Turkish Grand Prix Review

Apologies for the late production of this review, been rather busy of late!

So, 6 out of 7. Just how can Jensen Button be beaten? The answer, it seems, is that he can't.

He has made so few mistakes this season that no-one has the chance to capitalise. Added to this the shortcomings of pretty much all his rivals, and you have the most dominant season since 2004. Only some major DNF's can stop the somerset boy now.

Turkey was just another race for Button, arrive, not too happy with the car, look at Rubens' set up, work on it through friday and saturday practice, stick on the front 2 rows of the grid, and wait for someone to gift me the race.

Today that person was Sebastian Vettel. On a light fuel load he had to be on pole, which he did, on a light fuel load he had to be first at turn one, which he did. He also had to lead for his entire first stint, not just the first 9 turns. The young german bravely held on to his wayward RBR on the exit of turn 10, on the grass, on the dirt, so easily could he have spun, he didn't. But Button didn't need him too, he was already on his way to victory.

With a car that the team admit, is horrendous in dirty air, this mistake by Vettel ruined his day, he could not keep within 2 seconds of the Brawn Car and he was kept on a 3 stopper instead of being switched to a 2 stopper, which meant he would have to pass JB on the track at some point, how would that happen in a car that's so bad in dirty air?

This Red Bull decision confused many a viewer. Vettel did catch Button at a 1s per lap, but once he reached that double decker diffuser, nothing, zilch, these new regulations, which allow cars to follow closer than previous years, are still not quite on the money.

And thus the last hope Vettel had of victory,(overtaking Button and pulling out at least a 5s gap before his extra pit stop) was over.

Being caught behind Button for so long eventually cost Vettel 2nd place to his team-mate Mark Webber, who, after an early duel with Jarno Trulli, put in a super strong drive, but ultimately did not have the pace of Button.

Barrichello? Well he fluffed his start, Melbourne style, fluffed passing Kovalainen, spun, rammed Sutil and smashed his own front wing, pitted, resumed last, and retired with 10 laps to go.

Only some wins and some dnfs for his team-mate will give Barrichello any sniff of a chance at being world champion this season.

Behind the podium boys, Trulli put in a great drive in his Toyota,to 4th, after a race long battle with the equally impressive Rosberg in his William's. Both teams will be glad to see points, after Toyota's monaco nightmare and William's ability to be lightning fast but pick up no points., Nakajima was also encouraging for the Grove side, putting in a great drive and looking set for 7th place before a terrible pit stop put him down to 12th. Britain should suit both team's cars so expect them to be right up there once again.

Massa, Kubica and Glock picked up the smaller points, Massa, king of Turkey for the last 3 years before this years event, probably got that Ferrari as high as it could go right now. Kubica finally got some points for 2009 with his much improved BMW and Glock had a quiet drive to pick up a point following Nakajima's issues.




Renault and Mclaren had dismal races, Renault have seemingly slipped back from there early pace while Mclaren's rear end instability was killing them through turn 8. Silverstone, a very similar track to turkey, will probably mean both these former world champion teams struggle horribly once again.

So Button finally has a points advantage to represent his dominance, 26 points in fact. It's hard to see him being beaten anytime soon, Red Bull will have a chance, they will be around, but will they make mistakes? Will Rubens get his act together at one of his strongest circuits? and how many times will Lewis Hamilton be lapped?



1. BUTTON Brawn

2. WEBBER Red Bull +6.7s

3. VETTEL Red Bull +7.4s

4. TRULLI Toyota +27.8s

5. ROSBERG Williams +31.5s

6. MASSA Ferrari +39.9s

7. KUBICA BMW +46.2s

8. GLOCK Toyota +46.9s

9. RAIKKONEN Ferrari +50.2s

10. ALONSO Renault +62.4s

11. HEIDFELD BMW +64.3s

12. NAKAJIMA Williams +66.3s

13. HAMILTON McLaren +80.4s

14. KOVALAINEN McLaren +1 lap

15. BUEMI Toro Rosso +1 lap

16. PIQUET Renault +1 lap

17. SUTIL Force India +1 lap

18. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso +1 lap

R. BARRICHELLO Brawn +11 laps

R. FISICHELLA Force India +54 laps

Fastest lap: BUTTON 1m27.579s (lap 40)