Formula One Racing Reviews

Webber wins F1 2010 Hungarian GP

2010-08-01T07:21:00.000-07:00

Mark Webber wins in Hungary and moves into the lead in the battle for the F1 2010 drivers' title.
Red Bull Racing's Mark Webber comes through to win the Hungarian Grand Prix today, a result that puts him top in the F1 2010 drivers' championship ahead of the summer break.

Webber, who qualified second behind his team-mate, Sebastian Vettel, dropped to third at the start when he lost out to Fernando Alonso. However while all of his main rivals stopped early on when the safety car was deployed for debris on the track, Webber stayed out. The Aussie then put in a massive charge which allowed him to build up a cushion and then still pit and re-join in the lead.

Fernando Alonso claimed second for Ferrari, just ahead of early leader, Vettel. Vettel lost out to the Spaniard after he got a drive-through penalty for exceeding ten car lengths behind the safety car.

Felipe Massa was a distant fourth in the second Ferrari, followed by Renault man Vitaly Petrov, Williams' Nico Hulkenberg and Sauber's Pedro de la Rosa, the latter finally opening his account for the season.

McLaren's Jenson Button claimed four points for eighth, with Kamui Kobayashi ninth – despite starting on the back-row of the grid.

Rubens Barrichello took P10 and the final point, passing Michael Schumacher near the end on the start-finish straight, although the German didn't make it easy, and almost put him in the wall. The stewards had said they will investigate the matter.

In terms of retirements, former championship leader Lewis Hamilton was the biggest casualty, forced out around a third of the way into the race with unconfirmed gearbox problems. Robert Kubica and Adrian Sutil also failed to go the distance, after crashing in the pits, while Nico Rosberg retired after losing one of his rear wheels. Jaime Alguersuari did not complete more than a couple of laps after his engine expired.
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1. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 70 laps 1hr 41m 05.571s
2. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 17.8s
3. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault +00m 19.2s
4. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 27.4s
5. Vitaly Petrov Russia Renault-Renault +01m 13.1s
6. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Williams-Cosworth +01m 16.7s
7. Pedro de la Rosa Spain BMW Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap
8. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes +1 lap
9. Kamui Kobayashi Japan BMW Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap
10. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Williams-Cosworth +1 lap

11. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +1 lap
12. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap
13. Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy Force India-Mercedes +1 lap
14. Heikki Kovalainen Finland Lotus-Cosworth +3 laps
15. Jarno Trulli Italy Lotus-Cosworth +3 laps
16. Timo Glock Germany Virgin-Cosworth +3 laps
17. Bruno Senna Brazil HRT-Cosworth +3 laps
18. Lucas di Grassi Brazil Virgin-Cosworth +4 laps
19. Sakon Yamamoto Japan HRT-Cosworth +4 laps

Rtd. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 24 laps completed (gearbox)
Rtd. Robert Kubica Poland Renault-Renault 24 laps completed
Rtd. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes 17 laps completed (lost wheel)
Rtd. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes 17 laps completed (accident)
Rtd. Jaime Alguersuari Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1 lap completed (engine)

Fernando Alonso wins the German Grand Prix

2010-07-25T07:26:00.000-07:00

Team order controversy returns as Alonso wins
Fernando Alonso wins the German Grand Prix, but its a win tainted by controversy as Felipe Massa is asked to allow his team-mate through
Fernando Alonso has secured his second victory of the 2010 F1 season, but it proved to be a somewhat hollow success after team-mate Felipe Massa was told to allow the Spaniard through.

At the start of the race, Massa had jumped into the lead with pole-sitter Sebastian Vettel being so focused on defending from Alonso that he failed to notice the Brazilian blasting up the outside on the run into turn one.

Alonso got ahead of Vettel into the opening corner to put the Ferraris into first and second and the top three managed to break away from the chasing pack, which was headed by the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton.

Hamilton had battled ahead of Mark Webber on the opening lap of the race after going down the inside into the hairpin, with Webber running fifth and Jenson Button sixth – the defending champion having been forced to lift off at turn one to avoid running into the rear of Vettel's Red Bull.

After the top three made their stops, Alonso was able to put Massa under pressure as the Brazilian struggled to come to terms with the harder compound tyres with Alonso making a move for the lead on lap 20 as they pair lapped Bruno Senna and Timo Glock heading into the hairpin.

Massa was able to retain his lead and a series of quick laps allowed him to open up an advantage of more than three seconds, before Alonso responded to bring the gap back down as the two leaders made their way through the backmarkers. Vettel meanwhile had been close to the squabbling Ferraris before losing time passing Senna having been lucky to avoid running into the Hispania man.

It looked like Massa was set to celebrate the first anniversary of his accident in Hungary with a popular victory, before race engineer Rob Smedley came on the radio to tell the Brazilian that 'Fernando is faster than you. Confirm you understand'.

While team orders may be banned, ironically as a result of Ferrari's actions in the past, it appeared to be a clear request for the Brazilian to cede position and on lap 49, he slowed exiting the hairpin to allow Alonso through – with Smedley then coming back on the radio to tell his driver he was sorry.

Alonso pulled away from Massa through the closing laps of the race to take the chequered flag just over four seconds clear of his team-mate, with Vettel closing on the Brazilian through the final laps of the race to finish a second further back. The German managed to secure the fastest lap of the race as he attempted to fight his way up to second place.
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German Grand Prix, Hockenheim – Race results
Fernando Alonso takes hollow victory over Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa after Brazilian told to move over at Hockenheim.

1. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari 67laps 1hr 27m 38.864s
2. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 04.1s
3. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault +00m 05.1s
4. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes +00m 26.8s
5. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes +00m 29.4s
6. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault +00m 43.6s
7. Robert Kubica Poland Renault-Renault +1 lap
8. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +1 lap
9. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +1 lap
10. Vitaly Petrov Russia Renault-Renault +1 lap

11. Kamui Kobayashi Japan BMW Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap
12. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Williams-Cosworth +1 lap
13. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Williams-Cosworth +1 lap
14. Pedro de la Rosa Spain BMW Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap
15. Jaime Alguersuari Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap
16. Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy Force India-Mercedes +2 laps
17. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes +2 laps
18. Timo Glock Germany Virgin-Cosworth +3 laps
19. Bruno Senna Brazil HRT-Cosworth +4 laps

Rtd Heikki Kovalainen Finland Lotus-Cosworth 56 laps completed
Rtd Lucas di Grassi Brazil Virgin-Cosworth 50 laps completed
Rtd Sakon Yamamoto Japan HRT-Cosworth 19 laps completed
Rtd Jarno Trulli Italy Lotus-Cosworth 3 laps completed
Rtd Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari 0 laps completed

Webber wins F1 2010 British GP

2010-07-11T11:27:00.001-07:00

Mark Webber wins at Silverstone for Red Bull and then tells his team over the radio at the finish that it was: 'Not bad for a number two driver' eh?
Red Bull Racing's Mark Webber came through to win the British Grand Prix this afternoon, the tenth round in the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship.

Webber, who qualified second, took the lead at the start and after that he claimed the victory with relative ease. It was the perfect response from the Australian, who felt hard done by on Saturday, when team boss Christian Horner took the decision to hand 'his' new front wing to Sebastian Vettel for qualifying. He showed his continued displeasure at the finish too, by telling his team over the radio that his performance was 'not bad for a number two driver'.

Vettel had to settle for seventh in the end, having picked up a puncture at the start - possibly following contact with Lewis Hamilton's front wing. That dropped the German right to the back, but he managed to fight his way into the points after a safety car period mid-race bunched up the pack.

Lewis Hamilton meanwhile took second for McLaren, much to the joy of the local crowd. He had no answer to Webber though, and despite trading fastest laps, never look likely to take gold.

Nico Rosberg completed the podium for Mercedes, just in front of reigning world champion, Jenson Button, who was sensational and claimed P4, despite starting way down in 14th.

Rubens Barrichello completed the top five for Williams followed by Kamui Kobayashi's Sauber, then Vettel and Force India F1 man Adrian Sutil. Michael Schumacher and Nico Hulkenberg round out the top ten.

Ferrari had a dismal race and failed to score, with Fernando Alonso 14th and Felipe Massa 15th. Alonso will quite justifiably though, feel aggrieved. He was running well and on course to finish in the top-five, until he got a drive-through for cutting the corner when he passed Robert Kubica. That cost him dear as he had to take it straight after the SC period and so he dropped right out of contention. Alonso set the fastest lap at the end, but that was scant consolation.

Race Results - British Grand Prix 2010

2010-07-11T11:23:00.000-07:00

1. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 52 laps 1hr 24m 38.200s
2. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes +1.3s
3. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +21.3s
4. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes +21.9s
5. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Williams-Cosworth +31.4s
6. Kamui Kobayashi Japan BMW Sauber-Ferrari +32.1s
7. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault +36.7s
8. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes +40.9s
9. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +41.5s
10. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Williams-Cosworth +42.0s

11. Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy Force India-Mercedes +42.4s
12. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari +47.6s
13. Vitaly Petrov Russia Renault-Renault +59.3s
14. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari +62.3s
15. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari +67.4s
16. Jarno Trulli Italy Lotus-Cosworth +1 lap
17. Heikki Kovalainen Finland Lotus-Cosworth +1 lap
18. Timo Glock Germany Virgin-Cosworth +2 laps
19. Karun Chandhok India HRT-Cosworth +2 laps
20. Sakon Yamamoto Japan HRT-Cosworth +2 laps

Rtd. Jaime Alguersuari Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari 44 laps completed
Rtd. Pedro de la Rosa Spain BMW Sauber-Ferrari 29 laps completed
Rtd. Robert Kubica Poland Renault-Renault 19 laps completed
Rtd. Lucas di Grassi Brazil Virgin-Cosworth 9 laps completed

British Grand Prix: Vettel takes pole position

2010-07-10T17:16:00.000-07:00

Sebastian Vettel pips Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber to Silverstone pole, with the rest trailing...
1. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 1m 29.615s
2. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 1m 29.758s
3. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 30.426s
4. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1m 30.556s
5. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 30.625s
6. Robert Kubica Poland Renault-Renault 1m 31.040s
7. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 31.172s
8. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Williams-Cosworth 1m 31.175s
9. Pedro de la Rosa Spain BMW Sauber-Ferrari 1m 31.274s
10. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 31.430s

11. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes 1m 31.399s
12. Kamui Kobayashi Japan BMW Sauber-Ferrari 1m 31.421s
13. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Williams-Cosworth 1m 31.635s
14. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1m 31.699s
15. Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy Force India-Mercedes 1m 31.708s
16. Vitaly Petrov Russia Renault-Renault 1m 31.796s
17. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 32.012s

18. Jaime Alguersuari Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 32.430s
19. Heikki Kovalainen Finland Lotus-Cosworth 1m 34.405s
20. Timo Glock Germany Virgin-Cosworth 1m 34.775s
21. Jarno Trulli Italy Lotus-Cosworth 1m 34.864s
22. Lucas di Grassi Brazil Virgin-Cosworth 1m 35.212s
23. Karun Chandhok India HRT-Cosworth 1m 36.546s
24. Sakon Yamamoto Japan HRT-Cosworth 1m 36.968s

Vettel wins European GP

2010-06-28T06:22:00.001-07:00

Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel came through to win the European Grand Prix this afternoon ahead of McLaren men Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.
Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel came through to win the European Grand Prix this afternoon at Valencia in Spain, the ninth round in the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship.

Vettel, who started from pole, led throughout and in the end took the victory with relative ease, after Lewis Hamilton's challenge was halted by a drive-through.

The Englishman was handed the penalty after over-taking the safety car, which was deployed after Mark Webber and Heikki Kovalainen came together in the early stages. Webber and Kovalainen were both uninjured, despite the fact it was a scary collision with the former's Red Bull flying through the air.

Jenson Button claimed third, while Williams' Rubens Barrichello and the Renault of Robert Kubica came in fourth and fifth respectively.

Adrian Sutil completed the top six in his Force India ahead of Kamui Kobayashi, who dived by Sebastien Buemi in the final corner. Fernando Alonso and Pedro de la Rosa took the final points' positions, with Vitaly Petrov 11th and Nico Rosberg 12th for Mercedes.

The classification however, remains provisional as nine cars are under investigation for speeding behind the safety car - including top-ten finishers Button, Barrichello, Kubica, Sutil, Buemi and de la Rosa.

European Grand Prix - Race results

2010-06-28T06:17:00.000-07:00

1. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 57 laps 1hr 40m 29.571s
2. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes +5.0s
3. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes +12.6s*
4. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Williams-Cosworth +25.6s*
5. Robert Kubica Poland Renault-Renault +27.1s*
6. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes +30.1s*
7. Kamui Kobayashi Japan BMW Sauber-Ferrari +30.9s
8. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari +32.8s
9. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari +36.2s*
10. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +44.3s

11. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari +46.6s
12. Pedro de la Rosa Spain BMW Sauber-Ferrari +47.4s*
13. Jaime Alguersuari Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari +48.2s*
14. Vitaly Petrov Russia Renault-Renault +48.2s*
15. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +48.8s
16. Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy Force India-Mercedes +50.8s*
17. Lucas di Grassi Brazil Virgin-Cosworth +1 lap
18. Karun Chandhok India HRT-Cosworth +2 laps
19. Timo Glock Germany Virgin-Cosworth +2 laps**
20. Bruno Senna Brazil HRT-Cosworth +2 laps
21. Jarno Trulli Italy Lotus-Cosworth +4 laps

Rtd. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Williams-Cosworth 49 laps completed mechanical*
Rtd. Heikki Kovalainen Finland Lotus-Cosworth 8 laps completed accident
Rtd. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 8 laps completed accident

Vettel Wins Pole Position at Valencia

2010-06-26T17:02:00.000-07:00

Vettel heads Red Bull 1-2 in Valencia qualifying

Sebastian Vettel shows Canada was just a blip and puts Red Bull back on pole for the European GP, the team's eighth P1 of the F1 2010 season.
Sebastian Vettel re-asserted Red Bull Racing's authority in qualifying today for the European Grand Prix at Valencia in Spain by heading the pack and claiming his fourth pole position of the F1 2010 season.

Vettel, who had been fastest in final practice this morning, was on it throughout qualifying, posting the second best effort in Q1 and the fastest time in Q2 and Q3. He ended the session on a 1 minute 37.587 seconds, the best of the weekend.

Mark Webber meanwhile was next up, to give the Milton Keynes-based outfit its fourth front row lock of the season. Webber had held top spot through the first half of the top-ten shoot-out, but was pipped near the end and though he improved on his final run, it wasn't quite enough. He finished up just 0.075s adrift.

Lewis Hamilton took third and was the only other man in the 1m 37s. He was lucky to hang onto the place though after losing the rear end of his McLaren into turn 17 on his final run and blowing any hope of matching his Canadian GP pole of two weeks ago.

Fernando Alonso completes the second row, and given he was at the top of the times in practice on Friday, was disappointingly almost half a second off P1 in his Ferrari F10. His team-mate and inaugural Valencia GP race winner, Felipe Massa will start fifth, on a 1m 38.127s, just 0.052s slower.

Robert Kubica was again a force to be reckoned with in his Renault and took P6, ahead of reigning F1 world champion, Jenson Button, who made a mistake on his final lap. The Englishman was not at all pleased.

F1 2010 rookie's Nico Hulkenberg and Vitaly Petrov both made it into the final part of qualifying and will start eighth and tenth, sandwiching the Williams of veteran, Rubens Barrichello. Barrichello incidentally set exactly the same time as his team-mate, Hulkenberg, a 1m 28.428s, but starts one place slower as he posted the marker later on.

While Williams had much to celebrate though, especially given this year has been quite tough to date, Mercedes and Force India were both left looking a bit lacklustre and went out in Q2. They weren't even on the cusp either, as that 'honour' went to Sebastien Buemi and Toro Rosso, who was P11 in the second session.

Mercedes men Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher will thus line-up 12th and 15th respectively, with FIF1's Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi slotted in-between in 13th and 14th. Schumacher, who was criticised after his performance in Montreal, only just made out of Q3 too, posting a time to lift him up to 12th right at the end. However he continued to struggle in Q2, with reports suggesting he had some sort of power steering issue. It was his worst qualifying position since opting to return to F1 at the start of the year.

Lewis Hamilton's second successive victory

2010-06-13T15:34:00.001-07:00

Lewis Hamilton increases the momentum behind his F1 title bid with a second successive victory.

Lewis Hamilton insisted he was thrilled with his second successive victory in the 2010 F1 season in Canada – reflecting afterwards that he was hopeful that McLaren would now be able to make the most of the increasing momentum behind the Woking-based team.

In a dramatic race in Montreal, the scene of his maiden F1 victory back in 2007, Hamilton was able to master challenging conditions brought about by severe tyre wear to lead McLaren to a second straight 1-2 finish..

The victory also allowed Hamilton to jump into the lead of the drivers' championship standings.

“It was an incredibly challenging afternoon, especially in the last 20 laps, when I was trying to look after my tyres while also keeping Jenson and Fernando [Alonso] behind me,” he said. “It wasn't easy, I can tell you that!

“In terms of pure pace, I still think the Red Bull car is still a little bit faster than ours. But, as a whole, I think our package is now stronger. So, going forward, we need to build on the progress we've made recently, and we're going to do just that; we'll now knuckle down and make a really big effort to increase that gap.

“We've got good momentum now, so I hope we can continue our winning run through to Valencia in two weeks' time.”

Hamilton added that the whole McLaren team had been lifted by recent results and insisted that things were now 'better than ever' as he and Jenson Button chase championship success.

“The feeling and atmosphere within the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team is better than ever,” he said. “The contribution that Jenson has brought is the best I've ever witnessed from a team-mate. He did another great job today to come from fourth to second – he's doing his part and I'm doing mine. The team is happier than ever.

“This has been a truly fantastic day.”

Canadian Grand Prix - Race results

2010-06-13T15:29:00.000-07:00

Lewis Hamilton wins his second race in succession in Canada at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve with team-mate Jenson Button again in the runners-up spot in the sister McLaren.
1. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 70 laps 1hr 33m 53.456s
2. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes +2.2s
3. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari +9.2s
4. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault +37.8s
5. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault +39.2s
6. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +56.0s
7. Robert Kubica Poland Renault-Renault +57.3s
8. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap
9. Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy Force India-Mercedes +1 lap
10. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes +1 lap
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11. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +1 lap
12. Jaime Alguersuari Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap
13. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Williams-Cosworth +1 lap
14. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Williams-Cosworth +1 lap
15. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari +1 lap
16. Heikki Kovalainen Finland Lotus-Cosworth +2 laps
17. Vitaly Petrov Russia Renault-Renault +2 laps
18. Karun Chandhok India HRT-Cosworth +4 laps
19. Lucas di Grassi Brazil Virgin-Cosworth +5 laps

Rtd. Timo Glock Germany Virgin-Cosworth 50 laps completed
Rtd. Jarno Trulli Italy Lotus-Cosworth 42 laps completed
Rtd. Pedro de la Rosa Spain BMW Sauber-Ferrari 30 laps completed
Rtd. Bruno Senna Brazil HRT-Cosworth 13 laps completed
Rtd. Kamui Kobayashi Japan BMW Sauber-Ferrari 1 lap completed

Fastest lap:

Robert Kubica Poland Renault-Renault 1m 16.972s

McLaren Bounced Back in Turkey

2010-05-30T09:54:00.001-07:00

McLaren 1-2 after Red Bulls crash
McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain, right, and McLaren Mercedes driver Jenson Button of Britain steer their cars during the Turkish Formula One Grand Prix.

McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain, right, and McLaren Mercedes driver Jenson Button of Britain steer their cars during the Turkish Formula One Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton led a McLaren 1-2 at the Turkish Grand Prix on Sunday after a run-in between teammates Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel denied Red Bull a sweep.

The Red Bull pair touched as Vettel looked to pass along the Istanbul Park Circuit's fastest section, causing the German driver to spin out of the race. Webber, who had led for the entire 40 laps to that point, recovered for third behind Jenson Button as Red Bull's pit-lane team looked on in astonishment.

The McLaren team also tensed up near the end as its drivers exchanged the lead but Hamilton eventually earned his first win of the season by 2.6 seconds after rain had sprinkled the circuit.

"It was quite an exciting race," said Hamilton, the 2008 champion.

Webber leads Formula One's driver standings with 93 points, while Button moved into second with 88 points - four more than Hamilton. Fernando Alonso of Ferrari finished eighth to improve to 79 points and Vettel stayed on 78.

The race was filled with excitement following the dramatic incident between the Red Bull drivers.

Vettel moved inside Webber as the two raced down the last straight but appeared to try to close his teammate off early. The pair touched wheels, sending Vettel sliding into the gravel as bits of his car - including his rear left tire - went flying off. Vettel raised his hands at Webber, who returned to the track but lost ground on the McLarens after pitting to repair the damage.

