Brilliant Button wins on Brawn debut

Eurosport - Tue, 31 Mar 15:05:00 2009

Britain's Jenson Button produced a flawless display to win the Australian Grand Prix on the Brawn team's Formula One debut.

2009 Australian GP podium Jenson Button Rubens Barrichello Jarno Trulli - 0

Button left team boss Ross Brawn speechless after leading an astonishing one-two ahead of Brazilian veteran Rubens Barrichello.

The 29-year-old, written off as on overpaid has-been after two dismal seasons with Honda, made it look like a walk in the park while his two closest rivals drove each other off the track in the twilight.

Barrichello started and finished second but only after Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel and BMW-Sauber's Robert Kubica collided three laps from the end while second and third respectively.

The safety car came out and led the field until the final corner of the race.

McLaren's world champion Lewis Hamilton, starting 18th after a catastrophic gearbox failure in qualifying, showed all of his fighting spirit by claiming third place while the Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen failed to finish.

"It wasn't my best race, but I still won," said Button.

"This win is for me and the team. That's what I care about. I don't need to poke anyone in the eye about what was said in the past."

No Formula One team had won on their debut since Wolf in 1977 while the last to secure the top two places first time out was Mercedes, Brawn's current engine suppliers in 1954.

Fifty-five years on, Button and Barrichello followed in the footsteps of the great Argentine champion Juan Manuel Fangio and Germany's Karl Kling.

Button led from pole to chequered flag, despite two safety car periods, to take his first victory since Hungary in 2006 and score more points in a single afternoon than he had in two years with Honda.

He said team owner Brawn had been lost for words.

"You don't find Ross speechless very often," he added. "But in the last 15 minutes I'd be surprised if he said a word. The big bear was just speechless."

The first race of a new-look Formula One, with radically-revised aerodynamic regulations, slick tyres and the new KERS energy recovery systems, turned the starting grid upside down and shook up the pecking order as many had predicted.

Italian Jarno Trulli, who had started 19th and in the pit lane for Toyota, crossed the line third but dropped out of the points when stewards handed him a 25-second penalty for overtaking Hamiltion behind the safety car.

Germany's Timo Glock, who also started in the pit lane after Toyota were disqualified from qualifying for using an illegal rear wing, was fifth ahead of Renault's Fernando Alonso and Williams' Nico Rosberg.

Toro Rosso's Swiss rookie Sebastien Buemi became the 58th driver to score on his debut with eighth place.

McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen retired after being caught in a first lap coming together.

Neither of the Ferraris finished, with last year's overall runner-up Massa retiring on the 46th lap and 2007 world champion Raikkonen following him out.

Reuters

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  1. Button was well...right on the BUTTon!!! ahe ahe ahe!!

    From ray long md, on Wed 1 Apr 5:59AM

  2. #443 I said from the very first Brawn Test Button and­ Barrichello would dominate in Australia like you I­ realised having a proper Engineer in charge is the­ crucial difference between Brawn GP and all the other­ teams :-)

    From ralph c, on Tue 31 Mar 9:03PM

  3. Michelle
    Seriously I think you will find we have seen­ JB race from the back of the grid to the front before,­ in fact he did so in 2006 at the Hungarian GP when he­ went from 14th to win the race in what I feel­ personally was a far more stunning drive then LH 18th-­ 4th on Sunday.
    I don’t think that people saying Lewis­ cheated his way from 18th – 4th is right but it was by­ no means because of his talent that he got 4th on­ Sunday truth is on the day it was more down to luck, I­ think if so many mistakes hadn’t been made by other­ drivers (Vettel, Kubica, Raikkonen) he would of been­ around 7th/8th and anyone who thinks different needs a­ reality check.
    I don’t think anyone can say anything to­ take this one away from Jenson, Rubens or the Brawn Gp­ team after what can only be a nightmare winter the team­ have pulled it together and both Jenson Button and­ Rubens Barrichello went out there and performed......I­ really hope that Brawn GP keeps it up!

    From si b, on Tue 31 Mar 4:35PM

  4. It was geat to see the success of the Brawn team in­ Australia!
    What I can't understand is WHY people­ are SO surprised by it?
    Brawn is a genius when it comes­ to F1 racing!
    When he ran Ferrari, they had 6­ consecutive constructor titles!
    He was at Benneton when­ Michael Schumacher won the WDC.
    The BIGGEST difference­ in F1 is 'GETTING IT RIGHT--THE FIRST TIME!
    Brawn­ knows how to 'GET IT RIGHT'!
    So!, people­ shouldn't be suprised!----Happy, YES!, but NOT­ surprised!

