Sebastien Buemi - Toro Rosso 2009

It has now been confirmed by the Toro Rosso team, that Sebastien Buemi will be given a second season with them after signing his contract for 2010.

Buemi out-qualified his team-mate Sebastien Bourdais in his first race in Formula One at the Australian Grand Prix of 2009, finishing the race in eighth place, which later became seventh after Lewis Hamilton was disqualified.

In the third race of the season at the Chinese Grand Prix, he again finished in eighth position despite starting the race from tenth on the grid.  Things were relatively quite for a period as the rookie driver struggled to handle the pace but all that changed again at the Brazilian Grand Prix where he achieved seventh.

At the final round of the 2009 season in Abu Dhabi, he again scored eighth position and was awarded a drive for the team in the 2010 season.

It is expected that the Swiss driver will be joined by Jaime Alguersuari, who joined the team midway through the season at the Hungarian Grand Prix, where after qualifying in last place due to a mechanical problem he ended the race one place ahead of Buemi.

Mark Webber - Brazilian Grand Prix 2009

The Red Bull driver Mark Webber took the chequered flag yesterday in the Brazilian Grand Prix as Jenson Button was crowned the 2009 Formula One World Champion.

Brawn GP driver Rubens Barrichello started the race from pole position followed by Webber,but after the first set of pit stops it was Webber that took to the front and dominated the race.  Barrichello had managed to create a gap of three-seconds but an early stop lost him the lead as he was passed by both Webber and the BMW Sauber driver Robert Kubica.

At the beginning of the race the McLaren of Heikki Kovalainen made contact with the Ferrari of Giancarlo Fisichella at turn 1.  At the same time the Toyota driver Jarno Trulli attempted a pass on the outside of  Adrian Sutil but instead spun into the Force India with Fernando Alonso’s Renault getting collected as Sutil rejoined the circuit.

Kimi Raikkonen used his KERS system to move into third place as he passed Webber at the start of the race but made contact and damaged his front wing.  As the Ferrari returned to his pits for a new wing, Kovalainen exited in front of him with the fuel hose still attached causing fuel to leak and spray the Ferrari which burst into flames.  Raikkonen managed to keep going and rejoined the race without damage.

Rubens Barrichello led the race followed by Webber, Kubica and the Williams of Nico Rosberg.  Jenson Button in the second Brawn GP had moved into seventh place by lap 11 behind Timo Glock’s replacement driver Kamui Kobayashi in the Toyota.

Barrichello pitted from the lead on lap 22 as Nick Heidfeld in the BMW Sauber pulled off track with a problem, apparently running out of fuel after the earlier incident with the fuel hose.  Button finally made it past Kobayashi, moving up into fourth place with Webber taking his pit stop on lap 27 from the lead.

On lap 28 Nico Rosberg retired to the garage after suffering a gearbox problem with the Williams car as Button pitted on lap 30.  On lap 31 the second Williams car of Kazuki Nakajima crashed into the tyre wall after losing his front wing after hitting the  back of the Toyota of Kobayashi.

By lap 41 it was Webber ahead of Kubica, Barrichello, Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren, Raikkonen, Button, Vettel and Sebastien Buemi in the Toro Rosso.

Webber took his second pit stop on lap 53 and rejoined ahead of Kubica as Button took his final pit stop on lap 56, exiting in front of Kovalainen until the McLaren passed him at turn 4.  On the following lap Vettel pitted and rejoined ahead of Kovalainen and Button to sit in fifth place.

On lap 60, Kovalainen made a surprising pit stop with Lewis Hamilton passing the Brawn GP of Barrichello on lap 62.  Barrichello appeared to have a problem with his car and was soon told over the team radio that he had developed a puncture after making contact with Hamilton earlier in the race.

On lap 65, Webber led Kubica, Hamilton, Vettel, Button, Raikkonen, Buemi and Barrichello. Felipe Massa was given the job of waving the chequered flag at his home circuit as Webber crossed the line, followed by Kubica in second and Hamilton in third.