Webber had won the last two races from pole but finished 24.2 seconds back this time.
Button and Hamilton battled along the same stretch a few laps later. Button got past by the start of lap 50 before Hamilton retook the lead around the first set of corners to deny his teammate a second straight win at the "Otodrom."

Vettel's accident allowed the rest of the field to move up one spot as Michael Schumacher finished fourth ahead of Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg. Robert Kubica of Renault was sixth ahead of Ferrari's Felipe Massa.

Vettel jumped ahead of Hamilton out of the start to sit behind Webber but Hamilton quickly regained his place soon after, as did teammate Button by the last corner of the first lap after Schumacher had got ahead.

Hamilton tried in vain to pass Webber on the anticlockwise track but the Australian driver held him off until the 16th lap, when the front two pitted. Hamilton re-emerged behind Vettel, who had changed tires one lap earlier.

Hamilton, with Button behind him, pressured Vettel throughout but could not get past as the German driver kept him at bay until the late drama.

While the two leading teams battled for podium order, Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault fought behind them as Alonso worked his way up from 12th.

Adrian Sutil of Force India was ninth while Kamui Kobayashi picked up Sauber's first points of the season with a 10th-place finish. - AP
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1. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 58 laps 1hr 28m 47.620s
2. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes +00m 02.6s
3. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault +00m 24.2s
4. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +00m 31.1s
5. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +00m 32.2s
6. Robert Kubica Poland Renault-Renault +00m 32.8s
7. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 36.6s
8. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 46.5s
9. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes +00m 49.0s
10. Kamui Kobayashi Japan BMW Sauber-Ferrari +01m 05.6s

11. Pedro de la Rosa Spain BMW Sauber-Ferrari +01m 05.9s
12. Jaime Alguersuari Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari +01m 07.8s
13. Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy Force India-Mercedes +1 lap
14. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Williams-Cosworth +1 lap
15. Vitaly Petrov Russia Renault-Renault +1 lap
16. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap
17. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Williams-Cosworth +1 lap
18. Timo Glock Germany Virgin-Cosworth +3 laps
19 Lucas di Grassi Brazil Virgin-Cosworth +3 laps
20. Karun Chandhok India HRT-Cosworth +6 laps

Rtd Bruno Senna Brazil HRT-Cosworth 46 laps completed
Rtd Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 39 laps completed
Rtd Heikki Kovalainen Finland Lotus-Cosworth 33 laps completed
Rtd Jarno Trulli Italy Lotus-Cosworth 32 laps completed

Webber conquers Monaco

2010-05-21T13:10:00.000-07:00

Mark Webber leads from start-to-finish to win the Monaco Grand Prix for Red Bull
Just a week after winning the Spanish Grand Prix, Mark Webber ruled the roost on the streets of Monte Carlo with a dominant victory in the Monaco Grand Prix – moving him into the lead of the F1 drivers' standings in the process.

The Red Bull ace qualified on pole position and led the race from start to finish, establishing an advantage early on that he would retain throughout despite a race hit by no fewer than four Safety Car periods.

When the lights went out, Webber made the perfect start to lead into turn one, but behind, team-mate Sebastian Vettel was able to jump ahead of Robert Kubica. Further back, Rubens Barrichello jumped up to sixth from ninth but Jenson Button went the other way and slipped down to eleventh.

Although the pack made it through the opening corner unscathed, the Safety Car was soon deployed when Nico Hulkenberg – who had dropped to the rear of the field with a clutch issue – went off going through the tunnel.

There was further drama behind the Safety Car when points leader Button then stopped with smoke pouring from the rear of his McLaren – possibly down to the team failing to remove a blanking plate from the sidepod as the Briton headed round to the grid.

The Safety Car period allowed Fernando Alonso – who had started from pitlane due to his practice accident – to make an early stop for medium tyres and it would prove to be a key call for the Ferrari man as the race wore on.

When the Safety Car peeled in, Webber led from Vettel and Kubica with Felipe Massa slotting into fourth and Lewis Hamilton and Barrichello rounding out the top six. Michael Schumacher had jumped Nico Rosberg for seventh at the start with Tonio Liuzzi and Adrian Sutil rounding out the top ten.

Those positions would remain unchanged as Webber eased away at the front of the field with all eyes on Alonso at the back as he set about making up places. Although Lucas di Grassi in the Virgin made it difficult, Alonso soon cleared the backmarkers and when Hamilton became the first runner to stop and rejoined just ahead of Alonso, it became clear that the early stop had put him right into contention.

By the time all the stops had taken place, Webber continued to lead from Vettel, Kubica, Massa and Hamilton, but Alonso had now jumped to sixth ahead of Schumacher, Rosberg, Sutil and Barrichello – who was one of the big losers during the stops.

Monaco Grand Prix – Race results

2010-05-21T13:09:00.000-07:00

Mark Webber heads Red Bull 1-2 on streets of Monaco.
1. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 78 laps 1hr 50m 13.355s
2. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault +00m 00.4s
3. Robert Kubica Poland Renault-Renault +00m 01.6s
4. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 02.6s
5. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes +00m 04.3s
6. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 06.3s
7. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +00m 06.6s
8. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes +00m 06.9s
9. Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy Force India-Mercedes +00m 07.3s
10. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari +00m 08.1s

11. Jaime Alguersuari Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari +00m 09.1s
12. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +00m 25.7s
13. Vitaly Petrov Russia Renault-Renault +5 laps [DNF]
14. Karun Chandhok India HRT-Cosworth +8 laps [DNF]
15. Jarno Trulli Italy Lotus-Cosworth +8 laps [DNF]

Rtd Heikki Kovalainen Finland Lotus-Cosworth 58 laps completed
Rtd Bruno Senna Brazil HRT-Cosworth 58 laps completed
Rtd Rubens Barrichello Brazil Williams-Cosworth 30 laps completed
Rtd Kamui Kobayashi Japan BMW Sauber-Ferrari 26 laps completed
Rtd Lucas di Grassi Brazil Virgin-Cosworth 25 laps completed
Rtd Timo Glock Germany Virgin-Cosworth 22 laps completed
Rtd Pedro de la Rosa Spain BMW Sauber-Ferrari 21 laps completed
Rtd Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes 2 laps completed
Rtd Nico Hulkenberg Germany Williams-Cosworth 0 laps completed

Fastest lap:

Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 1m 15.192s lap 71

Webber takes Spanish Grand Prix with ease

2010-05-09T07:40:00.001-07:00

Mark Webber cruised to victory in the Spanish Grand Prix, as his pursuers hit trouble in Barcelona.

Mark Webber confirmed the Circuit de Catalunya's reputation for rewarding polesitters by becoming the first driver to win from the front of the grid in five races in 2010.

While the poleman struggled to find the top step of the podium during the four 'flyaway' races, Webber lived up to the Spanish circuit's record by becoming the tenth man to lead from lights to flag, claiming a comprehensive victory to open his account for 2010.

The Australian held his hard-earned qualifying advantage off the line and then pulled comfortably away from Red Bull Racing team-mate Sebastian Vettel. Likewise Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso held station in third and fourth, leaving the action to the rear of the field, where Sebastien Buemi clipped Pedro de la Rosa, forcing both to pit for repairs - and, ultimately, head into retirement.

Bruno Senna also departed the fray, on the opening lap, while Heikki Kovalainen didn't even make the start, after gearbox problems hobbled his Lotus. Karun Chandhok completed the casualties making it a bad day for 'home' team HRT.

As well as continuing to crown polewinners, Barcelona also lived down to its reputation of providing a largely uneventful race, with only the pit-stops and unreliability helping to shuffle to order. Vettel suffered with a slow stop, allowing Hamilton to vault him for second as the pair came across Lucas di Grassi entering turn one, while Michael Schumacher was also able to swap places with Jenson Button after the Briton similarly suffered during his tyre change.

Neither Hamilton or Vettel was able to claim the reward their grid position suggested, however, with the Briton suffering a penultimate lap rim failure that sent him into the turn three tyre barrier, and Vettel's brakes gave out, forcing the Red Bull team to urge the German to calm his pace after a precautionary second pit-stop.

The late drama promoted home hero Alonso to second place, with Vettel soldiering on to complete the podium in third. Schumacher also benefited, confirming his best result since returning from retirement in fourth place, one ahead of a frustrated Button, who was unable to find a way past the Mercedes.

Felipe Massa overcame a damaged front wing for sixth, coming home ahead of Adrian Sutil, Robert Kubica, Rubens Barrichello - despite the Brazilian's poor qualifying - and Jaime Alguersuari, who ensured two point-scorers for Spain.

Spanish Grand Prix, Barcelona – Race results 2010

2010-05-09T07:32:00.000-07:00

1. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 66 laps 1hr 35m 44.101s
2. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 24.0s
3. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault +00m 51.3s
4. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +01m 02.1s
5. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes +01m 03.7s
6. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari +01m 05.7s
7. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes +01m 12.9s
8. Robert Kubica Poland Renault-Renault +01m 13.6s
9. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Williams-Cosworth +1 lap
10. Jaime Alguersuari Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap

11. Vitaly Petrov Russia Renault-Renault +1 lap
12. Kamui Kobayashi Japan BMW Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap
13. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +1 lap
14. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes +2 laps [DNF]
15. Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy Force India-Mercedes +2 laps [DNF]
16. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Williams-Cosworth +2 laps
17. Jarno Trulli Italy Lotus-Cosworth +3 laps
18. Timo Glock Germany Virgin-Cosworth +3 laps
19. Lucas di Grassi Brazil Virgin-Cosworth +4 laps

Rtd Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari 42 laps completed
Rtd Karun Chandhok India HRT-Cosworth 27 laps completed
Rtd Pedro de la Rosa Spain BMW Sauber-Ferrari 18 laps completed
Rtd Bruno Senna Brazil HRT-Cosworth 0 laps completed

Dns Heikki Kovalainen Finland Lotus-Cosworth

Fastest lap:

Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1m 24.357s lap 59

Jenson Button win the Chinese Grand Prix 2010

2010-04-18T04:34:00.001-07:00

SHANGHAI (AP) — Jenson Button gambled on tire strategy to win the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday, beating teammate Lewis Hamilton for a 1-2 finish for McLaren.

Button, the reigning world champion, vaulted to the top of the Formula One standings by employing some cool-headed decision making amid the chaos of changing weather conditions which forced most drivers to pit at least four times. Button, by contrast, made only two stops.

Rain began to fall just before the race started, yet all the cars started on dry-weather tires. A dampening track soon forced a critical decision. Many of the leaders elected to change to wet-weather tires after a couple of laps, while Button, and third-place finisher Nico Rosberg chose to stay out on dry-weather tires.

Drivers who had changed to wet-weather ones soon found the treaded tires were wearing quickly and after three or four more laps, returned to the pits to change back. That allowed Button, Rosberg and Renault's Robert Kubica to dash to the front.

"It was my best race victory," Button said. "This one was pretty special because it was very tough conditions.

"It was a tricky race out there and again we called it right," Button said. "It was not just about being quick, it's about reading the conditions.

"Sometimes you have to take those risks. That is what won us the race — being on the right tire and the right time made all the difference."

Vettel takes pole position in Shanghai

2010-04-17T19:36:00.000-07:00

We're proving that we have a very good car indeed, says Vettel.

Sebastian Vettel claims his third pole position of the year - and Red Bull's fourth in a row in China as the Milton-Keynes-based outfit locks-out the front row of the grid.

Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel produced a 'phenomenal' lap to secure pole for the Chinese Grand Prix today and after struggling in practice he was delighted to get the better of his team-mate, Mark Webber.

Vettel took the top spot in the end by some margin, posting a 1 minute 34.558 second lap, which was 0.248 seconds up on the sister car. It was another great result for the German, who won last time out in Malaysia and who has started from pole in three of the four first races.

Speaking after he paid tribute to his mechanics who had worked flat-out between final practice and qualifying to adjust the set-up on his Renault-powered RB6 to try and make it more to his liking.

"It was tough today. I was not happy yesterday and this morning, as Mark was quite a bit quicker than me," Vettel conceded. "We made some changes to the car in Mark's direction [after FP3], but it was still extremely difficult.

"I was struggling in the first sector, but then I got a purple (fastest) time in sector one on my last lap, so I think we made a good step forward! I found a better line that worked, remembering things from last year.

"I lost my way a little bit in free practice this morning, but I had two very good runs in Q3. I think the first would have already been a good time, but I was too wide in the last corner. The second run was better – it was a fantastic lap.

"We got a fourth consecutive pole position for Red Bull now. We're proving that we have a very good car, no matter what the circuit. I'm very pleased with today. Thanks to the mechanics, as they had zero lunch due to all the changes that were required between free practice and qualifying."

Red Bull Racing team boss, Christian Horner meanwhile was delighted to see his two drivers lock-out the front-row, something they had also managed to do in Australia.

He also took the opportunity on the team radio to send a message to RBR's rivals - who had previously maintained the outfit had some sort of special suspension system - by declaring: "Who needs ride height-control?"

"I have no idea where Sebastian produced that last lap from, it was quite phenomenal," Horner added. "Mark was in great shape throughout qualifying today too and got pipped right at the end there. So, both cars at the front of the grid again for another Red Bull Racing one two. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's race."

Sebastian Vettel wins Malaysian Grand Prix 2010

2010-04-04T04:00:00.000-07:00

Sebastian Vettel heads home team-mate Mark Webber for a Red Bull 1-2 with Nico Rosberg third for Mercedes.

Sebastian Vettel took victory in the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday ahead of team-mate Mark Webber as Red Bull Racing finally realised the potential it had shown in the opening two races.

Vettel took the lead from team-mate Mark Webber at the start and then headed the pack pretty much throughout. It was a welcome - and some might say crucial - result for the Milton Keynes-based outfit after reliability woes cost the team victories in Bahrain and Australia.

Nico Rosberg took the final spot on the podium for Mercedes followed by Robert Kubica's Renault and Adrian Sutil, who held off Lewis Hamilton, to take sixth for Force India.

Felipe Massa was seventh for Ferrari with Jenson Button eighth and Jaime Alguersuari ninth in his Toro Rosso. Nico Hulkenberg took the final point in tenth.

Malaysian Grand Prix - Race Results

2010-04-04T03:57:00.000-07:00

1. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 56 laps 1hr 33m 48.412s
2. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault +04.8s
3. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +13.5s
4. Robert Kubica Poland Renault-Renault +18.5s
5. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes +21.0s
6. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes +23.4s
7. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari +27.0s
8. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes +37.9s
9. Jaime Alguersuari Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari +70.6s
10. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Williams-Cosworth +73.3s

11. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari +78.9s
12. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Williams-Cosworth +1 lap
13. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari +2 laps
14. Lucas di Grassi Brazil Virgin-Cosworth +3 laps
15. Karun Chandhok India HRT-Cosworth +3 laps
16. Bruno Senna Brazil HRT-Cosworth +4 laps
17. Jarno Trulli Italy Lotus-Cosworth +5 laps

Rtd. Heikki Kovalainen Finland Lotus-Cosworth 46 laps completed
Rtd. Vitaly Petrov Russia Renault-Renault 32 laps completed
Rtd. Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy Force India-Mercedes 12 laps completed
Rtd. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes-Mercedes 9 laps completed (mechanical)
Rtd. Kamui Kobayashi Japan BMW Sauber-Ferrari 8 laps completed (mechanical)
Rtd. Timo Glock Germany Virgin-Cosworth 2 laps completed (accident)

Dns. Pedro de la Rosa Spain BMW Sauber-Ferrari 0 laps completed (engine)

2010 Jenson Button wins Australian Grand Prix

2010-03-28T04:41:00.000-07:00

Button calls shots for superb Melbourne F1 triumph

Jenson Button made an audacious early tyre call pay off to perfection as his smooth driving style and level-headed calmness earned the defending F1 World Champion a superb victory in the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne
The critics had written him off, he himself admitted that he thought he had made 'a catastrophic decision' early on in electing to becoming the first driver to change over to slick tyres in the 2010 Australian Grand Prix – but reigning F1 World Champion Jenson Button has kicked his challenge for title glory firmly into gear with a brilliant victory in Melbourne, twelve months on from the triumph that launched a successful title challenge.

With the biggest Albert Park crowd in years, precipitation hanging in the air in the build-up to the race and rain increasingly threatening, the heavens opening barely ten minutes before the start turned proceedings into a lottery, with all competitors heading out on intermediates and grip at a real premium. All the ingredients were there for a Formula 1 thriller – and that is precisely what we would get.

A textbook launch from pole-sitter Sebastian Vettel when the lights went out was not mirrored by those behind. Team-mate Mark Webber alongside the German made a more sluggish getaway, and was passed for second by the sprightly Felipe Massa in the Ferrari from row three, the Brazilian making a storming start at a circuit that has never really smiled upon him.

The real drama, however, came as world championship leader Fernando Alonso found himself caught in the middle of a pincer movement between the McLaren of defending title-winner Button inside him and Michael Schumacher in the Mercedes Grand Prix on the outside. As the three squeezed together and tangled, the Ferrari was tipped into a spin and left facing backwards as the oncoming pack darted left and right around him, with some – Schumacher and the fast-starting Lewis Hamilton amongst them – forced to leave the track in avoidance.

That left Vettel leading from Massa, Webber and Robert Kubica in the first of the Renaults, with the Pole having made a lighting getaway right down the middle to vault from ninth to fourth. Later around the opening lap, a front wing-less Kamui Kobayashi in the Sauber found himself out-of-control heading into Turn Three and quite literally harpooned the luckless Nico Hulkenberg in the Williams and the Scuderia Toro Rosso of Sebastien Buemi, with all three departing the scene on the spot in a nasty-looking coming-together that thankfully resulted in no injuries.

As the remainder of the competitors literally tip-toed around the lap on the tricky track surface, the safety car unsurprisingly emerged, enabling Schumacher to pit to replace his own dragging front wing. That left the order at the front Vettel from Massa, Webber, Kubica, Nico Rosberg, McLaren duo Button and Hamilton and Adrian Sutil, with Russian rookie Vitaly Petrov confirming the fast-starting abilities of the Renault R30 by leaping up from 18th to tenth. Bruno Senna has similarly profited well from the chaos to put his HRT an excellent 14th – though the Brazilian's race would unfortunately not last long.

At the re-start, whilst Vettel bolted away, Webber got very loose into the final corner to allow a racy Kubica to pull alongside on the start/finish straight as the Renault displayed superb traction in the wet, though the man from Krakow was unable to make a move stick on the outside line. Shortly afterwards, Hamilton asserted himself in the McLaren camp by diving up the inside of team-mate Button into turn three and aggressively squeezing him wide to make sure there was no comeback.

Further back, Schumacher was having fun and games with both feisty rookie Lucas Di Grassi and Lotus ace Heikki Kovalainen duelling energetically with the most successful driver in the sport's history and the former even having the audacity to re-pass the German legend once he had been overtaken in the unheralded Virgin Racing entry.

Up at the sharp end of proceedings, meanwhile, Webber found a way past Massa to re-instate the Red Bull one-two, with Kubica and Rosberg moving in to hassle the Paulista immediately afterwards, and Hamilton next up similarly on the attack. Button became the first driver to pit for slick tyres when he made a late call on lap seven, in an audacious bid that initially looked to have failed as the Briton shot off-track not long after – but the gamble would not take long to start paying off.

2010 Australian Grand Prix

2010-03-28T04:33:00.000-07:00

1. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes 58 laps 1hr 33m 36.531s
2. Robert Kubica Poland Renault-Renault +00m 12.0s
3. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 14.4s
4. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 16.3s
5. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +00m 16.6s
6. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes +00m 29.8s
7. Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy Force India-Mercedes +00m 59.8s
8. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Williams-Cosworth +01m 00.5s
9. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault +01m 07.3s
10. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +01m 09.3s
====================================================
11. Jaime Alguersuari Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari +01m 11.3s
12. Pedro de la Rosa Spain BMW Sauber-Ferrari +01m 14.0s
13. Heikki Kovalainen Finland Lotus-Cosworth +2 laps
14. Karun Chandhok India HRT-Cosworth +5 laps

Rtd Timo Glock Germany Virgin-Cosworth 41 laps completed
Rtd Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 25 laps completed
Rtd Lucas di Grassi Brazil Virgin-Cosworth 24 laps completed
Rtd Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes 9 laps completed
Rtd Vitaly Petrov Russia Renault-Renault 9 laps completed
Rtd Bruno Senna Brazil HRT-Cosworth 4 laps completed
Rtd Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari 0 laps completed
Rtd Nico Hulkenberg Germany Williams-Cosworth 0 laps completed
Rtd Kamui Kobayashi Japan BMW Sauber-Ferrari 0 laps completed

2010 Alonso not carried away with win

2010-03-14T04:55:00.000-07:00

Alonso not getting carried away by Ferrari 1-2
Fernando Alonso has admitted that little can be read into Ferrari's 1-2 finish in Bahrain, with other potential frontrunners looking strong during the weekend.
Fernando Alonso insists that Ferrari's 1-2 finish in the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix does not make the Scuderia favourites to dominate this year's Formula One campaign.

