Button and Brawn victorious after rain stops play in Malaysia

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It was always likely that the rain would affect Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix, but nobody expected the precipitation to play such a key role in a race that was full of excitement. The management of pit stops proved crucial as conditions changed and Brawn GP's Jenson Button won amid much confusion as the race was red flagged after 32 laps.





Button was leading when the expected rain finally arrived on the 22nd lap, despite making a second pit call (the first had been on the 19th lap) to switch from his second set of soft compound Bridgestones to wets. He resumed still in the lead and continued that way until it became clear just how fast Toyota's Timo Glock was going on intermediates after his stop on Lap 22. Button swept back in on Lap 29 for inters, and grabbed the lead back from Glock as the Toyota dived in at the end of Lap 30 for wets.





The conditions had changed again, so in came Button for a third time on lap 31 to go back to the deeply grooved rubber. He resumed in the lead again as Glock battled with BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld for second place, and that was when race director Charlie Whiting decided that it was time for the safety car. A lap later, out went the red flag. Confusion reigned.



Up to that point, the Malaysian Grand Prix had been a gripper.

Button made a poor start and was engulfed by Williams' Nico Rosberg, who made a super getaway. Button tried to run round the outside of him in Turn One and lost out also to Toyota's Jarno Trulli, and Renault's Fernando Alonso got in on the act briefly too before Button snatched back third before the lap was over.

Further back, Rubens Barrichello had sprinted up to fifth in the second Brawn car ahead of Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, Red Bull's Mark Webber, Glock, Heidfeld and McLaren's Lewis Hamilton.



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F1 - Button leaves Brawn speechless

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Jenson Button managed to render Ross Brawn speechless following a remarkable Australian Grand Prix victory.



Up until a few weeks ago Brawn GP did not exist, but the power and persuasion of their unlikely team owner led to them rising from the ashes after Honda Racing had financially crashed and burned.

After leading a management buy-out, the technical genius has now led the team to Formula One's promised land after scoring a one-two in the season-opener around Albert Park in Melbourne.

Not since 1954, when legendary five-times champion Juan Manuel Fangio led home Karl Kling for Mercedes in the French Grand Prix, has a team taken the top two places on their debut.

Put into greater context, Button on Sunday scored more points in this one race than he managed in his previous 35 over two years with Honda.

Brawn, who played a prominent role in Michael Schumacher winning all seven of his world titles with Benetton and Ferrari, could be on the brink of his most remarkable achievement yet.

Certainly the foundations have been laid, although quite clearly to his own amazement given how close he was to not even being here.

"You don't find Ross speechless very often, but during the last 15 minutes I would be surprised if he said a word," revealed Button, after only the second victory of his 154-race career.

"Seeing him on the way up to the podium he had nothing to say. The big bear was just there speechless.

"It was good to see as it was a very emotional day for him, as it is for us as well."

Appreciably, and it was an obvious but understandable comment to make, Button described the day as "a fairytale" as the 29-year-old led from start to finish.

The fact team-mate Rubens Barrichello joined him on the podium was a feat in itself as the Brazilian was involved in a first-corner melee that led to him damaging his front wing.

Then in the closing stages, Barrichello benefited from a reckless incident involving Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel and Robert Kubica in his BMW Sauber as they crashed out when running second and third.

It led to the safety car being deployed for a second time, after an earlier accident involving Williams' Kazuki Nakajima, behind which they ran virtually to the finish for the final three laps.

It was hardly the grandstand ending Button might have hoped for when he took the chequered flag, but that mattered little in the grand scheme of things.

STANDINGS



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New team Brawn GP takes F1 pole in Australia

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MELBOURNE, Australia – Brawn GP became the first Formula One team in 39 years to take the pole position in its debut race when Jenson Button secured the spot for Sunday's season-opening Australian Grand Prix.





Button's time of 1 minute, 26.202 seconds Saturday edged teammate Rubens Barrichello by three tenths of a second, giving the F1 newcomers both positions on the front row.

It was the fourth pole of Button's career and completed a remarkable turnaround in fortunes for the England-based team, which was threatened with extinction when former owner Honda pulled out of the sport after the 2008 season.





Before former Ferrari strategist and Honda team principal Ross Brawn took over the team from the Japanese automaker, Button and Barrichello faced the prospect of looking for new jobs and watching this weekend's action on television.

"Going from not having a drive and no future in racing to putting it on pole here is just amazing," Button said. "This is a great moment, not the most important of the weekend, but a great start."



"This is where we deserve to be, after the difficult times we have had," the 29-year-old British driver added. "Roll on the season, I am so excited about this year."

The Brawn performance may be a welcome taste of novelty for F1 fans, but rival teams were less enthusiastic. The team is racing under appeal, with a protest over the design of its rear diffuser to be heard by the sport's governing body FIA after the Malaysian Grand Prix, jeopardizing any points gained in the season's first two GP races. Williams and Toyota are also subject to the appeal.

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel will start from third on the grid at Melbourne's Albert Park circuit, ahead of BMW's Robert Kubica and Williams' Nico Rosberg. Toyota pair Timo Glock and Jarno Trulli qualified sixth and eighth respectively, but were sent to the back of the grid after stewards ruled the rear wings on their cars were too flexible.



Virgin Chairman Branson sits in the Brawn GP Formula One team area during a practice session at Australian F1 Grand Prix in Melbourne


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2009 Ferrari F60

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2009-ferrari-f60-ar69140.html





Ferrari unveiled the F60 today. While a new F1 car doesn’t always make headlines with us, this one seems to have dropped in a few nifty new features, and it celebrates an anniversary. It’s the fifty fifth single-seater built by Ferrari specifically to compete in the Formula 1 World Championship. Starting 1950 Ferrari has competed in all the 60 editions of the Formula 1 World Championship (60 years of Ferrari; F60, get it).





Ferrari has redesigned the front and rear spoilers as well as the airflow over the car for better performance on the track. 2009 will be the debut of the kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) that can sometimes provide a real shock. We won’t bore you with all the science of the improvements (or try to interpret them), but there is more information for those who are interested in the press release after the jump.

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