Jenson Button extended his lead at the top of the Formula One drivers’ standings yesterday when the Brawn GP driver claimed victory in the Bahrain Grand Prix in Sakhir.
The Briton secured his third win out of four this season in a time of 1 hour, 31 minutes, 48.182 seconds ahead of Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull with Toyota’s Jarno Trulli, who started from pole position, having to settle for third.
“We’re going back to Europe with some very good points. Let’s do it again in Barcelona,” Button said as he crossed the finish line and punched the air in jubilation.
PHOTO: AFP
The Spanish Grand Prix is next on May 10.
Defending world champion Lewis Hamilton in a McLaren-Mercedes came home fourth, followed by Rubens Barrichello in the second Brawn GP car.
Kimi Raikkonen earned Ferrari’s first points of the season with a sixth-place finish, with Toyota’s Timo Glock and two-time world champion Fernando Alonso of Renault completing the points placings.
DISAPPOINTMENT
It was a bitterly disappointing race for BMW-Sauber, with Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld trailing home in 18th and 19th places.
However, Heidfeld had the slight consolation of setting a new record of finishing 25 races in a row, surpassing the previous record of 24 set by fellow German Michael Schumacher.
In an uneventful race compared with the fireworks of the first three, Glock made it to the first corner ahead of teammate Trulli, who also briefly lost second place to Hamilton before fighting back.
Hamilton failed to hold his third-place position either and was overtaken by Button at the start of the second lap, a maneuver that turned out to be crucial in the destination of the race win.
It was a disastrous start for BMW’s Kubica and Kazuki Nakajima of Williams as both drivers had to pit for a new nose-cone, while Ferrari’s Felipe Massa was forced to return to the pits with what appeared to be a KERS problem.
With Vettel being held up by Hamilton in fourth place, Glock, Trulli and Button slowly pulled away from the rest of the field.
PIT STOPS
As expected, Glock pitted at the end of lap 10 with Trulli coming in a lap later, handing the race lead to Button ahead of Hamilton, Vettel and Barrichello.
Trulli returned in sixth, but was passed by Alonso with 44 laps remaining. Button and Hamilton pitted two laps later to hand the lead to Vettel, with Raikkonen moving up to second.
Vettel pitted for the first time with 39 laps to go, returning behind the Toyota of Trulli, while Button regained the race lead after Raikkonen’s first stop.
Barrichello was the first of the leading group to pit for a second time, while teammate Button continued to extend his lead over Trulli, Vettel and Hamilton by up to a second a lap.
Glock pitted with 24 laps to go, but returned behind Renault’s Nelson Piquet Jr, while Button came in three laps later holding a lead of 17 seconds over Trulli, who also pitted.
The Briton returned behind Vettel, who pushed to build up a lead before pitting for a final time on lap 40 and returning ahead of Trulli, but handing back the lead to the Brawn driver.
While Button retained a healthy lead in the region of 10 seconds over Vettel for the remainder of the race, the German had to contend with stern competition from Trulli in the battle for second before eventually prevailing.
More than 180 years of horse racing came to an end in Singapore on Saturday, as the Singapore Turf Club hosted its final race day before its track is handed back to the Singaporean government to provide land for new homes. Under an overcast sky, the air-conditioned VIP boxes were full of enthusiasts, socialites and expats, while the grounds and betting halls below hosted mostly older-generation punters. The sun broke through for the last race, the last-ever Grand Singapore Gold Cup. The winner, South African jockey Muzi Yeni, echoed a feeling of loss shared by many on the day. “I’d
Former world No. 2 Paula Badosa has withdrawn from this week’s Wuhan Open, organizers said on Tuesday, amid a racism row over an online photograph. Tournament organizers said the Spaniard had pulled out of the WTA 1000 tournament, citing a gastrointestinal illness, hours before her first-round match against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic. News outlets including Britain’s the Telegraph earlier reported that Badosa had posted a photo on Instagram in which she appeared to imitate a Chinese face by placing chopsticks on the corners of her eyes. The photo was taken last week in a restaurant in Beijing, where she reached the semi-finals of the
PREDICTION: Last week, when Yu’s father made a wrong turn to the former champions’ parking lot, he said that his son could park there after this year With back-to-back birdies on the 18th hole, Kevin Yu fulfilled his driving range-owning dad’s prediction that he would win the Sanderson Farms Championship and become Taiwan’s third golfer to claim a US PGA Tour title. The Taoyuan-born 26-year-old, who represented Taiwan in the Olympic golf at Paris, saw off Californian Beau Hossler in a playoff at the Country Club of Jackson, Mississippi, on Sunday. Having drained a 15-foot putt to claw his way into the playoff, Yu rolled in from five feet on the first extra hole, ensuring he joined Chen Tze-chung (LA Open in 1987) and Pan Cheng-tsung (RBC
LeBron James and eldest son Bronny James claimed a piece of NBA history on Sunday after making their long-awaited first appearance alongside each other for the Los Angeles Lakers. The duo appeared together at the start of the second quarter in the Lakers’ 118-114 preseason defeat to the Phoenix Suns in Palm Desert, east of Los Angeles. While LeBron James impressed with 19 points in just 16 minutes and 20 seconds on court before sitting out the second half, Bronny found the going harder with zero points in just over 13 minutes on court. The younger James attempted just one
RSS