Speaking after leading team-mate Felipe Massa to the chequered flag in a largely uneventful 49-lap race – the first under F1's new 'no refuelling' regulations – Alonso pointed to the performance of other teams through the weekend as reason to believe that Ferrari would face stiff competition in what many are forecasting to be the most closely-contested championship in years.

“The eight drivers in the top four teams are contenders for the championship,” the Spaniard maintained, “Maybe this is only the first race, but we saw the potential of the Mercedes in free practice and Q1, and we saw the potential of the McLaren today, being on the podium. We saw the potential of Red Bull, that they were quicker than us in qualifying, and maybe a little bit quicker than us in the race as well. And, of course, [there is] Felipe, with the same car…. There will be races that one of us will win and some races that the other will win.”

With interesting intra-team rivalries up and down the pit-lane, and his own history of acrimonious partnerships – Alonso was quick to underline the harmony that currently exists at Ferrari, even if some of his comments in the post-qualifying press conference appeared more than a little pointed.

“First of all, [Felipe]'s not an enemy, maybe a rival but not an enemy,” he underlined, “The important thing is to score many more points for the team and, hopefully, both Ferrari drivers will be on the podium.

“I think this will depend track to track. Here in Bahrain, for whatever reason, it was a little bit better for us, maybe we go to Australia for the next race and Mercedes or McLaren or whoever is a little bit ahead of everybody. We need to understand this and prepare our car perfectly for each grand prix, in terms of set-up, in terms of developing a programme in the wind tunnel, engine-wise and so on. There is a package that is a combination of many things that we need to get ready.

"I start from zero again in Australia, and we can have a bad race at any time, if we make some little mistakes or we are not fully concentrated, so we need to take each grand prix like a new one, like the last one. We need to do solid races now, at the beginning of the championship, and come back to Europe with some good points."

Having been out-qualified by his new team-mate, Alonso made a decisive move on Massa to claim second place on lap one, putting himself in prime position to inherit the lead when Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel ran into engine problems.

“The start was good,” the double world champion admitted, “I think being on the clean line here is a difference. There is a bit of sun close to the walls, so the start was more or less okay and the first corner was also good and I was lucky to overtake Felipe.

2010 Alonso wins Bahrain GP

2010-03-14T04:53:00.000-07:00

Fernando Alonso heads Ferrari 1-2 in season-opening F1 race after poleman Sebastian Vettel falters.

Fernando Alonso completed a famous debut for Ferrari by claiming victory in the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, and heading a 1-2 result for the Scuderia.

The Spaniard ensured that he was best placed to take advantage of the problems that beset pole winner Sebastian Vettel in the closing stages after using the outside line at turn one on the opening lap to supplant Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa into turn two. From there, the pair kept a watching brief in second and third, although Vettel initially pulled out a five-second lead.

After the pit-stops, however, the gap to the leader began to shrink at a rapid rate and, when Vettel reported a loss of power believed to have been due to an exhaust problem, Alonso was able to sweep past heading onto the start-finish straight on lap 34. Massa soon followed his team-mate through, but had no answer to the Spaniard as Alonso pulled out a 16-second victory margin in the remaining 15 laps.

While the Prancing Horse galloped on, however, the increasingly lame Vettel also fell prey to Lewis Hamilton, and only just managed to hold off countryman Nico Rosberg on the final lap to confirm fourth place.

Rosberg duly headed high-profile Mercedes team-mate Michael Schumacher, who marked his return with sixth place, coming home ahead of reigning world champion Jenson Button and Mark Webber, who lost a strong starting spot when his Red Bull began belching oil smoke on the opening lap. The ensuing cloud accounted for both Robert Kubica and Adrian Sutil;, who touched and spun away top ten starts.

In their place, accepting the newly created scoring places in ninth and tenth, were Sutil's Force India team-mate Tonio Liuzzi and Williams veteran Rubens Barrichello. Kubica and Sutil recovered to eleventh and twelfth.

The only one of the new teams to make the chequered flag was Lotus, for whom Heikki Kovalainen finished a respectable 15th.

2010 Bahrain Grand Prix - Sakhir – Race results

2010-03-14T04:47:00.000-07:00

Bahrain Grand Prix, Sakhir – Race results
Fernando Alonso heads Ferarri 1-2 in opening race of the 2010 F1 season.

1. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari 49 laps 1hr 39m 20.396s
2. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 16.0s
3. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes +00m 23.1s
4. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault +00m 38.7s
5. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +00m 40.2s
6. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +00m 44.1s
7. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes +00m 45.2s
8. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault +00m 46.3s
9. Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy Force India-Mercedes +00m 53.0s
10. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Williams-Cosworth +01m 02.4s
------------------------------------------------
11. Robert Kubica Poland Renault-Renault +01m 09.0s
12. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes +01m 22.9s
13. Jaime Alguersuari Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari +01m 32.6s
14. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Williams-Cosworth +1 lap
15. Heikki Kovalainen Finland Lotus-Cosworth +2 laps
=============================================
Rtd Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari 46 laps completed
Rtd Jarno Trulli Italy Lotus-Cosworth 46 laps completed
Rtd Pedro de la Rosa Spain BMW Sauber-Ferrari 28 laps completed
Rtd Bruno Senna Brazil HRT-Cosworth 17 laps completed
Rtd Timo Glock Germany Virgin-Cosworth 16 laps completed
Rtd Vitaly Petrov Russia Renault-Renault 13 laps completed
Rtd Kamui Kobayashi Japan BMW Sauber-Ferrari 11 laps completed
Rtd Lucas di Grassi Brazil Virgin-Cosworth 2 laps completed
Rtd Karun Chandhok India HRT-Cosworth 1 lap completed

Fastest lap:

Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 58.287s lap 45

Ecclestone: F1 does not need British GP

2009-11-15T05:06:00.000-08:00

Bernie Ecclestone insists Formula One does not need the British Grand Prix as negotiations continue over the hosting of the race from 2010.

Donington's bid to stage the event collapsed after the failure of a bond scheme to raise the necessary £135million for redevelopment of the circuit."Silverstone have a contract in front of them. We've no commercial arrangement in place for a British Grand Prix for next year. That is why the race has an asterisk beside it on the 2010 calendar," Ecclestone told the Daily Express. "If they can't make it work then don't do it. If that happens, there won't be a British Grand Prix. Simple as that."

He added: "No-one is forcing them to take it. This is business. We have offered them a deal."

Silverstone has been left as the likeliest setting for the race, but track officials are are stalling over the terms of the contract being offered by Formula One rights holder Ecclestone.

The deal is thought to be similar to the one offered - and rejected as a financial loss-maker - 18 months ago.

Ecclestone ruled out the prospect of Britain being given a discount rate, similar to those enjoyed by Monza and Monaco as the sport's "traditional" grands prix.

"The contract they have is the contract we like," he said. "We are not prepared to charge less. Do we need a British Grand Prix? No.

"I want a British Grand Prix, of course, but we are not going to do special rates for Britain."

Webber scored his second F1 win

2009-10-18T20:02:00.000-07:00

Mark Webber lays his Interlagos demons to rest with a dominant victory in the Brazilian Grand Prix

New F1 champion Jenson Button wasn't the only happy driver in the paddock following the Brazilian Grand Prix after Mark Webber secured his second career win in the penultimate round of the 2009 season.

Webber had gone into the weekend looking to return to the points after a poor run of form and was also seeking an end to a disappointing run at Interlagos – a circuit he admitted he enjoyed but which had never delivered results.

The Red Bull man qualified on the front row of the grid alongside Rubens Barrichello and remained close to the Brazilian through the opening stint of the race before jumping into the lead following the first pitstops.

From that point onwards, Webber was barely troubled out front as he picked up his second victory of the season and he admitted it was nice to be back on the top step of the podium.

“I'm happy with that!” he said. “You never know in the first stint of a race what's going to happen, although I knew Rubens and Robert [Kubica] were a bit shorter than me. I was matching Robert's pace to start with and when they made their pit stops, I knew I had a clear run to make a gap to start my second stint. I just cleared Jenson on my outlap, which was good too.

“I was just making sure the tyres were comfortable for the whole stint. I was a little bit panicky in the second stint as Robert started closing, although my pace was not too bad and I knew he was quite short in the middle stint. I was then able to control the gap to Robert and he backed off towards the end, which gave me a nice run home. It's fantastic feeling to win again.”

While rivals Brawn duly wrapped up the constructors' championship in the race, Webber's victory and fourth for team-mate Sebastian Vettel secured second in the standings for Red Bull and Webber was quick to praise the team for its stellar 2009 campaign.

“As a team we've had quite a few victories this year off the back of some tough seasons, but today has confirmed second place for us in the constructors' championship,” he said. “We're very proud of what we have achieved this year as a team – I want to thank Renault as well, the engines have been very good and they're not easy environments for them to work in.

“Congratulations to Jenson and also to Brawn on clinching the championships today after a good fight. It was a good weekend for the Australians, as Jason Crump won the World Speedway Championship last night. He's a close friend of mine and he won it under difficult conditions, so a good weekend.”

17 FORMULA 1 GRANDE PREMIO DO BRASIL 2009 (Sao Paulo)

2009-10-18T05:07:00.000-07:00

Button is the world champion!

Jenson Button becomes the 2009 F1 champion following dramatic Brazilian GP as Brawn GP celebrates double title success
An elated Jenson Button has successfully wrapped up the 2009 F1 drivers' title following a dramatic Brazilian Grand Prix – admitting afterwards that it was a dream come true.

The Briton went into the event leading team-mate Rubens Barrichello by 14 points and was on the back foot after only qualifying down in 14th place – with his team-mate starting from pole.

However, casting aside criticism levied at him from those who said he was simply stuttering to the title, Button produced a storming performance to work his way through the field – surviving a number of incidents on the opening lap to quickly climb up to ninth place.

From there, Button produced a number of impressive overtaking manoeuvres to climb up to fifth place at the finish and secure an unassailable championship lead after Barrichello could only manage eighth.

Indeed, the Brazilian now drops to third in the standings behind Sebastian Vettel, who came home ahead of Button in the race in fourth.

"It's really amazing... my voice has gone!” the new champion told the BBC after climbing from his car. “After the last few races, this one makes up for it. It was awesome. I'm world champion, baby!

"The last few races have been a bit stressful for me, especially qualifying. But that race today, to me, was worthy of becoming world champion. Kobayashi is absolutely crazy, very aggressive. It was a great race really enjoyable. That was the perfect way to do it."

“Twenty-one years ago, I jumped into a kart and I loved winning - but I never expected to be world champion. You think that racing drivers in F1 are different, but we've done it today."

Button also helped Brawn GP to wrap up the constuctors' title, with the team having required just a single point to put the title out of Red Bull Racing's reach

-----------------------------------------------
Barrichello grabbed Pole despite the Rain

Rubens Barrichello gives the home fans reason to cheer in Brazil with a popular pole position for Brawn GP.

Rubens Barrichello said he was thrilled to secure pole position for his home round of the F1 season in Brazil, although the Brawn GP man was quick to point out that nothing is yet won when it comes to securing vital points from the weekend.

Barrichello went into the weekend trailing team-mate Jenson Button by 14 points in the standings, but was given a boost when the Briton failed to make it past the second phase of qualifying and could only set the 14th quickest time.

Barrichello himself only just made it through to Q3 after running on wet tyres throughout the second part of the session but he produced the quickest time when it really mattered to put his car on the front of the grid for race day.

“I am very proud of what we achieved today,” he said. “We were on the borderline in Q2 and we should have gone for intermediates, but we were lucky enough just to make it. I knew the car was competitive. I am keeping my feet on the ground as we have won nothing just yet. We did fantastic today. It is amazing. It is going to be a great night of sleep but we still have to get everything tomorrow.

“It's obviously great to start from the front - it is a number that goes to the records. What it means to me is that I am doing my job the way I have to. Be as fast as I can, at the front. I am not watching what's going on on the side. I am just concentrating, focussing on mine, so like I said, I will race as hard as I can to win the race and when the race is finished I will just go on the radio and see where Jenson and Sebastian [Vettel] finish but it is a great start to the weekend and I am looking very much forward to tomorrow.”

Barrichello admitted that no-one would have predicted that he would secure pole with Button and Sebastian Vettel down in 14th and 16th before the lottery that emerged in qualifying, although he questioned whether or not the session should have run to its conclusion following Tonio Liuzzi's accident in Q2.

“We were not expecting the rain that came down,” he said. “The worst time of qualifying was when Liuzzi went off. We shouldn't have restarted qualifying at that time. On that straight, when he went off, I was in fourth gear. You don't have much pleasure, because of the visibility plus the fact that you are aquaplaning, so you just don't know what's going to happen next. But then when the rain came down, it was a good session at the end of Q2 and Q3.

“I'm sorry for all you guys that you had to wait. I had to wait but I had the pleasure of driving the car after that. It was very much a situation that we need to learn for tomorrow if that's what's going to happen tomorrow in terms of rain.”

15 2009 FORMULA 1 FUJI TELEVISION JAPANESE GRAND PRIX (Suzuka)

2009-10-04T05:08:00.000-07:00

Vettel wins Japan GP blow title race wide open

Sebastian Vettel charged to a dominant win as the Japanese Grand Prix returned to Suzuka, although the margin of victory was diminished by a late safety car period.

The German led from start to finish, returning to the front from both of his pit-stops as Red Bull Racing reclaimed the top step of the podium. Despite only have four laps to run after the safety car departed, Vettel still triumphed by 4.8secs.

Jarno Trulli gave Toyota its second runners-up finish in as many week, overcoming Lewis Hamilton at the final round of stops after the Briton had powered past under KERS at the start. Ironically, the McLaren driver suffered a repeat of his Singapore KERS problems in the closing stages, denying the chance to respond.

Kimi Raikkonen, Nico Rosberg and Nick Heidfeld filled the next three positions, before Brawn picked up three points to limit the potential damage caused by Vettel's win. Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button had to fend off the attentions of Robert Kubica after the safety car, but came home in seventh and eighth respectively as the Brazilian regained the point conceded to his team-mate last weekend.

Vettel's win and Button's eighth place trims the points gap between them to 16, keeping the German in the title hunt as the series heads to Brazil in a fortnight's time. Likewise, RBR lives to fight another day after brawn failed to score the requisite number of points to claim the constructors' crown.

-----------------------------------------------
Japanese Grand Prix – Race result

1. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 53 laps 1hr 28m 20.443s
2. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota-Toyota +00m 04.8s
3. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes +00m 06.4s
4. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 07.9s
5. Nico Rosberg Germany Williams-Toyota +00m 08.7s
6. Nick Heidfeld Germany BMW Sauber +00m 09.5s
7. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Brawn-Mercedes +00m 10.6s
8. Jenson Button Britain Brawn-Mercedes +00m 11.4s

9. Robert Kubica Poland BMW Sauber +00m 11.7s
10. Fernando Alonso Spain Renault-Renault +00m 13.0s
11. Heikki Kovalainen Finland McLaren-Mercedes +00m 13.7s
12. Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 14.5s
13. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes +00m 14.9s
14. Kazuki Nakajima Japan Williams-Toyota +00m 15.7s
15. Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy Force India-Mercedes +00m 17.9s
16. Romain Grosjean France Renault-Renault +1 lap
17. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault +2 laps

Rtd Jaime Alguersuari Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari 43 laps completed
Rtd Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari 11 laps completed

Dns Timo Glock Germany Toyota-Toyota injury

Fastest lap:
Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 1m 32.569s lap 50

---------------------------------------------------
Japanese Grand Prix – Qualifying times
1. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 1m 32.160s
2. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota-Toyota 1m 32.220s
3. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1m 32.395s
4. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes 1m 32.466s
5. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Brawn-Mercedes 1m 32.660s
6. Nick Heidfeld Germany BMW Sauber 1m 32.945s
7. Jenson Button Britain Brawn-Mercedes 1m 32.962s
8. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 32.980s
9. Heikki Kovalainen Finland McLaren-Mercedes no time Q3
10. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari no time Q3

11. Nico Rosberg Germany Williams-Toyota 1m 31.482s
12. Fernando Alonso Spain Renault-Renault 1m 31.638s
13. Robert Kubica Poland BMW Sauber 1m 32.341s
14. Timo Glock Germany Toyota-Toyota no time Q2
15. Jaime Alguersuari Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari no time Q2

16. Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 31.704s
17. Kazuki Nakajima Japan Williams-Toyota 1m 31.718s
18. Romain Grosjean France Renault-Renault 1m 32.073s
19. Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy Force India-Mercedes 1m 32.087s
20. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault no time Q1

Vettel takes Suzuka pole

2009-10-03T09:00:00.000-07:00

A rash of red flags may have dominated Formula One proceedings at Suzuka, but could not prevent Sebastian Vettel from dominating Japanese Grand prix qualifying.

The German may be on the verge of bowing out of the F1 title race, trailing Jenson Button by 25 points with three races remaining, but continues to do all he can to keep himself in the mix by taking his fourth pole position of the year with fastest time in Japan.

The German was the class of qualifying, topping each of the three sessions, but again had to wait for no fewer than three red flag interruptions to pass before he could claim pole.

With Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber already missing after writing off his chassis on morning practice, Vettel's progress was slowed by two heavy accidents in Q2, when Jaime Alguersuari and Timo Glock suffered separate accidents. Those delays were then followed by a third stoppage when Heikki Kovalainen went off at Degner before posting a time in Q3.

Alguersuari joined the list of Degner victims when he went off at the start of his first visit to Q2, but emerged unscathed from his impact, caused by his Toro Rosso putting its left-hand wheels off the road on approach. Glock, however, was less fortunate, and was taken to hospital with what was reported as a 'leg wound', adding to the fever he was already suffering with. Kovalainen's accident was less violent, and the Finn was quickly back in the McLaren garage.

Once his countryman's car had been craned away, Kimi Raikkonen was the first to post a flying lap, but the 2007 world champion was no match for Vettel, who bided his time before venturing out - and then slashed the benchmark time by almost a second.

Simiarly, no-one had an answer for Vettel after the Red Bull driver had reset the target, with Jarno Trulli cementing second on the grid.

After that, the best anyone could manage was third, with Nick Heidfeld and Adrian Sutil both occupying the position before Lewis Hamilton made it his with a late run. The Briton will line up alongside friend and rival Sutil for the second time in three races, while title contender Rubens Barrichello claimed a top five slot with his sole flier.

That put the Brazilian two places ahead of points leader Jenson Button, who managed only seventh as he followed his Brawn team-mate across the line, relegating Raikkonen to eighth and sandwiching BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld in sixth. Kovalainen joined Sebastien Buemi - who damaged his Toro Rosso at the end of Q2 - on row five after failing to set a time.

14 2009 FORMULA 1 SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX (Singapore)

2009-09-27T05:08:00.000-07:00

Hamilton wins in Singapore
Lewis Hamilton led almost from lights to flag to claim his second grand prix of the season, while Jenson Button again benefited from the misfortune of others to shore up his world championship advantage on the streets of Singapore.

Having made a lightning start, Hamilton was only briefly troubled, initially as Nico Rosberg tagged along with the McLaren, and later when Sebastian Vettel refused to be shaken off after a safety car restart, but looked comfortable as he paced the field to the chequered flag under the lights of Marina Bay. The world champion only lost the lead after taking his second fuel and tyre stop, allowing 2008 race winner Fernando Alonso a handful of laps at the front, but retook the advantage when the Spaniard stopped and cruised home over seven seconds to the good.

Rosberg appeared on course for another second place in Singapore, but made an error exiting the pits on his first stop and was relegated into the midfield by the ensuing penalty for crossing the blend line - a problem compounded by the timing of the race's only safety car, which was called for a collision between fellow Germans Adrian Sutil and Nick Heidfeld on lap 21.

Vettel took up the mantle of chief pursuer to Hamilton, but made his own mistake by exceeding the pit-lane speed limit on his second stop, although the damage was not as severe as that endured by his Williams rival. The Red Bull driver came home as the best-placed title contender, in fourth place, despite concerns over his brakes after team-mate Mark Webber crashed when his right front disc failed.

Vettel's problem promoted yet another German, Timo Glock, into an eventual second, the Toyota team being rewarded with a solid run back to the podium as Glock equalled his best finish in F1. Alonso completed the podium for the beleaguered Renault team, which had earlier seen rookie Romain Grosjean post the race's first retirement.

The Brawns were also in brake trouble, forcing Button to call of his late-race pursuit of Vettel and settle for fifth, enough to extend his lead over team-mate Rubens Barrichello, who chased the Briton across the line in a race that almost made it to the two-hour time limit.

