Hungarian Grand Prix Review

Welcome to Formula One 2009 Lewis Hamilton, after a season of stewards enquiries, disqualifications, illegal doughnuts and being lapped by Jensen Button seemingly every race, The reigning world champion produced a stonking drive to dominate the Hungarian Gp, and remind everyone that he is still a world-class racing driver.



Mclaren meanwhile, showed that while they do produce a naf car every now and then, a la 2004, noboby but noboby is better at turning it into a race winner, a la 2004.

After an unusually q3 on the saturday where all the timing systems went blank, it emerged that Fernando Alonso was on pole,but running very light on fuel, with Vettel Webber and Hamilton behind him. Championship leader Button was 8th in his Brawn.

Alonso's decision to go so light on the fuel in qualy was two-fold, a) he wuold gain track position, and b) he would have very little time on the unwanted super soft tyres which were struggling on longer stints.

The beginning of the race saw plenty of action at the end, Hamilton Webber and Raikkonen trying to outmuscle each other into turn one, but on the run down to turn two Kimi and Vettel had the slightest of touches, no broken front wings, but Vettel would retire because of the incident.

Webber had won the battle to beat Hamilton into second while Alonso pulled out a small, but not too spectacular lead. Button meanwhile had temporarily dropped to 9th, only to pass Nakajima in a famous Button-esque manouvre at the start of lap2.

Only a few laps in to the race and Hamilton made his move on Webber, using his excellent KERS system, out-foxing the Red Bull man on the run down to turn 2. From here he could control the race as he wished.

Alonso was not pulling out the gap to Hamilton as he would have wished, the super softs struggling to do even just 10 laps around the twisty Hungaroring. PItting a lap or 2 early, the Renault dived in for a tyre and fuel change, only he resumed with 3 correctly fitted tyres, and one which was about to detach itself from the car around the back of circuit. Alonso cruised round back to the pits on 3 wheels, but his race was done.



(The incident would also see the FIA suspend the Renault team from the next grand prix in Valencia, on the grounds that they released Alonso back into the race in the knowledge that his car was unsafe)


This left Hamilton in the lead from Webber and Raikkonen in the sole Ferrari following Felipe Massa's horrifying crash in qualyfying, Raikkonen would later get the jump on Webber through the pit-stops and better handling of the tyres.

Nobody however, could consistantly match Hamilton, Webber, Raikkonen Vettel Rosberg and Button had their moments, but over the 77 laps Hamilton was in complete control and cruised to his 10th career victory. It was a great reward for the enormous effort put in by the Mclaren team in recent weeks,and further boosted by Kovalainens solid 5th place.

Vettels 4th DNf of the season allowed Webber to jump ahead of him and into 2nd place in the championship, less than 20points behind Button, who had a miserable weekend.

On raceday he found that any change in track temperature would see a dramatic fluctuattion in his lap times, when the circuit was hot, Button was on the pace of those in front, but it was not hot enough for long enough, and so for the majority of the race, Button was struggling with a poor handling car, a far cry from his perfect car of Istanbul.

Brawn will be worried about this race, they expected Red Bull to dominate Britain and Germany, but they also expected to be back on the podium at Hungary, which should have been a Brawn and Button circuit.

The Brawn is too temperature sensitive, any drop in the heat sees the cars times plummet. Now that the Red Bull is consistently at the front, taking big points off Brawn, and with Mclaren and Ferrari getting their acts together and Rosberg consistantly in the points,the championship could yet slip away from Button and his team.


