2009 F1 : Button wins Australian Grand Prix

Jenson Button : Brawn GP - Mercedes

MELBOURNE : March 29, 2009 - Jenson Button (Brawn-Mercedes) drove from pole position to the chequered flag in the debut race of the Brawn GP team at Albert Park on Sunday, followed by team mate Rubens Barrichello.


The Honda team announced in December that they were pulling out of Formula One, but the team continued to develop the car while manager Ross Brawn organised a buy-out. The whole team's faith in themselves and their car was justified as the two cars dominated the race weekend.

The race was filled with drama, starting with a raft of technical changes to the formula that resulted in top teams like McLaren and Ferrari dropping well down the grid, and mid-fielders rising to the top. The changes were designed to make overtaking easier and there was certainly a lot more action on the track, including a late crash which took out the second and third-placed cars.

Not only were the first two places surprisingly filled by a debut team, but there were other surprises further down the order. Jarno Trulli (Toyota) started from the back of the grid in the pit lane after his car's rear wing was found to be illegal, and he put in a consummate performance to finish third.

McLaren had been written off by pundits after a poor showing in testing, but reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton overcame difficulties with low grip levels to finish fourth. Timo Glock brought the second Toyota home in fifth followed by Fernando Alonso's Renault.

World champions Ferrari had a weekend to forget. Both Felipe Massa and Kimi Räikkönen started the race on soft tyres and were initially able to mix it near the front of the race, but once the tyres wore out there advantage was gone and both dropped back. Massa later suffered engine failure and Räikkönen ran off the track into the wall.

Button and Barrichello locked out the front row of the grid after dominating Saturday's qualifying, but Barrichello had a poor start to the race. His car got away very slowly from the start and he then hit Mark Webber (Red Bull Renault) in the side in the first corner, causing a multiple-car accident that saw a number of drivers having to return to the pits for repairs.

Meanwhile, Button opened up a lead of two seconds on the first lap as he led Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Renault), Nico Rosberg (Williams Toyota), Felipe Massa (Ferrari) and Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber) across the line.

At the end of the first lap, Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber) pitted for a puncture, Adrian Sutil (Force India Mercedes) needed a new front wing, as did Webber, and Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren-Mercedes) toured slowly back to the pits, all victims of the first corner accident caused by Barrichello who was still racing and in seventh place. Kovalainen's front wheel was awry and the damage was terminal.

With a four-second lead in place, Button came off the pace a bit as Vettel took aim at the back of the Brawn, setting a fastest lap time of 1'28.140. The German had a comfortable 12.4 seconds over Massa.

Barrichello was very keen to work his way back to the front of the race. Rosberg got past fifth-placed Räikkönen as the Ferrari's soft tyres went off, and Barrichello was next to barge through on the Finn with a minor collision pushing the Ferrari out onto the marbles. Räikkönen immediately pitted for harder tyres.

World champion Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes) was working his way through the midfield and by lap 10 he was in eleventh place after starting 15th.

Lap 10 Positions

1 Button, Jenson Brawn-Mercedes
2 Vettel, Sebastian Red Bull-Renault +4.2
3 Rosberg, Nico Williams-Toyota +31.6
4 Barrichello, Rubens Brawn +32.5
5 Nakajima, Kazuki Williams-Toyota +36.1
6 Piquet, Nelson Renault +43.0
7 Buemi, Sébastien Toro Rosso-Ferrari +43.9
8 Fisichella, Giancarlo Force India-Mercedes +48.2
9 Alonso, Fernando Renault +48.8
10 Glock, Timo Toyota +49.4

On Lap 16, Vettel pitted from second place for fuel and tyres and was followed seconds later by Rosberg, but the German's left front wheel was problematic and it cost him a few extra critical seconds.

Back at the front, Button had clearly been driving well within his capabilities, and as the signal came from the pits to push, he set the fastest lap of the race - 1'28.020.

On Lap 18 Kazuki Nakajima crashed hard between Turns 3 and 4 and left debris strewn across the track.

Barrichello pitted for tyres and fuel, and the Brawn team also replaced his damaged front wing. Button pitted next and exited the pits just in front of the safety car, deployed because of Nakajima's accident.