------------------------------------
1. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 61 laps 1hr 56m 06.337s
2. Timo Glock Germany Toyota-Toyota +00m 09.6s
3. Fernando Alonso Spain Renault-Renault +00m 16.6s
4. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault +00m 20.2s
5. Jenson Button Britain Brawn-Mercedes +00m 30.0s
6. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Brawn-Mercedes +00m 31.8s
7. Heikki Kovalainen Finland McLaren-Mercedes +00m 36.1s
8. Robert Kubica Poland BMW Sauber +00m 55.0s

9. Kazuki Nakajima Japan Williams-Toyota +00m 56.0s
10. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 58.8s
11. Nico Rosberg Germany Williams-Toyota +00m 59.7s
12. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota-Toyota +01m 13.0s
13. Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Ferrari-Ferrari +01m 19.8s
14. Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy Force India-Mercedes +01m 33.5s

Rtd Jaime Alguersuari Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari 47 laps completed
Rtd Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari 47 laps completed
Rtd Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 45 laps completed
Rtd Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes 23 laps completed
Rtd Nick Heidfeld Germany BMW Sauber 19 laps completed
Rtd Romain Grosjean France Renault-Renault 3 laps completed

---------------------------------
Hamilton surprise by his pole!

Lewis Hamilton admitted it was an unexpected surprise to secure his third pole in four race for the latest round of the F1 season in Singapore.

Hamilton had endured a tough start to the weekend in Friday practice but a change of chassis overnight led to an upturn in fortunes when the current champion posted the quickest time during final practice.

The Briton then led the way in the first stage of qualifying and was again quickest after the first run in Q3 before the top ten returned to the track to complete their final qualifying runs. When Rubens Barrichello then went into the wall exiting turn five and brought out the red flags, a 16th career pole was secured and Hamilton admitted it had been a pleasant surprise.

“It's an absolutely fantastic result,” he said. “We came here with several technical upgrades, and we didn't know if we'd be up there – particularly after Friday practice, which wasn't spectacular for me. My pole lap was very relaxed: the car has just got better and better as the track has evolved, and I think I would have gone faster on my final lap if the session hadn't been aborted.

“I didn't expect to be on pole today, but our pace has been really good. We'll need to see what fuel loads everyone else is running, but I feel quite confident in what we're doing and I'm in the best position for the race tomorrow.”

While Hamilton benefitted from the red flag in Q3, the same couldn't be said for team-mate Heikki Kovalainen who could only post the tenth quickest time as he was unable to get a lap on the quicker option tyres due to the early stoppage.

“This is a very disappointing result for me,” the Finn said. “In the first two sessions, things went smoothly – although my laptimes weren't as competitive as I was expecting. For Q3, I didn't get a good enough lap in during my first run as I'd been running the harder tyre, which wasn't quick enough. I also made a couple of mistakes, but I was focusing my efforts on my second run – which would have been on a set of new option tyres.

“It's going to be a tough race tomorrow: starting from ninth will make things very difficult, but there's nothing I can do about that now, so I'm just going to absolutely go for it tomorrow.”
-------------------------------------------------

Hamilton takes Singapore pole under red flag
Lewis Hamilton was assured of pole position for the second Singapore Grand Prix after Rubens Barrichello banged the wall on his final flying lap around the Marina Bay circuit.

The Briton was already fastest of the final ten runners when Barrichello lost his car over the bumps heading into turn five, connecting the wall heavily with the left-hand side of the Brawn.

While Hamilton was left sitting pretty in his third pole of the year - and one that many expected him to take - Q2 pacesetter Nico Rosberg could be a little more aggrieved, having been on a better lap at the time the red flags were shown. The German will subsequently start from the inside of row two, with countryman Sebastian Vettel between himself and Hamilton, having also been denied a final shot at top spot.

Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber will line up alongside Rosberg, while Barrichello remained fifth fastest. The Brazilian, however, will drop to tenth after taking his gearbox change penalty, putting him just two spots ahead of Brawn team-mate and title rival Jenson Button, who missed the cut for Q3.

Fernando Alonso, Timo Glock, Nick Heidfeld, Robert Kubica and Heikki Kovalainen will all move up one spot because of Barrichello's penalty.

Singapore Grand Prix – Qualifying times

1. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1m 47.891s
2. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 1m 48.204s
3. Nico Rosberg Germany Williams-Toyota 1m 48.348s
4. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 1m 48.722s
5. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Brawn-Mercedes 1m 48.828s*
6. Fernando Alonso Spain Renault-Renault 1m 49.054s
7. Timo Glock Germany Toyota-Toyota 1m 49.180s
8. Nick Heidfeld Germany BMW Sauber 1m 49.307s
9. Robert Kubica Poland BMW Sauber 1m 49.514s
10. Heikki Kovalainen Finland McLaren-Mercedes 1m 49.778s

11. Kazuki Nakajima Japan Williams-Toyota 1m 47.013s
12. Jenson Button Britain Brawn-Mercedes 1m 47.141s
13. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 47.177s
14. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 47.369s
15. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota-Toyota 1m 47.413s

16. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes 1m 48.231s
17. Jaime Alguersuari Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 48.340s
18. Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 48.350s
19. Romain Grosjean France Renault-Renault 1m 48.544s
20. Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy Force India-Mercedes 1m 48.792s

Renault Team Boss Banned for Life

2009-09-21T23:03:00.000-07:00

By Ossian Shine

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The race-fixing controversy that has shamed Formula One is a bump on the road that the sport will quickly get past, according to former world champion Mika Hakkinen.

The Finn, who escaped from an horrific accident that almost killed him before he won the world title in 1998 and 1999, said motor racing's premier category would also survive the ugly scandal surrounding the Renault team.

"Show must go on," Hakkinen told Reuters.

"People who have done wrong, they need a penalty...And life has to go on."

Formula One has been plunged into controversy after the Renault team were found to have ordered driver Nelson Piquet to deliberately crash at last year's Singapore Grand Prix to help his team mate Fernando Alonso to win the race.

Renault team boss Flavio Briatore was barred for life on Monday for his role and former engineering head Pat Symonds was banned for five years. Piquet walked away unpunished after being given immunity from prosecution for testifying.

The controversy has cast an unsavory shadow over the sport and undermined Formula One's credibility at a time when it is looking to bolster support and shore up investment.

But Hakkinen, who would have died at the 1995 Australian Grand Prix without the intervention of quick-thinking doctors who performed an emergency trackside tracheotomy, remains upbeat about the future.

"Forget it and concentrate on the future," he said. "I think what is important now is a great grand prix is coming."

Hakkinen, in Singapore ahead of this weekend's Grand Prix, said Sunday's nighttime spectacle was just the first step on the sport's road to recovery, as was the return next season of Lotus, the glamour-name that he started his career with.

"I think it's brilliant," Hakkinen said. "I think it's absolutely brilliant.

"A new organization in Formula One, new team in Formula One, new people in Formula One. All of this is a positive thing."

Running his hand through his blond-streaked hair the 41-year-old issued one piece of advice.

"You really, really have to keep your feet down on earth," he cautioned. "You have to have the right people running the operation.

"Obviously (there is) a lot of money involved, and you need professional people. So they, the people who have decided to bring the Lotus back, and run the Formula One team, I hope they have a good plan to get the right people."

Leading Malaysian entrepreneur Tony Fernandes will be the Lotus team principal. The 45-year-old set up Asian budget airline Air Asia, currently sponsoring the Williams team, and is Malaysia's 15th richest man with a net worth of $220 million according to the Forbes Malaysia 2009 rich list.

The team has the backing of the Malaysian government. Lotus will initially be based in Norfolk, some 10 miles from the original Lotus Cars factory in Eastern England, but the future design, manufacturing and technical center will be purpose built at Malaysia's Sepang International Circuit.

(Editing by Julian Linden)

13 FORMULA 1 GRAN PREMIO SANTANDER D'ITALIA 2009 (Monza)

2009-09-13T05:09:00.000-07:00

Barrichello wins Italian GP at Monza

Brawn Grand Prix's Rubens Barrichello came through to take the victory at the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday, ahead of his team-mate, Jenson Button.

Barrichello eventually finished the race around 3 seconds up on Button, with Kimi Raikkonen inheriting third late on, when Lewis Hamilton crashed out on the final lap.

Force India's Adrian Sutil was next up, shadowing Raikkonen's Ferrari, followed by the Renault of Fernando Alonso and Heikki Kovalainen.

Nick Heidfeld and Sebastian Vettel rounded out the points' finishers in seventh and eighth respectively.
-----------------------------------------------------
Italian Grand Prix - Race result
1. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Brawn-Mercedes 53 laps 1h 16m 21.706s
2. Jenson Button Britain Brawn-Mercedes +2.8s
3. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari +30.6s
4. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes +31.1s
5. Fernando Alonso Spain Renault-Renault +59.1
6. Heikki Kovalainen Finland McLaren-Mercedes +60.6s
7. Nick Heidfeld Germany BMW Sauber +82.4s
8. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault +85.4s

9. Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Ferrari-Ferrari +86.8s
10. Kazuki Nakajima Japan Williams-Toyota +120.0s
11. Timo Glock Germany Toyota-Toyota +163.9s
12. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes +1 lap
13. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap
14. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota-Toyota +1 lap
15. Romain Grosjean France Renault-Renault +1 lap
16. Nico Rosberg Germany Williams-Toyota +2 laps

Rtd. Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy Force India-Mercedes 22 laps completed (gearbox)
Rtd. Jaime Alguersuari Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari 19 laps completed
Rtd. Robert Kubica Poland BMW Sauber 15 laps completed (oil leak)
Rtd. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 0 lap completed (accident)

Fastest lap:

Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes 1m 24.739s

-----------------------------------------------------

Hamilton edges out Sutil for Italian GP pole
Lewis Hamilton secured pole position today in qualifying for Sunday's Italian Grand Prix at Monza, the thirteenth round in the 2009 FIA F1 World Championship, but only just as Adrian Sutil almost made it two in a row for Force India.

Hamilton was on the pace throughout, setting the second best time in both Q1 and Q2. In the final top-ten shoot-out he again looked strong in his McLaren-Mercedes and he held P1 until right at the end when Sutil demoted him to second.

However, Hamilton was still on track and clocking up best sector times, and he just edged back in front with a 1 minute 24.066 second lap, which was 0.195 seconds up Sutil.

Sutil thus had to settle for second and it could so nearly have been pole, especially as he made a slight error at the first Lesmo.

All-in-all though it was still another great result for Force India - following on from Giancarlo Fisichella's pole and runners-up spot at Spa, and with his replacement, Vitantonio Liuzzi also making it through to the final shoot-out and qualifying seventh, more points seem likely for the Silverstone-based outfit.

Meanwhile Kimi Raikkonen was third for Ferrari, almost half a second off Hamilton, with the second McLaren and fellow Finn, Heikki Kovalainen fourth.

Rubens Barrichello completed the top five, 0.015 seconds up on his Brawn GP team-mate and current championship leader, Jenson Button - both apparently running heavier than those up ahead.

Further down the order, after Liuzzi in seventh, came Renault's Fernando Alonso and then the Red Bull's of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.

Jarno Trulli just missed the cut for Q3 and had to settle for eleventh spot in his Toyota, followed by Romain Grosjean and BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica. Kubica and his team-mate, Nick Heidfeld both bowed out in Q2 early on, when engine problems sidelined them.
--------------------------------------------

Italian Grand Prix – Qualifying times

1. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1m 24.065s
2. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes 1m 24.261s
3. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 24.523s
4. Heikki Kovalainen Finland McLaren-Mercedes 1m 24.845s
5. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Brawn-Mercedes 1m 25.015s
6. Jenson Button Britain Brawn-Mercedes 1m 25.030s
7. Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy Force India-Mercedes 1m 25.043s
8. Fernando Alonso Spain Renault-Renault 1m 25.072s
9. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 1m 25.180s
10. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 1m 25.314s

11. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota-Toyota 1m 23.611s
12. Romain Grosjean France Renault-Renault 1m 23.728s
13. Robert Kubica Poland BMW Sauber 1m 23.866s
14. Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 23.901s
15. Nick Heidfeld Germany BMW Sauber 1m 24.275s

16. Timo Glock Germany Toyota-Toyota 1m 24.036s
17. Kazuki Nakajima Japan Williams-Toyota 1m 24.074s
18. Nico Rosberg Germany Williams-Toyota 1m 24.121s
19. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 24.220s
20. Jaime Alguersuari Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 24.951s**

12 2009 FORMULA 1 ING BELGIAN GRAND PRIX (Spa-Francorchamps)

2009-08-29T05:09:00.000-07:00

Raikkonen wins Belgian GP at Spa
Kimi Raikkonen came through to take the victory at the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday for Ferrari - but only just ahead of Force India's Giancarlo Fisichella.

Raikkonen took the lead from pole-man Fischella on the run to Les Combes after the re-start. The safety car had been deployed following the incident on the first lap, which saw four drivers retire, including current championship leader, Jenson Button and fellow Brit Lewis Hamilton.

Sebastian Vettel meanwhile took the final spot on the podium, followed by the BMW Sauber's of Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld.

McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen rounded out the top six, with Rubens Barrichello seventh, despite problems late on, which culminated with his Brawn GP car finishing the race on fire!

Nico Rosberg took the final point in eighth for Williams with Mark Webber and Timo Glock completing the top ten.

Belgian Grand Prix - Race result
1. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari 44 laps 1hr 23m 50.995s
2. Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Force India-Mercedes +0.9s
3. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault +3.8s
4. Robert Kubica Poland BMW Sauber +9.9s
5. Nick Heidfeld Germany BMW Sauber +11.2s
6. Heikki Kovalainen Finland McLaren-Mercedes +32.7s
7. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Brawn-Mercedes +35.4s
8. Nico Rosberg Germany Williams-Toyota +36.2s

9. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault +36.9s
10. Timo Glock Germany Toyota-Toyota +41.4s
11. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes +42.6s
12. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari +46.1s
13. Kazuki Nakajima Japan Williams-Toyota +54.2s
14. Luca Badoer Italy Ferrari-Ferrari +98.1s

Rtd. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota-Toyota 26 laps completed
Rtd. Fernando Alonso Spain Renault-Renault 21 laps completed
Rtd. Jenson Button Britain Brawn-Mercedes 0 laps completed
Rtd. Romain Grosjean France Renault-Renault 0 laps completed
Rtd. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 0 laps completed
Rtd. Jaime Alguersuari Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari 0 laps completed

Fastest lap:
Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 1m 47.263s

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fisichella Surprised with Pole Position
Giancarlo Fisichella has admitted that securing a maiden pole position for the Force India F1 team was beyond his wildest dreams heading to the Belgian Grand Prix, despite acknowledging that Spa-Francorchamps is a circuit where he always expects to go well.

A force, albeit unexpected, throughout qualifying, the Italian veteran topped the first phase of qualifying and was only toppled from P1 late in Q2, before bouncing back to turn the tables on countryman Jarno Trulli and claim an historic first pole that marked by far the best qualifying result for the Indian team. A nail-biting third phase ended with Fisichella posting a 1min 46.308secs lap just seconds from the end of the hour, leaving little time for Trulli - or anyone else to respond, as Ferrari's Luca Badoer crashed out and forced a yellow flag zone at Les Combes.

The 36-year old, who has been tipped as a contender for the soon-to-be-vacant second Ferrari for the Italian Grand Prix, will start from pole for the fourth time in his lengthy career, although for the first time since heading qualifying for the 2006 Malaysia GP.

"This is one of my favourite circuits," Fisichella admitted, "I did well here in the past, and I was sure we would be competitive again this year, but I didn't expect to be on pole!

"It feels just great, like a dream. I am so happy for myself, for the team, for the mechanics, the engineers, all of whom have done a fantastic job. They made a great step forward for Valencia for the last race, especially considering our budget and our resources. Now I am not only looking for points, but for more... We've got this far we need to finish the job!"

Fisichella, however, had to overcome a minor setback during morning practice, which had limited him to eighth place on the timesheets as Force India team-mate Adrian Sutil claimed third fastest time.

"We had a small accident when I hit a rabbit, but my engineer said it would be lucky - and it was!" Fisichella revealed, "What a result."

"It was simply an incredible result, and full credit to Giancarlo on a series of fantastic laps," chief race engineer Dominic Harlow concurred, "We started today a little unsure of our performance, and knew we had to work on the understeer that was in the car yesterday, but the engineers tried a few things in FP3 and found the right direction. From there, both drivers were much happier. Giancarlo concentrated on the soft tyre in Q2 and I think the track improvement came in that direction."

Sutil could have joined his team-mate in Q3, having looked strong throughout the day, but narrowly missed out on a slot for the second time this year, after trailing Nico Rosberg by just a tenth of a second.

"This is an unbelievable day for the team, and congratulations to Giancarlo - it was an amazing result for him and such a good boost for the team," the magnanimous German commented, "We've worked hard, so the guys really deserve it.

"For me, it was quite a good session, but I'm still a little bit disappointed as I couldn't use the soft tyre set effectively. The hard set was much better on my car - we don't know why, but we will look into it as, normally, we should have been Q3 - as Giancarlo showed. However, from eleventh, I still think points are possible. We are quite good on the long run pace, the car feels good and it was from this point of view I am quite happy."

Belgian Grand Prix - Qualifying times
1. Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Force India-Mercedes 1m 46.308s
2. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota-Toyota 1m 46.395s
3. Nick Heidfeld Germany BMW Sauber 1m 46.500s
4. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Brawn-Mercedes 1m 46.513s
5. Robert Kubica Poland BMW Sauber 1m 46.586s
6. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 46.633s
7. Timo Glock Germany Toyota-Toyota 1m 46.677s
8. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 1m 46.761s
9. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 1m 46.788s
10. Nico Rosberg Germany Williams-Toyota 1m 47.362s

11. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes 1m 45.119s
12. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1m 45.122s
13. Fernando Alonso Spain Renault-Renault 1m 45.136s
14. Jenson Button Britain Brawn-Mercedes 1m 45.251s
15. Heikki Kovalainen Finland McLaren-Mercedes 1m 45.259s

16. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 45.951s
17. Jaime Alguersuari Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 46.032s
18. Kazuki Nakajima Japan Williams-Toyota 1m 46.307s
19 Romain Grosjean France Renault-Renault 1m 46.359s
20. Luca Badoer Italy Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 46.957s

11 2009 FORMULA 1 TELEFONICA GRAND PRIX OF EUROPE (Valencia)

2009-08-23T05:10:00.000-07:00

'Delighted' Barrichello won the Valencia F1 Grand Prix

Rubens Barrichello dedicated his victory in the European Grand Prix in Valencia this weekend to his injured countryman Felipe Massa – as the man many had written off as a has-been heading for retirement vaulted himself back in to genuine championship contention courtesy of as aggressive and determined a drive as he has produced all season.

Trailing Brawn GP team-mate Jenson Button by 26 points entering the meeting, Barrichello knew Valencia was effectively a last-chance saloon for his title aspirations – and in one fell swoop, he has cut that deficit by practically a third. Quicker than the Briton for the majority of the weekend, third place in qualifying was achieved despite carrying nigh-on ten kilograms more fuel aboard his car than the two front row-sitting McLaren-Mercedes' of Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen ahead of him on the grid.

That marked the veteran Brazilian out as race day favourite in many observers' eyes, and he did not disappoint. Whilst Button fell down outside the points in the initial phase of the grand prix, Barrichello maintained a steady gap to Kovalainen in second throughout his opening stint, and by virtue of a succession of three supremely fast lap times after the Finn had made his first pit visit, successfully jumped the second of the two MP4-24s during the stops.

Following that, he went on to wage a cat-and-mouse duel with leader Hamilton, and when the reigning F1 World Champion found himself delayed at his second stop by his tyres not being ready, the wily old cat pounced. Almost five seconds ahead when the stops had all shaken out, Barrichello went on to preserve and occasionally extend that advantage all the way to the chequered flag for a supremely popular success and his nation's 100th triumph at the highest level.

“What a fantastic day!” enthused the 37-year-old São Paulista after bringing to an end an 85-race drought and registering the 100th Brazilian grand prix victory. “I am so delighted with the win after what was a really tough race out there. It's just amazing and a weekend that I will never forget. Even after five years, you don't forget how to win and the feeling is so good!

“Although we were fuelled heavier than the McLarens, I knew that I would have to push really hard throughout the race. My engineer Jock [Clear] was great today; he really encouraged me and helped me to maintain the pace, and the team did a fantastic job with two excellent pit-stops.

“I want to thank everyone who has supported me, and this victory is dedicated to the whole of Brazil but particularly to my great friend Felipe Massa. I've been with him last week and he truly deserves a sort of dedication like this, and I hope the whole of Brazil is hoping for his best recovery. I just hope he is back racing against me soon.”

Barrichello's flawless performance also drew effusive praise from Brawn GP team principal Ross Brawn, who will now face the unenviable decision of whether to put the brakes on the sport's most experienced competitor of all time in order to focus solely on Button's chase of the crown, or let both of his drivers continue to duel it out until season's end, possibly to their own detriment.

“That was a fantastic performance from Rubens today to take his first and Brawn GP's seventh win of the season,” remarked the Englishman, whose team prior to this weekend had not won since the Turkish Grand Prix in Istanbul back in early June. “We knew that having a heavier fuel load would give us an advantage over the cars in front, but Rubens had to drive at his absolute best to have a chance of victory.

