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Monday April 6, 2009

F1: Button clinches second straight win in torrential rain

By LIM TEIK HUAT and ERIC SAMUEL

BRAWN GP’s fairy-tale run continued with Jenson Button clinching back-to-back wins in a rain-shortened Petronas Malaysian F1 Grand Prix at the Sepang circuit yesterday.

The Malaysian GP race was red-flagged for the first time in its 11-year history after a torrential downpour hit the track on lap 32 as Button was leading Nick Heidfeld of BMW Sauber and Timo Glock of Toyota.

The cars later regrouped in front of the paddock, waiting in vain for the weather to improve and almost one hour passed before the race was officially called off.

Long Wait: Brawn's Jenson Button sits in his car as he waits with crew members for the rain to subside and the recae to restart at the Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang on Sunday - Reuters

The final standings saw the race pulled back to lap 31 out of the 56 laps in a conventional finish. Only half points were awarded to the top eight runners because the race did not reach two-thirds of the distance and it was only the fifth time in F1 history that this happened.

Button was declared the official winner while Heidfeld gave BMW their second successive second-place finish after the season-opening race in Melbourne. And Glock, who made a wise decision to pit early for intermediate tyres, was rewarded with a second career podium finish in third place.

Before the skies opened up, the race was shaping up to be a thriller after Williams’ Nico Rosberg snatched the lead from fourth on the grid, forcing pole-sitter Button wide in the first corner.

However, Button regained the lead from Rosberg after the first regulation pit-stop.

The drama intensified when rain started to fall on parts of the circuit on lap 22, which brought the leaders into the pit lane after Renault’s former world champion Fernando Alonso had lost control and spun but still kept himself in the race.

Winner Brawn GP Formula One driver Jenson Button of Britain, second right, third placed Toyota driver Timo Glock of Germany, right, runner up BMW Sauber driver Nick Heidfeld of Germany, second left, and a Brawn GP race engineer, left, celebrate on the podium after the Malaysian Formula One Grand Prix at the Sepang racetrack Sunday - AP

Button extended his lead over Rosberg by over 18 seconds half-way into the race while team-mate Rubens Barrichello restored the Brawn 1-2 after passing Toyota’s Jarno Trulli and Rosberg.

Most of the drivers were forced to come in for full wet tyres later as the rain got heavier. Button, who made his fourth pit stop for full wets, managed to hang on for victory and he was relieved to have prevailed against all the confusion.

“What a crazy race, it really was, especially in the final couple of laps,” said Button, who now has three GP wins under his belt. “It wasn’t like it was rivers, it was a lake.

“Choosing the tyres was very difficult because normally here when it rains, it pours. But it did not at first.

“We went for the full wet tyres early and it destroyed itself. And then I saw Timo (Glock) flying up behind us with the intermediates, so we put it on.

“Just as he came by, I saw his tyres were bald and it was raining out at the back, so he was struggling quite a lot and had to pit. I got one lap in on the intermediates at a reasonable pace and was able to get in and put the wet tyres on and get back in front.”

Button added that it was a shame the race turned out this way.

“The condition was bad and we cannot even see the circuit. But a win is still a win and I’m happy,” he said.

Glock felt the stewards made the right call to red-flagged the race at the right time.

“It was getting impossible to continue. We were just swimming around when it started pouring,” said the German, whose efforts helped Toyota maintain their second place in the constructors’ standings.

Meanwhile Reuters reports that yesterday's rain-hit Malaysian Grand Prix was only the fifth race since the Formula One championship started in 1950 to end with half points awarded. The other four were:

SPAIN 1975

The race at Barcelona’s Montjuich circuit was stopped after 29 of the 75 laps when German Rolf Stommelen’s Lola crashed into the crowd and killed five spectators. Italian Lella Lombardi finished sixth, becoming the first woman driver to score. No woman has ever scored a full point.

AUSTRIA 1975

Stopped in the 29th of 54 laps at the Oesterreichring due to rain. The late Italian Vittorio Brambilla, nicknamed the “Monza Gorilla“, took the only victory of his Formula One career. He was so excited that he spun into the barriers after taking the chequered flag.

MONACO 1984

Race halted in the 31st of 77 laps due to rain. French great Alain Prost was the winner. He ended up losing the title that year by a half-point to Austrian Niki Lauda, despite winning more races.

AUSTRALIA 1991

The season-ending race in Adelaide was won by Brazilian Ayrton Senna after being stopped on the 14th of 81 laps due to heavy rain. Italian Gianni Morbidelli ended the year with only a half-point and had to wait until 1994 to score a whole one. — Reuters


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