Jenson Button's Turkish Delight!

What can I say? Yet another superb race from a driver in a total world of his own. You’ve got to feel sorry for Rubens, who struggled all afternoon, but today was a day to celebrate the race winner...JENSON BUTTON.

As the drivers lined up to begin the race I thought it would be Rubens, on the clean side of the track that would be Brawn’s best hope of a great start.  However, the support races had seemed to suggest that starting on the dirty side didn’t necessarily mean bad times.

So here we went again…the heart was pumping...the lights were slowly coming on...one by one, until they were a complete line of red...then...GO! 

Jens had a great start and comfortably held on to second place, but…oh no! Rubens's anti-stall kicked in and the Brazilian slipped down the field to 13th!  Meanwhile, as we watch the usual first lap excitement, the TV pictures suddenly cut to Jenson...in front of Vettel! 

Crucially from the exit of turn nine, the young German made a mistake and Jenson sped past and into the lead.

Rubens though was struggling, having quickly dispatched a BMW for P12, he was now fighting with the KERS of Kovalainen.  Whilst Rubens fought hard with the McLaren in front, Jens pulled an amazing two seconds ahead of the pack.

A couple of laps in, Kovalainen locked his front left into the final corners, but hung on to that pesky P11.  Again on turn nine, Rubens tried a move on the leading McLaren...but to no avail! 

Finally though, on lap seven, Rubens took his place after a great move in the last corners...but no! Kovalainen pushed his magic button and zoomed passed the Brazilian into turn one!

Rubens was now totally determined to pass the car in front.  Unfortunately, however, he pushed too hard and made contact with the Fin into turn nine which sent Rubens spinning back to 17th!

Rubens was now behind a heavy Hamilton, but thankfully this McLaren proved easy to pass.  The next car (Piquet) was even easier to get rid of and before long Rubens was chasing down P14 and Sutil.  At this stage we learnt that Rubes had lost seventh gear which was only adding to the Brawn man's woes.

His frustration showed when he ran into the back of Sutil at the end of lap twelve and damaged his front wing end plate.  This meant that he had to pit at the end of lap thirteen for 11.3 seconds.

OK, so that’s Rubens done for a while...back to Jenson.  The Brit was in a world of his own and had opened up a gap of five seconds on second placed Vettel.  Better still though, when Vettel pitted on lap 15, Jenson became 11:570 seconds ahead of the second place man (now Webber).

Vettel was on a three stopper and this was perhaps the scariest section of Jenson’s race as the German was on a mission to pass Jens and had the future advantage of a shorter stint on the soft tyres.

One lap earlier than expected, Jenson pitted (lap 16) and took on 9.3 seconds of fuel (88 litres).  He rejoined in third ahead of Vettel. Soon after, thanks to pits from Webber and Rosberg, Jens was back on top.  I’m afraid at this stage Rubens was P19 and last.

Now the lighter Vettel began to put real pressure on Jenson.  The cars were so close that I nearly fell out of my chair!  By lap 23, Vettel was only 1:103 seconds behind Jens (who said F1 is dull!?).

On the last corner of lap 25 my heart stopped as Jens went wide...but he hung on and from then on went into a terminator-esq mode of coolness.  In Jenson’s dirty air Vettel began to lose time and Jenson’s superb driving meant that Vettel would now be looking more like a challenger for third than for first; (as Webber seemed to be on the better strategy). 

On lap 28, Vettel pitted and took on 8.6 seconds of fuel; the pressure was now off Jenson.  With the stress gone, Jens went even faster.  Then all Brawn eyes switched to Hamilton, who pitted on lap 33 for soft tyres.  Speaking of Hamilton, I would just like to pause here for an extremely rare Piquet praise!

That move that the young Brazilian made on the World Champion on lap 34 was frankly great! (it’s about time Nelson!)

By lap 34, Jens was 17:995 seconds faster than second place Webber and 1:12:224 ahead of Rubens in P15.

Thankfully for Jens, Vettel’s afternoon went from bad to worse as he was now fighting with fourth place man Rosberg.  Rubens was once again fighting Sutil for P14, whilst Hamilton went slowly on the soft tyres...could Jens do a better job?

On lap 39, Rubens stopped for soft tyres and rejoined in P17.  With 16 laps to go, Jens was in and fitted the softs and took on 7.3 seconds of fuel.  Webber pitted too so Jens emerged first from the pits.

I was a little sad when two laps later Jens looked as if he was going to lap his team mate, but unfortunately, Rubens retired with ten laps left anyway.  This was the first time we saw a Brawn retiring and it was the unlucky icing on the cake for the unfortunate and now dejected Rubens.

With six laps left, Jens was 19:789 seconds ahead of second place man Webber and he was using the softs as well as ever before! (To be fair to Lewis, the track had rubbered very nicely).  And that was it; Jenson broke the Turkey curse and became the first man to win from any position other than pole.

Another great weekend for Jenson, but yet again we must feel sorry for poor old Rubens.  I am now simply wetting myself with anticipation for the British GP...BRING IT ON!
  

Drivers top three standings after round seven

Jenson: 61
Rubens: 35
Vettel: 29

Top three teams after six races

Brawn GP: 96
Red Bull: 56.5
Toyota: 32.5