Brazilian Grand Prix Review

Congratulations to Jenson Button and the Brawn team, he won the world drivers championship and boy did he earn it! And the team won the constructors title in their first season. A barnstorming drive from 14th on the grid to 5th at the flag showed everybody just how good a driver Button is.

After a midseason struggle of qualyfying mistakes where he was far from the best driver, he managed to salvage enough points in races to keep him at the top of the standings, his race pace always very strong. But after starting 14th in Brazil, he had two choices, sit back and hope it works out for him, or go out and win it anyway.

He chose option number two.

An incident filled start saw Trulli Sutil and Alonso all crash out, with Trulli having a major word with Sutil live on camera, the italian was fined £6,000 for his outburst, after wrongly accusing Sutil of running him off the road.

So by the end of lap one Button was 9th with the safety car out, but Vettel was right behind him and Rubens was leading the race, so jb couldnt afford to wait around, when the safety car pulled in, Button disposed both of Roman Grosjean, his old mate from spa, and Kazuki Nakajima in less than a lap!

He then came up against Kamui Kobayashi, making his debut in place of the injured Timo Glock, the japanese driver put up a great, if somewhat reckless fight and Button took the best part of 20 laps and 3 attempts to get passed, when he finally did so, a yell of delight roared inside the Englishman's race helmet.




If anybody decides to host an overtakes of the year competition, it may be a one man show. All four of buttons moves in brazil was superb, grosjean was risky, but determined and wonderfully executed. Nakajima's was probably the simplest of the lot. Kobayashi left button with no idea what he would do next, and Buemi had no idea button was coming!

Add all this to his moves on Hamilton in Bahrain, Kovalainen in Monza and Kubica in Japan, it makes you wonder what the rest of the field are doing wrong.

Buttons day was eventually complete when Rubens Barrichello suffered a puncture with 7 laps to, the Brazilian just did not have the outright pace to win this race, as Webber won the race and a resurgent Robert Kubica raced home into second place, and anyway, Button had done enough to secure the title.



Webber strolled to his 2 career win, leaving people to wonder just where Vettel would have been had he got qualifying right. Kubica was second and Lewis Hamilton held off Vettel for the final podium place. Button was 5th ahead of Raikkonen, a solid drive from Buemi and Barrichello down in 8th after his puncture.



Nico Rosberg was also looking very strong untill a gearbox failure. Big points lost for the second time in three races for the Grove squad, and with BMW and Renault lurking behind them, they cud drop a couple places in the final round in Abu Dhabi. Team mate Nakajima was also in with a chance of points untill getting too close to fellow jap Kobayashi and spectacularly going off at turn four.

Kovalainen again got destroyed by Hamilton, while Kobayashi was fast, if somewhat wayward. Fisichella still cannot get used to the KERS braking system, while Liuzzi could not match Sutil's pace, Grosjean was poor, slipping back through the field alarmingly quickly, while Jaime Alguersari got another race distance under his belt.


Abu Dhabi next up, both championships wrapped up but there is still plenty to play for, Ferrari and Mclaren are battling for third in the championship while BMW and Renault are snapping at Williams heels.

New track, new atmosphre, who knows what will happen. Do not get too excited though, the track does not look like a great producer of close racing.



1. WEBBER Red Bull
2. KUBICA BMW +7.6s
3. HAMILTON McLaren +18.9s
4. VETTEL Red Bull +19.6s
5. BUTTON Brawn +29.0s
6. RAIKKONEN Ferrari +33.3s
7. BUEMI Toro Rosso +35.9s
8. BARRICHELLO Brawn +45.4s
9. KOVALAINEN McLaren +48.4s
10. KOBAYASHI Toyota +63.3s
11. FISICHELLA Ferrari +70.6s
12. LIUZZI Force India +71.3s
13. GROSJEAN Renault +1 lap
14. ALGUERSUARI Toro Rosso +1 lap

R. NAKAJIMA Williams +41 laps
R. ROSBERG Williams +44 laps
R. HEIDFELD BMW +50 laps
R. SUTIL Force India +71 laps
R. TRULLI Toyota +71 laps
R. ALONSO Renault +71 laps

