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
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