The Curious Case of Jensen Button... (Motor Racing in General)

Member Name: thedevilinme

Product:	Motor Racing in General
Date:	31/03/09 (233 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great season ahead

Disadvantages: Lawyers and Bernie

There was a certain irony on the grid in Melbourne for the first race of what looks like a very intriguing Formula One season. World Champion Lewis Hamilton sat 18th out of 20 cars, needing binoculars to see the lights go green, the position the previous golden boy in Jensen Button finished in the championship last year, the same Jensen Button who won pole position come race day in the Australian GP last Sunday, of course. Two months ago the playboy Englishman didn't think he would even have a job this season, let alone put his car on the front row in Albert Park after his team collapsed due to the credit crunch back in January. But he was, and not only that, but he won the bloody thing, the Ross Brawn-Mercedes team becoming the first debutants to win an F1 since Fangio's days, 1955 to be precise, ironically also Mercedes. Grand Prix Racing has been waiting for this refreshing upheaval.

Hamilton, alas, has gone from hare to tortoise in qualifying because of something called the 'diffuser', an innovative piece of streamlined bodywork at the back of the car that some teams are running, allowing the cars to go around corners much quicker. The three teams-Williams, Toyota and Brawn-who spotted and then exploited a loop-hole in the new rules to develop this technology were sitting sheepishly at the front of the grid, which resulted in the big teams lodging protests, the ones down the grid, throwing their toys out of the pram as they swallowed Force India fumes all weekend, the Ferraris a full second down on the Brawn-Mercedes pole pairing, McLaren a full two seconds down. Diffusers can also be found in hairdryers, very appropriate for Button.

Bernie Ecclestone asked the sport to be more innovative and less 'bling' in these current tough times and so ordered them to cut back on the budgets, helping the smaller teams back into the mix, exactly what the almost sponsorless Brawn-Mercedes achieved, only the sole squiggles of Richard Branson's tell-tale Virgin insignia on the ugly and big snow plough like front wings the money in the team. But the stewards had the last say in qualifying on this issue and demoted the two Toyotas to the back of the grid for having an illegal diffuser, more disqualifications sure to come on this one as the season goes on.

Melbourne's upside-down Grid after final qualifying...

1 Great Britain Jenson Button 22 Brawn-Mercedes 1:26.202
2 Brazil Rubens Barrichello 23 Brawn-Mercedes 1:26.505
3 Germany Sebastian Vettel 15 Red Bull-Renault 1:26.830
4 Poland Robert Kubica 5 BMW Sauber 1:26.914
5 Germany Nico Rosberg 16 Williams-Toyota 1:26.973
6 Brazil Felipe Massa 3 Ferrari 1:27.033
7 Finland Kimi Raikkonen 4 Ferrari 1:27.163
8 Australia Mark Webber 14 Red Bull-Renault 1:27.246
9 Germany Nick Heidfeld 6 BMW Sauber 1:25.504
10 Spain Fernando Alonso 7 Renault 1:25.605
11 Japan Kazuki Nakajima 17 Williams-Toyota 1:25.607
12 Finland Heikki Kovalainen 2 McLaren-Mercedes 1:25.726
13 Switzerland Sebastien Buemi 12 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:26.503
14 Brazil Nelson Piquet Jr 8 Renault 1:26.598
15 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella 21 Force India-Mercedes 1:26.677
16 Germany Adrian Sutil 20 Force India-Mercedes 1:26.742
17 France Sebastien Bourdais 11 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:26.964
18 Great Britain Lewis Hamilton 1 McLaren-Mercedes 1:26.964
19 Germany Timo Glock 10 Toyota
20 Italy Jarno Trulli 9 Toyota

-The Race-

It was a walk in the park for Button as the Brawn-Mercedes led from start to finish, it's un-racing like luminous police car livery jubilantly crossing the line in a one-two finish with Barrichello, just behind the omnipresent safety car, the Brazilian taking advantage of Sebastian Vettel and Robert Kubicas late tangle three laps out, bizarrely handing Lewis Hamilton 4th, which was later upgraded to 3rd on race day when Trulli was demoted for yet more technical violations in a typically dramatic Australian Grand Prix. Sadfly the stewards dont like Lewis and he was disqualified from the race 6 days later for not telling the stewards the whole story on the yellow flag incident.

Button was not surprisingly ecstatic, the car just three weeks old, outrageous for it to do so well with no wind tunnel or track testing time under the bonnet. Rather ironically, because one of the new rules is no in season testing for the teams, it's that regulation that will stop the other teams without diffusers being able to redesign their cars in time to catch up. The next GP, Malaysia, is even better suited to Buttons car. The good fortune won't last though and I'm sure Ferrari and McLaren will soon dominate. But racing really needed this shot in the arm and the 'credit crunch' could ironically save the sport that was getting too flash and self-important for its own good. Richard Branson's grin was twice as big as Ross Brawns and Jensen Buttons put together as his very public eco concerns were thrown out of the window as yet another erroneously ethical millionaire is seduced by the glamour and girls of Grand Prix racing. Greenwash that one goofy!