Fastest lap: WEBBER 1m13.733s (lap 25)

1. Jenson Button Brawn GP 89
2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 74
3. Rubens Barrichello Brawn GP 72
4. Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 61.5
5. Lewis Hamilton McLaren Mercedes 49
6. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 48
7. Nico Rosberg Williams 34.5
8. Jarno Trulli Toyota 30.5
9. Fernando Alonso Renault 26
10. Timo Glock Toyota 24
11. Felipe Massa Ferrari 22
12. Heikki Kovalainen McLaren Mercedes 22
13. Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 17
14. Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 15
15. Giancarlo Fisichella Ferrari & Force India 8
16. Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso 5
17. Adrian Sutil Force India 5
18. Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 2

1. Brawn GP 161
2. Red Bull Racing 135.5
3. McLaren Mercedes 71
4. Ferrari 70
5. Toyota 54.5
6. Williams 34.5
7. BMW Sauber 32
8. Renault 26
9. Force India 13
10. Scuderia Toro Rosso 7

Japanese Grand Prix Review

Vettel has kept his championship hopes alive. Just. 16 points behind Button with 2 races to go, how that late race crash in Melbourne must be bugging his mind now.

That accident cost him a certain podium, and added to spins in Malaysia, a crash in Monaco and an off in Turkey, Vettel could have 10 points further up the table, which of course would leave him just 6 behind Button.

As it is, Vettel is only in his 2nd full season, he is not a seasoned veteran and mistakes are going to happen.

At Suzuka however, the German showed the world what he can do. He can start a race and just storm away from everybody, like he did at Silverstone. Yes the Red Bull car is perfect for these circuits, but Vettel was going so fast at Suzuka the team wondered if they had had a fuel rig failure!

The only man who could have matched Vettel was Webber, and after a practice crash necessitated a chassis change, his weekend was over as he started from the pitlane and made four pit stops. His speed was evident though, as he set the fastest lap on the race. Luck, again,was not on the aussie's side.

Behind the flying German, Jarno Trulli drove superbly to out race Lewis Hamilton and score Toyota's second second place in a row. A timely reminder from the Italian that he can still produce the goods, but will it be enough to secure a drive for 2010?

Hamilton did what he could in a car that is never going to like the fast corners of which Suzuka is made, so 3rd place was a good result for the reigning world champion, who perhaps this season more than any other of his short career, has shown people just how brilliant a driver he is.



Next across the line, Kimi Raikkonen, who in the second half of the race, matched Vettel lap after lap, where that pace was in the first half, nobody knows, Raikkonen is an enigma and his time at Ferrari is coming to and end, will he be remembered as a Ferrari great with Schumacher, Villenueve, Ascari and Lauda? Unlikely.

Rosberg picked up 5th place despite setting his a personal fastest sector time when the Safety car came out, Rosberg says he could not see the SC info on his steering wheel because of another sign on the wheel, strange, but apparantly true. Heidfeld drove well to pick up good points, while the Brawn's again did poorly in the race, its been such a wierd season so there are no surprises anymore, but race after race Button has problems, which nobody seems to want to take advantage of. But there we go. Rubens and Jensen rounded out the top 8 which left the Englishman with a 14 point lead with 2 rounds to go.


Why you may ask, have I spoke little of the actual race action? Because there was no race action. Even a safety car with 8 laps to go bunching the field up did nothing. The regulations are still far far from succesful at promoting overtaking. Much more work needs to be done.

Button overtook Kubica on lap 3, and Kovalainen barged Sutil of the road. That was it.

Next up,Brazil, interlagos, seen of the world championship decider for the past 4 seasons, and generally produces good close racing and a better chance of overtaking. Lets hope so. And lets hope Button can get his act together and show us that he deserves this championship.