. HAMILTON McLaren
2. RAIKKONEN Ferrari +11.5s
3. WEBBER Red Bull +16.8s
4. ROSBERG Williams +26.9s
5. KOVALAINEN McLaren +34.3s
6. GLOCK Toyota +35.2s
7. BUTTON Brawn +55.0s
8. TRULLI Toyota +68.1s

9. NAKAJIMA Williams +68.7s
10. BARRICHELLO Brawn +69.2s
11. HEIDFELD BMW +70.6s
12. PIQUET Renault +71.5s
13. KUBICA BMW +74.0s

14. FISICHELLA Force India +1 lap
15. ALGUERSUARI Toro Rosso +1 lap
16. BUEMI Toro Rosso +1 lap
17. VETTEL Red Bull +41 laps
18. ALONSO Renault +55 laps
19. SUTIL Force India +69 laps

Fastest lap: WEBBER 1m21.931s (lap 65)

1. Jenson Button Brawn GP 70
2. Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 51.5
3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 47
4. Rubens Barrichello Brawn GP 44
5. Nico Rosberg Williams 25.5
6. Jarno Trulli Toyota 22.5
7. Felipe Massa Ferrari 22
8. Lewis Hamilton McLaren Mercedes 19
9. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 18
10. Timo Glock Toyota 16

German Grand Prix Review

German Grand Prix result - 60 laps

1. WEBBER Red Bull

2. VETTEL Red Bull +9.2s
3. MASSA Ferrari +15.9s
4. ROSBERG Williams +21.0s
5. BUTTON Brawn +23.6s
6. BARRICHELLO Brawn +24.4s
7. ALONSO Renault +24.8s
8. KOVALAINEN McLaren +58.6s

This was one of the more exciting grand prix of the season, and resulted in the 3rd winner of the year. Mark Webber finally breaking his long overdue duck.

The Aussie was in a league of his own this weekend, being even more dominant than team-mate Vettel two weeks ago in Britain. Red Bull are on the charge right now and championship leader Jensen Button must be hoping for a heatwave in the next few races to get back on the podium and stop his ever decreasing title lead.

I typcial Mark Webber style, there were a few obstacles along the way, most of his own doing,the difference however, was that he was so fast, not one obstacle was going to stop him, everything was going to go his way sooner or later.

The start was certainly one of the most dramatic of 2009, Webber failed to make a great getaway and Barrichellio, starting 2nd, quickly pulled up alongside, many have felt the force of Webber's aggressive driving before, and today it was Rubens' turn, as they bumped tyre to sidepod heading down to turn one.





It was a very Schumacher-esque, bold move by Webber, but Rubens was not to be frightened and surged ahead. While keeping an eye on Barrichello, Webber had failed to spot the KERS supported Mclaren of Hamilton, rejuvenated after major improvements on the car. As the front trio entered the braking zone for turn one, Hamilton was inadvertantly squeezing Webber into Rubens, with the result being that the reigning champions right rear had the lightest of touches against the Red Bull front wing end plate, but it was enough to give the Mclaren a puncture and ruin the Britons race, he had been in the lead for all of 10 yards.

Behind Rubens and Webber, Vettel and Button both got swamped by the KERS boys of Kovalainen and Massa, and this would have a significant impact on the race result, as the Finnish Mclaren driver, without the new rear diffuser, was to hold up the men behind him at up to 2 seconds a lap.

As the front two pulled away at a rapid rate, the race was given a twist on lap 9, with the announcement from the stewards that the bumping between Webber and Barrichello was being investigated.

The eventual outcome was a drive through penalty for Webber,but by the time the announcement was made, and given the 3 laps allowed before the driver has to serve his penalty, the gap to Kovalainen was some 17seconds, more than enough to rejoin the race in the lead.

Webber made his drive through on the same lap as Rubens made his 1st of 3 stops at the end of lap 14.

Rubens resumed from his pitstop behind Kovalainen, but more crucially, behind Felipe Massa, again destroying his team mate in a race, and who would not be stopping for another 11 laps.

Webber's first stop was quick, and, switching from super softs to the harder compound for the long middle stint, rejoined the circuit some 12 seconds behind Barrichello who was being stuck behind Massa, and so he quickly cut the deficit to some 6s before the Ferrari pitted.