Here are the results;

1. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 71 laps 1hr 32m 23.081s
2. Robert Kubica Poland BMW Sauber +7.6s
3. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes +18.9s
4. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault +19.6s
5. Jenson Button Britain Brawn-Mercedes +29.0s
6. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari +33.3s
7. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari +35.9s
8. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Brawn-Mercedes +45.4s

Rtd. Kazuki Nakajima Japan Williams-Toyota 30 laps completed
Rtd. Nico Rosberg Germany Williams-Toyota 27 laps completed
Rtd. Nick Heidfeld Germany BMW Sauber 21 laps completed
Rtd. Fernando Alonso Spain Renault-Renault 0 laps completed
Rtd. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes 0 laps completed
Rtd. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota-Toyota 0 laps completed

Sevilla FC Superleague Formula 2009

Former Toro Rosso driver Sebastien Bourdais, has now joined the Superleague Formula series, which combines two of the worlds most popular sports of motorsport with football.

The Frenchman will get his first outing this coming weekend in Estoril, Portugal, driving for the Spanish club FC Sevilla, and will contest the last three rounds of the series.

The SF series kicked-off in August 2008, with all the v12 single-seater cars featuring colours of some of the biggest football teams in the world.

The idea behind the global championship is to take the motor sport back to it’s roots, with driver skill and ability being the main emphasis as each of the 18 cars are identical.  The Superleague Formula has already gained the approval of the FIA, with one car representing a football team from around the world, and all drivers on an equal footing.

The fans can get closer to the action as they are welcomed into the paddock area, the rear of the garages and can also  get up close and personal to the driver and footballers.

The series has a unique Saturday qualifying format with the drivers being split into two groups, each of which will have a 15 minute qualifying session, with the four fastest cars of each session qualifying for the next stage.  These final eight are then put in a queue in the pit lane before being sent out on track in pairs.  After a warm-up lap, the cars are then released, one after the other and must keep their position until they have passed the start/finish line, where they will each have one flying/timed lap.  The fastest of each pair going forward to the semi-final, where the whole process starts again until the final two battle it out for pole position.

The pole sitter from Saturday will line-up at the front of the grid for the first race on Sunday, followed by the fastest drivers in the semi and quarter finals, with the grid positions outside the top eight being decided on qualifying times, the fastest on the side of the pole sitter and the slower on the other side.

In Race 2, the principle is along the same lines used in the British Touring Car Championship, a reverse grid, with the fastest driver of race one starting at the back of the grid.

Both races are timed at approximately 45 minutes, the equivalent to one half of a football match with points available for every driver on circuit.  The winner receives 50 points and even a non-finisher is awarded something, a non-starter however, collects no points.

All cars have to make a compulsary pit stop which can be made anytime after they have completed eight laps and before 20 laps have elapsed .

Here is a little clip of round 2 of the 2009 Superleague Formula from Belgium;

Sebastien Bourdais

Sebastien Bourdais, who was ousted from the Toro Rosso team in July, will no longer be following legal proceedings against the team after reaching an out-of-court settlement.

Bourdais and Toro Rosso reached an amicable agreement the week after the German Grand Prix and it is now suggested that the Frenchman will be moving onto the Indy car series in America.

The 30-year-old, is one of the most successful drivers in the history of the Champ Car World Series, winning four championships between 2004-2007.

It is claimed that as well as being paid his salary for the early exit, he has also been paid $2.1million in damages.

Toro Rosso

The Formula One Toro Rosso Team, have now confirmed that Jaime Alguersuari will be racing for them from the next grand prix in Hungary alongside Sebastian Buemi, replacing Sebastien Bourdais.

The 19-year-old, will make history as the youngest driver to take part in a Formula One Grand Prix as he steps into the cockpit at the Hungaroring on Friday.

Alguersuari, became the youngest winner of the British F3 series in 2008 before it became evident that he was being groomed to take part in the F1 series.  Jaime said;

“I would like to thank Red Bull for giving me this great opportunity to race in F1.  Ever since I started racing, this has been my dream and, thanks to the Red Bull Junior Programme, I will now realise my ambition of lining up on a grand prix grid.

I am aware that I’m facing a very tough challenge, because coming into F1 is never easy, but coming into F1 in the middle of a season is even harder – and doing so without any testing is really difficult. But already I feel that I am getting great support from the team, who have quite a reputation for looking after rookie drivers.”

The rumours surrounding the rally driver Sebastien Loeb joining the team have not gone away however, and it is still believed he may take his seat in the Toro Rosso at the end of the season when the teams and drivers head to Abu Dhabi.

