F1: Brawn continue their dominance at Monaco Grand Prix

Formula One championship leader Jenson Button mastered Monaco’s treacherous streets yesterday to chalk up his fifth victory in six races and lead another Brawn GP one-two finish.

The Briton’s sixth career victory, in an untroubled drive from pole position on a sunny afternoon, stretched his lead over teammate Rubens Barrichello to 16 points with 11 races remaining.

Button, who took the checkered flag 7.6 seconds clear of the Brazilian after a masterfully smooth performance around a tight and twisting track lined by metal barriers, has 51 points, while Barrichello has 35 points.

“Yeah, Monaco baby, yeah,” the Briton, a Monaco resident, yelled over the team radio after his third win in a row.

The only mistake he made, after 78 laps at the wheel, was to park his car in the wrong place after taking the flag.

Astonishingly, considering what he had gone through during the previous hour and 45 minutes, he climbed out of the car and ran along the straight from the pit lane, waving at the fans and jumping for joy.

Finland’s Kimi Raikkonen, who had started on the front row but lost out to Barrichello at the start, took third place for champions Ferrari in the Italian team’s first podium finish since the last race of last year.

Mercedes-powered Brawn, heirs to departed Honda, have now finished one-two three times this year.

Ferrari’s Brazilian Felipe Massa was fourth ahead of Australian Mark Webber in a Red Bull.

Germany’s Nico Rosberg finished sixth for Williams, with Spain’s Fernando Alonso collecting two points for Renault and Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais eighth for Toro Rosso.