“He pushed exactly where he needed to. When we got on the radio and told him that he had to put in some quick laps, he delivered. It was a great performance and an extremely well-deserved victory. We're all delighted for him. Thanks and credit is also due to everyone at the track today and at the factory in Brackley for all their hard work over the past couple of weeks, and to our colleagues at Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines in Brixworth for their dedication and the performance of our engine.” -Crash.net.

--------------------------------------------
European Grand Prix - Race result

1. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Brawn-Mercedes 57 laps 1hr 35m 51.289s
2. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes +2.3s
3. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari +15.9s
4. Heikki Kovalainen Finland McLaren-Mercedes +20.0s
5. Nico Rosberg Germany Williams-Toyota +20.8s
6. Fernando Alonso Spain Renault-Renault +27.7s
7. Jenson Button Britain Brawn-Mercedes +34.9s
8. Robert Kubica Poland BMW Sauber +36.6s

9. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault +44.9s
10. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes +47.9s
11. Nick Heidfeld Germany BMW Sauber +48.8s
12. Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Force India-Mercedes +63.6s
13. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota-Toyota +64.5s
14. Timo Glock Germany Toyota-Toyota +86.5s
15. Romain Grosjean France Renault-Renault +91.7s
16. Jaime Alguersuari Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap
17. Luca Badoer Italy Ferrari-Ferrari +1 lap
18. Kazuki Nakajima Japan Williams-Toyota +3 laps

Rtd. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari +16 laps
Rtd. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 23 laps completed (engine)

Fastest lap:

Timo Glock Germany Toyota-Toyota 1m 38.683s

------------------------------------------

Hamilton leads McLaren F1 lock-out in Valencia

Lewis Hamilton followed up his Hungarian Grand Prix triumph by scorching to pole position for the European Grand Prix on a baking day in Valencia – but the reigning F1 World Champion's glory was only secured by a late error from team-mate Heikki Kovalainen that arguably cost the Finn the top spot on the starting grid.

Still riding the crest of a wave from his Budapest glory – his first podium of the season, let alone first victory – Hamilton has been quick all weekend around the challenging Circuit Ricardo Tormo, and along with Kovalainen succeeded in achieving McLaren-Mercedes' first front row lock-out in the top flight since Hungary last year.

There were the odd mistakes along the way – in both Q1 and Q3 – but that aside the Stevenage-born ace was in peerless form, and pipped Kovalainen by a scant three hundredths of a second at the close as the Suomussalmi native twitched his way to the line through the last sector and compromised his entry into the final turn.

The only man capable of holding a candle to the two Silver Arrows was Rubens Barrichello, as the hotter temperatures under the Spanish sun saw Brawn GP, in the words of team principal Ross Brawn, 'back to dealing with a normal car again' – but world championship leader Jenson Button was only fifth, crucially behind Red Bull Racing title rival Sebastian Vettel, another driver to take a brief excursion into the scenery along the way.

Mark Webber in the sister RBR confirmed fears that the energy drinks-backed outfit is on the back foot this weekend by lapping half a second adrift of Vettel in ninth – the Australian's second-worst qualifying performance of the season to-date, compounded by a near-miss with the wall during Q2. Ahead of him will be Kimi Raikkonen in the lead Ferrari, Williams' Nico Rosberg and home hero Fernando Alonso in the Renault, with Robert Kubica fading to tenth in the final reckoning having on occasion threatened to break into the top four.

There was no such disappointment, however, over in the McLaren garage, where the 2009 campaign has come alive with a vengeance in recent weeks. Back at the start of the year, Hamilton had written off all hopes of even winning a single race this season. He now stands on the brink of triumphing twice in quick succession.

Both McLarens were similarly quick in Q2, with Hamilton and Kovalainen winding up second and third-fastest respectively, but both men were pipped in the final moments by Barrichello, with the remainder of the Q3 graduates composed of Vettel, Rosberg, Button, Webber, Alonso, Kubica and Raikkonen. The latter, indeed, made it through by a scant four hundredths of a second, in so doing demoting Nick Heidfeld into the Q2 abyss, though eleventh nonetheless equalled the BMW star's best qualifying showing of 2009 to-date.

Joining the German in the drop were countryman Adrian Sutil – disappointed with twelfth in the leading Force India, after proving rapid indeed throughout practice and Q1 and with the Silverstone-based squad reckoning to have gained a full seven tenths of a second since the British Grand Prix two months ago – Timo Glock in the Toyota, Renault debutant Romain Grosjean and Scuderia Toro Rosso ace Sébastien Buemi. Grosjean, for his part, impressed on his maiden appearance at the highest level, lapping within four tenths of double F1 World Champion team-mate Alonso, who only narrowly made the cut himself.

The five Q1 casualties, finally, were composed of Giancarlo Fisichella – spoiling Force India's day after both VJM02s had shown well up the order for much of the session – Williams' Kazuki Nakajima, who rolled to a halt with three minutes to go, Jarno Trulli on a poor day for Toyota, Scuderia Toro Rosso rookie Jaime Alguersuari and, perhaps unsurprisingly, Luca Badoer.

1. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1m 39.498s
2. Heikki Kovalainen Finland McLaren-Mercedes 1m 39.532s
3. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Brawn-Mercedes 1m 39.563s
4. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 1m 39.789s
5. Jenson Button Britain Brawn-Mercedes 1m 39.821s
6. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 40.144s
7. Nico Rosberg Germany Williams-Toyota 1m 40.185s
8. Fernando Alonso Spain Renault-Renault 1m 40.236s
9. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 1m 40.239s
10. Robert Kubica Poland BMW Sauber 1m 40.512s

11. Nick Heidfeld Germany BMW Sauber 1m 38.826s
12. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes 1m 38.846s
13. Timo Glock Germany Toyota-Toyota 1m 38.991s
14. Romain Grosjean France Renault-Renault 1m 39.040s
15. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 39.514s

16. Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Force India-Mercedes 1m 39.531s
17. Kazuki Nakajima Japan Williams-Toyota 1m 39.795s
18. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota-Toyota 1m 39.807s
19. Jaime Alguersuari Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 39.925s
20. Luca Badoer Italy Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 41.413s

10 FORMULA 1 ING MAGYAR NAGYDIJ 2009 (Budapest)

2009-07-26T05:10:00.000-07:00

Hamilton wins in Hungary
Lewis Hamilton finally got his 2009 world championship defence back into top gear by claiming a first victory of the year for McLaren with a crushing display in the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Already buoyed by his performance leading up to the opening lap in Germany a fortnight ago, and again by McLaren sweeping free practice in Budapest, the Briton made the most of his KERS system to move into an early second place, and then be best placed to capitalise on polewinner Fernando Alonso's problem with a loose wheel.

The Spaniard led through to his early pit-stop, but lost his right-front wheel on the subsequent out-lap and, despite taking on a replacement, was forced to retire shortly afterwards. Having got around Mark Webber on lap four, Hamilton assumed the lead and, with his McLaren able to use its tyres better than the majority of its rivals, was able to cruise to victory, coming home eleven seconds clear of the field.

Kimi Raikkonen likewise moved into second spot, surviving an opening lap brush with both the world champion and Sebastian Vettel to claim Ferrari's best result of the season, while Webber emerged as the leading Red Bull driver, having got ahead of Vettel on the opening lap and then made the most of the German's suspension-induced retirement.

Once Timo Glock had made a late single stop, Nico Rosberg claimed another fourth place for Williams, coming home ahead of 2008 race winner Heikki Kovalainen - who confirmed McLaren's improvement in fifth. Glock slotted back into sixth, ahead of championship leader Jenson Button - who struggled with tyre woes all day - and the second Toyota of Jarno Trulli.

--------------------------------
Hungarian Grand Prix – Race results

1. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 70 laps 1hr 38m 23.876s
2. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 11.5s
3. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault +00m 16.8s
4. Nico Rosberg Germany Williams-Toyota +00m 26.9s
5. Heikki Kovalainen Finland McLaren-Mercedes +00m 34.3s
6. Timo Glock Germany Toyota-Toyota +00m 35.2s
7. Jenson Button Britain Brawn-Mercedes +00m 55.0s
8. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota-Toyota +01m 08.1s

9. Kazuki Nakajima Japan Williams-Toyota +01m 08.7s
10. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Brawn-Mercedes +01m 09.2s
11 Nick Heidfeld Germany BMW Sauber +01m 10.6s
12. Nelson Piquet Jr Brazil Renault-Renault +01m 11.5s
13. Robert Kubica Poland BMW Sauber +01m 14.0s
14. Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Force India-Mercedes +1 lap
15. Jaime Alguersuari Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap
16. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap

Rtd Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 29 laps completed
Rtd Fernando Alonso Spain Renault-Renault 15 laps completed
Rtd Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes 1 lap completed

Dns Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari qualifying accident
-----------------------------------

Alonso grabs pole but Massa takes a knock in Hungary
The qualifying session for the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix will likely go down as one of the oddest in recent memory, with an accident for Felipe Massa caused by an errant piece of rear suspension from the Brawn GP of Rubens Barrichello hitting the Ferrari star on the helmet – and a first pole position in 32 races for double F1 World Champion Fernando Alonso, though due to a timing failure, the man himself didn't actually realise he had done it.

In cooler conditions than the previous day during practice, and with strong winds blowing, the all-important top ten shoot-out got underway without Massa, still in the Hungaroring's medical centre following his blow to the head and hefty impact with the circuit's tyre barriers [see separate story – click here].

The men on the move to begin with were Alonso, Heikki Kovalainen, Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton – seeking a consecutive hat-trick of Hungarian poles – and the in-form Red Bull Racing pairing of German Grand Prix winner Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, but with the lap times continually tumbling, it could have gone one of a number of ways.

Confusion then swiftly set in, however, as F1's official timing system went down, leaving drivers, teams, spectators and commentators alike all in the dark as to who was going quickly and who wasn't. With chaos reigning in parc fermé afterwards, the drivers knew what times they personally had done – but not how fast any of their rivals had been. Alonso approached every one of his Q3 competitors to enquire about their lap times, and even as he stood on the scales to be weighed the Spaniard still seemed unsure that he had clinched the top spot.

Delayed celebrations they may have been for the Oviedo native and his Renault crew, but celebrations they nonetheless were, as the news was confirmed amidst a farcical ending to a qualifying hour that had endured for almost an hour-and-a-half. Alongside Alonso on the front row of the grid will be Vettel, with the sport's youngest-ever grand prix-winner ably backed up by team-mate Webber in third, though the Australian arguably has the better position for the start, being on the grippier inside line.

The top ten was completed by Hamilton, Rosberg, Kovalainen, Kimi Raikkonen – who spoiled his initial effort with a scrappy end to the lap – Jenson Button, the improving Kazuki Nakajima for the third time in the last five races and the luckless Massa, though whether the latter will be able to take the start of the race remains unclear. The world championship leader only ventured out for a single run towards the end of the ten-minute segment, following suspension checks to his Mercedes-powered BGP 001 in an effort to ensure that he would encounter no similar failure to that of Barrichello.

The Red Bulls had swiftly proven to be on the pace in Q2, and Webber would wind up in P1 at the end of the 15-minute session, with Hamilton and the impressive Nakajima separating the New South Wales ace from the sister RB5 of Vettel in fourth. The reigning world champion, indeed, survived an off-track moment at turn four en route, but there would be far greater dramas in the same corner later on for Massa, who was hit on the helmet by a piece of flying debris, shot off-piste and embedded his Ferrari firmly in the tyre barriers. Though the Brazilian was eighth-quickest, behind team-mate Raikkonen, Button and Kovalainen, it took some time to extract the concussed São Paulista from his car, and the 28-year-old would take no further part in the action.

Alonso and early pace-setter Rosberg completed the Q3 graduates, with Sébastien Buemi narrowly missing out in the upgraded Scuderia Toro Rosso STR4, and Toyota duo Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock similarly falling at the second hurdle. There they were accompanied by birthday boy Nelsinho Piquet – confessing to having pushed a bit too hard in the upgraded Renault R29 for the first time – and, most surprisingly of all, Barrichello, the nine-time grand prix-winner blaming his broken rear suspension for not making it into the top ten for the first time all year. Brawn GP, indeed, looked to be far from the force they had been earlier on in the campaign, with Button only hauling himself to safety in sixth right at the end.

Raikkonen, too, at one stage appeared to be in perilous waters, with both of Maranello's drivers struggling for grip throughout and enduring a number of grassy moments, whilst Kovalainen's expected form was not overly apparent, with the defending race-winner making it through to the top ten shoot-out – but only just.

------------------------------------------------------

Hungarian Grand Prix – Qualifying times
1. Fernando Alonso Spain Renault-Renault 1m 21.569s
2. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 1m 21.607s
3. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 1m 21.741s
4. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1m 21.839s
5. Nico Rosberg Germany Williams-Toyota 1m 21.890s
6. Heikki Kovalainen Finland McLaren-Mercedes 1m 22.095s
7. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 22.468s
8. Jenson Button Britain Brawn-Mercedes 1m 22.511s
9. Kazuki Nakajima Japan Williams-Toyota 1m 22.835s
10. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari no time Q3

11. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 21.002s
12. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota-Toyota 1m 21.082s
13. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Brawn-Mercedes 1m 21.222s
14. Timo Glock Germany Toyota-Toyota 1m 21.242s
15 Nelson Piquet Jr Brazil Renault-Renault 1m 21.389s

16. Nick Heidfeld Germany BMW Sauber 1m 21.738s
17. Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Force India-Mercedes 1m 21.807s
18. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes 1m 21.868s
19. Robert Kubica Poland BMW Sauber 1m 21.901s
20. Jaime Alguersuari Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 22.359s

Webber wins German GP

2009-07-12T09:11:00.000-07:00

Webber wins German GP
Mark Webber finally opened his Formula One victory account by winning the German Grand Prix in dramatic fashion at the Nurburgring.

Despite starting from pole, the Australian was beaten into the first turn by Rubens Barrichello and had to chase the Brazilian through the early laps before then being given a drive-thru' penalty for an aggressive defensive move on the Brawn that had resulted in contact on the run to the opening corner.

The Red Bull team kept its driver out until the leader pitted for fuel and tyres, and the move kept Webber in contention despite having to make his own stop several laps later. When everything had shaken out, the Australian was still in second place but was able to cruise up to the back of Barrichello and, when the Brazilian pitted for the second of three scheduled stops, he assumed a lead he would only lose during his own second stop.

Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel was largely anonyous all afternoon, but also took advantage of Brawn's need for three stops to come through and claim second, finishing ahead of Ferrari's Felipe Massa, while Nico Rosberg also got ahead of Button and Barrichello - whose positions were swapped at their final stops - leaving Button fifth and Barrichello fending off a fired-up Fernando Alonso for sixth.

Heikki Kovalainen and Timo Glock scrapped over the final point, the German having one-stopped after starting from pit-lane, before the Finn finally secured a point for McLaren.

The hopes of both Lewis Hamilton and Adrian Sutil were dashed by contact, the Briton with Webber's front wing at the opening corner and Sutil with Kimi Raikkonen at the same point mid-race. Hamilton finished a lap down, having ahd to pit for repairs, while Sutil came home 15th after needing a new front wing while running in the points.

F1 » German Grand Prix – Race result
1. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 60 laps 1hr 36m 43.310s
2. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault +00m 09.2s
3. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 15.9s
4. Nico Rosberg Germany Williams-Toyota +00m 21.0s
5. Jenson Button Britain Brawn-Mercedes +00m 23.6s
6. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Brawn-Mercedes +00m 24.4s
7. Fernando Alonso Spain Renault-Renault +00m 24.8s
8. Heikki Kovalainen Finland McLaren-Mercedes +00m 58.6s

9. Timo Glock Germany Toyota-Toyota +01m 01.4s
10 Nick Heidfeld Germany BMW Sauber +01m 01.9s
11. Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Force India-Mercedes +01m 02.3s
12. Kazuki Nakajima Japan Williams-Toyota +01m 02.8s
13. Nelson Piquet Jr Brazil Renault-Renault +01m 08.3s
14. Robert Kubica Poland BMW Sauber +01m 09.5s
15. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes +01m 11.9s
16. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari +01m 20.2s
17. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota-Toyota +01m 30.9s
18. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes +1 lap

Rtd Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari 34 laps completed
Rtd Sebastien Bourdais France Toro Rosso-Ferrari 18 laps completed

09 FORMULA 1 GROSSER PREIS SANTANDER VON DEUTSCHLAND 2009 (Nürburgring)

2009-07-12T05:11:00.000-07:00

F1 » Webber: First F1 pole makes this 'a very special day'

It may have taken him 132 attempts to do it, but Mark Webber confessed that the wait only made his maiden F1 pole position for this weekend's German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring all-the-more 'special' – as he lauded Red Bull Racing for the part they played in helping him to achieve it, and vowed to do his best to reward them with his breakthrough victory on Sunday to-boot.

The Australian paced FP1 on Friday morning, and has been a consistent front-runner from thereon in around the Eifel Mountains circuit – one where he notched up his first rostrum finish for Red Bull back in 2007, in similarly unpredictable wet/dry conditions.

Having been defeated by team-mate Sebastian Vettel three weeks ago at Silverstone – paying the price on race day for a patchy qualifying effort – it was quickly clear that the 32-year-old was in no mood to make the same mistake again on the German's home turf. After leading the way in Q1, in Q2 he was at one stage almost four seconds clear of any of his rivals, before finishing the job off with a flawless final run in the Q3 top ten shoot-out, getting the better of Brawn GP pairing Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button as well as the fans' favourite to make his own little piece of F1 history.

“This is a very special day for me,” underlined the New South Wales native. “I've been close to getting pole a few times in the past. Today we're here and the team has done a great job. We've been quick all weekend and all the teams and drivers got really tested in that session. It was very, very chaotic and to deliver the lap time when it absolutely counted was very important to me. Getting the best time is fantastic.

“The car is working very well here and I was talking to my engineer Ciaran all the time, asking him what we were doing, because the track conditions were so hard; it looked quite dry, but the slicks just wouldn't take it at all. In Q2, it was really hard to read what we needed for the last ten minutes. In the end, the key for me was three clean sectors – and that's what got me pole.

“I called on my experience, and I have a great team of people – the guys on the pit wall – making the right calls for me. They can see what the other drivers are doing. We're the best drivers in the world, and we know when people are making mistakes that it's down to the wrong tyres – so we stick to the decisions we make and believe in them and go out and do the best we can, because we know everyone's in a bit of trouble in those conditions.

“A huge thanks to all the team, both here and in the factory, and I hope that it can be my first win tomorrow. We're in a fantastic position to do it. Obviously these guys (Barrichello and Button) have had a very strong season and will push us, but we're looking forward to a fight. I'm up for trying to take my first race win tomorrow if I can.”

Webber's performance drew warm words of praise from the energy drinks-backed outfit's team principal Christian Horner and Fabrice Lom, principal track support engineer for engine-supplier Renault – both content in the knowledge that with RBR seemingly in the ascendancy over Brawn as the season heads into its second half, they have two drivers capable of taking points away from runaway world championship leader Button, not just one.

“Despite the very tricky conditions, it was great for Mark to secure his first Formula 1 career pole and it puts him in an ideal place to start tomorrow's race,” remarked Horner.

“I'm so, so happy for Mark,” added Lom. “He really deserves it – he's a good guy and a good driver. We owe him this pole position; he missed it by almost nothing at Silverstone, but here he has got it. We are very happy within Renault to be able to offer him this first pole position.”

F1 » German Grand Prix – Qualifying times

1. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 1m 32.230s
2. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Brawn-Mercedes 1m 32.357s
3. Jenson Button Britain Brawn-Mercedes 1m 32.473s
4. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 1m 32.480s
5. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1m 32.616s

6. Heikki Kovalainen Finland McLaren-Mercedes 1m 33.859s
7. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes 1m 34.316s
8. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 34.574s
9. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 34.710s
10 Nelson Piquet Jr Brazil Renault-Renault 1m 34.803s

11. Nick Heidfeld Germany BMW Sauber 1m 42.310s
12. Fernando Alonso Spain Renault-Renault 1m 42.318s
13. Kazuki Nakajima Japan Williams-Toyota 1m 42.500s
14. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota-Toyota 1m 42.771s
15. Nico Rosberg Germany Williams-Toyota 1m 42.859s

16. Robert Kubica Poland BMW Sauber 1m 32.190s
17. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 32.251s
18. Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Force India-Mercedes 1m 32.402s
19. Sebastien Bourdais France Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 33.559s
20. Timo Glock Germany Toyota-Toyota 1m 32.423s

Vettel cuts Button lead with British GP glory

2009-06-28T03:43:00.000-07:00

Sebastian Vettel stole Jenson Button's thunder on the Brawn GP star's home turf to consummately triumph in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone this weekend, leading home a crushing Red Bull Racing one-two ahead of team-mate Mark Webber to prove that the energy drinks-backed outfit can win in the dry too – and demonstrating that it is very much game on for the 2009 F1 World Championship crown.

