Bahrain Grand Prix

So Button wins again! 3 out of 4 now for the man from Somerset, and this performance in the desert was arguably his and Brawn's finest yet. After qualifying Jensen was slightly downbeat, unsure how and where the Red Bull and Toyota had caught up, he still maintained howevever that for race pace, the Brawn is still right up there.


Button won this race on lap 2, due to two things, firstly Hamilton's botched move on Trulli at turn four (a start from Lewis which would have reminded the elder generation of a banzai Gilles Villeneuve start), as Lewis rejoined at turn four, Jensen was right behind, and going in to turn one at the start of lap 2, Button made his move, having got a much better drive out of the final corner than the world champion, Button was less than a tenth of a second behind as they crossed the line, when Lewis would have been given a new lot of KERS, whether he used it or not i'm not sure, but either way Button was so close behind it would only have dragged him along with it, going into turn one then, Button, always so calm and smooth when braking, stuck to the inside and took the place, it was a move worthy of race victory.

From then on Button was placed to take the lead, the Toyota's couldn't pull out a big enough lead to justify their low fuel loads, while Hamilton kept Vettel, probably the only man who could really race Button here this weekend, well back.

When they did pit, both Toyota men went for a long stint on the hard tyre, which turned out to be the poor tyre this weekend, this long stint cost them any chance of the race win, Glock even looked like he would slip out of the points for a while, such was his poor pace.

Come Button's stop, the Toyota's had been struggling for several laps on their new hard tyres, and when the Brawn re-joined, he was well ahead. Luckily for Button, Vettel had only re-joined behind Jarno Trulli,and would spend the next stint stuck behind that panasonic rear wing, without this, Vettel would have been right up with Jensen at the end. The only saving grace for Trulli, was that both Vettel and Button would have to run the hard tyre on the final stint.

Further back down the field, Mark Webber, starting 18, had his race really destroyed when he got stuck behind Nelson Piquet early on, Webber was destined to spend his race behind the renault man, while it was good to see Piquet putting in a much better performance than of late, he wasn't far behind his team-mate at the finish line, you did wish Webber could have got passed and seen how far up the order he could of got.




Also, it was easily BMW's worst ever formula one performance, both cars getting involved in minor first lap incidents which cost them a pit-stop for new front wings, and then spent the rest of the race trundling around at the back. This was the first team to release and frequently test their 09 car, and you wonder where its all gone wrong.

Meantime back at the front, Button had pulled out a large advantage over Trulli, Vettel and the impressive Hamilton, an advantage of 14 seconds or so, such was Trulli's problems on the hard tyre. Button rejoined with a healthy 12 second lead over Vettel, who had leap-frogged Trulli for second in the pits, Trulli was on the better tyre and pushed Vettel hard, but not enough to find a way through, both of them meanwhile, where rapidly disposing of Hamilton, struggling in the final stages in his Mclaren, and were catching up Button, struggling a small amount on the hard tyre, but with Button's smooth style,hes much easier on the tyres than most overs, and tyre management is one of his strengths.

So Button won by 6 seconds from Vettel, had Vettel not been held up by Hamilton and Trulli than we may well have seen an almighty scrap for the win. As it was, Button was un-troubled throughout, aside from the incredible heat which caused the Brawn Team to cut bodywork from the car to aid cooling, such was their worry about heat problems.

Vettel came through for his second podium in a row, and if it wern't for his late skirmish in Melbourne, would be right up their at the top of the drivers championship. But the Red Bull is looking strong and should be for a while yet.

Trulli was dissapointed with third, the Toyota slightly lacked the ultimate pace, and certainly put the hard tyres on at the wrong time, their first win still awaits, but 2009 is their best chance still to take it.




Other notable performances, Raikkonen got the maximum out of his Ferrari to get 6th place and stop them earning their worst ever start to a season. The two force india's ran well in the early stages, racing with Kovalainen,Webber and Piquet.

Sebastien Bourdais, easily his strongest race in the dry this season, although he started last, and the TV camera's barely found him all race, he came home 13th and right on the tail of Kovalainen who must have sustained damage in the first lap as he had no pace whatsoever.

