Jenson Button Wins the Turkish Grand Prix

Jenson Button did it again! He’s now won six of seven races on the 2009 Formula One calendar as he used cunning, tactics, and amazing timing on Sunday afternoon to steal the lead in the Turkish Grand Prix from Sebastian Vettel after Vettel decided to drive wide through Turn 10, and then never looked back. Jenson managed to run second behind Vettel after a start by Rubens Barrichello that left Barrichello trailing Button. Staying close to Vettel he waited for his moment and when Vettel lost concentration for a moment in Turn 10 and went a little wide, Button jumped on his mistake and drove past Vettel to take the lead.

Jenson kept the hammer down through out most of the race and managed to build up a lead of 20 seconds to his closest competitor but eased off in the later part of the race to protect the win and eventually finishing 6.7 seconds ahead of Red Bull racer Mark Webber. The smile on his race as he crossed the finish line could probably light a bulb and who could blame him after beating his competition on an afternoon where he was barely threatened.

Vettel managed to work his way back up to third and was just behind Webber at the end of the race and eventually to finish just 0.7 seconds behind Webber. In the end his three stop strategy didn’t work and was an error that allowed Webber to use his two stop strategy to take second place. Certainly a disappointing race in some ways for Vettel but he still managed to reach and podium and can hold his head high.

Jarno Trulli and Nico Rosberg battled through most of the Turkish Grand Prix for fourth place but in the end Trulli managed to get in front of Rosberg and beat him across the line. Felipe Massa probably came into the race with expectations of achieving his fourth straight victory in Turkey but it quickly became clear these expectations were beyond his cars reach and he had to settle for sixth place.

The Santander British Grand Prix is the next race on the Formula One calendar and we can expect to witness amazing feats of driving skill at this venue. The action begins with practice runs on Friday the 19^th of June, but all the times and days are listed below for you to make a note of the time.

F1 TIMETABLE

Image: Zuma Press