The Bahrain Grand Prix 2009
The Brawn GP driver Jenson Button, took his third victory of the new season yesterday after dominating the race at the Japanese Grand Prix.
Jarno Trulli for the Toyota team had qualified on pole position ahead of team-mate Timo Glock in the Saturday session, although as was expected, both drivers were running on a very light fuel load.
Glock led the pack on the first lap after jumping ahead of Trulli as the race got underway but Button took full control of the race after the first set of pit stops as the Toyota’s opted for the harder prime tyres seeing them falling back down the field.
Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes McLaren took full advantage of his KERS system on the line to pass both Button and Sebastien Vettel in the Red Bull. Trulli was briefly passed by Hamilton but the Toyota soon retook the second place as Button re-passed Hamilton on the pit straight to sit behind the two leading Toyota drivers.
On lap 3, the BMW Sauber driver Robert Kubica and the Williams of Kazuki Nakajima, both pitted after a coming together on the previous lap left the both needing new front wings. On the following the lap Felipe Massa in the Ferrari also pitted for a new front wing from ninth place.
By lap 5, Mark Webber in the Red Bull had carved his way through the pack to eleventh place from eighteenth as Vettel closed in on Hamilton for fourth place.
Glock stayed in the lead until his pit stop on lap 11 with his team-mate Trulli pitting two laps later, however, Trulli lost time battling with the Spanish driver Fernando Alonso in the Renault.
Button pitted on lap 15 and rejoined ahead of the two Toyota drivers, while Vettel led the race with a lead of 19 seconds before he himself pitted on lap 20.
Kimi Raikkonen in the Ferrari briefly took the lead ahead of his pit stop as Reubens Barrichello in the second Brawn GP car passed Glock to take seventh place. The lead was passed back to Button on lap 22 as Raikkonen came in for his stop ahead of Trulli, Vettel, Hamilton, Rosberg and Barrichello.
Button pitted for the final time on lap 38, followed by Trulli, Hamilton and Alonso, leaving Vettel in the lead once again. Button rejoined in second place, ten seconds behind Vettel until the Red Bull driver went in for his final pit stop on lap 41.
Nakajima’s race ended on lap 50 after being hit on lap 46 by Kubica, who had clipped the back of the Williams car while trying to make a pass to take eighteenth position.
The Toro Rosso drivers Sabastien Bourdais and Sebastien Buemi finished in thirteenth and seventeenth places respectively. Buemi suffered from under-steer which was down to the fact that a piece of debris from the BMW had wedged itself under his front wing.
Giancarlo Fisichella finished in fifteenth place while team-mate Adrian Sutil followed in sixteenth for the Force India team. Sutil, lost three places at the start of the race when he was hit by the Williams of Nakajima while Fisichella confessed to ending the race in some pain after the seat in his car had rubbed against his hip causing bruising.
Here are the results;
Pos Driver Team Time 1. Button Brawn GP-Mercedes (B) 1h31:48.182 2. Vettel Red Bull-Renault (B) + 7.187 3. Trulli Toyota (B) + 9.170 4. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) + 22.096 5. Barrichello Brawn GP-Mercedes (B) + 37.779 6. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) + 42.057 7. Glock Toyota (B) + 42.880 8. Alonso Renault (B) + 52.775 9. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) + 58.198 10. Piquet Renault (B) + 1:05.149 11. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) + 1:07.641 12. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) + 1:17.824 13. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) + 1:18.805 14. Massa Ferrari (B) + 1 lap 15. Fisichella Force India-Mercedes (B) + 1 lap 16. Sutil Force India-Mercedes (B) + 1 lap 17. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) + 1 lap 18. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) + 1 lap 19. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) + 1 lap Fastest lap: Trulli, 1:34.556 Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team On lap Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 49
1 comment so far
1 Adam // May 12, 2009 at 11:24 am
Toyota pitwall really ruined any chance for their first win, and a shame really. I guess that’s what comes with being new to the front of the pack? Years of working mid-pack strategy doesn’t apply necessarily to the front. strategy at the front means changing from the Trulli Train to the Trulli Bullet-Train.