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Jenson Button’s superb season continued as he grabbed his fourth 2009 race win out of five at a tactical Spanish Grand Prix which Brawn GP totally dominated.
Team-mate Rubens Barrichello got past pole-sitter Button with a great start – but a strategy change benefited the Englishman, who pushed him into second.
Subtle complicity here. If a suggestion from Ross Brawn can ever be considered subtle.
Now, a day after the race, I think the details on lap times make it clear there were no team orders.
Red Bull’s Mark Webber was third ahead of team-mate Sebastian Vettel, who passed Felipe Massa’s Ferrari late on.
McLaren’s world champion Lewis Hamilton finished outside the points in ninth.
Massa ran third for much of the race, holding up Vettel’s faster Red Bull, but the Brazilian lost the place to Webber at the second pit stops thanks to clever strategy from Red Bull.
Massa then slipped down to sixth behind Vettel and Renault’s Fernando Alonso in the closing laps when the Brazilian was forced to go into fuel-saving mode when a problem at his pit stop meant not enough fuel was put into his car.
BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld and Williams’s Nico Rosberg finished seventh and eighth in the final points positions.
With a win that never looked in doubt after he had built up more than 11 seconds between his car and the rest of the field half-way through the race, Button has further stretched his lead at the top of the drivers’ championship and now sits 14 points ahead of Barrichello…
The sixth race of the season takes place on the street circuit of Monaco in two weeks’ time on 24 May.
Monaco – so difficult, so important to the history of motorsport, a feather in the cap of any driver good enough – and fortunate enough – to win there. There will be a TV breakfast party at our home. 🙂
hi,
what would be your opinion on that:
http://sportologia.wordpress.com/2009/05/09/f1-bmw-masters-of-mistakes/
rgs!
I’d just have to yodel with surprise. You don’t expect BMW to be so klutzy.