Jenson Button Makes It 4-of-5 in Spain by Taking the Spanish Grand Prix

The last eight people to qualify on pole for the Spanish Grand Prix have won on Sunday and today was no different. Jenson Button drove like a man possessed and simply delivered a fantastic performance.

As the drivers completed their procession lap I could feel my nerves on extreme edge! (imagine how Jens and Rubens must have felt!).  

I was worried about Vettel in P2, but mostly Massa with his KERS. The lights went out and they were off. Jenson seemed a little bit slow to get started and Rubens darted past into first.  

Thankfully Vettel and Massa were too busy fighting each other to threaten the Brawns.

As the front runners exited turn one a crash meant that the safety car had to be deployed and after only just getting over the fight into turn one, I was now worried about the re-start! Massa had managed to pass Vettel before the safety car was brought out and so Jens would have to hold off a KERS runner.

On lap 4 the safety car sped back into the pits and my heart missed a few beats! Thankfully Rubens was a total professional and slammed his foot on the gas so quickly that the two Brawns seemed to shock the rest of the pack on the re-start! (FEW!)

So, as the race got going again it was Rubens first, Jenson second, and crucially Brawn’s biggest threat, Vettel was stuck behind Massa. Rubens then began to put in fastest laps and it looked as if the race was over.  

However, the Ferrari and Red Bull kept the Brawns honest and on lap seven, Rubens was told to really push it to stay ahead.

Jenson too was given the hurry up and by lap nine was only 1:061 seconds behind his team mate. The race then developed into a four way battle with Jenson eating away at Rubens, whilst Vettel and Massa edged ever closer to the Britain.  

It was absolutely crucial that Massa was in front of Vettel as the Red Bull driver would have been a far more serious threat if he was in third.

On lap 14, Jenson put in the fastest lap of the race and it looked as if the afternoon was going to be very interesting.  

On lap 17 the Brawn mechanics were shown to be getting ready for a stop. Sure enough, Jens pulled into the pits and put 9.3 seconds worth of fuel in. This was a race changing moment as it was here that it looked as if Jenson’s three stop strategy had been changed to a two stopper. Jens re-joined in P5.

Just one lap later, Rubens pitted too, but was he changing his strategy? No, the Brazilian only took on 6.7 seconds worth of fuel and would therefore have to stop twice more.  Rubens re-joined in P3 and at this stage it looked as if he had the better strategy.

Massa and Vettel pitted on lap 20 (raising Rubens to P1 and Jens to P3). Again crucially, Massa beat Vettel in the pit race. It was now down to Rubens; he had to put in consistent fast laps and keep Jenson at arms length.

Unfortunately for the Brazilian, for whatever reason, he wasn’t fast enough and the race win seemed to slip out of his reach. Having said this though, Jenson wasn’t particularly fast either and it began to look as if Brawn were going to have to seriously race Massa and Vettel as well as each other!

On lap 30 Rubens pitted and re-joined in P4. The race was now Jenson’s to loose.  He had to be consistently fast and stay ahead. On lap 34, Jens was four seconds up on Massa, five on Vettel and nine on Rubens. Poor old Rubens was struggling and was given the hurry up on lap 39 (we later would learn that there were problems with his car).

Some commentators began to suggest that Brawn had deliberately created a strategy that favoured Button, but Nick Fry denied this claim stating that it was up to the individual engineers to decide on their driver’s strategy.  

I have to admit during the race I was sceptical, but I think Rubens struggled with his car and Jens simply did a better job in the end.

Anyway, back to the racing. Massa and Vettel both pitted on lap 43 and yet again, crucially, Ferrari won the mini race. The Brawns were now first and second and it was 100% down to Jenson.  

Good news came in when it became clear that Massa and Vettel had stopped far earlier than expected (which effectively took them out of the game).

Jenson pitted on lap 47 and changed to the slower hard tyres. He re-joined in P3 behind Mark Webber who had put in a supreme performance, quietly getting on with his race and benefiting from a great manoeuvre on Alonso in the very beginning.  

It was now, once again down to Rubens. He had to lap quickly on the softs and pull away from his team-mate.

On lap 49, Rubens entered the pits, he hadn’t done enough and Jens re-took the lead. Rubens re-joined in second and spent the rest of the race fighting off Webber. Jenson Button was in a class of his own, he made the hard tyres work for him like no other driver on the track.  

With six laps left the Championship leader was the fastest man in Spain. Sure enough, Jens went on to claim his fifth career victory, Brawn’s fourth out of five races.

After all the hype of this Grand Prix it doesn’t look as if much has changed. The four top cars were Brawns and Red Bulls. Perhaps the most significant development was the vast improvement made by Ferrari this weekend (one to watch for the future).

I must admit I did feel immensely sorry for Rubens when all was finished. He looked so unhappy, but at the end of the day he wasn’t fast enough and Jenson yet again proved his class.  

Brawn still lead the constructors by 29.5 points and Jenson Button extends his lead to 41 points in the Driver’s Championship.

Another one two for Brawn GP; another great day for we Brawn fanatics!