Nelson Piquet Jr.

According to a Brazilian TV network, Nelson Piquet Junior, has ended his racing career with the Renault team who claim that he is to be replaced by reserve driver Romain Grosjean.

When asked if the rumours were true or if Piquet would be in the cockpit at the Hungary Grand Prix, Flavio Briatore answered “We don’t know yet”.

Allegedly, the Brazilian driver’s contract stated that by midway through the season he should have achieved at least 40% of his team-mates points total.  Piquet hasn’t scored a single point this season while his team-mate Fernando Alonso is running in ninth place in the championship with 13 points.

Although there is still no confirmation, it looks likely that the days of Sebastien Bourdais are numbered with the Scuderia Toro Rosso team.

It is rumoured that the British F3 Champion Jaime Alguersuari is set to take his seat and would also be the youngest Formula One driver in history at the age of just 19.

Alguersuari, allegedly gave an interview on Spanish radio station ‘Radio Catalunya’, in which he said of Bourdais;

“He is 30, he has a daughter, has won four championships in the American Champ Cars, won F3000 here in Europe and, honestly, is a highly-trained driver,”

But it seems that this year he has not given it everything, as he should have. I truly believe that the decision by Red Bull is just, but it is never nice to see someone taken away after half a season”.

It is believed that Alguersuari will be in the cockpit alongside Sebastien Buemi at the next round of the Formula One Championship which takes place in Hungary on 26th July.

Mark Webber - German Grand Prix 2009

An excellent result for the Red Bull Racing team yesterday as Mark Webber claimed his first win, despite receiving a drive-through penalty,he was followed by his team-mate Sebastian Vettel in second.

Rubens Barrichello in the Brawn GP F1, led the cars into the first corner ahead of Webber and Heikki Kovalainen in the McLaren, Felipe Massa in the Ferrari, Jenson Button in the second Brawn GP and Vettel.

Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren made a fantastic get away as the lights changed and looked as if he would take the lead going into the first corner.  However, contact was made between Hamilton and Webber, with the McLaren car picking-up a right-rear puncture.  After his slow return to the pits for a new tyre, Hamilton was a lap behind and down in eighteenth place.

On the run into turn one of the first lap, Barrichello ran alongside Webber as both drivers battled for the lead,  Webber moved to the right and made contact with the Ferrari. This was later deemed to be a dangerous move and Webber was served with a drive-through penalty for what appeared to be a simple racing incident.

Jarno Trulli in the Toyota, was the first man to pit on lap 3 while Kovalainen was trying to hold onto his third position by the challenging Brawn GP of Button.

By lap 4, Webber was bearing down on Barrichello as the traffic built-up behind the McLaren of Kovalainen. Vettel meanwhile, began to put the pressure on the fifth placed man Massa as Giancarlo Fisichella in the Force India passed Nick Heidfeld in the BMW Sauber to take twelfth place on lap 9.

By lap 11, Barrichello was leading Webber by a second with third place man Kovalainen, fourteen seconds behind and continuing to hold-up Button, Massa and Vettel.

On lap 13, Fisichella moved-up to eleventh after passing Fernando Alonso in the Renault and Button took his first short pit stop on the following lap.

Webber came into the pits to serve his penalty drive-through on lap 15 as Barrichello took on fuel and new tyres and rejoined ahead of Vettel.

Kovalainen pitted on lap 16 while in third place and two laps later Button gained a place by passing the Toro Rosso of Sebastien Buemi.

On lap 19, Button passed Heidfeld as Sebastien Bourdais run off track before going into the pits with a problem in the second Toro Rosso while in eighteenth place.

Webber pitted from the lead on lap 20 and returned to the track in eighth place ahead of Button as Massa led the race followed by Barrichello.  Vettel came into the pits for his stop on the following lap while in fourth followed by Trulli and Buemi.

Robert Kubica in the BMW Sauber, released the cars of Webber and Button as he pitted on lap 23, followed by race leader Massa on lap 25, leaving Barrichello at the front of the pack.

Adrian Sutil in the second Force India was right behind the leading Barrichello as Heidfeld and Piquet both entered the pits.

Webber was now running in fifth place, only 5 seconds behind Barrichello as Sutil pitted from second place.  However, as he rejoined the circuit, he ran wide and contact was made with the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen, leaving Sutil with a damaged front wing that would mean another pit stop.

