F1: Race 2 : It's Button Again

April 5, 2009 Sunday: Britain’s Jenson But-ton splashed to victory in a chaotic, rain-shortened Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday for his second triumph in two races for the new Brawn GP team. Half points were awarded for only the fifth time in Formula One history because only 32 of the scheduled 56 laps had been completed before a torrential downpour turned the track into a lake. With thunderclaps and lightning streaking across the darkened Sepang skies, making driving conditions impossible even behind the safety car, the race was red-flagged and then abandoned. Button, who had again started from pole position after a Brawn one-two in the Australian season-opener last weekend, was leading behind the safety car when officials signalled the halt.



The Briton, who also won in Melbourne with the safety car deployed, had already made four pitstops in the changing conditions and was only third at the end of the opening lap after a slow start. “What a crazy race, it really was,” said the 29-year-old after some slippery podium celebrations. “I still haven’t seen the chequered flag (this season) without the safety car in front.

Germany’s Nick Heidfeld was second, for the eighth time in a so far winless career, for BMW-Sauber, with compatriot Timo Glock third for Toyota with the results based on the positions at the end of the 31st lap. Italian Jarno Trulli, who was third for Toyota in Melbourne, finished fourth ahead of Brawn’s Brazilian Rubens Barrichello and Red Bull’s Australian Mark Webber in sixth. McLaren’s world champion Lewis Hamilton, at the centre of a furore after he and his team were found to have deliberately misled stewards in Australia, was seventh while Germany’s Nico Rosberg collected half a point for Williams in eighth.

“All I could do was try and keep the car on the track,” said Hamilton.

Rosberg, who had warned earlier in the week that the late-starting race was likely to be halted by the weather before the scheduled twilight finish, had led the first 15 laps until he pitted. Champions Ferrari, still without a point from two races, had Brazilian Felipe Massa ninth and 2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen 14th after he changed to full wet tyres too early and paid a heavy price.There was confusion after the race was abandoned, with drivers awaiting the unlikely chance of a re-start while the clock ticked towards the twohour limit and the daylight faded. With Glock ahead of Heidfeld at the red flag, there was also uncertainty about the final podium positions.

“My engineer told me: ‘You are P2 (second place)’and then I came up here and I’m P3,” said a bemused Glock. “I’m fine with second,” replied Heidfeld.

SUTIL 17TH, FISICHELLA 18TH Force India’s experiment with extreme wet tyres fell flat on their face with Adrian Sutil finishing 17th and Giancarlo Fisichella 18th in the race.



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F1: The Brawn Supremacy : It's P1, P2 for Brawn GP in the debut Grand Prix

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)

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