This did not help Barrichello at all, as the Brawn, struggling on the significant track temperature increase, was being eaten alive by the Aussie in the Red Bull, whose harder tyres were driving perfectly in the hotter weather.

The time Webber closed up to Rubens would win him the race, he had one stop less to make then the 9 time grand prix winner and was the fastest man in Europe this weekend.

Rubens needed to at least maintain the gap to Webber to have a chance of winning, if not increase it. But the Red Bull was in another race today and Rubens had to concede.

As Rubens made his second stop, Webber was gone, not to be seen again until the podium celebrations.

The Brawn's would eventually pay for having to go on a 3 stop strategy, being outraced by Massa and Nico Rosberg, who from 15th, was 9th by lap one and produced strong race pace.

Jensen Button had another tough race, being eaten by KERS cars at the start and never really being able to produce good lap times in a car that was struggling so much with its tyres. He and Barrichello can count themselves lucky that others hit trouble, otherwise 5th and 6th could have become much worse.

Raikkonen was not far behind Rosberg and Massa when he hit engine trouble, not before destroying Adrian Sutil's fantastic performance, having run as high as 2nd, he was on course for a top7 place before colliding with the 2007 champion after exciting the pits.



Another man who could have had a say in the Brawn's day was Fernando Alonso, who, showing some serious late race pace in the Renault, including setting the fastest lap by a large margin, was giving the former Honda team some serious pressure in the latter stages.

Hungary is next, in 2 weeks time, and Button will be keen to stop losing points to the Red Bull men, both of whom are one fine form, as is the car and the team. He will also be keen to stop being beaten by Massa and Rosberg, which could have a huge impact in the championship outcome.

Red Bull meantime will be gunning for a 3rd succesive 1-2, and now have 2 grand prix race winners who have never driven better, but will the hungaroring suit their fast-corner loving cars as much as in recent races?



Full German Grand Prix result - 60 laps

1. WEBBER Red Bull

2. VETTEL Red Bull +9.2s
3. MASSA Ferrari +15.9s
4. ROSBERG Williams +21.0s
5. BUTTON Brawn +23.6s
6. BARRICHELLO Brawn +24.4s
7. ALONSO Renault +24.8s
8. KOVALAINEN McLaren +58.6s

9. GLOCK Toyota +61.4s
10. HEIDFELD BMW +61.9s
11. FISICHELLA Force India +62.3s
12. NAKAJIMA Williams +62.8s
13. PIQUET Renault +68.3s
14. KUBICA BMW +69.5s
15. SUTIL Force India +71.9s
16. BUEMI Toro Rosso +90.2s
17. TRULLI Toyota +90.9s
18. HAMILTON McLaren +1 lap

R. RAIKKONEN Ferrari +25 laps
R. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso +41 laps

Fastest lap: ALONSO 1m33.365s

Drivers Championship Table.

1. Jenson Button Brawn GP 68
2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 47
3. Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 45.5
4. Rubens Barrichello Brawn GP 44
5. Felipe Massa Ferrari 22
6. Jarno Trulli Toyota 21.5
7. Nico Rosberg Williams 20.5

Constructors Table

1. Brawn GP 112
2. Red Bull Racing 92.5
3. Toyota 34.5
4. Ferrari 32
5. Williams 20.5
6. McLaren Mercedes 14
7. Renault 13
8. BMW Sauber 8
9. Scuderia Toro Rosso 5

British Grand Prix Review

8 Races in, 2 Winners, on the face of it it would appear to be a dull season,the fewest number of winners at this stage of a season since 2004. But that was the Schumacher era, this is an era of change.

Vettel stormed to this win at Silverstone, only Mark Webber had a sniff of battling with him at the weekend and he ruined his chances in qualyfying on saturday. Vettel is now 25 points behind runaway leader Button and you have to wonder if the German's errors in Melbourne, which cost him a podium, monaco, a probable points finish,and to a lesser extent turkey, are going to cost him this years world championship.

