UpdateF1 >> Formula 1 News > Button leads Brawn 1-2

Team survive late drama

Jenson Button has lead from start to finish winning a dramatic opening race to the 2009 Formula One season. The Brawn GP driver survived late challenges from Sebastian Vettel and Robert Kubica, as well as the obligatory carnage to bring home a historic one-two finish for the brand new Formula One team.

The race started in chaotic fashion once again in Melbourne as Rubens Barrichello missed the start from second, dropping around eight places as the rest of the grid flew by him. However the Brazilian was not done there as he shunted hometown hero Mark Webber into Nick Heidfeld to ruin both races straight away, while having minimal damage to his car. Heikki Kovalainen was also caught up in the first corner action as he had no way to avoid Webber’s stricken Red Bull, ending the race for the McLaren driver there and then.

Button’s lightning start allowed him to stay away from the carnage where he opened up a gap to the fast flying Vettel, who had Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen chasing him down. This did not last for long as the Ferrari drivers started to regret the decision to start on the soft tyres, having to pit an extraordinary three laps early due to the severe loss of grip. Lewis Hamilton was also caught out with this unexpected problem and all three dropped through the field.

On lap 21 their prayers were answered when Kazuki Nakajima dropped his Williams into the wall to cause a safety car, effectively wiping out the mistake that Ferrari and McLaren had made with their drivers. The restart was relatively uneventful as the majority of drivers took a chance to pit with Button and Barrichello being fuelled heavily up front to avoid having a long stint on the fast deteriorating soft tyres.

Lewis Hamilton then began his charge through the field as he clawed his way into a point’s position until he found the back of Sebastien Buemi in the Toro Rosso who proved a handful to steer around. The next stage of the race was fairly uneventful as Vettel set about chasing down Button while the rest of the drivers fought through their own battles.

The race came down to who could make the soft tyres work the best in the latter stages of the race as both Vettel and Button took them on for an 11 lap stint, while Kubica was catching behind on the harder compound. With just four laps to go in an already enthralling race Kubica was right onto the back of Vettel and starting to threaten as the German could not deal with his softer tyres. Kubica decided to go around Vettel at turn three and squeezed him onto the apex of the corner and an accident became unavoidable. Vettel speared into the back of the BMW and that sent Kubica into the path of Vettel. Both drivers lost their front wings in the carnage and moments later both hit the wall, bringing out the race ending safety car. This gave Button a free rider to the end and the sweetest victory lap he will ever have, with his friend and team mate following right behind him over the line, which left Ross Brawn emotional and speechless.

It might not be over there though as stewards may look into the driving of Barrichello early on and decide a penalty may be appropriate, which would send him to the back of the grid. There are also the lingering protests that are to be sorted out after the Malaysian Grand Prix, but nothing can take away the sweet and satisfying feeling of the Brawn team and Jenson Button.

Written: Sun, 29 Mar 2009 08:01:05