A textbook getaway from pole-sitter Vettel when the lights went out was almost bettered by that of Rubens Barrichello alongside, but the German kept his nose in front into Copse, with Webber slotting into third and Kazuki Nakajima moving up a place into fourth in the leading Williams. The biggest gain was made by Kimi Raikkonen in the Ferrari, however, as the 2007 title-winner exploited his KERS power boost to maximum effect to storm down the outside – bravely brushing the grass en route – and vault up into fifth.

The Finn was aided along the way by a slow start from Jarno Trulli on the second row that dropped the Pescara native back to seventh and also compromised home hero Button, who found himself tucked up behind the Italian and with nowhere to go, falling back from sixth to ninth in the process, behind Nico Rosberg, Trulli and the second fast-starting Ferrari of Felipe Massa.

Trulli was desperate to find a way back past Rosberg on the first lap but found his efforts swiftly rebuffed, and after Button profited from a mistake by Massa to move back up into eighth, he again found himself frustratingly stuck behind the Toyota. Further back, there was a superbly opportunistic move by an inspired Giancarlo Fisichella into Stowe, as the experienced Italian took advantage of Nick Heidfeld and Fernando Alonso squabbling ahead of him to dive down the inside of both and into eleventh.

That left the tardy Heidfeld – nursing a damaged front wing and defying the advice of his team in not pitting for a replacement – doggedly staving off the earnest and energetic advances of Alonso, the sister BMW of a slow-starting Robert Kubica and defending F1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton in an entertaining scrap, with the latter having had his own grassy moment on the entry to Stowe after getting held up by Alonso and complaining of no grip from his underperforming McLaren-Mercedes.

The real focus of the race, however, was up front, where Vettel was busy eking out a commanding advantage of a second a lap, helped by Barrichello's difficulties in warming his tyres up to temperature sufficiently quickly. Fastest lap after fastest lap carried the top flight's youngest-ever grand prix-winner almost 15 seconds clear just 13 laps into the action, with Webber able to make little impression on the Brawn GP right ahead of him and seeing his chances of victory evaporating into thin air.

Nakajima unsurprisingly became the first man to pit on lap 15, releasing the duelling Raikkonen and Rosberg into fourth and fifth respectively, with Trulli, Button, Massa and Timo Glock similarly in attendance at the foot of the top ten. Raikkonen was the next to blink, promoting Rosberg to fourth, and the extra lap completed enabled him to leapfrog Nakajima in the process.

There was tension as Trulli and Button pitted together next time around, but unfortunately for British fans the status quo was maintained, and even worse, whilst Trulli was able to jump Raikkonen, the understeer-plagued Button was not – as the luckless Nakajima slipped behind all three of them following his excellent opening stint.

Barrichello was the next in, followed only a lap later by pursuer Webber, but whilst the latter's stop was longer, the Australian narrowly rejoined ahead – though there was a brief heart-stopping moment as the Red Bull emerged from the pit-lane and the Brawn GP stormed up behind him on the exit of Copse, with Webber just doing enough to stave 'Rubinho' off on his cold tyres. Interestingly, too, the two teams went in different directions on tyre strategy – and this time it was RBR that would prove to hold the winning hand.

Results (British Grand Prix)

2009-06-21T05:12:00.000-07:00

Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Pts
1 15 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 60 1:22:49.328 1 10
2 14 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 60 +15.1 secs 3 8
3 23 Rubens Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 60 +41.1 secs 2 6
4 3 Felipe Massa Ferrari 60 +45.0 secs 11 5
5 16 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 60 +45.9 secs 7 4
6 22 Jenson Button Brawn-Mercedes 60 +46.2 secs 6 3
7 9 Jarno Trulli Toyota 60 +68.3 secs 4 2
8 4 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 60 +69.6 secs 9 1
9 10 Timo Glock Toyota 60 +69.8 secs 8
10 21 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Mercedes 60 +71.5 secs 16
11 17 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 60 +74.0 secs 5
12 8 Nelsinho Piquet Renault 59 +1 Lap 14
13 5 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 59 +1 Lap 12
14 7 Fernando Alonso Renault 59 +1 Lap 10
15 6 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 59 +1 Lap 15
16 1 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 59 +1 Lap 18
17 20 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 59 +1 Lap 20
18 12 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 59 +1 Lap 19
Ret 11 Sebastien Bourdais STR-Ferrari 37 Accident damage 17
Ret 2 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 36 Retired 13

Turkish Grand Prix – Qualifying times

2009-06-06T07:08:00.001-07:00

Button damns F1 statistics for Turkish GP glory

Jenson Button had vowed to re-write the unwritten Formula 1 rule that says the pole-sitter always wins the Turkish Grand Prix – and in dashing Red Bull Racing and Sebastian Vettel's dreams in the 2009 edition, the current world championship leader did just that.

The Brawn GP star took advantage of an opening lap error by Vettel to pounce and dive past into the lead around the undulating, technically challenging and physically demanding, anti-clockwise Istanbul Park Circuit – and he went on to fairly crush the opposition with his searing raw pace and flawless consistency, meaning he will travel to Silverstone for the British Grand Prix in front of his adoring home supporters in a fortnight's time with a 26-point lead in the drivers' title chase, and every inch the 2009 F1 World Champion in-waiting.

A textbook getaway propelled pole-sitter Vettel into the lead when the lights went out, with Button – who had positioned his car aggressively pointing inwards on the grid – slotting into second as a fast-starting Jarno Trulli in the Toyota vaulted up to third, with Rubens Barrichello in the second Brawn entry bogging down and falling back ten places to 13th.

Later around the lap, however, Vettel's costly error as the young German got out-of-shape on the exit of turn nine enabled Button to snatch the lead, and the Briton immediately set about pulling away, lapping as much as a second quicker than his Red Bull pursuer despite carrying two laps' more fuel on-board. Less than a lap into the grand prix, and it was already advantage Brawn – and Vettel would never truly regain his lost momentum.

Behind the lead pair, Mark Webber in the second RBR battled his way past Trulli for third, with Nico Rosberg in the Williams making impressive progress from ninth on the grid in aggressively fighting his way past both Ferraris and up to fifth.

The remainder of the top ten early on was completed by Istanbul specialist Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso, Robert Kubica, Kimi Raikkonen and Kazuki Nakajima, with Raikkonen slipping back to ninth as a result of tapping the rear of Alonso's Renault and losing part of his front wing. Barrichello, meanwhile, was finding his progress frustrated by the KERS-equipped McLaren-Mercedes of Heikki Kovalainen, finally finding a way by on lap seven only for his Finnish adversary to exploit his power 'boost' button on the following straight to go immediately back past him again.

Indeed, things would soon go from bad to worse for the veteran Brazilian – the most experienced driver in F1 history – as he went for the inside into turn nine and almost collected Kovalainen as he spun his chances away. That left him to rejoin even further back in 17th, behind the second McLaren of Lewis Hamilton – which was carrying an even heavier fuel load than the sister Silver Arrow...

The racy-looking São Paulista – by now missing seventh gear, to add to his woes – made much shorter work of the defending world champion, however, as his team-mate continued to edge clear at the front of the field, holding a 3.7-second advantage over Vettel nine laps in, with Webber five seconds further in arrears in third and Trulli and Rosberg holding on well in fourth and fifth respectively.

Barrichello's next drama came when he lost his front wing endplate as he attempted in vain to wrest 15th place away from Adrian Sutil in the Force India, though the sister VJM02 of Giancarlo Fisichella had long since trundled into retirement in the Silverstone-based squad's pit garage with ongoing braking issues, meaning the Italian has still to complete more than a handful of racing laps in Turkey in the last four years, though on this occasion he did at least get slightly further than his successive first corner exits in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

1. Jenson Button Britain Brawn-Mercedes 58 laps 1hr 26m 24.848s
2. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault +00m 06.7s
3. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault +00m 07.4s
4. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota-Toyota +00m 27.8s
5. Nico Rosberg Germany Williams-Toyota +00m 31.5s
6. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 39.9s
7. Robert Kubica Poland BMW Sauber +00m 46.2s
8. Timo Glock Germany Toyota-Toyota +00m 46.9s

9. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 50.2s
10. Fernando Alonso Spain Renault-Renault +00m 62.4s
11. Nick Heidfeld Germany BMW Sauber +00m 64.3s
12. Kazuki Nakajima Japan Williams-Toyota +00m 66.3s
13. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes +00m 80.4s
14. Heikki Kovalainen Finland McLaren-Mercedes +1 lap
15. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap
16. Nelson Piquet Jr Brazil Renault-Renault +1 lap
17. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes +1 lap
18. Sebastien Bourdais France Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap

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Vettel atones for Monaco error with Istanbul F1 pole

Red Bull Racing star Sebastian Vettel has thrown down the gauntlet to Formula 1 World Championship leader Jenson Button in atoning for his Monaco mistake with a storming run to pole position for this weekend's Turkish Grand Prix in Istanbul – suggesting that after three races of pure Brawn GP domination, the title battle is back on.

It was, indeed, a breathless conclusion to qualifying around the anti-clockwise, technically challenging and physically demanding 14-turn Istanbul Park Circuit close to the Bosphorous, with Mark Webber and then Button stealing the top spot late on in Q3 before Vettel responded with a scintillating final effort to blow all of his competitors out of the water.

Rubens Barrichello in the second Brawn made the best of a bad situation in hauling himself up from seventh place to third on his very last effort, with Webber winding up fourth and Toyota's Jarno Trulli – who had similarly threatened to challenge for P1 after lapping a close second-quickest to Vettel on the first run – fifth.

The Ferraris underwhelmed somewhat with Kimi Raikkonen sixth and Istanbul expert and record man Felipe Massa seventh, with Fernando Alonso recovering well from a spin to take eighth in his Renault and Nico Rosberg for Williams and BMW-Sauber's Robert Kubica rounding out the top ten at the close.

A fraught final few minutes to Q2 witnessed the top spot changing hands with alacrity from one moment to the next. With the suspicion that Brawn was keeping its powder dry, Red Bull and Toyota duelled it out for supremacy, though Webber left it late after a mistake on his first run put the Australian under pressure to perform later on – and perform he did. From 15th he leapt up to sixth at the close, with team-mate Vettel leading the way, seeing off a late challenge from Trulli to steal P1 in the 'low-fuel' session.

Toyota team-mate Timo Glock, by contrast – a man who had already struggled in Q1 – failed to produce the same pace, dropping out in a lowly 13th, in company with Nick Heidfeld in the BMW and Kazuki Nakajima in the Williams just ahead of him, with the Japanese ace's strong practice and Q1 form seeming to evaporate when it mattered the most, and a couple of off-track 'adventures' scarcely helping his cause either. McLaren-Mercedes' Heikki Kovalainen and the impressive Adrian Sutil completed the top 15, with the latter handing Force India its second Q2 breakthrough in as many outings.

Less than half a second, meanwhile, covered those who progressed on to the all-important Q3 shoot-out, with Vettel leading the way from Trulli, Button, Ferrari duo Massa and Raikkonen, Webber, Barrichello, Rosberg, Kubica in the improved, double-diffuser equipped BMW F1.09 and Alonso, who left it late to save his skin and ensure that his record of beginning every race of 2009 from inside the top ten remains intact.

Given how tightly-packed the field had been throughout practice – with barely seven tenths of a second blanketing the leading 16 runners on Friday, and a similar margin covering the top 15 in FP3 on Saturday morning – it was anticipated that there might be a number of big-name casualties inQ1. Nobody, though could have anticipated that the session would claim arguably the highest-profile scalp of them all.

As Toyota, Red Bull, Ferrari, Williams and Brawn GP set the leading pace – with Nakajima, Trulli, Vettel, Rosberg and Raikkonen all swapping the top spot between them – there were contrasting fortunes at BMW and McLaren, with Heidfeld and defending F1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton looking to be the men most in danger as the clock ticked down, belying the progress the latter believed the Woking-based outfit had made after the opening practice day.

1. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 1m 28.316s
2. Jenson Button Britain Brawn-Mercedes 1m 28.421s
3. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Brawn-Mercedes 1m 28.579s
4. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 1m 28.613s
5. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota-Toyota 1m 28.666s
6. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 28.815s
7. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 28.858s
8. Fernando Alonso Spain Renault-Renault 1m 29.075s
9. Nico Rosberg Germany Williams-Toyota 1m 29.191s
10. Robert Kubica Poland BMW Sauber 1m 29.357s

11. Nick Heidfeld Germany BMW Sauber 1m 27.521s
12. Kazuki Nakajima Japan Williams-Toyota 1m 27.629s
13. Timo Glock Germany Toyota-Toyota 1m 27.795s
14. Heikki Kovalainen Finland McLaren-Mercedes 1m 28.207s
15. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes 1m 28.391s

16. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1m 28.318s
17. Nelson Piquet Jr Brazil Renault-Renault 1m 28.582s
18. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 28.706s
19. Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Force India-Mercedes 1m 28.717s
20. Sebastien Bourdais France Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 28.918s

FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX DE MONACO 2009 (Monte Carlo)

2009-05-23T08:37:00.000-07:00

Button wins Monaco GP
Jenson Button made it five wins from six grand prix starts in 2009 by cruising to victory on the streets of Monaco at the head of another Brawn GP 1-2.

The Briton was seldom troubled after making a good start from pole position, aided by team-mate Rubens Barrichello getting a blinder from P3 to jump ahead of front row starter Kimi Raikkonen and prevent the Ferrari driver from benefitting from being able to use his KERS to take the lead. Despite the Brawns being more heavily fuelled than the Finn, Button and Barrichello pulled away over the early laps, cementing the British team's path to victory.

Although Button was unable to hold the lead throughout, with the likes of Raikkonen, team-mate Felipe Massa and Williams' Nico Rosberg all taking turns at the front during the various pit-stop windows, there was little doubt that victory would come his way unless fate intervened.

Barrichello came under greater pressure as Ferrari's resurgence allowed both Raikkonen and Massa to become podium threats, but the Brazilian was ultimately able to back Button up in the third Brawn 1-2 of the year.

While nemesis McLaren's weekend went from bad to worse with Heikki Kovalainen's exit against the Swimming Pool barriers, Ferrari held on to secure a season's best third and fourth, while Mark Webber, Rosberg, Fernando Alonso and Sebastien Bourdais claimed the remaining points positions.

Rosberg had earlier made a daring move to pass Massa when the Brazilian was forced to back off and allow Sebastian Vettel through after overtaking the German by cutting the seafront chicane, but was not a threat after dropping away from a high of fourth. Webber thus proved to be Ferrari's biggest threat but, despite posting some of the fastest laps of the race, the Australian could not sustain his pace consistently and had to settle for fifth.

Alonso's decision to run long from the start did not pay dividends for Renault, while Bourdais had enough in hand to keep Giancarlo Fisichella at bay and deny Force India some measure of recompense after Adrian Sutil's 2008 disappointment. The German was never a factor this time around, and brought up the rear of the field, three places behind former F3 team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who only recovered to 13th from his rear of the grid start.

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F1 » Monaco Grand Prix – Race result
1. Jenson Button Britain Brawn-Mercedes 78 laps 1hr 40m 44.282s
2. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Brawn-Mercedes +00m 07.6s
3. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 13.4s
4. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 15.1s
5. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault +00m 15.7s
6. Nico Rosberg Germany Williams-Toyota +00m 33.5s
7. Fernando Alonso Spain Renault-Renault +00m 37.8s
8. Sebastien Bourdais France Toro Rosso-Ferrari +00m 63.1s
9. Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Force India-Mercedes +00m 65.0s
10. Timo Glock Germany Toyota-Toyota +1 lap
11. Nick Heidfeld Germany BMW Sauber +1 lap
12. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes +1 lap
13. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota-Toyota +1 lap
14. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes +1 lap
15. Kazuki Nakajima Japan Williams-Toyota +2 laps [DNF – accident]

Rtd Heikki Kovalainen Finland McLaren-Mercedes 51 laps completed accident
Rtd Robert Kubica Poland BMW Sauber 28 laps completed mechanical
Rtd Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 15 laps completed accident
Rtd Nelson Piquet Jr Brazil Renault-Renault 10 laps completed accident damage
Rtd Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari 10 laps completed accident

Fastest lap:
Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 15.154s lap 50

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Button storms to Monaco F1 pole as Hamilton slips up
Formula 1 World Championship leader Jenson Button made it four pole positions out of six in 2009 in qualifying for this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix, pipping Ferrari rival Kimi Raikkonen to the top spot by the narrowest of margins – and now he is bidding to turn it into his fifth victory of the season too around a circuit where Lady Luck has never really shone upon the Brawn GP star before.

A KERS-equipped Raikkonen doubtless believed he had got the job done after keeping his powder dry until the final stages of a tense Q3 to masterfully snatch what appeared to be his first pole since Magny-Cours last year, but then Button – who had looked distinctly off-colour in both Q1 and Q2 – pulled a rabbit out of the hat in the very dying moments to demote the 2007 title-winner by a scant 0.025 seconds.

Behind the front row pairing, the sister Brawn entry of birthday boy Rubens Barrichello – 37 today – took third, despite having again seemed to have the legs of Button for much of the weekend so far, with Red Bull Racing ace Sebastian Vettel a slightly low-key fourth, Felipe Massa fifth in the second Ferrari and Nico Rosberg in the leading Williams sixth. Heikki Kovalainen, Mark Webber, Fernando Alonso and Kazuki Nakajima will complete the top ten.

Rosberg and Vettel may have made much of the early running, but when action stopped it was Button once more on top of the pile. In the last 23 years, on just one occasion has the Monaco Grand Prix been won from outside the top three on the grid – when Olivier Panis sensationally triumphed for Ligier back in 1996 – and Sir Jackie Stewart has repeatedly stated that concentration, consistency and confidence are key around the narrow, tortuous streets of the glamorous Principality. Button has only once finished in points in Monte Carlo in seven previous starts – that could be set to change on Sunday with interest.

Rosberg similarly flew in the low-fuel Q2, setting the initial time to beat before ultimately winding up fifth, as Kovalainen's raw pace showed what might have been for McLaren-Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton, by far the highest-profile victim of Q1 after expensively clouting the Mirabeau barriers. The Finn would ultimately be pipped by three tenths of a second in the final reckoning by a stunning effort from compatriot Raikkonen, with Webber a consistent third, Barrichello fourth, Rosberg fifth, Vettel sixth, Massa seventh, Button a comparatively lowly eighth – indeed at one point looking in danger of not actually making it through at all, following a mediocre first run and no great turn of speed from thereon in – Alonso ninth and Nakajima tenth, seeing Williams get both of its cars through to Q3 for the first time in 2009.

Out of the reckoning, by contrast, were Sébastien Buemi and Nelsinho Piquet, with the latter lightly kissing the wall on the exit of the Swimming Pool section before spinning backwards in Anthony Noghès Corner towards the end of his flying lap, only narrowly avoiding reversing into the barriers. Giancarlo Fisichella – who recovered well from losing his first two Q2 times for having cut the chicane on both occasions – the second Scuderia Toro Rosso of Sébastien Bourdais and the second Force India of Adrian Sutil similarly, if perhaps unsurprisingly, missed the cut for the top ten shoot-out.

With a number of big names fearing the Q1 chop around a circuit famous for throwing up surprises, both Toyotas took to the track immediately at the very beginning of qualifying, with Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock having struggled weekend-long with graining issues and getting heat into their rear tyres. There was greater drama by far, however, for 2008 pole-sitter Massa, who nosed his Ferrari into the unforgiving Armco barriers on the way into the Swimming Pool on his opening 'out' lap, necessitating a return to his pit box for his F2009 to receive some TLC.

The greatest casualty of Q1, though – and undoubtedly the most surprising – was defending race-winner Hamilton, who with eight minutes of the session remaining and having just set the fastest first sector of anyone locked up on the way into Mirabeau, causing the back end of his McLaren to step out and hit the barrier going through the corner, breaking his rear suspension in the process and instantly bringing out the red flags. The 24-year-old's first mistake of the weekend, it was the worst possible time for it to have been committed.

With STR rookie Buemi and the two Force Indias showing impressive form – indeed at one stage running one-two, with more than ten cars having set a representative time – a further upset hung in the air, and an upset certainly materialised.

Button scores strategic win in Barcelona

2009-05-09T17:54:00.000-07:00

Brawn helps Button to strategic win in Barcelona
Jenson Button upheld his sensational start to the 2009 Formula 1 World Championship by strategically overcoming team-mate Rubens Barrichello for the second Brawn GP one-two of the campaign and his fourth triumph in five races in the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.

The eight previous editions of the race in the Catalan capital had all been won from pole position, but for the first half of the 2009 event that record looked to be in danger of being broken. Button, though, had other ideas, and if anybody had any doubts at all about the 29-year-old's championship credentials in the lead-up to the weekend, they don't have them anymore.

Tensions were high in the build-up to the race that with the extra 80bhp afforded to him by his KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems) technology at the start, Massa could upset the complexion of the grand prix considerably for the Brawn GP and Red Bull Racing protagonists by gaining a place or three at their expense – particularly as the even-numbered side of the grid had got away better in the earlier GP2 Series race.