Vettel had this race bought and paid for by Saturday afternoon when he stuck it on pole with a brilliant lap whilst two laps heavier than his rivals. Webber said he was held up by Raikkonen but its unlikely he would have got his first career pole, he would however, have started ahead of Barrichello's Brawn.

Webbers last chance of victory was to beat tyhe Brazilian as the lights went out, he didnt, and Vettel won the race. The Red Bull was in a league of its own at the airfield circuit, and is unlikely to experience that sort of dominance again this season, Suzuka maybe? Brawn were 2nd fastest but miles off the Red Bull, they should however, be right back on it at Hockenheim and Hungary, so Red Bull are going to have their work cut out.

Vettel pulled a lead of a second a lap for the first stint, and was never seen again untill he mounted the podium. Behind him, Webber out raced Barrichello for 2nd, while the veteran Brazilian held off a strong fight from Nico Rosberg and Felipe Massa, untill a stronger fuel strategy saw him ease to the final podium slot. Massa managed to hold off Rosberg, strong drives from both these men, Massa is really getting a hold on Raikkonen, who really doesnt seem to care anymore. While Rosberg is picking up the middle points as expected of him since the season opener in March.

Yes I know, halfway through and I have barely mentioned Jensen Button,the man of 2009. He got blocked at the start, remained in 8th for most of the race, only to climb up to 6th at the final pit stops and mount a challenge on Rosberg and Massa, despite gaining at more than a second a lap, the new aero regs still dont allow much scope for overtaking, more work is needed it would appear.



Button knows that Brawn will be challenging again at the next few races, however he may be slightly concerned about the rate of development from Ferrari and Williams.

Further down the field, Trulli brought home his Toyota in 7th, dissapointing after starting 4th, while Raikkonen, after a fine start, saw his early light fuel load cost him dear as he fell to 8th, just holding off Glock, a fine drive from Fisichella, and a dejected Nakajima, who, after starting 5th, was first to pit on lap15 and could never find a way back, hes improved in the last couple of races, but still needs to up his overall race pace.

Most of the television coverage of this race focused on an almighty scrap at the back of the field, featuring 2 BMW's, 2 Torro Rosso's, 2 Mclarens and 2 Renaults. It wasnt so much of a fight as to who had the best car, more like who was making the least mistakes. Hamilton and Alonso in particular had some majorly brave moments at serious speed, no doubt ego's were playing a part!

The other Mclaren meanwhile, that of Kovalainen, seems to have major starting problems, he just seems to end lap 1 several places further back than he started, will Mclaren be looking for a replacement? If he doesnt improve soon, then maybe they will be. His clumsy coming together with Bourdais was strange, left,right, and then left again from the Mclaren, just what was he thinking.

Back to the front, and Sebastian Vettel must have wondered where everyone was on Sunday, such was his domination, Webber will know that if he cuts the mistakes,hes got the pace to match this new "Shumacher". Brawn will feel confident to come away with 9 points at a track they expected their nearest oponents to dominate. But will Ferrari, Toyota and Williams cause further problems?

Hockenheim next, normally better than most for close racing with a dash of overtaking, Red Bull are unlikely to have such an advantage so it could be quite a race! Button will be looking to reassert his 2009 dominance, while Red Bull will be looking to keep their momentum going to catch up the Brawn boys.


1. VETTEL Red Bull
2. WEBBER Red Bull +15.1s
3. BARRICHELLO Brawn +41.1s
4. MASSA Ferrari +45.0s
5. ROSBERG Williams +45.9s
6. BUTTON Brawn +46.2s
7. TRULLI Toyota +68.3s
8. RAIKKONEN Ferrari +69.6s

9. GLOCK Toyota +69.8s
10. FISICHELLA Force India +71.5s
11. NAKAJIMA Williams +74.0s
12. PIQUET Renault +1 lap
13. KUBICA BMW +1 lap
14. ALONSO Renault +1 lap
15. HEIDFELD BMW +1 lap
16. HAMILTON McLaren +1 lap
17. SUTIL Force India +1 lap
18. BUEMI Toro Rosso +1 lap

R. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso +23 laps
R. KOVALAINEN McLaren +24 laps

Fastest lap: VETTEL 1m20.735s


Drivers Championship

1. Jenson Button Brawn GP 64
2. Rubens Barrichello Brawn GP 41
3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 39
4. Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 35.5
5. Jarno Trulli Toyota 21.5
6. Felipe Massa Ferrari 16
7. Nico Rosberg Williams 15.5
8. Timo Glock Toyota 13

Drivers Championship- Round 7

Drivers Championship after 7 Rounds

Jenson Button 61
Rubens Barrichello 35
Sebastian Vettel 29
Mark Webber 27 ½
Jarno Trulli 19 ½
Timo Glock 13
Nico Rosberg 11 ½
Felipe Massa 11
Fernando Alonso 11
Kimi Räikkonen 9
Lewis Hamilton 9
Nick Heidfeld 6
Heikki Kovalainen 4
Sébastien Buemi 3
Robert Kubica 2
Sébastien Bourdais 2
Giancarlo Fisichella 0
Adrian Sutil 0
Nelson Piquet 0
Kazuki Nakajima 0

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)

Monaco Grand Prix Review

It's 5 out of 6 for Button and now he really is on his way to becoming Formula One World Champion. Other drivers to win 5 out of 6 races at the start of the season include Nigel Mansell, in 1992 and Michael Schumacher in 2002 and 2004, and they went on to dominate their respective seasons.

It was another faultless drive from the Englishman, he wasn't immediatedly happy with the car and was struggling to reach the top 5 in thursdays practice sessions. But, as he is frequently doing, builds up his pace over a weekend and reaches his pinnacle when he needs to, q3 and the race. His q3 lap was a fantastic lap, only just being Kimi Raikkonen's ferrari to the pole but the Brawn had more fuel onboard.

Barrichello again failed to really deliver when it mattered and wound up 3rd, ahead of a very lightly fuelled Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull who had his qualy lap ruined by Nakajima's Williams.


THe start would be crucial, if Raikkonen got ahead of Button then he had every chance of victory, as it was, Raikkonen had a slow getaway and was beaten into St.Devote by Barrichello.

Amazingly no front wings were damaged, and in the early laps Rubens hustled his team mate constantly, no more than a second behind, yet 10 laps in,he had slipped to over 5 seconds behind. Button again dealing with the super softs better than anybody else. Rubens was struggling, and thus, holding up the soft tyred Ferrari of Raikkonen, if Kimi could have got passed, he could have attacked Button, but it was't going to happen.

There was ovetaking further down the field however, Vettel's super softs had gone off horribly after just 5 laps, losing 3 seconds a lap on the leaders, Massa was all over him and twice got caught out at the chicane, which allowed Rosberg, to squeeze, literally, passed the Brazilian into tabac, it was a fantastic move which Massa would use himself on Vettel a few laps later.


This had left Massa 20seconds behind Button, and although he had the pace to match the Brawn's, being so far back ruled him out of it.

After the first round of stops, such was Barrichello's struggle on the super softs, that Button had a 15 second advantage, one he would not relenquish.

THe race was rather processional after the Vettel hold up. Buemi had rammed Piquet off the track at St Devote, an incident which looking back cost Piquet a point or two.

Bourdais would take advantage of this incident to pick up his second point of the season, holding off a strong challenge from Fisichella in the Force India in what was the team's best grand prix weekend yet.

Vettel ended his weekend in the wall at St. Devote, a lot of mistakes and incidents from the young german this season, ones that have cost him points, Melbourne, cost himself a podium, Malaysia he spun and stalled, and now Monaco. Couple that with bad starts in Bahrain and Spain, and you see how and why he is 28points behind the rampant Button.