With the safety car leading the field around the circuit slowly, all the gaps between the cars were erased and race leader Button would have it all to do again.

Lap 20 Positions

1 Button, Jenson Brawn-Mercedes
2 Vettel, Sebastian Red Bull-Renault
3 Massa, Felipe Ferrari
4 Kubica, Robert BMW Sauber
5 Räikkönen, Kimi Ferrari
6 Rosberg, Nico Williams-Toyota
7 Piquet, Nelson Renault
8 Trulli, Jarno Toyota
9 Buemi, Sébastien Toro Rosso-Ferrari
10 Barrichello, Rubens Brawn

As the race got under way again, Nelson Piquet spun under braking into the first corner, the result of cool tyres and brakes, but he was not hit by anyone else. He was beached in the gravel trap and had to retire.

Hamilton got past Glock into P11 while Alonso also got past the Toyota.

Within two laps of the restart, Button had already reinstated a two-second buffer over Vettel, who had 1.2 sec in hand over Massa. Rosberg was still clawing back the disadvantage he suffered from his stuck wheel in the first pit stop, and was down in ninth place, closing rapidly on Sébastien Buemi (Toro Rosso-Ferrari).

There was an in-house duel between the Force Indias of Fisichella and Sutil as they swopped 13th place twice in two corners on lap 29.

Lap 30 Positions

1 Button, Jenson Brawn-Mercedes
2 Vettel, Sebastian Red Bull-Renault +3.9
3 Massa, Felipe Ferrari +6.2
4 Kubica, Robert BMW Sauber +7.3
5 Räikkönen, Kimi Ferrari +8.7
6 Trulli, Jarno Toyota +9.4
7 Barrichello, Rubens Brawn +12.0
8 Buemi, Sébastien Toro Rosso-Ferrari +15.8
9 Rosberg, Nico Williams-Toyota +16.4
10 Hamilton, Lewis McLaren-Mercedes +17.8

Massa made his second pit stop on lap 31, taking on enough fuel to see him to the end of the race.

Back at the front, Kubica decided to light up the battle as he attacked the two-second gap between himself and second-placed Vettel by setting a new fastest lap time of 1'27.989, following that up with a 1'27.988 on the next lap, four-tenths quicker than race leader Button 5.2 sec ahead of him.

As tyres and brakes all came into their optimum zones, Hamilton, Räikkönen and Glock all set their personal fastest times.

Lap 40 Positions

1 Button, Jenson Brawn-Mercedes
2 Vettel, Sebastian Red Bull-Renault +4.7
3 Barrichello, Rubens Brawn +23.9
4 Kubica, Robert BMW Sauber +25.3
5 Buemi, Sébastien Toro Rosso-Ferrari +27.0
6 Rosberg, Nico Williams-Toyota +27.6
7 Hamilton, Lewis McLaren-Mercedes +29.1
8 Räikkönen, Kimi Ferrari +32.2
9 Alonso, Fernando Renault +34.0
10 Glock, Timo Toyota +37.9

On lap 41, Glock tried to pass down the inside of Alonso, but spun off and was passed by Räikkönen.

Massa was catching Hamilton for eighth place, but rookie Buemi was more than happy to get mixed up in the scrap between last year's two championship contenders.

Räikkönen lost the back end of his Ferrari under acceleration and the car turned sharp right and slammed into the wall. He was able to continue in 16th place.

With a 22.7 sec lead over Vettel, Button made his last pit stop, but it was a botched attempt with the fuel hose not connecting cleanly. Meanwhile Massa's Ferrari trailed blue smoke as it circuited slowly back to the pits and retirement.

Rosberg was applying maximum pressure towards the end of the race, setting a new fastest lap of 1'27.706 as he took aim at Glock, 6.2 sec ahead in sixth.

Button's lead over Vettel was now just 1.6 sec with the German posting marginally faster times.

Barrichello made a late splash 'n dash pit stop on lap 51 and exited in fourth, 18.0 sec behind Kubica. Hamilton got past Glock to move into the points.

The leading trio were very close together - Button had 1.6 sec over Vettel, with Kubica a further 2.5 sec behind, but all three gaps were closing up, making for the possibility of a three-way dice for the race victory and a grandstand finish.