The Brazilian did indeed gain at the start, pulling past Sebastian Vettel for third place on the run down to turn one, but with all eyes on the Ferrari as last year's world championship runner-up bravely forced his way by the Red Bull almost on the grass – mirrored by Lewis Hamilton further down the order – Barrichello's meteoric getaway to leap past Brawn GP team-mate Button went largely unnoticed.

What could not fail to be notice, however, was a pile-up further down the field on the exit of turn two, when in avoidance of Williams' Nico Rosberg, Jarno Trulli in the Toyota ran wide, and as he spun back onto the track again collected a whole gaggle of rivals, harpooning Adrian Sutil in the Force India and leaving the young German similarly out on the spot.

The unluckiest team of all, though, was undoubtedly Scuderia Toro Rosso, with Sébastien Bourdais and Sébastien Buemi tripping over each other in the confusion and taking one another out of contention as debris flew all across the circuit. The safety car was unsurprisingly swiftly deployed.

At the re-start the Brawns made good their escape, as behind the leaders Fernando Alonso used his KERS to perfection to dive alongside fifth-placed Mark Webber along the straight, but the Australian was not willing to give up without a fight, and in a supreme display of bravery produced a counter-punch to slice back down the inside into turn one and somehow slow his car down in time to retain the position.

As Massa proceeded to frustrate the intentions of RBR duo Vettel and Webber behind him and increasingly spoil the Milton Keynes-based squad's afternoon, allowing the Brawn pace-setters to trade blows and fastest lap times at the front and edge further and further away. Barrichello would significantly increase his margin over Button by dint of a lightning-quick opening pit-stop, with the heavily-fuelled Rosberg now between the pair, but it soon afterwards became apparent that whilst the Brazilian was sticking to his planned three-stop strategy, his British team-mate had switched over to a two-stopper in an attempt to turn the tables – meaning the pressure was on.

Also crucial during the first round of pit visits was Red Bull's failure to clear Massa with Vettel, as a fuel rig delay prevented the sport's youngest-ever grand prix-winner from clearing his quarry. Worse still for the energy-backed outfit's chances, Webber suffered a slow 'out' lap that dropped the New South Wales native several spots down the order and out of podium contention.

Massa crept across the line in sixth a scant 1.4 seconds ahead of Nick Heidfeld – who drove well from a lowly grid position – only to run out of fuel on the slowing-down lap, with Rosberg stealing the final marker in eighth. The finishers were completed by Hamilton in a distant ninth on distinctly worn tyres, Timo Glock a disappointing tenth for Toyota, Robert Kubica a long way behind BMW team-mate Heidfeld in eleventh, Nelsinho Piquet twelfth, Kazuki Nakajima 13th and Giancarlo Fisichella 14th and last.

Aside from the first lap casualties, the only other drivers to fail to reach the chequered flag were a KERS-less Kimi Raikkonen and compatriot Heikki Kovalainen. Both lost drive early on, though the former at least enjoyed a lively scrap with Heidfeld, Hamilton and Kubica before his retirement. This time last year Raikkonen secured what remains his latest F1 victory, whilst Jenson Button equalled his best finish in eight starts around the Circuit de Catalunya. How times change.

Crash.net Driver of the Day: Mark Webber (second podium of the season courtesy of a solid charge)

Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Pts
1 22 Jenson Button Brawn-Mercedes 66 1:37:19.202 1 10
2 23 Rubens Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 66 +13.0 secs 3 8
3 14 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 66 +13.9 secs 5 6
4 15 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 66 +18.9 secs 2 5
5 7 Fernando Alonso Renault 66 +43.1 secs 8 4
6 3 Felipe Massa Ferrari 66 +50.8 secs 4 3
7 6 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 66 +52.3 secs 13 2
8 16 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 66 +65.2 secs 9 1
9 1 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 65 +1 Lap 14
10 10 Timo Glock Toyota 65 +1 Lap 6
11 5 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 65 +1 Lap 10
12 8 Nelsinho Piquet Renault 65 +1 Lap 12
13 17 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 65 +1 Lap 11
14 21 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Mercedes 65 +1 Lap 20
Ret 4 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 17 +49 Laps 16
Ret 2 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 7 Gearbox 18
Ret 9 Jarno Trulli Toyota 0 Accident 7
Ret 12 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 0 Accident 15
Ret 11 Sebastien Bourdais STR-Ferrari 0 Accident 17
Ret 20 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 0 Accident 19

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Last-gasp Button storms to Barcelona F1 pole
World Championship leader Jenson Button has proved that Brawn GP are not easily going to be knocked off their perch at the top of the Formula 1 tree in 2009, by flirting with disaster before pulling a magnificent last-gasp lap out of the bag to steal pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona this weekend.

Down in eighth position as the clock ticked down towards the chequered flag in Q3 around the Circuit de Catalunya, the 29-year-old – already boasting a twelve-point advantage in the drivers' standings four races into the current campaign – crossed the line to begin his final flying effort with barely two seconds to spare and, fired-up, produced arguably one of the finest laps of his career in the top flight to leap to the top of the timing screens and re-instate the Brawn supremacy at the head of the F1 pecking order.

Alongside Button on the starting grid on Sunday will be Red Bull Racing star Sebastian Vettel, with the second Brawn of Rubens Barrichello – a driver who for much of the session had looked like claiming his first pole in almost five years – third and Felipe Massa taking fourth in the top Ferrari, making up in some way for the crushing disappointment the Scuderia had suffered in Q1, if not quite managing to replicate his earlier practice form when the two scarlet machines had lapped half a second clear of any of the opposition.

Vettel's challenge was spoiled somewhat when the Shanghai winner ran wide through turn twelve, with Mark Webber backing the young German up in fifth in the sister RBR, and Toyota's Bahrain Grand Prix front row pairing Timo Glock and Jarno Trulli slipping off the pace a touch in sixth and seventh, with barely anything to choose between the German-Italian combo as the Cologne-based outfit's TF109 appeared to behave better on heavier fuel than on light.

The top ten will be rounded out by fans' favourite Fernando Alonso in the sole Renault to make the Q3 shoot-out, Nico Rosberg for Williams and Robert Kubica in a BMW that has clearly improved – but seemingly not by as much as the team had anticipated.

Q2 saw Williams' Kazuki Nakajima, under-fire Renault sophomore Nelsinho Piquet, Nick Heidfeld – whose qualifying preparations were hampered by an accident in FP3 that had heavily damaged the front end of his BMW-Sauber F1.09 – defending F1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton and Scuderia Toro Rosso rookie Sébastien Buemi all fall by the wayside, with the latter skating off-piste and through the turn nine gravel trap, kissing the circuit barrier along the way but nonetheless once again out-qualifying his more experienced team-mate Sébastien Bourdais.

Up at the sharp end, meanwhile, a late flyer from Barrichello nicked the top spot, with both Red Bulls continuing to show well, Button and Rosberg narrowly saving their skin on their final efforts and Trulli and Alonso only just scraping into the top ten showdown as a mere two tenths of a second blanketed the leading five contenders.

Earlier on, all drivers had headed out in the first phase of qualifying on the softer-compound Bridgestone rubber, with nobody apparently willing to take any risks any more after seeing big names such as Massa, Kubica and Webber crash out as Q1 casualties already this season by gambling on making it through on the lesser-favoured tyres in order to save the better ones for race day. Well, nobody except Ferrari – as Barcelona in turn would claim its own high-profile victim.

Whilst Massa set the pace this time from Webber, Button, Vettel and Rosberg, all eyes were down at the bottom of the order as the seconds counted down, with Heikki Kovalainen – delayed by a hydraulics failure in Friday practice – home hero Alonso, Trulli, Barrichello, Kubica and Heidfeld all looking to be in danger of missing the cut.

HOW THEY WILL START THE RACE
1. Jenson Button, Brawn GP, 646kg
2. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 651.5
3. Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP, 649.5
4. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 655
5. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 651.5
6. Timo Glock, Toyota, 646.5
7. Jarno Trulli, Toyota, 655.5
8. Fernando Alonso, Renault, 645
9. Nico Rosberg, Williams, 668
10. Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber, 660
11. Kazuki Nakajima, Williams, 676.6
12. Nelson Piquet, Renault, 677.4
13. Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber, 676.3
14. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 683
15. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso, 678
16. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 673
17. Sebastien Bourdais, Toro Rosso, 669
18. Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren, 657
19. Adrian Sutil, Force India, 675
20. Giancarlo Fisichella, Force India, 656

03 2009 FORMULA 1 GULF AIR BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX (Bahrain)

2009-04-26T05:13:00.000-07:00

Button celebrates first 'real' chequered flag of '09
In Melbourne he led a ten-second sprint to the finish line following a late-race safety car intervention and in Sepang the washout that caused an early stoppage threatened to rain on his victory celebrations, but in Sakhir Jenson Button drove all the way to the chequered flag – and drove his heart out to ensure he got there first.

The 2009 Formula 1 World Championship leader was in pessimistic mood after qualifying just fourth in the desert kingdom, some margin from the front row of the grid and on barely more fuel than the pace-setting Toyotas of Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock. The 29-year-old ceded further ground at the first corner when compatriot Lewis Hamilton vaulted past him in his KERS-equipped McLaren-Mercedes, but he regained a position by going boldly all the way around the outside of fellow second row starter Sebastian Vettel into turn one.

The turning-point in Button's race, though, lay just a lap later still, as at the same place he dived bravely down the inside of Hamilton and made the move stick, allowing him to set off in pursuit of the leading Toyotas. By dint of remaining out on-track significantly longer and posting some very quick lap times, he was able to leapfrog both during the first round of pit visits, and from there even extended his advantage throughout the middle stint as second-placed Trulli held the chasing pack at bay on his lesser-favoured 'prime' Bridgestone rubber.

Consistent lap times in the final stint when he switched over the medium-compound tyres were enough to maintain the Frome-born star's lead, and he went on to take the flag just over four seconds clear of Vettel for his third triumph from four starts this season. It was, by all accounts, a magnificent drive.

“It was a great race today,” Button enthused. “I'm so happy to have seen the chequered flag without a safety car or red light in front of me! To achieve my third victory of the season is amazing, and we are going back to Europe with a strong lead in both championships. I couldn't wish for anything more.

“It has been a tough weekend for the team, which makes this win even more rewarding as we didn't have the pace that we had expected. I was really happy with my first lap. I knew that I had to overtake Sebastian quickly and got him round the outside on turn one.

“I had a couple of attempts at Lewis round the first lap and almost got him at the last corner. I knew that he would pull away from me on the straight so I dropped in behind and used the tow to overtake him at turn one. It wasn't easy from there, but getting up to third on the second lap was crucial for me. Our thanks to Mercedes-Benz this weekend who have not only provided us with a powerful engine but have integrated so well with our team. You need a close-knit unit to succeed in Formula 1, and that is what we have at this team.”

The sister car of team-mate Rubens Barrichello was never quite on Button's pace during the grand prix, with an aggressive three-stop strategy failing to really pay off for the experienced Brazilian, with the 36-year-old finding himself caught up in myriad on-track battles, most notably with compatriot Nelsinho Piquet and Glock. The São Paulista secured fifth place in the final reckoning after getting the better of a late-race scrap with Glock and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen.

“We brought home some valuable points today,” he reflected afterwards, “but it was a tough race for me. I lost a lot of time behind Piquet after my first stop, which was a real shame as it compromised my race plan. We went for a three-stop strategy and then took the decision to come in slightly early for my second stop as I was being held up behind Hamilton.

1 22 Jenson Button Brawn-Mercedes 57 1:31:48.182 4 10
2 15 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 57 +7.1 secs 3 8
3 9 Jarno Trulli Toyota 57 +9.1 secs 1 6
4 1 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 57 +22.0 secs 5 5
5 23 Rubens Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 57 +37.7 secs 6 4
6 4 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 57 +42.0 secs 10 3
7 10 Timo Glock Toyota 57 +42.8 secs 2 2
8 7 Fernando Alonso Renault 57 +52.7 secs 7 1
9 16 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 57 +58.1 secs 9
10 8 Nelsinho Piquet Renault 57 +65.1 secs 15
11 14 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 57 +67.6 secs 18
12 2 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 57 +77.8 secs 11
13 11 Sebastien Bourdais STR-Ferrari 57 +78.8 secs 20
14 3 Felipe Massa Ferrari 56 +1 Lap 8
15 21 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Mercedes 56 +1 Lap 17
16 20 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 56 +1 Lap 19
17 12 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 56 +1 Lap 16
18 5 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 56 +1 Lap 13
19 6 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 56 +1 Lap 14
Ret 17 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 48 Oil pressure 12

Gutsy second for Vettel eases Red Bull 'disappointment'
A battling performance by Shanghai star Sebastian Vettel earned Red Bull Racing a hard-earned second place in the Bahrain Grand Prix, but his team nonetheless admitted to a touch of 'disappointment' at not having been able to repeat its Chinese glory in the desert kingdom.

After qualifying third, Vettel was confident of being able to overhaul the two front row-sitting Toyotas on race day by dint of carrying rather more fuel than Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock – but that was to count without the Brawn GP of Formula 1 World Championship leader Jenson Button and, more significantly still, the McLaren-Mercedes of defending title-holder Lewis Hamilton.

A solid getaway at the lights was eclipsed by the KERS-aided start of Hamilton, and with one Briton on his inside into turn one, the other one took advantage to go around the outside, leaving Vettel with nowhere to go and having to cede position to both through the opening corner. From there the young German found his ambitions frustrated over the first 15 laps until the McLaren pitted, but he got past by waiting a further four laps before he made his own pit visit.

After shadowing Trulli throughout the middle stint of the race – with Hamilton never far from his mirrors – the 21-year-old would leapfrog the Italian too during the second round of stops, but by then Button was all-but home and dry, and though he would slowly chip away at the leader's advantage until the chequered flag, barring any overheating problems for the Brawn, the end result was never really any longer in doubt. Nonetheless, the runner-up spoils – after fending off Trulli to the close – have maintained Vettel's stellar start to the 2009 campaign and lifted him to within a single point of Rubens Barrichello for second place in the drivers' standings.

“Very good,” summarised the top flight's youngest-ever grand prix-winner. “A good result and good points, but it was a difficult race. The start was okay, but then suddenly Lewis was next to me – he must have pressed his special button and got an advantage. At the first corner we were three-deep – me in the middle and Jenson on the outside – so I had to give way and lost two positions.

“Unfortunately I then got stuck behind Lewis, which caused degradation to the tyres – you start to slide and never really come back from that. It's hard-braking here, so you need the tyres and rear stability. In the second stint I was just behind Jarno, which was a shame as I was on soft tyres and could have gone a bit quicker.

“In the third stint, it was the other way round and I had to defend against Jarno who was then on the soft tyres. He was very close in my mirrors, but I didn't make any mistakes and we came second! A massive thanks to all the guys for this great result.”

Team-mate Mark Webber, for his part, staged a brave recovery from his back-of-the-grid starting position, battling his way gamely up the order and pulling off an impressive move on Ferrari's Felipe Massa, but ultimately losing too much time behind the KERS-equipped Renault of Nelsinho Piquet en route to eleventh spot at the finish, still behind his arch-nemesis Piquet and 17 seconds shy of the last of the points-scoring positions.

“My start was okay,” the Australian mused. “We had a reasonable first few laps, but then I got stuck behind Piquet. It's very difficult to overtake a car with KERS – he was too quick on the straights and that really wrecked the first stint for me. We then converted to a two-stop strategy, but the grip was quite low on the prime tyres, although it was the same for everyone.

Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Pts
1 22 Jenson Button Brawn-Mercedes 57 1:31:48.182 4 10
2 15 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 57 +7.1 secs 3 8
3 9 Jarno Trulli Toyota 57 +9.1 secs 1 6
4 1 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 57 +22.0 secs 5 5
5 23 Rubens Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 57 +37.7 secs 6 4
6 4 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 57 +42.0 secs 10 3
7 10 Timo Glock Toyota 57 +42.8 secs 2 2
8 7 Fernando Alonso Renault 57 +52.7 secs 7 1
9 16 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 57 +58.1 secs 9
10 8 Nelsinho Piquet Renault 57 +65.1 secs 15
11 14 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 57 +67.6 secs 18
12 2 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 57 +77.8 secs 11
13 11 Sebastien Bourdais STR-Ferrari 57 +78.8 secs 20
14 3 Felipe Massa Ferrari 56 +1 Lap 8
15 21 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Mercedes 56 +1 Lap 17
16 20 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 56 +1 Lap 19
17 12 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 56 +1 Lap 16
18 5 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 56 +1 Lap 13
19 6 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 56 +1 Lap 14
Ret 17 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 48 Oil pressure 12

Vettel delivers Red Bull first F1 win in Shanghai!

2009-04-19T17:09:00.001-07:00

It may have taken them 75 races to get there, but when they finally did so they did it in style, as Sebastian Vettel led team-mate Mark Webber home in a resounding Red Bull Racing one-two triumph in a water-logged Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai today.

In an historic result, Vettel not only atoned for his error in the 2009 curtain-raiser in Melbourne that cost RBR the runner-up spoils Down Under, but he survived a nudge from behind from Scuderia Toro Rosso rookie Sébastien Buemi under a mid-race safety car period and demonstrated all the composure of a seasoned Formula 1 veteran to hold his nerve in treacherous conditions that saw many of his rivals spinning off left, right and centre for his second wet weather grand prix victory.

What's more, much as when Jordan broke its own F1 duck in the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps – a race held in similar conditions – Red Bull's success was a double cause for celebration, with Webber taking the chequered flag second to cement the Milton Keynes-based squad's superiority. After two races of Brawn GP domination, the 2009 season has suddenly come alive.

With a wet track, the decision was taken to begin the grand prix under safety car conditions – a controversial move that threatened to play in the favour of the Brawns of Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button and work against the top three cars on the grid, the Red Bulls of Vettel and Webber and the Renault of former double F1 World Champion Fernando Alonso, all of whom were significantly lighter on fuel than the two starting behind them.

Even at low speed behind the safety car, though, there were a number of incidents, with both Ferraris skating off-piste at the same corner and Force India's Adrian Sutil taking a trip through the gravel trap. The young German seized the opportunity to pit, as did countryman Nico Rosberg in the Williams – the first of the leading runners to blink – and then front-row starter Alonso, leaving the trio at the back of the field, but still with the pack and with a pit-stop already in their pocket.

The safety car remained on-track for what must have seemed an interminable length of time for the front-runners, finally coming in at the end of lap eight to release the drivers in a Red Bull one-two, with the menacing Brawns right up behind – and none of them having completed a flying lap in such conditions over the course of the weekend.

Reprising their Malaysian wet weather pace, the Red Bulls rapidly set about scampering away from the Brawn pairing to the extent that after just two racing laps, leader Vettel already had a ten-second advantage over third-placed Barrichello. The gap between the young German and team-mate Webber see-sawed until the first round of pit-stops arrived, when the Brawns took charge, Button now leading Barrichello after the latter had run slightly wide heading onto the pit straight earlier in the grand prix.

Behind the front-runners, it was an inspired Buemi who was the main man on the move, the architect of a truly superb performance that saw him not only hassle but go on to pass the similarly Ferrari-powered Kimi Raikkonen in a gritty and determined display that belied his lack of experience in the top flight.

The young Swiss ace's next target and victim was Jarno Trulli, who went backwards as he struggled for grip in the torrential conditions until his race was prematurely ended by Robert Kubica 17 laps in, with the Pole entering the final corner rather faster than the Toyota ahead of him and the F1.09 riding up over the back of the TF109, destroying the entire rear section of his Italian rival's car and ensuring that the Pescara native's sorry record in China was maintained.

Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Pts
1 15 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 56 1:57:43.485 1 10
2 14 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 56 +10.9 secs 3 8
3 22 Jenson Button Brawn-Mercedes 56 +44.9 secs 5 6
4 23 Rubens Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 56 +63.7 secs 4 5
5 2 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 56 +65.1 secs 12 4
6 1 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 56 +71.8 secs 9 3
7 10 Timo Glock Toyota 56 +74.4 secs 19 2
8 12 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 56 +76.4 secs 10 1
9 7 Fernando Alonso Renault 56 +84.3 secs 2
10 4 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 56 +91.7 secs 8
11 11 Sebastien Bourdais STR-Ferrari 56 +94.1 secs 15
12 6 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 56 +95.8 secs 11
13 5 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 56 + 106.8 secs 17
14 21 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Mercedes 55 +1 Lap 20
15 16 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 55 +1 Lap 7
16 8 Nelsinho Piquet Renault 53 +2 Laps 16
17 20 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 50 Accident 18
Ret 17 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 43 Transmission 14
Ret 3 Felipe Massa Ferrari 20 Electrical 13
Ret 9 Jarno Trulli Toyota 18 Accident damage 6

R3 2009 FORMULA 1 CHINESE GRAND PRIX (Shanghai) 19 April 2009

2009-04-19T05:08:00.000-07:00

Red Bull expect 'big day' after 'last-minute' Vettel pole

Red Bull Racing is expecting 'a big day' in its Formula 1 history in tomorrow's Chinese Grand Prix, after Sebastian Vettel left it late to lead the team to its maiden pole position in the top flight by just under two tenths of a second – a result the German described as 'unbelievable'.