Kovalainen capped off a miserable race day for Mclaren by losing it on the exit of the first part of the swimming pool. He would have finished 7th.

Rosberg and Alonso got the most out of their machinery to finish 6th and 7th.

While right at the back, Toyota and the BMW's had a weekend they want to forget in a hurry. Toyota should be right back in the points in Turkey, BMW however, will be bringing a new diffuser, what advantage it will bring, remains to be seen.

The Ferrari's have really caught up with the leaders in terms of raw pace and it will be interesting to see where to fit in in Turkey.

Red Bull again made mistakes which cost them, they should have put Vettel into more space in qualy3, he had to get the pole on such a light fuel load, while Webber's lap was poor. During the race Webber was strangely inconsistent, at times being the fastest man on the track, but others, losing up to a second a lap.

A third 1-2 for Brawn, the second in succession, and they now have double the points of their nearest challengers in the constructors race. With Ferrari now on the pace of Red Bull and Toyota still around, they are likely to take points off each other rather than Button. Only a few DNF's would give anyone a chance now.

Turkey next, a track which shud suit Red Bull and Ferrari, you can overtake, and KERS will have a role to play. The challengers have to start here to start taking points off Button.

. BUTTON Brawn 1h40m44.28s

2. BARRICHELLO Brawn +7.7s

3. RAIKKONEN Ferrari +13.4s

4. MASSA Ferrari +15.1s

5. WEBBER Red Bull +15.7s

6. ROSBERG Williams +33.6s

7. ALONSO Renault +37.8s

8. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso +63.1s

9. FISICHELLA Force India +65.0s

10. GLOCK Toyota +1 lap

11. HEIDFELD BMW +1 lap

12. HAMILTON McLaren +1 lap

13. TRULLI Toyota +1 lap

14. SUTIL Force India +1 lap

15. NAKAJIMA Williams +2 laps

R. KOVALAINEN McLaren +27 laps

R. KUBICA BMW +50 laps

R. VETTEL Red Bull +63 laps

R. PIQUET Renault +68 laps

R. BUEMI Toro Rosso +68 laps

Fastest lap: MASSA 1m15.154s (lap 50)

Drivers Championship

1. Jenson Button Brawn GP 51
2. Rubens Barrichello Brawn GP 35
3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 23
4. Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 19.5
5. Jarno Trulli Toyota 14.5
6. Timo Glock Toyota 12
7. Fernando Alonso Renault 11
8. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 9
9. Lewis Hamilton McLaren Mercedes 9
10. Felipe Massa Ferrari 8
11. Nico Rosberg Williams 7.5
12. Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 6
13. Heikki Kovalainen McLaren Mercedes 4
14. Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso 3
15. Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 2



1. Brawn GP 86
2. Red Bull Racing 42.5
3. Toyota 26.5
4. Ferrari 17
5. McLaren Mercedes 13
6. Renault 11
7. Williams 7.5
8. BMW Sauber 6
9. Scuderia Toro Rosso 5

Spanish Grand Prix

Not too sure how im going to pull out a decent lengthy review of the most dire circuit on the calender....but here we go!


It's that man again! Jensen Button stormed to win his 4th grand prix in 5 races, not getting boring is it?!

Button really is looking like a world champion and now has a 14 points advantage over his team-mate Barrichello, and is 18points ahead of Sebastian Vettel in his Red Bull.

What's more impressive is the Brawn teams' constructors points advantage! 29.5 points. The car is fast, and incredibly reliable, its a fantastic achievement alround and the team will have been delighted this week to have stayed ahead of the chasing pack who have brought enormous amounts of updates and new parts.

Brawn have said all season "Lets see where were at in Spain" and well, theyre at the front!

The spanish grand prix always promised to be dull, and it held up to its word. Aside from a first lap smash caused by a wayward Jarno Trulli which took out Sutil and caused the Torro Rosso's to collide. It was perhaps the most dull of event of the year so far, not that Brawn and Button would care.