Barrichello was still leading Webber on lap 31 by three seconds, as it was announced that the stewards were looking at the incident between Raikkonen and Sutil, however, no action was taken.

Button pitted on lap 32 while in third place and rejoined ahead of Kovalainen, and race leader Barrichello pitted on the following lap, handing the reins to Webber.  Barrichello rejoined in fifth ahead of Raikkonen and Button, Raikkonen then appeared to have a problem with his Ferrari and Button took full advantage of the situation to get past the Finn who had been running in sixth.  Raikkonen retired the Ferrari on lap 35.

Webber was now leading Vettel by over 20 seconds, but Massa was challenging the Red Bull driver for the position, leaving Webber to stretch the gap up front.

Heidfeld passed his team-mate on lap 42 for ninth position and on the following lap Webber entered the pit for his second and final stop and rejoined just behind Vettel, who was still due to come in.

Webber took his place in the lead as Vettel pitted on lap 45 along with Kubica.  Massa was the next in on the following lap after battling with Vettel for second place, while Button challenged Barrichello for third.

Barrichello took his final pit stop on lap 51 from second place followed by Button on lap 52.  Button rejoined just ahead of his team-mate but behind Massa and Nico Rosberg in the Williams who were running in third and fourth respectively.

Webber took his first Formula One victory ahead of the second Red Bull of Vettel in second and Felipe Massa in the Ferrari in third.

Nico Rosberg took a surprising fourth for the Williams team followed by the two Brawn GP drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello.

Here are the results;

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time
 1.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1h36:43.310
 2.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault      (B)  +     9.252
 3.  Massa         Ferrari               (B)  +    15.906
 4.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota       (B)  +    21.099
 5.  Button        Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  +    23.609
 6.  Barrichello   Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  +    24.468
 7.  Alonso        Renault               (B)  +    24.888
 8.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  +    58.692
 9.  Glock         Toyota                (B)  +  1:01.457
10.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber            (B)  +  1:01.925
11.  Fisichella    Force India-Mercedes  (B)  +  1:02.327
12.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota       (B)  +  1:02.876
13.  Piquet        Renault               (B)  +  1:08.328
14.  Kubica        BMW Sauber            (B)  +  1:09.555
15.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes  (B)  +  1:11.941
16.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  +  1:30.225
17.  Trulli        Toyota                (B)  +  1:30.970
18.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  +     1 lap

Fastest lap: Alonso, 1:33.365

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Raikkonen     Ferrari               (B)    35
Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)    19

Mark Webber - Red Bull Racing 2009

The Australian driver Mark Webber took pole position as the chequered flag was waved at the Nurburgring today for the Red Bull Racing team.

It was British driver Lewis Hamilton, who set the first fastest lap in Q1 and while most of the teams opted to stay on track to get some heat into their tyres, Nick Heidfeld in the BMW Sauber, returned to the pits after just one timed lap.

Webber then set the best time after pitting and using the option tyre as Timo Glock in the Toyota, ruined his lap by locking his brakes as the rain started to spot.

As the first session ended the slowest runners were now eliminated, meaning that Robert Kubica, Sebastian Buemi, Giancarlo Fisichella, Timo Glock and Sebastian Bourdais, will be starting at the back of the grid from 16th to 20th positions.

As the final 15 drivers begin Q2, the rain got harder and Kazuki Nakajima, in the Williams car, who ran off track followed by the Ferrari of Felipe Massa, who ran across the grass and then into the gravel trap.

Most of the drivers went back into the pits, changing their option tyres for intermediates as the rain continued to get heavier, seeing Heikki Kovalainen in the McLaren to spin at turn 4.  However, Rubens Barrichello in the Ferrari was on the slick tyre and running faster.

Kimi Raikkonen slid his Ferrari off the track and onto the grass but continued without problem as Fernando Alsonso took a spin in the Renualt while in ninth place.

As the final minutes of Q2 took place the slowest five runners up for elimination were, Kovalainen, Button, Rosberg, Trulli and Nakajima.  Button moved into the top five just after the flag was waved for the drivers on track to finish their final lap as Hamilton also improved on his time.

