Jenson Button Best in the 2009 Bahrain GP

Well what can I say? perfect? As a die-hard Honda/Brawn fan that was a treat.  Well done Jenson!

Friday Practice, 24th April 2009

Much like the Fridays before, the Brawn’s were good, but nothing special.  Jens was unfortunately hindered in practice one by early gearbox problems but drove rather well afterwards.  I bet you can’t guess who finished top of practice two…Nico Rosberg again!  As for Brawn, well reserved stuff again.  Both drivers finished in the top ten but as usual, maintained a professional outlook and simply carried out solid testing (as opposed to ‘good PR’ low fuel speedy laps).

Jenson was initially pretty fast, with a 1m35.935s.  However, before long he began to slip down the time sheet.  Rubens drove well but ultimately finished up in ninth. 

Saturday Practice, 25th April 2009

Timo Glock was the man who ended Rosberg’s ‘practice king’ run when he finished on top of Saturday practice.  Was Toyota’s form in practice about to translate into a productive qualifying session?

Jenson finished up in P15, and Rubens, P16.  Not a wonderful start to Saturday, but given the intense heat perhaps Brawn had in mind to push for qualifying. 

Saturday Qualifying, 25th April 2009 

Brawn were never really strong, but comfortably made it through the qualifying stages.  Though both drivers put in times that gave them pole positions, the Toyotas and Red Bull of Vettel were all too often faster.  As Jenson stated after qualifying, the car simply wasn’t fast over single hot laps.  Jens finished a largely disappointing day in P4 and Rubens P6.  But hey listen to me moaning! This was still outstanding stuff when you consider where Honda were last year! 

Sunday Race, 26th April 2009

As the lights turned red, I feared for the worst….Both Brawns were threatened by KERS cars and sure enough into turn one Lewis overtook Jenson.  Rubens was a little slow off the start and after the second corner Jens was fourth with Rubens in seventh.  Then came perhaps the most important manoeuvre of the race….on lap two Jens put an absolutely perfect move on his British rival and out broke the McLaren into turn one.  At the time the move that put Jenson third looked great, but it would turn out to be the action that won the race!

In these early stages there were many exciting overtaking attempts; Rubens overtook Kimi and the midfield battle was edge of the seat stuff!  The two leading Toyotas began to pull away from Jens, but the determined Briton pushed on.  By lap four Jens was down 4.922s on Glock in P1 (Rubens was 9.515 down).  Luckily for Jenson, Hamilton was now backing up the field, which included a dangerous Vettel (though this was also bad news for Rubens).

On lap 6, Jenson put in a personal best, but he was told to watch his engine heat.  On lap 8 Jenson was doing all he could; he was keeping up with the Toyotas and staying ahead of Vettel.  At this stage Rubens was given the hurry up and sure enough, began to put in fastest sector times.  The Brazilian drove so well that by lap 10 he was right behind fifth place Vettel.  

Around lap eleven Glock pulled into the pits, promoting Jens to P2 and Rubens to P5.  Just one lap later Trulli too pitted from the front.  It was now down to Jens, could he push hard enough and get everything out of his tyres to maintain a strong position?

Well, yes and no.  The Briton was initially not fast enough, but a fantastic manoeuvre from Alonso on Trulli gave Jens some breathing space.  On lap 14 Rubens pitted for a new set of Super softs.  The Brazilian rejoined in tenth.  Just one lap later Jens was in too for a new set of the softies, crucially he rejoined ahead of Glock in fourth.  Rubens now had to pass his hopeless fellow countryman Piquet (who was unfortunately rather good at holding Rubens off!).  By lap 15, Jenson was upto P3 (thanks to an Alonso stop) and Rubens was P9 struggling with a determined Renault.

Rubens was beginning to get frustrated as he was faster, but the KERS in the Renault proved problematic.  I don’t like Piquet (having read an article about him in F1 racing), but I’ll give it to him he was driving rather well (for a change!!).

After Vettel stopped on lap eighteen, Rubens finally found a way past Piquet which promoted Brawn’s number two to P8; (Jens was now P2).  Now on a mission, Rubens took Glock on lap 20 for a well earnt P7.

After Raikkonen’s stop on lap 21, Jens was once again in front and once again had to prove himself.  He drove perfectly, opening up a 7.527s lead on second place man Trulli.  Rubens too was pushing like crazy!  Thankfully for Jens, Trulli was struggling on medium compound tyres and holding Vettel and Hamilton up.

After a storming performance Rubens pitted on lap 26 (to rejoin in clear air).  The Brazilian charger rejoined in eighth.  Jenson was still in a total world of his own, pulling fourteen seconds away from Trulli.  On lap 37 Jens pulled off into the pits.  He fitted a new set of medium compound tyres and rejoined in second.  The question was...now could Jens manage the troublesome mediums well enough? 

Trulli pitted at the same time as Jens and when Vettel stopped on lap 40 the lead was Jenson’s again.  By this time Rubens had unfortunately had to pit again and would have to settle for fifth.  Jenson had to push but was aided by the fact that second place man Vettel (on mediums) was holding up a resurgent Trulli (on Softies).

And that is pretty much how the race finished.  An outstanding performance from Jenson Button saw him take his third out of four victory.  Whilst Rubens had been consistently fast, his strategy had not been quite right and P5 was the best he could do. 

After the worries of Friday and Saturday this was a perfect finish to a weekend many commentators had dubbed ‘crucial’ for understanding raw dry pace.  Jenson was clearly fighting tears back on the podium and frankly so was I at home.  What a great season this is turning into.  A fantastic reward for we Brawn fanatics after the woes of 2007 and 2008. 

Roll on Spain!!