Jenson Button: King of Monaco

What a phenomenal race we have had today! We saw overtaking, tension, and above all the best man win!

I began the day pacing up and down my living room.  I was worried about Raikkonen’s KERS and the fact that Jenson was starting on the dirty side of the track (he did at least have the inside line). John Button (Jens’s dad) admitted this weekend that even he had been surprised by his son! But I was hoping for no surprises into turn one!

Both Jenson and Rubens started on the Super Soft tyres, which would have given them good traction off the start, but the tyres would probably start to lose grip after just eight laps! (Let alone the 20 odd laps the two drivers planned to complete.)

So the Ferraris were on the harder compound, Raikkonen had KERS, and the cleaner side of the track...the lights went red...one by one…my heart was pumping...the lights were out and I held my breath!

A fantastic start from both Jens and Rubens, saw Button comfortably take off, whilst his Brazilian team mate muscled brilliantly past the Finnish Ferrari.  I didn’t know it then but that manoeuvre would prove to be crucial!

Jenson and Rubens now had to lap quickly, whilst looking after their tyres. Thankfully the professional veterans managed to take out and maintain a decent lead over the Ferrari of Raikkonen.  Jenson was on fire, but by lap three, Rubens had set the fastest lap.

Then on lap four, Jens was the fastest and pulled out a 1:580 second lead on Rubens and a 3:355 second gap on Raikkonen.  However, the Finn was not about to give up the fight and began to close in on Rubens.  

Fourth place man Vettel began to slow the rest of the pack up as he struggled with his super soft tyres and a faster Massa in fifth.

By lap seven, Jenson was in the zone and had pulled out even more time (2:513 over Rubens and 4:118 on Raikkonen).  Meanwhile Massa was really taking the fight to Vettel and Rosberg had started to join the equation.  Thankfully for Brawn, Vettel managed to hold his own and Massa made a small mistake and fell behind Rosberg.

Unfortunately for Rubens, being in Jenson’s dirty air was damaging his rear tyres more than hoped.  The Brazilian was warned on lap 10 to watch out for his tyres as Vettel had practically shredded his super softs back in P5.

Vettel had been pushing a little bit too hard and on lap 10 fell behind Massa, Rosberg and Kovelinen (good news for Button’s title ambitions!).

I was slightly worried when Buemi took out Piquet which led to yellow flags for sector one. The feared safety car never came.  I would like to pause here, just to explain to you why I dislike Piquet so much as he perfectly illustrated his personality in his comments about Buemi.

The Torro Rosso driver was unfortunate in that he locked his tyres and was completely finished; (if he had braked hard as he did he would have taken out Piquet, his only other option was to floor it, which would have had the same effect).  

Piquet made ridiculous remarks, stating ‘that’s what happens when you put youngsters in F1 cars!’.  I’m sorry—what? Mr Piquet you of all drivers have no right to say that my son! Buemi has raced better in five events this year than Piquet did all last season! The sooner we see Piquet out of F1 the better...and safer the sport will be!

OK, rant over (apologies to any Piquet fans out there).  Back to the race now and Jenson was about to lap World Champion Hamilton on only lap 11!  By this stage Ruben’s tyres were dead and Raikkonen was proving very difficult to deal with.  

The Brazilian would need to pit and soon.  Now, this is where Jenson’s class comes into it’s own.  Yes, Rubens had dirty air, but Jens’s smooth, relaxed driving style meant that he could handle the difficult stage much better.

Meanwhile, Rosberg and Massa (both on the harder compound remember) were on a charge and threatening the Brawns. Thankfully Raikkonen needed to pit before too long and sure enough, on lap 15, the Finn was put back to P7 after his first stop, but there was still Rosberg and Massa to deal with.

At the end of lap 15, Vettel had crashed out (good for Jens) and Rubens had pitted, fitted the harder compound and re-joined ahead of Raikkonen (good for Rubens).

Just one lap later, Jenson pitted and took on seven seconds of fuel and a set of the harder tyres.  The Championship leader re-joined in an amazing P2!  It was now down to Jenson to pull out another convincing lead.  This job was made easier when provisional leader Rosberg pitted on lap 17.

Massa was now second and right behind Jens (only 0:706s between them).  However, the Ferrari had to pit on lap 19 and Jens was freed up to get back into his special zone.  A good strategy meant that Massa rejoined ahead of Rosberg though in P7; (which meant Massa was looking good this afternoon).

After stops from Kovalainen and Webber on lap 22, normality was restored and the Brawns were once again first and second.  Jenson pulled away on a slower Rubens (16 seconds).  By lap 25 Jenson was 16:726s ahead of his team mate and 19:767s ahead of Raikkonen.  We did later learn though that Rubens was struggling with a dodgy seat belt.

Fernando Alonso had acted as a Ferrari sandwich filling before having to pit on lap 28, but with the Spaniard's exit came a scary time for we Brawn fanatics.  However, Jens was doing his job well and set personal best times.  Rubens though, was really struggling.

Massa was going very quickly, but was cutting the corners too much at the swimming pool complex (and was therefore given several warnings by the FIA).  Nevertheless, the Ferrari man looked a threat, and so too did Webber.

Rubens stopped for the last time with 28 laps left and re-joined in P5.  Jens pitted at the end of lap 50 for 6.8 seconds worth of fuel.  He re-joined in P2 behind Massa which was disappointing, but not the end of the world. 

Yet more worry set in when Kovelianen crashed out, but the safety car was never deployed thanks to the professionalism of the marshals.  Five laps later Massa was in the pits and the lead was once again Jenson’s.  Rubens managed to re-take P2 as well which was excellent.

By lap 57 Jenson was 13:239s ahead of his team mate and 16:314s ahead of Raikkonen back in third.  After their final stops the Ferraris now had to contend with the super soft tyres, but the track had rubbered in nicely and so this wasn’t too much of a problem.

However, with 10 laps left, the Ferraris finally conceded and the race settled into the final proceedings.  Jens was far enough ahead to really enjoy his last two laps and took his third straight victory in a row.  Rubens followed in second, earning Brawn their third one/two finish of the year.

The only thing Jenson did wrong all weekend is park in the wrong place, but that didn’t matter because we were treated to a fantastic lap of glory as the race winner leapt from his car and ran from the pits to the front of the grid.  He was literally jumping for joy...and so was I.  

A truly special weekend for Brawn GP and Jenson joins the likes of Mansal and Schumacker as a driver who has now won five out of six of the opening races.  I hate to quote James Allen but...GET IN THERE!!

Drivers top three standings after round six

Jenson: 51

Rubens: 35

Vettel: 23

Top two teams after six races

Brawn GP: 86

Red Bull: 42.5