Buzzin F1 – Formula One Blog

Spanish Grand Prix 2009

Jenson Button once again took the victory for the Brawn GP team at the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday followed by his team-mate Rubens Barrichello.

Button had beaten Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull to the pole position in the final moments of the Saturday qualifying session.

Barrichello had qualified in third ahead of the Ferrari of Felipe Massa, Mark Webber in the second Red Bull, Jarno Trulli in the Toyota and Spanish favourite Fernando Alonso in the Renault.

Barrichello took the lead as the cars got of the grid followed by Button and Massa while a mid-field collision took place behind them bringing out the safety car.

Trulli appeared to have run wide and hit the side of the Force India driven by Adrian Sutil, leaving the two Red Bull cars having no where to go as they to got tangled up in the carnage, ending their race.

Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren Mercedes was forced to take evasive action to avoid the collision and lost valuable ground as he had to take to the grass verge.

The safety car came-in on lap 6 as the race once again got underway and Alonso battled to get past Webber but Webber was holding his position leaving Alonso staring at the rear of the Red Bull.

Heikki Kovalainen retired his McLaren on lap 8 after suffering a gearbox problem on the previous lap which saw him slipping back down the grid.

Button in second place pitted on lap 19 along with Alonso, who had been running in sixth, while the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen slowed on track ending his race.

Barrichello pitted on the next lap and rejoined ahead of Nico Rosberg in the Williams who had yet to stop and by lap 28 had built up a gap of 11 seconds to Button.  However, Barrichello was expected to make an extra stop in his Brawn GP car which he did on lap 32 handing the lead to Button.

Button was leading the race ahead of Massa, Vettel and Barrichello now in fourth until the second and third place drivers both pitted on lap 44.

The Brawn GP pair were now leading the field of drivers at the Barcelona Circuit with Button having a 12 second gap on his team-mate before pitting for the final time on lap 49.

Despite building a gap of 15 seconds on his team-mate it wasn’t enough to keep the lead as Barrichello pitted for his final stop on lap 50.

Button was now leading Barrichello by 7 seconds, with Webber in third, Massa in fourth, Vettel in fifth and Alonso in sixth place.

On lap 57, Massa was told over his team radio to reserve fuel or risk not finishing the race and Vettel took full advantage of the situation, pushing the Brazilian harder, forcing him to use his precious fuel load and finally passing the Ferrari, who had no choice but to back off.

Button lapped the British driver Hamilton on lap 64 as Alonso passed the slowing Ferrari of Massa who finally took fifth place behind Button, Barrichello, Webber and Vettel.

Here are the results;

DNF