Spain next, normally one of the dullest races of the season, but this isn't no ordinary season! Ferrari and Mclaren are promising quite significant updates, so will we see a return to the pecking order of recent years? or will the new order of 2009 reign supreme again?

Drivers Championship

1 J.Button, Brawn, 31points
2 R.Barrichello, Brawn, 19points
3 S.Vettel, Red Bull, 18points
4 J.Trulli, Toyota, 14.5points
5 T.Glock, Toyota, 12points
6 M.Webber, Red Bull, 9.5points


Starting Grid

1 J.Trulli, Toyota
2 T.Glock, Toyota
3 S.Vettel, Red Bull
4 J.Button, Brawn
5 L.Hamilton, Mclaren
6 R.Barrichello,Brawn
7 F.Alonso, Renault
8 F.Massa, Ferrari
9 N.Rosberg, Williams
10K.Raikkonen, Ferrari

11 H.Kovalainen, Mclaren
12 K.Nakajima, Williams
13 R.Kubica, BMW
14 N.Heidfeld, BMW
15 N.Piquet, Renault
16 S.Buemi, Torro Rosso
17 G.Fisichella, Force India
18 M.Webber, Red Bull
19 A.Sutil, Force India
20 S.Bourdais



Race Result

1- J.Button, Brawn GP 10points
2- S.Vettel, Red Bull 8points
3- J.Trulli, Toyota 6points
4- L.Hamilton, Mclaren 5points
5- R.Barrichello, Brawn GP, 4points
6- K.Raikkonen, Ferrari, 3points
7- T.GLock, Toyota, 2points
8- F.Alonso, Renault,1 point

9- N.Rosberg, Williams
10-N.Piquest, Renault
11-M.Webber, Red Bull
12-H.Kovalainen,Mclaren
13-S.Bourdais, Torro Rosso
14-F.Massa, Ferrari
15-G.Fisichella, Force India
16-A.Sutil, Force India
17-S.Buemi, Torro Rosso,
18-R.Kubica, BMW
19-N.Heidfeld, BMW

20-K.Nakajima, Williams- Retired

Fastest lap, J.Trulli 1.34.556

Chinese Grand Prix Review

Another cracking race that has thrown up another new winner. Red Bull. Sebastien Vettel led Mark Webber home for a 1-2!. The Brawn's of Button and Barrichello relegated to the role of bridemaid in 3rd and 4th. while Mclaren showed some improved form with Kovalainen and Hamilton coming in 5th and 6th.

The race began wet, and ended wet, and in the middle, it was wet. No topsy turvy-ness here! After 8 laps behind the safety car the race was under way and after just 1 full speed lap, Vettel was 2.4s ahead of his Aussie team mate. Webber maintained the gap there after while easily pulling away from the Brawns. Only a slight mistake caused Webber more time before his pit stop in lap 14, pitting 2 laps earlier than scheduled. Vettel was to pit on lap 15.

Behind the leaders in the early stint, Barrichello and the amazing Buemi was 4th and 5th. Trulli had formed his infamous Trulli train, consisting of both Ferrari's, Mclarens and Bourdais. The Toyota man had no grip at all at a track where he has still failed to score a single point!

Alonso and Rosberg, having qualified 2nd and 7th, pitted under the first safety car for fuel and rejoined at the back. Alonso would haul his renault up to 9th. Rosberg would finish 15th. Im struggling to remember when a Williams was quick in the rain!



After the red bull stops, it was a brawn 1-2, but it soon became clear that they didnt have the outright speed in the rain to really match these Red Bull men. Interestingly both Webber and Vettel especially had worries about their driveshafts, and quite possibly whatever risk of them braking, would have been reduced by the rain.

Although Button put in some fastest laps up to that point, his gap over Vettel was never enough to challenge for the lead. Meantime the Trulli train had really come off the rails after Kubica slammed up the back of the Italian, smashing the Toyota rear wing and ending his race. Kubica would require two nose changes and end possibly his worst ever grand prix 13th.

