Turkish Grand Prix

08th June 2009

There was plenty of Turkish delight for Jenson Button last weekend, as the Brawn GP ace notched up his sixth win of the season. The Briton now has an impressive 26 point advantage at the top of the title table.

Button dominated the Turkish event from lights to flag, eventually finishing ahead of the two Red Bulls of Mark Webber and pole-sitter Sebastian Vettel.

The young German led the race briefly before a first lap mistake allowed Button to blast past. Vettel then lost out to team mate Webber in the second round of pit stops, which relegated him to third place at the finish.

Button’s Brawn GP team mate Barrichello endured a torrid race, eventually retiring with gearbox trouble. The Brazilian started fourth on the grid but lost out immediately when clutch problem saw get away slowly and fall to thirteenth place. He then attempted to fight back through the field, making contact with McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen and the Force India of Adrian Sutil.

Defending champion Lewis Hamilton had an equally troubled event after starting sixteenth. The British ace was on a one-stop strategy, meaning he was only able to pick up three places by the flag.

Elsewhere, Toyota bounced back from a disastrous Monaco grand prix, with Jarno Trulli scoring a hard fought fourth place and Timo Glock securing the last point in eighth.

BMW’s Robert Kubica also had something to smile about after he brought his car home in seventh, while Williams’ Nico Rosberg finished in a solid fifth place.

But all these achievements were overshadowed by the dominant display of Button. “Today the car was immense”, claimed the Brawn GP driver “It really was. I have got to say a massive thank you to everyone. It just keeps getting better. I wish I could have all the boys on the podium. I had one of my engineers but they all deserved to be up there as they did a great job.”

Next up the teams head for Silverstone and the British grand prix on 21 June.

Results

1.  Button        Brawn GP-Mercedes
2.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault
3.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault
4.  Trulli        Toyota
5.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota
6.  Massa         Ferrari
7.  Kubica        BMW Sauber
8.  Glock         Toyota
9.  Raikkonen     Ferrari
10.  Alonso        Renault
11.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber
12.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota
13.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes
14.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes
15.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari
16.  Piquet        Renault
17.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes
18.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari

Driver Championship

1. Jenson Button      61
2. Rubens Barrichello     35
3 Sebastian Vettel     29
4. Mark Webber         27.5
5. Jarno Trulli         19.5
6. Timo Glock         13
7. Nico Rosberg         11.5
8. Felipe Massa         11
9. Fernando Alonso     11
10. Kimi Räikkönen     9

Constructor Championship

1. Brawn-Mercedes      96
2. RBR-Renault         56.5
3. Toyota             32.5
4. Ferrari             20
5. McLaren-Mercedes     13
6. Williams-Toyota     11.5
7. Renault             11
8. BMW Sauber         8
9. STR-Ferrari         5

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