Button dominates the Monaco Grand Prix
Jenson Button absolutely dominated the 78-lap Monaco Grand Prix from pole position to record his fifth win from six races and to extend his championship lead over team-mate Rubens Barrichello to 16 points.
The largely incident free race was determined in the opening laps as the championship leader made a good start from the pole position with Kimi Raikkonen making a slower getaway, allowing Barrichello through into second.
The Brazilian veteran made a race of it in the opening laps keeping Button within a second until his super soft option tyres dramatically faded. The gap very quickly extended to 15 seconds as he defended his second position from Raikkonen and from that point, all Button had to do was mirror the pace of those behind him and control the pace to the chequered flag.
Barrichello retained his second position in the critical first round of pit stops much to the frustration of Ferrari who started both Raikkonen and team-mate Felipe Massa on the harder prime tyre, very much the more durable rubber this afternoon in Monte Carlo.
Back on the prime tyre and Barrichello was able to lap at a similar pace to race leader Button – who did not suffer the massive performance drop off experienced by his team-mate - but the damage had been done and there was nothing he could do to stop his Brawn Mercedes team-mate taking the chequered flag eight second ahead.
With 86 points from six races, Brawn Mercedes now have the same number of points as Red Bull Renault, Toyota and Ferrari combined.
Raikkonen drove a strong race, his start aside, keeping the pressure on Barrichello until the second and final round of pit stops. Taking the super soft option tyre for the final stint the 2007 champion fell back five seconds and duly recorded his first podium position of the season.
Felipe Massa started fifth and battled hard with Sebastian Vettel in the early laps. The Red Bull Renault racer started the race on a very light fuel load with the option tyre but by lap seven, it was clear that the Chinese Grand Prix runner had destroyed his tyres.
Massa tried a pass exiting the tunnel into the chicane but out-braked himself and cut the chicane. The Brazilian was forced to yield the position back to Vettel only for Nico Rosberg to sneak through as well.
While Vettel pitted on lap 11 for tyres and soon after planted the Red Bull Renault into the tyre barrier at Sainte Devote, Massa was able to regain fourth position in the stops from Rosberg, a position he retained to the flag, crossing the line less than two seconds behind Ferrari team-mate Raikkonen. The result moves Ferrari fourth in the standings.
Mark Webber vaulted both Rosberg and Heikki Kovalainen in the first round of stops and then drove a solid race in the surviving Red Bull to finish less than a second behind Massa while Rosberg finished sixth nearly 18 seconds adrift.
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Williams now move ahead of the struggling BMW Sauber team in the championship.
Fernando Alonso started ninth and finished seventh courtesy of two of the rivals ahead of him on the grid making contact with the tyres or Armco while team-mate Nelson Piquet made a good start from 12th position on the grid only to be taken out by Sebastien Buemi ten laps into the race.
The final point went to Sebastien Bourdais after a solid run in his Toro Rosso Ferrari. Under pressure for much of the race from Giancarlo Fisichella, the Frenchman kept his cool to score a valuable point for himself and the team.
Fisichella drove a great race in his Force India Mercedes. Starting a fine 13th and like Bourdais on a one stop strategy, the Italian veteran kept Fernando Alonso behind him during the Spaniard’s second stint and then chased Bourdais across the line to finish in ninth position, his and the Silverstone-based team’s best result of the season.
Kazuki Nakajima was on target for a tenth place finish in the second Williams Toyota, but on the very final lap of the race the Japanese driver made an error and nosed his FW31 into the tyres at Mirabeau. The unforced error dropped him to 15th and promoted the lapped Timo Glock to tenth on the leading Toyota.
Nick Heidfeld struggled around to finish 11th in his BMW Sauber while team-mate Robert Kubica suffered a puncture following contact with Lewis Hamilton and was forced to pit for a new right rear tyre on lap three.
Kubica continued at the back of the field before retiring the BMW Sauber less than a third of the way into the race.
It was a poor race from the McLaren Mercedes team with Heikki Kovalainen running seventh before losing his MP4-24 and crashing out at the swimming pool while Hamilton started at the back of the field on a two stop strategy. Why the team did not start him from the pit lane on heavy fuel load is a mystery.
The 2008 race winner ran ahead of just Adrian Sutil for a majority of the race, eventually passing Jarno Trulli to take 12th position ahead of the Toyota racer and Sutil in the second Force India.
It was a processional affair with little passing but that’s the Monaco Grand prix for you. With a commanding lead at the head of the championship, Button celebrates his latest success as the field starts preparations for the Turkish Grand Prix in two weeks time.
Earl ALEXANDER
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