Jenson Button, Brawn GP Dominate Monaco Grand Prix, Extend F1 Points Lead Posted by: MSulka on May 24, 2009 - 10:29 AM

Jenson Button, Brawn GP Dominate Monaco Grand Prix, Extend F1 Points LeadBy Mike Sulka Brawn GP Formula One driver Jenson Button has won the historic Monaco Grand Prix. Courtesy of Brawn GP Jenson Button surely knows… it is a beautiful day it is to be driving a Brawn Formula One car at the Monaco Grand Prix. After years of struggling with the horrid Honda F1 team, Jenson Button strutted his stuff turning a remarkable Pole run in the Brawn GP car into a dominating win on the historic streets of Monte-Carlo. For the Briton, it is his first win at the Monaco Grand Prix, and his fifth win in six races in the 2009 season. He is the first British driver to win from Pole at Monaco since the great 3-time Formula One champion Jackie Stewart did it in a Tyrell in 1973. The season-long effort by Brawn and Button is the most dominant since Formula 1 legend Michael Schumacher decimate all-comers in 2004 by winning 12 of the first 13 races. Button leads the F1 driver’s points standings by a massive 16 points over his teammate Rubens Barrichello. Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel is 28 points behind Button.

For Brawn GP, it was their fifth win in their short six race history, and their third one-two finish of the 2009 Formula One season. Brawn now leads the constructor’s points (86) by more than double what the Red Bull team have put up (42.5). Last season’s top constructor Ferrari has 17 points a dismal 69 points in arears, though they can be proud of today’s run.

"It was the perfect way to win the race, I got off the line clean, and had Rubens had trouble with his rear tires," Button said of his win. "I was able to pull a gap, and it didn’t change much from their other than the normal Monaco things where the walls just seemed to get closer and closer the further you get into the race. An outstanding weekend, the team has been fabulous, this victory is massive for the team!"

Button was surprised the other teams ran the ‘prime’ tire to start the race, but made the most of his start on the option tire despite being called in early as the tires went off. "The prime was the race tire."

"It’s a very strange feeling, as you start backing off a bit, and start thinking about getting this thing to the end and I’m going to win Monaco! It’s not the thing to do!," said Button. "The last two laps were simply enjoyable, I knew nothing would go wrong with the car, and had a big gap."

For Barrichello, he was the bridesmaid at Monaco for the fourth time.

"Just like Barcelona, I had a great start, and had a great run on Kimi (Raikkonen of Ferrari)," said the Brazilian. "Then I was running a tremendous pace, and possibly too close, so I lose air which started to grain the real tires. Though to look back to yesterday, the race was defined there."

Rubens has a bit more excitement, racing at full speed with a loose seat belt. "I could hear them going ‘clank, clank’" In the end, he was just fine.

For Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen he started second, but at a disadvantage with the harder ‘prime’ tire, and on the dirty side of the grid.

"It was not the nicest day, because we were faster than Rubens, but there was no way to get past him after losing the position at the beginning," said the Finn who grabbed his third career podium at Monaco.

He continued, "In another way, we have to be happy, as the guys at the factory have been working so hard since the beginning of the season. So we’ve improved the car pretty quickly once we knew we were allowed to change the car a certain way in the rules."

Next up is the Turkish Grand Prix in two weeks time. Though Red Bull may re-assert themselves at the circuit, it is clear than Brawn GP’s magical season will likely continue…

As it should.

The team have done the best job in the paddock of getting their car right and within the rules right out of the box. Brawn GP is winning Grand Prix now because they did the best job thinking during the off-season, and Jenson Button is delivering on the promise of the cars thoughtful creation. Brawn GP is a championship caliber team, Jenson Button is quickly proving he is a championship caliber driver.

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