 Button stretches title lead
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-04-27 07:45
MANAMA: Britain's Jenson Button won the Bahrain Grand Prix yesterday for the Formula One championship leader's third victory in four races with newcomers Brawn GP this season. The 29-year-old's success at Sakhir dashed Toyota's hopes of a breakthrough first win after the Japanese manufacturer had started with both their cars on the front row for the first time. Germany's Sebastian Vettel was second for Red Bull with Toyota's Italian Jarno Trulli finishing third from pole position. Button, with four career wins, now has 31 points to Brazilian team mate Rubens Barrichello's 19 and Vettel's 18. Champions Ferrari finally opened their account with 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen finishing sixth for the Italian team's first points of the year. McLaren's world champion Lewis Hamilton, whose team could receive a heavy punishment at a hearing in Paris on Wednesday for lying to stewards at the Australian season-opener, took fourth place after an aggressive start. Barrichello was fifth, ahead of Raikkonen, with Toyota's Timo Glock seventh and Renault's double world champion Fernando Alonso taking the final point on a hot afternoon with air temperatures around 35 degrees Celsius. Button led for the first time in the race on lap 13, allowing Vettel and then Raikkonen to take brief turns at the front when he pitted, but was clearly in control for the final third of the race. "We're going back to Europe with some very good points. Let's do it again in Barcelona," Button, who had started fourth, said as he took the chequered flag and punched the air in jubilation. The Spanish Grand prix is next on May 10. Reuters
(China Daily 04/27/2009 page12) |
