29 March 2009, Australia: Jenson Button led Brawn GP to an astonishing one-two at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Sunday in Formula One’s most successful team debut for 55 years. The 29-year-old Briton, written off by some as overpaid and overrated after two dismal seasons with Honda, cemented a fairy-tale comeback that left team owner Ross Brawn lost for words.
Brazilian teammate Rubens Barrichello started and finished second, but only after Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel and BMW-Sauber’s Robert Kubica drove each other off the track while fighting for the runner-up position with three laps to go.
The safety car came out and led the field until the final corner of the race. McLaren’s world champion Lewis Hamilton, starting last on the grid after a catastrophic gearbox failure in qualifying, showed his fighting spirit by clawing his way back to third place while the Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen failed to finish. “It wasn’t my best race, but I still won,” said Button, whose teammate got off to a terrible start after he hit the anti-stall button and dropped to seventh.
“This win is for me and the team. That’s what I care about. I don’t need to poke anyone in the eye about what was said in the past.” No Formula One team had won on their debut since Wolf in 1977 while the last to secure the top two places first time out was Mercedes, Brawn’s current engine suppliers, in 1954. Fifty five years on, Button and Barrichello followed in the footsteps of the great Argentine champion Juan Manuel Fangio and Germany’s Karl Kling.
Button led from pole to chequered flag, despite two safety car periods, to take his first victory since Hungary in 2006 and score more points in a single afternoon than he had in two years with Honda.SSUTIL 9TH, FISI 11TH Force India came tantalisingly close to scoring their maiden point with Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella benefiting a rung each from Jarno Trulli’s safety car infringement to finish ninth and 11th respectively.
Sutil initially finished 10th and Fisichella 12th in the roller-coaster season opener but Toyota’s Jarno Trulli, who had finished third, subsequently lost his podium place after the stewards slapped a 25-second penalty on him for passing under the safety car in the closing laps. — Agencies race classifications 1. Jenson Button (GBR) Brawn 1h 34m 15.784s 2. Rubens Barrichello (BRA) Brawn +0.807s 3. Lewis Hamilton (GBR) McLaren +2.914s 4. Timo Glock (GER) Toyota +4.435s 5. Fernando Alonso (ESP) Renault +4.879s 6. Nico Rosberg (GER) Williams +5.722s 7. Sebastien Buemi (SUI) Toro Rosso +6.004s 8. Sebastien Bourdais (FRA) Toro Rosso +6.298s 9. Adrian Sutil (GER) Force India +6.335s 10. Nick Heidfeld (GER) BMW Sauber +7.085s
Make yourself available to see the next race at Kuala Lumpur 0n April 4 2009..Have a look at the complete Race Calendar.
Do join me for more action. Read the official Race Analysis on the Official Website:Formula 1 (Australian Grand Prix)
Like the Blog post? Subscribe to the RSS Feed by Email.
Rate this Blog? Click here!.
Kunal Janu
Ad: Blog Listings,Sports Blog Directory
No comments:
Post a Comment