This incident coincided with the second safety car, which allowd the leading man of button to pit and rejoin in 2nd ahead of Mark Webber, now we would really get an indication of the how the Red Bull and Brawn compare. Barrichello rejoined in 6th behind the one stoppers of Raikkonen and Hamilton, Hamilton had been up to 4th but a couple of spins on his uber worn tyres had seen any progress halted.

As the safety car pulled in, Vettel again opened up a lead while Webber was hounding Button, ultimately forcing the Brit into a mistake and the end of the long back straight, only for Webber to make a mistake and let Button back ahead. This little fight would effectivly see the end of Webber's chance of victory. Webber soon made amends for his error by passing Button around the outside of turn 7.



The race remained in a status quo untill the second round of pitstops, Vettel pitted and re-joined just a couple of seconds behind Button, such was the Germans ability to pull out a huge lead during the Button-Webber scrap. Even though Button still had to pit for his final stop, Vettel wasted no time in reeling him in and passing him, The Brawns really were no match for Red Bull today.

So Vettel took his second, and Red Bulls first grand prix victory in their 5th season. Webber came home not far behind in second to emphasise just how dominant the team had been all weekend. It was a fully deserved victory and only Webber's battle with Button stopped the race being a real team mate fight!

Vettel will be delighted, a race win in only his third race for his new team. The guy is quite brilliant and this will have made up for his smash late on in Melbourne with Kubica when in-line for at least a 3rd.

Webber will be more than happy aswell, his best ever result and his 3rd podium. He matched Vettel pretty much all weekend and only a couple of errors stopped him from being right on his team-mates tail.

Button will be a relieved man, he said it was a real tough race and would have been happy to salvage third. He will have to be on the podium in Bahrain to really assert his championship lead, Red Bull have shown real pace and will be on a high next weekend. Mclaren also showed a big improvement and the Toyota is still fast.

Sebastien Buemi produced a quite brilliant drive, maintained 5th for a large part of the race early on and only a few errors late on saw him drop to 8th. His qualifying performace was also brilliant, getting the torro rosso into the top 10 shoot-out.

Spare a thought for Adrian Sutil. Monaco practice 2007- rain....Sutil fastest.Monaco 2008, 4th after a super drive with only a few laps to go....rammed by Raikkonen. China 2009, 6th with 6laps to go,another great drive.....simply aquaplaned at turn 5 while under pressure from hamilton. Fuji 2007, hauls spyker into 8th place and one point, his only piece of good fortune! The guy is brilliant in the rain and just needs good luck! He will have been happy to hear Viyja Mally'as praise of him, acknowledging it was a fine race by the german.

All in all another fine weekend of formula one. Bahrain next, unlikely that it will rain and this track always produces fine close racing!



My men of the race: Vettel, Buemi, Sutil.

Result

1 S.Vettel, Red Bull, 10points
2 M,Webber, Red Bull, 8points
3 J.Button, Brawn Gp, 6points
4 R.Barrichello, Brawn Gp, 5points
5 H.Kovalainen, Mclaren, 4points
6 L.Hamilton, Mclaren, 3points
7 T.Glock, Toyota, 2points
8 S.Buemi, Torro Rosso, 1point

9 F.Alonso,Renault
10 K.Raikkonen, Ferrari
11 S.Bourdais, Torro Rosso
12 N.Heidfeld, BMW
13 R.Kubica, BMW
14 G.Fisichella, Force India
15 N.Rosberg, Williams
16 N.Piquet, Renault

17 A.Sutil, Force India, Aquaplaned with 6 laps to go while in 6th place
18 K.Nakajima, Williams, Binned it at turn one.
19 F.Massa, Ferrari, car failure under the safety car while in 3rd.
20 J.Trulli, Toyota, no speed at all, mounted by Kubica and lost rear wing.

Malaysian Grand Prix Review

F1 2009 continues to entertain us with a thrilling race in Malaysia. It was another superb victory by Jensen Button and the Brawn Team, who are currently untouchable. The rain ruined many peoples strategies but allowed Heidfeld and Glock two lucky podium places.

