2009 Spanish Grand Prix: Jenson Button Wins Amid More Troubles for Ferrari

The Spanish Grand Prix got off to an explosive start, almost literally for a few of the drivers.

After fantastic starts from Ruebens Barrichello and Felipe Massa who both jumped places to first and third respectively there was chaos a little further down the field in the second corner.

Jarno Trulli’s Toyota slid from the track into the gravel but made its way back onto the track where it was met, with some force by Adrian Sutil of Force Inidia, sending both cars from the track and race, but in the mayhem both Torro Rosso cars smashed into each other meaning four drivers were heading back to the pits after just a few seconds of the race.

That pile up brought out the safety car as the track was cleared, with the two Brawn cars assuming the first two places as the safety car returned to the pits.  The green flags brought out the first big manoeuvre of the day as Fernando Alonso used his KERS system to overtake Mark Webber on the straight, only for the Australian to highlight the strength of the Red Bull car as he eased passed Alonso in the corner.

Any hopes of an improved showing from McLaren took a dent with a poor start from Hamilton leaving him in 12th position when team-mate Hieki Kovalainen retired with a similar gearbox problem to the one that troubled him in Friday practice.

Pit lane strategy was always going to be important on a track that has seen many processional races in the past, and it was a change in strategy after the safety car that allowed Button to reclaim P1 from Barrichello and it was there he stayed.

Kimmi Raikonnen’s weekend went from bad to worse when he was forced to retire with gearbox problems after his disastrous qualifying strategy.  The team could have taken some consolation with Massa’s position behind the Brawn cars in third, but it was clear he could not keep up and challenge the British team and spent most of The race fighting off Sebastian Vettel in his Red Bull.  The best chance for Vettel to pass Massa came in the firs round of pit stops when the two pitted together, but it was not to be for the young German.

After the second round of pit stops however it was team mate Mark Webber who came out in front of both Massaand Vettell to claim third position in the latter stages of the race.  But as the race was drawing to a close with Button, Barrichello and Webber holding the podium positions, there was yet more heartbreak for Ferrari. 

Felipe Massa who looked set to hold onto fourth place was forced to let Vettel and Alonso pass unchallenged as he ran extremely low on fuel, leaving Massa to finish a disappointing sixth considering the race he had.

Jensen Button held on to the lead right to the chequered flag, followed by team mate Barrichello and the two Red Bull drivers.  Button, who secured his fourth win of the season stretched his lead in the Drivers’ Championship as the team moved even further ahead of Red Bull in the Constructors Table.