We can't discount anyone at this stage of the season is that when FIDA meet on April 18th to discuss these diffusers the next two GP results ad points could be scrubbed for the offending teams as the big boy's lawyers kick into gear? Alonso finished the championship brilliantly last year and finishing 5th in Melbourne then maybe he too could be a contender. There are so many good young drivers in the mix that if the diffusers are allowed then we are in for a stunning season as power tries to catch up with glide, the option to run this 'KERS' power boost system also an interesting variable. Buttons win also proves that an average driver in a good car is just as good as a good driver in an average car. Now that the most wins ruling is discarded for 2009 to decide a tied championship we could have at least eight different race winners over the season and every team earning points.

-How they finished-

1 Great Britain Jenson Button 22 Brawn-Mercedes 1 1:34:15.784 10
2 Brazil Rubens Barrichello 23 Brawn-Mercedes 2 1:34:16.591 8
3 Great Britain Lewis Hamilton 1 McLaren-Mercedes 18 1:34:18.698 6
4 Germany Timo Glock 10 Toyota 20 1:34:20.219 5
5 Spain Fernando Alonso 7 Renault 10 1:34:20.663 4
6 Germany Nico Rosberg 16 Williams-Toyota 5 1:34:21.506 3
7 Switzerland Sebastien Buemi 12 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 13 1:34:21.788 2
8 France Sebastien Bourdais 11 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 17 1:34:22.082 1

9 Germany Adrian Sutil 20 Force India-Mercedes 16 1:34:22.119 0
10 Germany Nick Heidfeld 6 BMW Sauber 9 1:34:22.869 0
11 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella 21 Force India-Mercedes 15 1:34:23.158 0
12 Italy Jarno Trulli 9 Toyota 19 1:34:42.388 0
13 Australia Mark Webber 14 Red Bull-Renault 8 1:34:23.158 0

RET Germany Sebastian Vettel 15 Red Bull-Renault 3 retired, 56 laps 0
RET Poland Robert Kubica 5 BMW Sauber 4 crash, 55 laps 0
RET Finland Kimi Raikkonen 4 Ferrari 7 retired, 55 laps 0
RET Brazil Felipe Massa 3 Ferrari 6 retired, 45 laps 0
RET Brazil Nelson Piquet Jr 8 Renault 14 crash, 24 laps 0
RET Japan Kazuki Nakajima 17 Williams-Toyota 11 crash, 17 laps 0
RET Finland Heikki Kovalainen 2 McLaren-Mercedes 12 retired 0 laps 0

-The Races-

01 FORMULA 1 AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX (Melbourne) 27 - 29 Mar
02 FORMULA 1 MALAYSIAN GRAND PRIX (Kuala Lumpur) 03 - 05 Apr
03 FORMULA 1 CHINESE GRAND PRIX (Shanghai) 17 - 19 Apr
04 FORMULA 1 GULF AIR BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX (Sakhir) 24 - 26 Apr
05 FORMULA 1 PREMIO DE ESPANA TELEFONICA 2009 (Catalunya) 08 - 10 May
06 FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX DE MONACO 2009 (Monte Carlo) 21 - 24 May
07 FORMULA 1 ING TURKISH GRAND PRIX (Istanbul) 05 - 07 Jun
08 FORMULA 1 SANTANDER BRITISH GRAND PRIX (Silverstone) 19 - 21 Jun
09 FORMULA 1 SANTANDER VON DEUTSCHLAND 2009 (Nürburgring) 10 - 12 Jul
10 FORMULA 1 ING MAGYAR NAGYDIJ 2009 (Budapest) 24 - 26 Jul
11 FORMULA 1 TELEFONICA GRAND PRIX OF EUROPE (Valencia) 21 - 23 Aug
12 FORMULA 1 ING BELGIAN GRAND PRIX (Spa-Francorchamps) 28 - 30 Aug
13 FORMULA 1 GRAN PREMIO SANTANDER D'ITALIA 2009 (Monza) 11 - 13 Sep
14 FORMULA 1 SINGTEL SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX (Singapore) 25 - 27 Sep
15 FORMULA 1 FUJI TELEVISION JAPANESE GRAND PRIX (Suzuka) 02 - 04 Oct
16 FORMULA 1 GRANDE PREMIO DO BRASIL 2009 (Sao Paulo) 16 - 18 Oct
17 FORMULA 1 ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX (Yas Marina Circuit) 30 Oct - 01 Nov

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formul a_one/results/default.stm
http://www.formula1.com/

Summary: The curious race of Jensen Button..