The five eliminations were Rosberg, Trulli, Nakajima, Alonso and Heidfeld.  Alonso’s spin cost him the session after qualifying down in twelfth, while his team-mate Nelson Piquet, went through to Q3.

The final qualifying session of ten-minutes got underway with Barrichello setting the fastest initial time while his team-mate Jenson Button chose to return to the pits without doing a fast lap, as did Hamilton.

Hamilton then set the fastest lap ahead of Barrichello and Button just before the chequered flag came out as they passed the line, leaving Button and Webber still with hot laps to run.  Webber then set the fastest time of the day followed by Barrichello and Button.

Here are the results;

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

all times unofficial

British Grand Prix 2009

Yesterday saw the final race at the Silverstone circuit for the British Grand Prix dominated by the Red Bull Racing driver Sebastian Vettel, claiming his second victory of the season after qualifying in pole position.

This week it was announced that eight of the Formula One teams had failed to reach an agreement with the FIA and were planning a breakaway series.  However, Max Mosley seems adamant that a solution is possible and feels that things will soon be back to normal, it’s just a matter of time.

Many of the British fans were hoping that Jenson Button in the Brawn GP car would be taking the chequered flag at his home track, but after qualifying in sixth place on Saturday the 29-year-old blamed the temperatures of the track leaving him with cold tyres and unable to find grip.

As the race got underway, Vettel led the group into the first corner with Button dropping back to ninth after a terrible start.  Rubens Barrichello in the Brawn GP was in second ahead of second Red Bull Racing driver Mark Webber and the Williams driver Kazuki Nakajima, who qualified in his best ever position of fifth.

Kimi Raikkonen in the Ferrari was in fifth followed by Nico Rosberg in the second Williams, Jarno Trulli in the Toyota and Felipe Massa in the second Ferrari.

Button passed Massa on lap 2 as the Ferrari ran wide and on the next lap, Fernando Alonso in the Renault ran wide and forced Lewis Hamilton onto the grass as he rejoined the track.

Adrian Sutil, driving his spare car,  started from the pit lane after a spectacular crash towards the end of the qualifying session on Saturday, when he miraculously walked away from what was left of his Force India.

Giancarlo Fisichella in the second Force India made an impressive move as a battle was taking place in front of him between Nick Heidfeld in the BMW Sauber and Alonso, both drivers ran wide leaving a gap wide enough to let Fisichella take full advantage of their error.

Nakajima was the first driver to pit on lap 16, as was expected, while running in fourth place and on the following lap Raikkonen went in for his first stop and made his exit in front of Nakajima.

After the first group of pit stops, Vettel still led the race followed by Webber, Barrichello, Rosberg, Felipe Massa, Trulli, Raikkonen, Button, Nakajima and Fisichella.

On lap 31, Alonso ran wide allowing the British driver Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren to get through.  Nelson Piquet in the second Renault rejoined from his pit-stop in front of the fighting duo as Alonso slipped back past Hamilton at Chapel when the British driver ran wide before passing his team-mate Piquet.

On lap 35, Sebastian Bourdais in the Toro Rosso, ran in the back of  Heikki Kovalainen leaving the McLaren driver with a left rear puncture and a broken front wing.  It appeared that there was some sort of problem with the McLaren which had slowed, leaving no where for Bourdais to go.  On lap 38, Kovalainen returned to the pits once again but this time he retired his car to the garage followed two laps later by Bourdais.

In the second set of pit stops, Button moved ahead of Trulli and Raikkonen up to sixth position as Massa also jumped another place to exit in fourth.

Vettel crossed the line nealy 16 seconds ahead of his team-mate Webber and Barrichello in third.  Massa finished in fourth followed by Rosberg, Button, Trulli, Raikkonen, Timo Glock and Fisichella to complete the top ten drivers of the day.

Here are the results;

1. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 60 laps 1hr 22m 49.328s
2. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault +00m 15.1s
3. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Brawn-Mercedes +00m 41.1s
4. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 45.0s
5. Nico Rosberg Germany Williams-Toyota +00m 45.9s
6. Jenson Button Britain Brawn-Mercedes +00m 46.2s
7. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota-Toyota +01m 08.3s
8. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari +01m 09.6s

all results unofficial

Brawn GP 2009

Last weekend the Grand Prix of Turkey took place with Jenson Button in the Brawn GP car taking his sixth win of the season followed by the two Red Bull drivers Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel.

