sunday afternoon, with a finely judged performance that stretched his world championship score to 31 points.


Before the race the Englishman had suggested that Brawn’s domination was under threat. But when Red Bull dangerman Sebastian Vettel lost out at the start as McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton burst through to momentarily separate the Toyotas, Button was able to squeeze round the outside of the German in Turn One and was thereafter never threatened by him.

It was just a matter of waiting for the Toyota to make their stops (leader Glock on lap 11, polesitter Trulli on lap 12), and thereafter he only lost the lead after his own first stop on lap 15 (regaining it on lap 22 when Vettel and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen stopped), and after his second stop on lap 37, when Vettel again moved ahead for three laps.

Far from challenging, the young German had his hands full looking after his tyres in traffic, and as Button sped away the Red Bull driver had to contend with a strong challenge to the end from Trulli. A day that started well for Toyota ultimately yielded a podium finish, but after both cars started from the front row that had to count as a disappointment. Trulli blamed a long middle stint on the prime Bridgestone tyre which let Vettel pass in the final stops.

Hamilton quickly faded after his KERS-assisted start, but nevertheless ran strongly to a good fourth place for the improving McLaren team.

Rubens Barrichello had an up and down afternoon in the second Brawn with three pit stops, and grabbed fifth ahead of Raikkonen, who thus scored Ferrari’s first points of the season, having led laps 20 and 21 after a long opening stint. The Finn actually fell behind Glock when the German made his second stop, but used his KERS to squirt past into a sixth place that the Toyota driver challenged to the flag. Fernando Alonso completed the points scorers in eighth for Renault, fending off Nico Rosberg after the latter’s final stop.

Felipe Massa had a terrible afternoon after an extra stop to check damage sustained in first-corner traffic at the start, and could only finish a lapped 14th. Ahead of him were Nelson Piquet who drove a strong race for Renault, Mark Webber who charged from the back of the grid for Red Bull, Heikki Kovalainen who never recovered from a terrible start for McLaren, and Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Bourdais.

Behind were Giancarlo Fisichella, who collided with the Ferrari briefly and then held up Button on the 51st lap, his Force India team mate Adrian Sutil, Sebastien Buemi in the second Toro Rosso, and the BMW Saubers of Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld which had a simply dreadful time with an initial heavy fuel load. Williams’ Kazuki Nakajima was the sole retirement, after a clash with Kubica.

Button now has 31 points from Barrichello on 19, Vettel on 18, Trulli on 14.5 and Glock on 12. Brawn have 50 points, to Red Bull’s 27.5 and Toyota’s 26.5. Ferrari got their points tally off the ground, and have three.


formula1.com

Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired

1 22 Jenson Button Brawn-Mercedes 57 1:31:48.182

2 15 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 57 +7.1 secs

3 9 Jarno Trulli Toyota 57 +9.1 secs

4 1 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 57 +22.0 secs

5 23 Rubens Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 57 +37.7 secs

6 4 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 57 +42.0 secs

7 10 Timo Glock Toyota 57 +42.8 secs

8 7 Fernando Alonso Renault 57 +52.7 secs

9 16 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 57 +58.1 secs

10 8 Nelsinho Piquet Renault 57 +65.1 secs

11 14 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 57 +67.6 secs

12 2 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 57 +77.8 secs

13 11 Sebastien Bourdais STR-Ferrari 57 +78.8 secs

14 3 Felipe Massa Ferrari 56 +1 Lap

15 21 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Mercedes 56 +1 Lap

16 20 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 56 +1 Lap

17 12 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 56 +1 Lap

18 5 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 56 +1 Lap

19 6 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 56 +1 Lap

Ret 17 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 48 Oil pressure


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