Barrichello took the lead at the start from Button, while Massa held up Vettel and Webber. Behind them Alonso had shot up to 6 ahead of Rosberg and Glock who would go on to struggle in the Toyota.




Barrichello pulled out a slight advantage of his team-mate while Button pulled away from Massa. Little happened before the first round of stops, aside from Kovalainen and Raikkonen pulling up with gearbox and hydraulics problems respectively.

The first round of stops would effectively decide the outcome of the race. Button would decide to swap from an original 3 stop strategy to a 2 stop. Barrichello would stay on the 3 stop, thearetically faster than a 2 stop plan.

Button was first to stop, and with a longer stop and a heavier car, this is where Barrichello had to make his advantage after his stop a lap later.

Massa managed to emerge from his first stop ahead of Vettel and Webber, but Webber was fuelled for a long middle stint which would help him no end at the second and third stops. Vettel was destined to spend almost the entire race behind the Ferrari.

In the second stint Rubens only managed to pull out 13s on his team mate, but at least 20s was required and this pretty much meant Button just had to keep his pace up for his 4th win of the year, Barrichello requiring an extra stop of course.

After Barrichello's 2nd stop, Button simply controlled the race. The Brawns were too far ahead of Webber and Vettel for them to challenge. Webber had managed to leap-frog his team-mate and Felipe Massa into 3rd. While Massa remained in 4th untill ordered to conserve fuel late on after his pit crew had fuelled him short by a lap. Ferrari have to stop making mistakes.

This cost Massa 2 places and 2 points, and he has pretty much conceded that the championship is out of reach.

The rest of the points went to Alonso in 5th, Massa 6th, Heidfeld picked up 2 points in a stronger BMW for 7th, and Rosberg picked up a somewhat dissapointing solitary point.

Further down the field,(Button had lapped everybody up to Rosberg). Hamilton struggled to 9th, and is making no bones about the fact that his Mclaren is still a very poor car. Glock struggled like wise in 10th, Toyota have to bounce back quick to stop them falling from Red Bull and Brawn in the title race.

Kubica, Piquet and Nakijama had very quiet races to 11th,12th and 13th, while Fisichella came home last in 14th, despite setting the 8th fastest lap of the race. Fisi had fastest lap here in 1997 and 2005 so hes obviously quite an expert.

So Brawn continue to reign supreme. They have been slightly lucky in the last two grand prix that Red Bull have not had a clear run at them, but the start of the race is an important part and one the Red Bull men have to master.

Barrichello will be wondering how he can beat his unstoppable team-mate, perhaps Monaco will give him a chance?

1. BUTTON Brawn

2. BARRICHELLO Brawn +13.0s

3. WEBBER Red Bull +13.9s

4. VETTEL Red Bull +18.9s

5. ALONSO Renault +43.1s

6. MASSA Ferrari +50.8s

7. HEIDFELD BMW +52.3s

8. ROSBERG Williams +65.2s

9. HAMILTON McLaren +1 lap
10. GLOCK Toyota +1 lap

11. KUBICA BMW +1 lap

12. PIQUET Renault +1 lap

13. NAKAJIMA Williams +1 lap

14. FISICHELLA Force India +1 lap

R. RAIKKONEN Ferrari +49 laps

R. KOVALAINEN McLaren +59 laps

R. TRULLI Toyota +66 laps

R. BUEMI Toro Rosso +66 laps

R. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso +66 laps

R. SUTIL Force India +66 laps

Fastest lap: BARRICHELLO 1m22.762s (lap 28)

Drivers Championship

1. Jenson Button Brawn GP 41
2. Rubens Barrichello Brawn GP 27
3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 23
4. Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 15.5
5. Jarno Trulli Toyota 14.5
6. Timo Glock Toyota 12
7. Fernando Alonso Renault 9
8. Lewis Hamilton McLaren Mercedes 9