Sunday, June 7, 2009

2009 Turkish Grand Prix Final...

2009 F1

Sunday’s Turkish GP started off with an incident packed first lap that saw Renault’s Fernando Alonso strike Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari and Felipe Massa passed by a hard charging Nico Rosberg. Starting with a heavily fuelled car, last year’s world champion Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, was unable to start the race aggressively and slotted into a dismal 17th. Adopting a single-stop strategy from the off, he pushed hard throughout but the best he could achieve was 13th place at the chequered flag.

The Brawn driver's advantage over Sebastian Vettel, who by some is considered the Briton's most likely challenger for the crown, blew out to more than double the Red Bull racer's points tally of 29.

"Today we were a step ahead," Button said, "and it's a nice feeling."

Vettel, third, had to follow his teammate Mark Webber to the chequered flag, after a three-stop strategy. The 'hold station' team order was given in the form of: "Sebastian, save the car, Mark is faster". The German led away from pole position, but let Button past with an early mistake at the exit of turn 10.

"It was my mistake," an unhappy Vettel, 21, said, "but I think Jenson was just too quick today, I wouldn't have been able to hold him."


Button’s team mate Barrichello had a bad day, beginning with an atrocious start, a messy run through the pack requiring a new nose, and ultimately retirement with a suspected gearbox problem. Jarno Trulli ended Toyota's slump with fourth, while Felipe Massa ended his run of Turkish GP victories, dating back to 2006, with his sixth place.


Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Pts
1 22 Jenson Button Brawn-Mercedes 58 1:26:24.848 2 10
2 14 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 58 +6.7 secs 4 8
3 15 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 58 +7.4 secs 1 6
4 9 Jarno Trulli Toyota 58 +27.8 secs 5 5
5 16 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 58 +31.5 secs 9 4
6 3 Felipe Massa Ferrari 58 +39.9 secs 9 3
7 5 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 58 +46.2 secs 10 2
8 10 Timo Glock Toyota 58 +46.9 secs 13 1
9 4 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 58 +50.2 secs 6
10 7 Fernando Alonso Renault 58 +62.4 secs 8
11 6 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 58 +64.3 secs 11
12 17 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 58 +66.3 secs 12
13 1 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 58 +80.4 secs 16
14 2 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 57 +1 Lap 14
15 12 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 57 +1 Lap 18
16 8 Nelsinho Piquet Renault 57 +1 Lap 17
17 20 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 57 +1 Lap 15
18 11 Sebastien Bourdais STR-Ferrari 57 +1 Lap 20
Ret 23 Rubens Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 47 Gearbox 3
Ret 21 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Mercedes 4 Brakes 19
via:World Car Fans and motorauthority.com