    Barry-Toronto

    From Barry M, on Tue 31 Mar 4:05PM

  5. How can you cheat your way from 18th place to fourth?­ That's not even arguable!! From 4th place to 3rd?­ Ok, maybe something happened that we didn't see,­ but take time out to berate Massa and Raikkonen (failed­ yet again!), and Vettel and Kubica (immature­ mistake!)

    How come the conversation always veers to­ Hamilton? Just as Jenson Button, Lewis can control a­ race from the front, we've all seen that, but­ we've yet to see Jenson Button come from 18th to­ podium. Therein lies the rub!

    Comments are great! But­ be objective, guys.

    From Ergo, on Tue 31 Mar 8:15AM

  6. This wasn't his best race and he dominated the­ race!! More of this to come, hopefully! Go Jenson! You­ waited way too long but you made it to the top! With a­ decent car, you're showing the world you're a­ champ! The stressful days are finally behind, Thank­ God!

    From unzip_button, on Mon 30 Mar 6:34PM

  7. Big-D your a pratt.....not only has Button won a race­ before but noone would win without a good car so what­ you said is totally invaild

    From si b, on Mon 30 Mar 11:51AM

  8. go button !!! go ross brawn !!! come on hamilton !!­ this is going to be a great year of racing for the uk­ !!!

    From welshnproud, on Mon 30 Mar 10:55AM

  9. Alli can say is thank god Mike Ashley didn't buy­ into Brawn! take a look at Newcastle and see where they­ would have gone!

    From Royston, on Mon 30 Mar 8:31AM

  10. Mouron everyone can see that posts by ., (in the­ ferrai­ thread) are from you and many will have seen­ them when­ the ID touronroute was attached. Stop­ lying.

    From Ardsay e Giv-a-Shee ­ Well brain dead­ after a nights sleep as your brain woke up,i am far­ from being on route 66, have another guess, hey take­ you and walk around the M 25 in the middle of the road­ you may see me white lining.

    From Zak, on Mon 30 Mar 7:09AM

  11. I was thinking (a first 4 me maybe), that Brawn should­ stick to making Razors - Either Way, I love my V6­ Mercedes (Seriously though, well done Gt Britian - 1st­ & Third in a day doesn't happen often enough­ for the UK)!

    From martin s, on Mon 30 Mar 6:51AM

  12. I was thinking (a first 4 me maybe), that Brawn should­ stick to making Razors - Either Way, I love my V6­ Mercedes (Seriously though, well done Gt Britian - 1st­ & Third in a day doesn't happen often enough­ for the UK)!

    From martin s, on Mon 30 Mar 6:43AM

  13. Finally Rubens and Jenson get a break! Go BrawnGP!! May­ just turn out to be an interesting season...Finally.

    From JDMNSX, on Mon 30 Mar 4:26AM

  14. The race I though was one of the most interesting races­ that I have seen for a while. It looked like that­ everyone was in the game, Red Bull and BMW challenging­ Brawn GP for the win, Ferrari looking cold then hot and­ then they are gone, Lewis looked to have no chance and­ then ending up forth. But the drive of the race I­ believe was Trulli, from the rear of the field up to a­ podium position was clearly the drive of the day. Both­ Button and Rubens drove the best race for years to­ finish one, two, what a great job done.

    D.Bristow

    From , on Mon 30 Mar 4:25AM
  15. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Needless to say, athletes and mo dels are always the­ focus headline. There is a place for those lo vers
    ­ ____Tall Mingle CO M____, whatever you are a player or­ a fan, just go there to find your lo ver.

    From tallbbw23, on Mon 30 Mar 4:05AM
  16. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Get a life!! Ya bunch of diesel di"ks.

    From Drew, on Mon 30 Mar 3:09AM

  17. comment 430 go get some facts you nerd little no knows­ anything about the sport Jensen won a grand prix 2­ years ago in Hungary ya little pig

    From Ahmed, on Mon 30 Mar 2:14AM
  18. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    So ... Button is 'brilliant' 'cause he won­ a race after 10 yrs of trying, eh?
    Now, lemmethink ...­ if he really is 'brilliant' how come it's­ taken him soooo long???
    Ahhh - I got it, it's the­ CAR and MECHANICS that are brilliant.
    Phew ... all­ makes sense now.

    From Big-D, on Mon 30 Mar 2:03AM

  19. Yeah..where is ES brawn's page?

    From Suhaimi a, on Mon 30 Mar 1:21AM
  20. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    HC: if yiu had any brains you would still be a­ D*ckh*ad.

    From Biggles, on Mon 30 Mar 12:59AM
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