1. VETTEL Red Bull
2. TRULLI Toyota +4.8s
3. HAMILTON McLareen +6.4s
4. RAIKKONEN Ferrari +7.9s
5. ROSBERG Williams +8.7s
6. HEIDFELD BMW +9.5s
7. BARRICHELLO Brawn +10.6s
8. BUTTON Brawn +11.4s

9. KUBICA BMW +11.7s
10. ALONSO Renault +13.0s
11. KOVALAINEN McLaren +13.7s
12. FISICHELLA Ferrari +14.5s
13. SUTIL Force India +14.9s
14. LIUZZI Force India +15.7s
15. NAKAJIMA Williams +17.9s
16. GROSJEAN Renault +1 lap
17. WEBBER Red Bull +1 lap
R. ALGUERSUARI Toro Rosso +8 laps
R. BUEMI Toro Rosso +27 laps
DNS.GLOCK Toyota

Fastest lap: WEBBER 1m32.569s (lap 52)

Drivers Championship Standings

1. Jenson Button Brawn GP 85
2. Rubens Barrichello Brawn GP 71
3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 69
4. Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 51.5
5. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 45
6. Lewis Hamilton McLaren Mercedes 43
7. Nico Rosberg Williams 34.5
8. Jarno Trulli Toyota 30.5
9. Fernando Alonso Renault 26
10. Timo Glock Toyota 24
11. Felipe Massa Ferrari 22
12. Heikki Kovalainen McLaren Mercedes 22

Singapore Grand Prix Review

When Lewis Hamilton has half a shout at a win, more often than not he produces, and this weekend he won his second race of the season.

An utterly dominant weekend from the reigning world champion, the circuit suited the Mclaren beautifully, no high speed corners, and very many slow 2nd and 3rd gear right angles.

Hamilton took the pole on saturday before Barrichello smashed his Brawn in the wall and brought out the red flag, many drivers were on their hot lap at the time and had it ruined. Would Vettel or someone else have been on pole? who knows.

It was Hamilton from Vettel and Rosberg, and at the start Rosberg got the jump on Vettel and hustled Hamilton throughout, the Williams having its best weekend of the year. Rosberg would have finished on the podium but he got it all wrong coming out of the pit lane and crossed the white line.

The german has been perennially unlucky this season and the curse continued when the safety car came out for Sutil and Heidfeld's altercation which meant Rosberg couldnt complete his drive through until after the Safety car went back in. Without the safety car Rosberg would still most likely have finished on the podium.



So Nico's day was done.

Vettel too, could have won this race, but for a misdemeanor with the pitlane, somehow the Red Bull shortened the entry to the pits and thus the FIA judged that he must have been speeding.

Red Bull telemetry lated showed Vettel did not speed at all.
The resulting drive through dropped Vettel to 4th, and he ended up 17s behind Hamilton, despite a 20s penalty. Just where would Vettel have been but for the pit lane issue? Crucial world championship points were again lost.

And so Timo Glock picked up 2nd place with a brilliant drive, Toyota's rarely do well on street circuits but Glock was superb, especially when you compare his result to team mate Trulli who struggled to enter the top 10.

Third ironically, went to Fernando Alonso, for the second year in a row he was on the Singapore podium, no cheating this time though, just Alonso at his "im going to get everything and then some out of this car" best.

4th was Vettel, just ahead of Button and Barrichello, Button was helped by the safety car and reckoned he had no more than half a laps worth of brakes in the car. Thin Line JB, thin line. Not a bad result however when you remember he qualified 12th.

Rubens will be annoyed to have finished behind his team mate despite starting ahead of him, but neither Brawn was really on it this weekend, Button had a few good laps just before his pitstop to jump Barrichello and Kovalainen, but a few good laps in a race of 61 laps is not enough.

Kovalainen was again outclassed by Hamilton and must surely be on his way out of the team next year, while Kubica edged out Nakajima Raikkonen and the recovering Rosberg for the final point.

A farily entertaining race, but few changes with regards to the world championship, Mark Webbers hopes are officially gone after crashing out with brake failure long before the chequered flag.

Hamilton again showed why he is the world champion, and Glock reminded the paddock just what he is capable of.

As for Brawn, it still just does not make much sense, so consistent and fast in the first half of the season, now struggling to make the points. Button is making the best of a bad job, but really, he shouldnt be making a bad job in the first place.

Rubens is only fairing slightly better, and as for Vettel, his year is littered with errors. Whoever wins this championship, how will they be remembered and thought of by fans and those involved with the sport? Will people feel they have earned the title Formula One World Champion 2009?