Both Vettel and team-mate Mark Webber were bang on the leading pace from the word 'go' in qualifying in Shanghai, belying a troubled FP3 session that had seen them complete just 15 laps between them as a result of driveshaft issues. On low fuel loads for the first time in Q2, the pair wound up first and second respectively – and in the closing stages of Q3 looked set to do the same, only for a meteoric effort from former double F1 World Champion Fernando Alonso in the Renault to split the two energy drinks-backed machines right at the close.

All-the-more impressive was the fact that Vettel pulled off his pole position feat despite only venturing out for a single run in the top ten shoot-out due to his practice woes, whilst most of his rivals benefitted from two – consequently putting him under considerable pressure to produce. He did so to perfection.

“I'm very, very happy,” enthused the 21-year-old, already the sport's youngest-ever grand prix-winner and a man who similarly stormed to the top spot on the starting grid for Scuderia Toro Rosso in Monza last year. “It's unbelievable, and it was a bit last-minute! I only had one run in each qualifying session but, as you can see, you don't need more!

“It wasn't easy; we had a problem with the car and had to run as little as possible. The car was really quick, though; Mark had two runs in each session and was always up there, so I didn't have any concerns. Still, if you have only one lap, you can't make any mistakes.

“I'm really happy – we made it to pole position in the end! This morning wasn't ideal, but it seems the less I run in the morning, the better it is in qualifying! A big thanks to the mechanics, who have been working very, very hard, basically all night, and thanks to all the team back in Milton Keynes too. We made it! I'm looking forward to tomorrow; it's a long race and there's a long way to go, but we have the best starting position.”

Webber will begin the grand prix from directly behind his team-mate in third, just under three tenths adrift and – as with Vettel – marking the Australian's highest starting position since last year's Italian Grand Prix. The New South Wales native admitted that the gaps in the times had taken him a touch by surprise, but he acknowledged that it was an 'incredible' outcome nonetheless – particularly given that only a matter of months ago he was laid up in hospital with a badly broken right leg.

“What a result!” the 32-year-old remarked. “The work that's gone into this from the team, especially over the last few weeks, has been incredible. It would have been good to have both cars on the front row, but Fernando did a great job.

“I was expecting to be a little bit tighter in the end, but we'll see how the fuel loads pan out tomorrow. We've done a good job. Q2 was strong for us and the car is behaving well, with a lot of grip. I'm doing what I can to give the youngster (Vettel) a hard time; we're pushing each other hard and it's working very well!”

Vettel's Pole Lap Video...

Pole Positions
1 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault
2 Fernando Alonso Renault
3 Mark Webber RBR-Renault
4 Rubens Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes
5 Jenson Button Brawn-Mercedes
6 Jarno Trulli Toyota
7 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota
8 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari
9 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes
10 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari

02 2009 FORMULA 1 PETRONAS MALAYSIAN GRAND PRIX (Kuala Lumpur)

2009-04-04T05:14:00.000-07:00

Malaysian GP washed out by Rain

The red flag thrown to halt proceedings at Sepang proved to be the final event of the Malaysian Grand Prix, as ongoing torrential rain prevented the remaining runners from taking a restart. The race started in dry conditions, defying most predictions, but the rain eventually came just short of 20 laps, prompting most of the field to pit for full Bridgestone wet tyres within the next two or three tours.

The expected downpour took longer to come, however, and Timo Glock showed the intermediates were the way to go initially, scything through the field. Just as his rivals decided to follow suit, though, the German pitted for full wets, anticipating what was to become a veritable monsoon. Again, the remainder of the field stopped for suitable rubber, with Jenson Button, who had made a poor start, rejoining in the lead, having picked off Fernando Alonso, Jarno Trulli and Nico Rosberg - either on track or as the result of pit-stops - before the conditions degenerated to the point where racing was absolutely impossible.

With just 31 of the scheduled 56 laps in the books, half points will be awarded, but Button will be credited with his - and Brawn GP's - second win of the 2009 season. Behind the Briton, Glock, Nick Heidfeld, Trulli, Rubens Barrichello, Lewis Hamilton, Rosberg and Mark Webber stand to score, although the order may yet be reshuffled according to the point at which the stewards decide to take the result.

F1 » Malaysian Grand Prix – Race results
1. Jenson Button Britain Brawn-Mercedes 31 laps 1hr 91m 35.181s
2. Nick Heidfeld Germany BMW Sauber +0m 22.7s
3. Timo Glock Germany Toyota-Toyota +0m 23.5s
4. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota-Toyota +0m 46.1s
5. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Brawn-Mercedes +0m 47.3s
6. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault +0m 52.3s
7. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes +0m 60.7s
8. Nico Rosberg Germany Williams-Toyota +0m 71.5s

9. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari +0m 76.9s
10. Sebastien Bourdais France Toro Rosso-Ferrari
11. Fernando Alonso Spain Renault-Renault
12. Kazuki Nakajima Japan Williams-Toyota
13. Nelson Piquet Jr Brazil Renault-Renault
14. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari
15. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault
16. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari
17. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes
18. Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Force India-Mercedes

Rtd Robert Kubica Poland BMW Sauber 1 lap completed
Rtd Heikki Kovalainen Finland McLaren-Mercedes 0 laps completed

Button: Malaysia F1 pole 'more special' than Oz

Jenson Button has described securing the top spot in qualifying for this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix as 'even more special' than when he did so for the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne seven days ago – as after more than 150 appearances in Formula 1, the British star has finally registered back-to-back pole positions to bring his career total up to five.

Having swept all before him Down Under, Button did so again in Sepang, as Brawn GP's early-season supremacy in the top flight shows few signs of easing up. However, he did not have it quite all his own way in Kuala Lumpur, after being unhappy with the balance of his Mercedes-powered BGP 001 during practice, having to stave off a sustained threat from the Toyota of Jarno Trulli and lapping 'only' seventh-quickest in Q1. He would not lay that far down the timing screens for long.

“Achieving pole position today in Malaysia is possibly even more special than last week in Australia,” the 29-year-old enthused, after narrowly pipping Trulli by just under a tenth of a second. “It's not easy to get one pole, but two successive poles is just fantastic and it's a first for me in my Formula 1 career. It's a great feeling and proves that our car works well on different types of circuit.

“We were really struggling with the balance yesterday and I had a lot of rear locking; however, we made some changes to the car overnight which really improved it for today and it felt really good throughout qualifying. It's a big turnaround, and I have to say thank you to the team for their hard work in such tough conditions. They did a fantastic job. We are hoping that the rain stays away tomorrow, but you just never know at this circuit and we will be working hard tonight to make sure we are prepared for all eventualities.”

Unfortunately for the team, this time around Rubens Barrichello in the sister Virgin-backed entry was unable to join Button on the front row, having to take a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change the previous day. That notwithstanding, the experienced Brazilian was never quite on the Briton's stunning pace, even if he did snatch P1 in the one phase of qualifying in which his team-mate failed to do so, maintaining Brawn GP's uninterrupted 2009 qualifying hegemony.

“It was a good qualifying session for the team today,” reflected the 36-year-old, who admitted to having grappled with understeer en route to fourth spot, what becomes eighth with his penalty taken into account. “Well done to Jenson once again as he had the pace to put the car on pole.

“Unfortunately on my side of the garage, the car developed understeer in qualifying and we were not able to resolve the problem. However, we know the performance of the car in race conditions is strong, and I will be aiming to score as many points as possible tomorrow before I can start chasing for my own pole positions and wins.”

“It was a great qualifying performance from Jenson and the team today,” summarised team principal Ross Brawn, “particularly as we had some issues with the balance of the car in yesterday's practice sessions. At the start of qualifying there was a distinct possibility of rain, so we went out early in Q1 to bank some dry running and from there it was a busy session with the track evolving incredibly quickly.

“Rubens was struggling for grip under braking which resulted in understeer, and he was never completely happy with the balance of his car. With the replacement of his gearbox, this puts him further back on the grid than we would have hoped; however, his experience will stand him in good stead in the race.

“Jenson was much happier with the balance, which reflects in his second pole of the season after an excellent lap. It was an incredibly close session, and with the prospect of rain in the race tomorrow, we should be in for a very eventful and exciting Malaysian Grand Prix.”

McLaren confirms Ryan 'suspension'

McLaren has moved swiftly to react to spreading rumours concerning the future of sporting director Dave Ryan, following suggestions that he was to fall on his sword as a result of Lewis Hamilton's exclusion from the Australian Grand Prix.

Ryan and Hamilton appeared at the original post-race stewards' enquiry to give their side of the story regarding the incident that saw Jarno Trulli pick up a 25-second time penalty for allegedly passing the McLaren while the field was neutralised behind the race's final safety car. The Italian had already ceded third spot by running off the road on the previous lap, but Hamilton appeared to slow to let him retake the position.

The subsequent debate has centred on whether Trulli overtook Hamilton illegally - something the Toyota driver denies - or simply reacted to being allowed to pass. Hamilton apparently told one post-race media interviewed that he had moved over and handed the place back under instruction from his team, but neither he nor Ryan disclosed the same fact to the stewards' hearing.

Only when the interview and McLaren's pit-to-car radio transcripts [see separate story – click here], came to light was the truth of the matter revealed, leading to the stewards to determine that Ryan and Hamilton has been 'deliberately misleading', stripping the Briton of any place in the official results, and reinstating Trulli to third place [see separate story – click here].

The FIA has not stopped there either, suggesting that, while Hamilton will be allowed to contest this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang, further sanctions could follow.

When Ryan did not appear in his usual position in the McLaren pit during free practice in Malaysia, team CEO Martin Whitmarsh confirmed that the veteran engineer would play no further part in the weekend's activities, having been 'suspended from his position as sporting director' but admitted that it had been a tough decision to take.

"In my 20-odd years working for McLaren, I doubt if I've met a more dedicated individual than Davey," he pointed out, "He's been an integral part of McLaren since 1974 and has played a crucial role in the team's many world championship successes since that time.

“However, his role in the events of last Sunday, particularly his dealings with the FIA stewards, has caused serious repercussions for the team, for which we apologise. Therefore, I suspended him this morning and he has accepted this.”

Whitmarsh will undoubtedly face further questions in Friday afternoon's official FIA press conference at Sepang, although whether he chooses to reveal any further details remains to be seen.

01 2009 FORMULA 1 ING AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX (Melbourne)

2009-03-29T05:14:00.000-07:00

Jenson Button's moment of glory....after Vettel and Kubica crashed into each other and out of the race in the final few minutes of the race....

Toyota’s Jarno Trulli has lost his third place in Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix after stewards penalized him for passing under the safety car in the closing laps.

Trulli ran off road near the end of the race, thus losing a place to McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, but then repassed the world champion once he had rejoined the circuit.

The Italian was given a 10-second stop-go penalty as a result, but since the offence occurred within the final five laps that was translated into a 25-second penalty added to his race time. He thus drops to 12th.

"I can't say how disappointed I am to finish third but have the result questioned," he said. "When the safety car came out towards the end of the race Lewis passed me but soon after he suddenly slowed down and pulled over to the side of the road. I thought he had a problem so I overtook him as there was nothing else I could do."

FINAL RACE RESULTS
Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Pts
1 22 Jenson Button Brawn-Mercedes 58 1:34:15.784 1 10
2 23 Rubens Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 58 +0.8 secs 2 8
3 9 Jarno Trulli Toyota 58 +1.6 secs 20 6
4 10 Timo Glock Toyota 58 +4.4 secs 19 5
5 7 Fernando Alonso Renault 58 +4.8 secs 10 4
6 16 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 58 +5.7 secs 5 3
7 12 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 58 +6.0 secs 13 2
8 11 Sebastien Bourdais STR-Ferrari 58 +6.2 secs 17 1
9 20 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 58 +6.3 secs 16
10 6 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 58 +7.0 secs 9
11 21 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Mercedes 58 +7.3 secs 15
12 14 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 57 +1 Lap 8
13 15 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 56 Accident 3
14 5 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 55 Accident 4
15 4 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 55 Differential 7
Ret 3 Felipe Massa Ferrari 45 Suspension 6
Ret 8 Nelsinho Piquet Renault 24 Spin 14
Ret 17 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 17 Accident 11
Ret 2 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 0 Accident damage 12
DSQ 1 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 58 +2.9 secs 18

-----------------------------------------------------

A Preview of the coming Australian Grand Prix

New Rules for 2009

There are some significant changes made for the new season of F1 racing. Some are extremely controversial and may not be welcome by the teams. Among the significant changes are:

Drivers' championship decider:
The drivers' championship will be given to the driver with the most race wins for the season. If two or more drivers have the same total of wins, the title goes to the driver with the highest points.

Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS)
Teams now have the option of employing KERS to boost their car’s performance. KERS recovers the kinetic energy generated by the car’s braking system. This energy is stored using a mechanical flywheel or an electrical battery and then made available to the driver, via a boost button on the steering wheel. Under the current system the power gain equates to around 80 horsepower, available for just under seven seconds per lap. This could be worth several tenths of a second in terms of lap time gained, but the weight and packaging of the system - and its impact on the car’s weight distribution and aerodynamic also need to be taken into account.

Tyres
From grooved tyres, Formula One racing returns to slicks this year, as part of moves to increase the emphasis on mechanical rather than aerodynamic gripping. Grip will increase by around 20 percent with slick tyres, bringing a significant performance gain. However, this is offset by the vastly reduced down-force levels of the new aerodynamic regulations. The overall effect should be reduced performance through high-speed corners. This could work against McClaren whose cars are good at corners.

Unlike in 2008, drivers will not select two consecutive compounds, so the difference between ‘harder’ and ‘softer’ at any given race will be far greater now. A green band on the sidewall will indicate the softer compound.

Engines
In a attempt to boost reliability still further, rev limits is cut from 19,000 to 18,000 rpm. Drivers will be limited to eight engines per season, with additional four engines for testing. Once a driver has used up his eight-engine allocation, any engine change will incur a 10-place grid penalty, or a move to the back of the grid if made after qualifying, for the event at which the change is made.

Aerodynamics
This is one of the biggest area of change for 2009. Downforce will be dramatically reduced and the cars’ bodywork will appear much cleaner, thanks to new dimension regulations that outlaw extraneous items such as barge boards, winglets, turning vanes and chimneys on most parts of the car.

The revisions are also designed to increase overtaking by making the car less susceptible to turbulence when closely following another car. The most obvious changes are to the front and rear wings dimensions.

The front wing is lower (75mm from 150mm) and wider (up from 1400 to 1800mm - the same width as the car) with driver-adjustable flaps. Drivers are allowed to make two wing adjustments per lap, altering the wing angle over a six-degree range.

The rear wing is now taller (up 150mm to bring it level with the top of the engine cover) and narrower (750mm from 1000mm).

Also behind the car, the diffuser has been moved rearwards, its leading edge now level with (rather than ahead of) the rear-wheel axle line. Also, the diffuser has been made longer and higher, changes that will reduce its ability to generate downforce.

Testing
Testing is not allowed during the race season (from the week prior to the first Grand Prix until December 31) and is limited to 15,000 kilometres.

Safety car
The pit lane will now remain open during any safety-car period, drivers can now refuel without penalty. However, to ensure that cars are not tempted to speed back to the pit lane, a new software system which employs GPS and the cars’ standard ECU has been introduced. When the safety car is out there, each driver is given a minimum ‘back to pit’ time based on his position on the track. If he arrives in the pit lane before that time he will be penalised.

New Turn Names for F1 Racing Track in Singapore

2009-03-01T16:30:00.001-08:00

New corner names for Singapore Grand Prix circuit Three of the corners on the Marina Bay Street Circuit, host of the Singapore Grand Prix, are to sport new names following a competition created by race organisers in conjunction with the Singapore newspaper, Today.

Turn 1 will become known as ‘Sheares’, relating to the Benjamin Sheares Bridge which towers over the track at that point. The bridge - and now the corner - takes its name from Singapore's second President, who led the development of the island state from 1971 until his death in 1981.

Turn 7, the scene of some of the most spectacular overtaking moves during the inaugural 2008 night race, will now be called ‘Memorial’, due to its proximity to the imposing monument honouring civilian World War II victims.

Finally, the triple-apex Turn 10, which last year claimed Kimi Raikkonen and Giancarlo Fisichella among its victims, will now be named after Singapore’s most famous cocktail, the ‘Singapore Sling’. The drink is said to have been invented by Ngiam Tong Boon at the Long Bar in the nearby Raffles Hotel. The cocktail or sling is made up from a mix of gin, cherry brandy and Benedictine.

“Just like any icon, the corner has to be treated with respect” said Colin Syn, deputy chairman of the Singapore Grand Prix and one of the competition judges. “Drivers have to be careful here, but it can serve as a slingshot if they tackle it well.

“I guess after the exploits of some drivers last year, there could be jokes about a Wallbanger, but we chose to name the turn after the Singapore Sling because it is known internationally and fans everywhere can relate to it instantly.”

The 'It's Your Turn' competition received close to 1,800 entries from as far afield as Spain, the United Kingdom, Brazil and Canada. The panel of judges took into account names that were punchy, have a strong local connection and are easy to pronounce.

2008 Brazil F1 Grand Prix

2008-11-02T05:26:00.000-08:00

Hamilton's championship winning moments...

This year's preview

Last year starting....

Shanghai International Grand Prix 2008, China

2008-10-19T05:26:00.000-07:00

Review of Hamilton's victory

Grand Prix 2008 China Preview

Qualifying Times

2008 Japan F1 Grand Prix

2008-10-12T05:25:00.000-07:00

OMAYA, Japan (AP) — Renault's Fernando Alonso won the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday in a race that featured a collision between championship rivals Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa on the second lap. Crash between Massa and Hamilton

Japanese Grand Prix 2008 Massa vs. Hamilton

Preview......this year 2008

F1 Japan Preview 2008
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Last Year's Race.....

2008 Singapore

2008-09-28T05:25:00.000-07:00

Singtel F1 Singapore Grand Prix 2008 - Review....

Night Street Circuit Preview

Mark Webber Test Drive, Singapore

Circuit de Singapour f1 - Formule 1
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An Introduction to the First Night Race in Formula 1

Singtel Singapore Formula 1 Night Racing Grand Prix

2008 Italy

2008-09-14T05:23:00.000-07:00

F1 G.P. MONZA 2008 VETTEL WINNER !

Start of Race....

F1 Italian GP Monza 2008 Start
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A Lap Preview at Monza

BMW Sauber F1 Team: A lap of Monza, Italy 2008
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2008 Belgium

2008-09-07T05:22:00.000-07:00

What Hamilton said about Raikonen....

Hamilton stripped off title

F1 Belgium Preview 2008
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Felipe Massa wins Europe Race

2008-08-25T04:03:00.000-07:00

2008 Europe

2008-08-24T05:20:00.000-07:00

F1 Europe Preview 2008

Hungary 2008 Reviews

2008-08-03T04:58:00.000-07:00

F1 Hungary Preview 2008
by sidepodcast

Review of Hungarian F1 Grand Prix

Germany 2008

2008-07-20T04:57:00.000-07:00

F1 Germany Preview 2008
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Germany F1 Review
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Britain 2008

2008-07-06T04:56:00.000-07:00

F1 Britain Preview 2008
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Britain 2008 f1 Review

France 2008

2008-06-22T04:54:00.000-07:00

F1 France Preview 2008
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France F1 Racing 2008 Review

Canada 2008

2008-06-08T04:53:00.000-07:00

F1 Canada Preview 2008
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Monaco 2008

2008-05-25T04:53:00.000-07:00

F1 Monaco Race Preview 2008
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Turkey 2008

2008-05-11T04:52:00.000-07:00

A preview of the Formula 1 race in Istanbul
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F1 Turkey Race Preview 2008
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Spain 2008

2008-04-27T04:52:00.000-07:00

F1 Barcelona Race Preview 2008
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Bahrain 2008

2008-04-06T04:49:00.000-07:00

F1 Bahrain Race Preview 2008
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Malaysia 2008

2008-03-23T04:49:00.000-07:00

F1 Malaysia Grand Prix Preview
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Australia 2008

2008-03-16T04:47:00.000-07:00

Inside Track - F1 Melbourne Preview
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WORST CRASH EVER - SPA 1998 RACE-START CRASH
The infamous start crash which involved 13 cars, LIVE Digital F1 footage, German Live commentary with Jaques Schulz and Marc Surer.

HOW AYRTON SENNA WAS KILLED

AYRTON SENNA FATAL FINAL RACE - part 1
The great Ayrton Senna died on May 1 1994 at imola San Marino Grand Prix

part 2

06 2009 FORMULA 1 TURKISH GRAND PRIX (Istanbul)

2006-10-18T05:12:00.001-07:00

Will Race on 7th jun 2009

08 FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX DE FRANCE 2009 (Magny-Cours)

2006-10-18T05:11:00.001-07:00

Will Race on 28th jun 2009