2009 F1 : Button celebrates fourth win in five races

Formula 1 Gran Premio De Espana Telefonica Winner : Jenson Button - Brawn-Mercedes

BARCELONA, Spain : May 10, 2009 - Jenson Button (Brawn-Mercedes) raced from pole position to his fourth win of the season in the Spanish Grand Prix at Catalunya on Sunday to increase his championship lead.


Team mate Rubens Barrichello robustly challenged Button for the lead at the start, the pair exchanging thrusts and parries down the main straight and into the first corner before the Briton conceded the position. The leading Brawns were followed by Felipe Massa (Ferrari) and Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault), but behind them, four cars were involved in a chain-reaction accident. The safety car was deployed so that the track could be cleared of debris.

It was the Toro-Rossos of Sebastian Bourdais and Sebastian Buemi who were taken out in the crash which was caused by Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India) and Adrian Sutil after Fisichella was clipped by Nico Rosberg (Williams-Toyota)..

The race got under way again on lap 5 and as the cars came down the main straight for the first time, Fernando Alonso put the KERS on his Renault to good use to power up behind Mark Webber's Red Bull-Renault and then alongside, but the Australian defended the position aggressively, forcing Alonso beyond the pit exit and onto the grass. Alonso got past, but Webber out-braked him into the first corner and reclaimed the place.

On lap 7, reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes), who started from 14th on the grid, passed Nelson Piquet (Renault) for 13th. On the same lap, Heikki Kovalainen, who lost fifth gear while behind the safety car, then lost all drive and had to retire.

The Brawns of Barrichello and Button continued to trade fastest laps as they opened up a lead over Massa.

On lap 17, Timo Glock (Toyota) came in for his first pit stop, followed soon after by Button, while Kimi Räikkönen's Ferrari slowed to a crawl and he also retired with throttle control problems.

Barrichello pitted two laps later, and he emerged well ahead of Button after a very quick pit stop. Most of the cars had elected to stay on the softer compound tyres.

The Brazilian continued to pile on some consistently fast laps, building a 11 sec gap over Button by lap 27. Button was followed by Massa +14.5, Vettel +15.5 and Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber) who was celebrating his birthday.

Barrichello pitted again on lap 31, releasing Button into the lead. Heidfeld and Hamilton pitted together soon after. All stayed on soft compound tyres.

There was a robust battle going on for 11th place between Kazuki Nakajima (Williams-Toyota), Timo Glock (Toyota) and Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber), with Hamilton who joined the party after his pit stop and got past Glock.

Button was on a much longer middle stint than Barrichello and he appeared to have the strategic advantage as he led the race by five seconds from Massa and Vettel, the top three having had one stop as opposed to fourth-placed Barrichello's two. The Brazilian was falling back from the leading trio.

Massa and Vettel Massa pitted together on lap 43, taking on fuel for the remaining 23 laps and the harder compound tyres. They emerged in fifth and sixth places. Barrichello moved into second place, but was 12 sec behind Button and had 2.5 sec over third-placed Webber

Alonso emerged from the pits on lap 44 and rejoined alongside Hamilton, and the former world champion pushed the reigning one wide as he took away the Briton's eighth place. Hamilton's tyres were well worn by comparison with Alonso's brand new ones, but the Briton held onto the coat tails of the Spaniard while Glock began to close up from behind.

On lap 48 race leader Button made his final pit stop, rejoining in third behind Webber and team mate Barrichello, the new leader, who still had one more stop to make.

Hamilton pitted a lap later, taking on fuel and harder tyres.

Barrichello pitted on lap 50 and moved out back into second place, 7.1 sec behind Button with Webber 2.7 sec further back.

Massa was in fourth place, but with 14 laps to go, Vettel was close behind and intent on getting past. The young German shadowed the Brazilian for lap after lap, but was unable to get through the dirty air behind the Ferrari.

Massa's pit crew were telling him on the radio that unless he conserved fuel, he would have to pit again before the end of the race. That would certainly allow Vettel past, but could even allow sixth-placed Alonso (17 sec behind) to get past too. Ferrari had not dispensed sufficient fuel into the car in Massa's second pit stop.

