BUTTON REMAINS COOL TO WIN F1GP IN BAHRAIN !!

anestis mantzouranis
In the words of Rob Thomas
from the song `Smooth’ .. “Man, it’s a hot one, like seven inches
from the midday sun .. “And so it was at the Bahrain circuit for the F1GP on 26th April. More
accurately though, the dry, hot 37 C degree desert heat – 51 on track –
meant that drivers and teams had serious management issues to contend
with. Management of tires, engines and management of their own
concentration and energy levels to see out the race.Whilst reigning champion Lewis Hamilton from the Vodaphone sponsored
McLaren team, was fastest in practice, with a time of 1min33.647 in his
19 laps, it was Ferrari and Mercedes who seemed to struggle most with
their engines and tire management during the main event.

But it would appear that Jenson Button was the coolest of all the
cool kids, as he drove his Virgin sponsored, Brawn team to the podium,
to tally a very cool 31 points for the season.

” We were worried by fluid temperatures in particular,”
said engineer Rob Smedley, “and sections of the Brawn cars’
bodywork were cut away at the rear before the race to allow for
cooling”.

This makes 3 wins from 4 races for Button, who won in Malaysia, of
course in Melbourne
and came 3rd in China last weekend. However, this was a very definitive
win with a gap of 7.2 seconds ahead of German Sebastian Vettel of Red
Bull who incidentally, he lost to in China.

Whilst not taking anything away from the brilliant race run by
Button, he does have a little to thank Hamilton for.

An early race duel between Vettel and Hamilton, saw Vettel lose when
Hamilton burst through to separate the Toyotas who had a tight flank.
This allowed Button a small window to squeeze round the outside of
Vettel in Turn One and was ahead of him ever since.

” I was very surprised when Lewis came up beside me on the first
lap, ” said Vettel, “and later on I just did not have the
tyres to attack and do any better.”

The champion (Hamilton) then briefly snatched second on the opening
lap, but ran wide and slipped back to third before being dropped
to fourth with superb braking technique by Button at the first turn of
the second lap.

Hamilton went on to finish in 4th with a strong race despite some car
issues.

Button’s team mate however, had some struggles in the second Brawn
car to finish 5th after 3 pit stops.

Veteran Felipe Massa had a bad start with a Turn One incident that
caused him to Pit early for a damage check of the front fender. This
caused him to finish 14th without much damage to his career total
points.

Our own Mark Webber was as furious as the Red Bull that sponsors him
after being blocked at the start of the race. He later surged from the
back of the grid for a respectable, albeit disappointing, 11th spot.

It seemed to all be up to the timing of the pit stops towards the end
though, and by Lap 37, Button, Trulli and Hamilton all went to pits
together leaving Vettel out in front.

On Button’s return though, fresh car and driver meant that was back
in front to hold this until the finish line.

This was an excellent result once again for the team created from the
ruins of Honda, and salvaged by Richard Branson’s Virgin empire to hold
the top of the race season with a very strong lead of 50 points over Red
Bull’s 27.5.

And as that Rob Thomas song concludes .. ” .. cos you’re so
smooth ! ”

___________________________________________________

F1GP – Gulf Air
Bahrain Grand Prix

 

Pos No Driver Team Time
1 20 Jenson
Button
Brawn 01:31:48.1820
2 15 Sebastian
Vettel
Red
Bull
01:31:55.3690
3 9 Jarno
Trulli
Toyota 01:31:57.3520
4 1 Lewis
Hamilton
McLaren 01:32:10.2780
5 21 Rubens
Barrichello
Brawn 01:32:25.9610
6 4 Kimi
Raikkonen
Ferrari 01:32:30.2390
7 10 Timo
Glock
Toyota 01:32:31.0620
8 7 Fernando
Alonso
Renault 01:32:40.9570
9 16 Nico
Rosberg
Williams 01:32:46.3800
10 8 Nelson
Piquet Jr.
Renault 01:32:53.3310
11 14 Mark
Webber
Red
Bull
01:32:55.8230
12 2 Heikki
Kovalainen
McLaren 01:33:06.0060
13 11 Sebastien
Bourdais
Toro
Rosso
01:33:06.9870
14 3 Felipe
Massa
Ferrari +1 Lap
15 19 Giancarlo
Fisichella
Force
India
+1 Lap
16 18 Adrian
Sutil
Force
India
+1 Lap
17 12 Sebastien
Buemi
Toro
Rosso
+1 Lap
18 5 Robert
Kubica
BMW
Sauber
+1 Lap
19 6 Nick
Heidfeld
BMW
Sauber
+1 Lap
20 17 Kazuki
Nakajima
Williams DNF

 

 

___________________________________________________

Overall Standings

Drivers

1. Jenson Button (GBR) 31.0pts

2. Rubens Barrichello (BRA) 19.0

3. Sebastian Vettel (GER) 18.0

4. Jarno Trulli (ITA) 14.5,

5. Timo Glock (GER) 12.0

6. Mark Webber (AUS) 9.5

7. Lewis Hamilton (GBR) 9.0

8. Fernando Alonso (ESP) 5.0

9. Nick Heidfeld (GER) 4.0

10. Heikki Kovalainen (FIN) 4.0

11. Nico Rosberg (GER) 3.5

12. Kimi Raikkonen (FIN) 3.0

13. Sebastien Buemi (SUI) 3.0

14. Sebastien Bourdais (FRA) 1.0

Constructors

1. Brawn 50.0pts

2. Red Bull 27.5

3. Toyota 26.5

4. McLaren 13.0

5. Renault 5.0

6. BMW Sauber 4.0

7. Toro Rosso 4.0

8. Williams 3.5

9. Ferrari 3.0

 

___________________________________________________

 

Jenson Button (GBR) Brawn Grand Prix
celebrates his Win.

_________________

The podium (L to R): Sebastian
Vettel (GER) Red Bull Racing, second; race winner Jenson Button (GBR)
Brawn Grand Prix and third placed Jarno Trulli (ITA) Toyota

_________________

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