Jenson Button lapped world champion Lewis Hamilton in the closing stages en route to his fourth win in five season races at the Spanish Formula One Grand Prix yesterday for Brawn GP.
Button won ahead of Rubens Barrichello in another one-two finish for the former Honda team.
Button made the most of a two-stop pit strategy, while Barrichello didn’t push hard enough to prevail in his car with three stops, even though he won the start from third place on the grid.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Mark Webber came from behind to take third place for Red Bull and German teammate Sebastian Vettel placed fourth as Felipe Massa ran out of fuel in the end in a Ferrari and finished sixth after also having to let Fernando Alonso in a Renault pass.
Button claimed his fourth season win and fifth overall. It was the second one-two for Brawn this year, with Button winning from Barrichello in Australia as well.
The current pecking order was not fully shaken up in the first European race as Button leads the way with 41 points from five races ahead of Barrichello (27) and German Vettel (23).
Barrichello won the start from third place on the grid as he passed Vettel and Button, and Massa also moved past Vettel into third place while the German plunged from second to fourth.
A few meters back Nico Rosberg appeared to shift the Toyota of Jarno Trulli off the piste in the second turn, which set off a chain reaction. Trulli drove into the Force India of Adrian Sutil and the Toro Rosso’s of Sebastien Buemi and Sebastien Bourdaix also crashed out.
The safety car came out for five laps as the four wrecks needed to be lifted off the piste and the debris cleared.
There was no change on the restart as Barrichello remained in command and Vettel had no chance to move past Massa despite driving a faster car as the Brazilian successfully used the power booster KERS.
Barrichello drove hard from the front to get the necessary advantage, pitted again in the 31st and in the 50th for the final time, but he failed again to get his first win since the 2004 China GP.
The Briton took the lead once Barrichello refueled the last time and clinched the win in 1 hour, 37 minutes and 19.202 seconds.
Webber made the most of a long second stint on soft tires to move ahead of Massa and Vettel into third place, while Massa lost fourth place in the end because of the fuel problem.
Further back, long-time rivals Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton dueled briefly but only the Spanish Renault driver Alonso eventually made the points in his home race in fifth place.
Massa limped home in sixth, Nick Heidfeld was seventh in a BMW and Rosberg got the final point for Williams in eighth place.
Top seeds Alexander Zverev of Germany and American Coco Gauff on Tuesday advanced to the third round of the Canadian Open after both players were pushed hard by their opponents. World No. 3 Zverev, playing in his first match since his first-round loss at Wimbledon, was far from his best, but emerged with a 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 win over Adam Walton under the lights in Toronto. Momentum shifted firmly in Zverev’s favor when he won a 52-shot rally in the first set tiebreak and he sealed the win on a double fault by the Australian in the second set. “It was a very
Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko upset top-seeded Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-4 on Saturday night to reach the National Bank Open quarter-finals. “Your support was incredible,” Mboko told the crowd in French after a chorus of “Ole, Ole, Ole” chants echoed around the venue. “I’m really happy to win today ... It’s incredible. I’m so happy to beat such a great champion.” Gauff dropped to 2-3 since winning the French Open. She followed the major victory with opening losses in Berlin and Wimbledon, then overcame double-fault problems to win two three-set matches in Montreal. Gauff had five double-faults on Saturday after having 23 in
Taiwan’s top women’s badminton doubles duo, Hsieh Pei-shan (謝沛珊) and Hung En-tzu (洪恩慈), achieved a straight-sets victory over Japan’s Kaho Osawa and Mayui Tanabe at the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Super 300 Macau Open on Sunday. The Taiwanese pair won the final 21-18, 21-12, marking the duo’s second title this year after their win at the BWF Super 300 Taipei Open in May. The match on Sunday was their first encounter with the Japanese duo, ranked No. 63 in the world. Hsieh and Hung, ranked No. 12, began the opening game well. Hung, who plays left-handed, performed strongly at both the net and the
Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen on Thursday said that he is staying with the Red Bull team next year, ending months of speculation over his future. “Some people just like to stir the pot, some people just like to create drama, but, for me, it’s always been quite clear, and also for next year,” the four-time champion said ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix. “I’m discussing with the team already the plans — the things that we want to change for next year, so that means that I’m also staying with the team for next year,” he said. Verstappen has a contract with
RSS