There was nobody in the field who was ever going to catch Button without a lot of luck. At the start Rosberg made a super getaway to go from 4th to 1st. He then led strongly for 17 laps before his first scheduled stop, it was good to see a Williams back at the front on merit for so many laps! Trulli had beaten Button into second while Alonso held up the rest of the field.

The spaniards early pace was a good 3 seconds a lap or so off the leaders, while Barrichello got through after just 4 or 5 laps, Raikkonen Webber Glock and even Vettel were held up for up to 12 laps before the pit stops. This meant there was a huge gap between the top 4, Rosberg,Trulli and the two Brawns, before anyone else. Although Button was 3rd, he had more fuel than the two in front, and when they pitted, Button did 2 stonking laps, the fastest being one second faster than any non-brawn car! and this put him comfortably ahead after the first round of stops.

Things remained the same untill the expectant rain came, albeit a lot later than most people presumed. Interestingly however it did not rain anything like as much as expected to begin with, so everybody came in for the full wets, expect Glock, who has a habit of making different tyre calls to everyone else, he went on the inters and was instantly 10seconds a lap faster than the entire field. However, being stuck behind alonso at the start meant he was 30seconds down on the leaders. Because of the lack of rainfall, the full wets were burning up fast, and soon Rosberg,Barrichello, Trulli and Webber had to pit for new tyres, most had now gone on to inters, as this was the optimum tyre at the time, almost immediatedly after however, the true Malaysian rain arrived, and within moments the track was soaked.

Those on inters either braved it out, or came in for full wets, Button pitted for new wets and re-joined just a couple of seconds ahead of Heidfeld (who had pitted for wets on his single stop on lap 22) and the inter-shod Glock. If Button had pitted a lap earlier the BMW man could have won. As the rain got worse and the clouds darkened, visibility became a real issue.

Ecclestone's idea of putting the race back for european viewers did not have to get up early backfired, as the race was stopped with 23 laps still remaining. Having not reached 75% race distance, only half points were awarded.

So Mr.B. Ecclestone, I ask you this, what is the point of moving the time of a race so people do not have to get up early, if they is no race to watch? Surely you would have been warned about putting the time of the race back to 5p.m, as after this time the chances of rain increases significantly. Hopefully it wont happen again.

So Button was untroubled throughout, only the rain could have stopped him and even that failed. Heidfeld, perhaps the smartest racer in the field, got a podium, and Glocks smart tyre choice rewarded him also. The loser was Nico Rosberg, his final pit stop costing him a sure podium.

Next up, China, its unlikely the main pecking order will differ significantly, so expect Button to be the man to beat once again!

Results.

1- J.Button, Brawn Gp, 5points
2- N.Heidfeld, BMW, 4points
3- T.Glock, Toyota 3points
4- J.Trulli,Toyota 2.5points
5- R.Barrichello, Brawn Gp 2points
6- M.Webber, Red Bull, 1.5points
7- L.Hamilton, Mclaren, 1point
8- N.Rosberg, Williams, 0.5points

9- F.Massa, Ferrari
10-S.Bourdais, Torro Rosso
11-F.Alonso, Renault
12-K.Nakajima, Williams
13-N.Piquet, Renault
14-K.Raikkonen, Ferrari
15-A.Sutil, Force India

16-S.Vettel, Red Bull
17-R.Kubica, BMW
18-G.Fisichella, Force India
19-S.Buemi,Torro Rosso
20-H.Kovalainen, Mclaren

Update- Australian GP

So, Lewis Hamilton has been disqualified from the first round of the season, some 4 days after it ended! Jarno Trulli has been handed his 3rd place back after he was previously given a 25second time penalty for overtaking Hamilton.

The stewards have said Lewis gave them misleading evidence about the incident with Trulli, which has crossed an article in the regulations.


Mclaren have said Hamilton didn't lie but they will not appeal.
Hopefully that is the end to the penalties and such like from Australia. But of course there is the diffuser appeal on april 14. Personally I hope and think the teams with the debateable diffuser will be allowed to keep their innovative design.




Interestingly the loudest mouth about the appeal is Fernando Alonso....which...IF. the diffuser teams were to be disqualifed....would leave Alonso as Melbourne GP winner!