Fifth-placed Rosberg appeared to be slowing, and he made a poor defence against Trulli who surged past on lap 54. Hamilton up close behind the German next and plunged past into sixth place.

With the chequered flag beckoning, Kubica got alongside Vettel to challenge for second place and neither wanted to yield. They arrived in the braking zone of Turn 3 alongside each other, and turned right together, but Kubica (on the left) squeezed Vettel who had nowhere left to go and there was contact between the two cars. Kubica's BMW Sauber was turned across the track and hit by Vettel's Red Bull. Both drivers continued, but there was terminal damage to both cars. Vettel pulled off after a few seconds, while Kubica accelerated away and then had a big accident as his damaged car hit the wall. The safety car was deployed as a result of debris all over the track.

The result of the elimination of the second and third-placed cars elevated Barrichello to second and a fairytale 1-2 finish for Brawn GP on their race debut.

World champion Hamilton moved up to fourth place, while Buemi scored a point for eighth on his debut.

The final lap was completed behind the safety car and the race ended seconds after the safety car withdrew, allowing Button to accelerate for one last time down the main straight to take the chequered flag ahead of team mate Rubens Barrichello.

2009 F1 : Australian Grand Prix Race result

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Time	Pts
1	22	Jenson Button	Brawn-Mercedes	Winner	10
2	23	Rubens Barrichello	Brawn-Mercedes	+0.8 secs	8
3	9	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	+1.6 secs	6
4	1	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	+2.9 secs	5
5	10	Timo Glock	Toyota	+4.4 secs	4
6	7	Fernando Alonso	Renault	+4.8 secs	3
7	16	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	+5.7 secs	2
8	12	Sebastien Buemi	STR-Ferrari	+6.0 secs	1
9	11	Sebastien Bourdais	STR-Ferrari	+6.2 secs	-
10	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	+6.3 secs	-
11	6	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	+7.0 secs	-
12	21	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Mercedes	+7.3 secs	-
13	14	Mark Webber	RBR-Renault	+1 Lap	-
14	15	Sebastian Vettel	RBR-Renault	+2 Laps	-
15	5	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	+3 Laps	-
16	4	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	+3 Laps	-
Ret	3	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	+13 Laps	-
Ret	8	Nelsinho Piquet	Renault	+34 Laps	-
Ret	17	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	+41 Laps	-
Ret	2	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	+58 Laps	-

Driver Championship Standings :

Pos	Driver	Nationality	Team	Points
1	Jenson Button	British	Brawn-Mercedes	10
2	Rubens Barrichello	Brazilian	Brawn-Mercedes	8
3	Jarno Trulli	Italian	Toyota	6
4	Lewis Hamilton	British	McLaren-Mercedes	5
5	Timo Glock	German	Toyota	4
6	Fernando Alonso	Spanish	Renault	3
7	Nico Rosberg	German	Williams-Toyota	2
8	Sebastien Buemi	Swiss	STR-Ferrari	1
9	Sebastien Bourdais	French	STR-Ferrari	0
10	Adrian Sutil	German	Force India-Mercedes	0
11	Nick Heidfeld	German	BMW Sauber	0
12	Giancarlo Fisichella	Italian	Force India-Mercedes	0
13	Mark Webber	Australian	RBR-Renault	0
14	Sebastian Vettel	German	RBR-Renault	0
15	Robert Kubica	Polish	BMW Sauber	0
16	Kimi Räikkönen	Finnish	Ferrari	0
17	Felipe Massa	Brazilian	Ferrari	0
18	Nelsinho Piquet	Brazilian	Renault	0
19	Kazuki Nakajima	Japanese	Williams-Toyota	0
20	Heikki Kovalainen	Finnish	McLaren-Mercedes	0

Constructor Championship Standings :

Pos	Team	Points
1	Brawn-Mercedes	18
2	Toyota	10
3	McLaren-Mercedes	5
4	Renault	3
5	Williams-Toyota	2
6	STR-Ferrari	1
7	Force India-Mercedes	0
8	BMW Sauber	0
9	RBR-Renault	0
10	Ferrari	0

[Source : SuperWheels, Brawn GP]