Vettel had claimed pole position in Saturday’s qualifying session as the chequered flag was raised at the end of the session ahead of Button.

Barrichello qualified in third followed by Webber in fourth and Toyota driver Jarno Trulli in fifth.  The two Ferrari drivers of Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa were in sixth and seventh place ahead of Fernando Alonso in the Renault in eighth.  Nico Rosberg in the Williams started from ninth followed by Robert Kubica in the BMW Sauber completing the top ten.

As the lights went out Vettel took the lead as Trulli moved into third place while Barrichello suffered some sort of problem and almost stalled on the grid, dropping him back several places.

Button passed Vettel exiting turn 10 of the first lap after the German hit the kerb and ran wide at turn 9, meanwhile Webber passed Trulli to take the third place.

Giancarlo Fisichella in the Force India was one of the first drivers to pit on lap 5 while in eighteenth place.  He had been suffering from some sort of brake problem during qualifying and seems it had not been rectified as he retired from the race.

On lap 7, Barrichello made a pass on Heikki Kovalainen but couldn’t make it stick as Kovalainen re-passed the Brawn GP driver using his KERS system.  On lap 9, Barrichello tried again but this time there was contact between the two drivers and Barrichello’s car span on the track, dropping him back to seventeenth and behind the second McLaren of Lewis Hamilton.

Barrichello passed Hamilton on lap 9 and then went onto pass the Renault of Nelson Piquet easily on lap 11 before hunting down the Force India of Adrian Sutil.  On lap13, however, the Brazilian once again made contact, this time with Sutil, losing part of his front wing and seeing him pit on the following lap, moving him back to fifteenth position.

By lap 15, Button had created a gap of six seconds from Vettel, as Alonso entered the pits for his first stop from seventh place and Vettel pitted from second.

Vettel rejoined in sixth place as Trulli pitted from third.  Button then entered the pits for his first stop on lap 17, along with Massa, Webber, and Rosberg, leaving Button to return to the track in first place.

Button led the race followed by Vettel, Kubica and Webber, until Kubica pitted on lap 21 and Vettel began closing in on the Brawn GP driver.  The gap became less and less between the front two cars until Vettel once again pitted confirming he was on a three-stop strategy.

Vettel rejoined in third place behind Button and Webber.  Rosberg was now in fourth ahead of Trulli, Massa and team-mate Kazuki Nakajima.

Lewis Hamilton, who had qualified the McLaren in sixteenth place, was in tenth by lap 33 and all over the back of Alonso. He then pitted and rejoined ahead of Piquet until the Renault driver passed him going into turn 13 and 14.  On lap 28, Hamilton was also passed by Sebastian Buemi in the Toro Rosso.

Button made his final pit stop on lap 43, with Webber doing the same on the following lap from second.  Button once again rejoined to take the lead followed by Vettel, who had yet to stop for the third time which he finally did on lap 49.

Barrichello entered the pits for the third time of lap 49, but this time he retired the Brawn GP car after suffering clutch trouble at the start and then a problem with the gearbox.

It was another dismal weekend for the Ferrari team, although both drivers finished inside the top ten at the Istanbul circuit.  Raikkonen had a bad start, losing ground at the off and then tangled with Alonso, damaging his front wing.

The Williams driver Nico Rosberg, claimed his best result of the season so far with a fifth place, although he could have had a possible fourth had he not been held up by his team-mate.  Nakajima ran well until his mechanics suffered problems fitting his front-left wheel during his final pit stop, putting him out of the points.

Button now lead the championship by 26 points over his team-mate Barrichello, winning six out of the seven rounds so far this season.  Mark Webber finished in second place only 7 seconds behind Button ahead of his team-mate Sebastian Vettel in third.

Jarno Trulli finished in fourth followed by Nico Rosberg in fifth, Felipe Massa in sixth, Robert Kubica in seventh, Timo Glock in eighth, Kimi Raikkonen in ninth and Fernando Alonso completing the top ten drivers of the day.

Here are the results;

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

Rtd Rubens Barrichello Brazil Brawn-Mercedes 47 laps completed mechanical
Rtd Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Force India-Mercedes 4 laps completed mechanical

Fastest lap:

Jenson Button Britain Brawn-Mercedes 1m 27.579s lap 40