Further ahead, the other Red Bull of Webber was edging closer to Barrichello and was one second behind with six laps remaining.

Hamilton was still fending off Glock, but for ninth place, and unless one of the leading eight cars failed to finish, the world champion would come away from Spain without points.

Then with four laps to go, Vettel finally got past Massa to take fifth place. Massa would have to coast to the finish of the race as Alonso (16 sec behind) would start to pick up speed once Massa situation was conveyed to him. The Spaniard was lapping four seconds a lap quicker, so with three laps left, it wasn't over yet.

Alonso devoured the gap and cruised past Massa at the start of the final lap.

Button's best result at Catalunya had been sixth, but in 2009, he scored his fourth win of the year from five races, increasing his championship lead and giving Brawn another 1-2 finish.

Webber and Vettel gave Red Bull the next two places, with Alonso happy to have gained an extra point on the closing lap.

Race Result : FORMULA 1 GRAN PREMIO DE ESPANA TELEFONICA 2009

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Time	Pts
1	22	Jenson Button	Brawn-Mercedes	1:37:19.202	10
2	23	Rubens Barrichello	Brawn-Mercedes	+13.0 secs	8
3	14	Mark Webber	RBR-Renault	+13.9 secs	6
4	15	Sebastian Vettel	RBR-Renault	+18.9 secs	5
5	7	Fernando Alonso	Renault	+43.1 secs	4
6	3	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	+50.8 secs	3
7	6	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	+52.3 secs	2
8	16	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	+65.2 secs	1
9	1	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	+1 Lap	-
10	10	Timo Glock	Toyota	+1 Lap	-
11	5	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	+1 Lap	-
12	8	Nelsinho Piquet	Renault	+1 Lap	-
13	17	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	+1 Lap	-
14	21	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Mercedes	+1 Lap	-
Ret	4	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	Hydraulics	-
Ret	2	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	Gearbox	-
Ret	9	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	Accident	-
Ret	12	Sebastien Buemi	STR-Ferrari	Accident	-
Ret	11	Sebastien Bourdais	STR-Ferrari	Accident	-
Ret	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	Accident	-

Driver Championship Standings :

Pos	Driver	Nationality	Team	Points
1	Jenson Button	British	Brawn-Mercedes	41
2	Rubens Barrichello	Brazilian	Brawn-Mercedes	27
3	Sebastian Vettel	German	RBR-Renault	23
4	Mark Webber	Australian	RBR-Renault	15.5
5	Jarno Trulli	Italian	Toyota	14.5
6	Timo Glock	German	Toyota	12
7	Lewis Hamilton	British	McLaren-Mercedes	9
8	Fernando Alonso	Spanish	Renault	9
9	Nick Heidfeld	German	BMW Sauber	6
10	Nico Rosberg	German	Williams-Toyota	4.5
11	Heikki Kovalainen	Finnish	McLaren-Mercedes	4
12	Felipe Massa	Brazilian	Ferrari	3
13	Kimi Räikkönen	Finnish	Ferrari	3
14	Sebastien Buemi	Swiss	STR-Ferrari	3
15	Sebastien Bourdais	French	STR-Ferrari	1
16	Adrian Sutil	German	Force India-Mercedes	0
17	Nelsinho Piquet	Brazilian	Renault	0
18	Robert Kubica	Polish	BMW Sauber	0
19	Giancarlo Fisichella	Italian	Force India-Mercedes	0
20	Kazuki Nakajima	Japanese	Williams-Toyota	0

Constructor Championship Standings :

Pos	Team	Points
1	Brawn-Mercedes	68
2	RBR-Renault	38.5
3	Toyota	26.5
4	McLaren-Mercedes	13
5	Renault	9
6	BMW Sauber	6
7	Ferrari	6
8	Williams-Toyota	4.5
9	STR-Ferrari	4
10	Force India-Mercedes	0

[Source : Super Wheels , BRAWN GP]