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.
The former interpreter for baseball star Shohei Ohtani on Thursday was sentenced to nearly five years in prison for bank and tax fraud after he stole nearly US$17 million from the Los Angeles Dodgers player’s bank account. Ippei Mizuhara, who was supposed to bridge the gap between the Japanese athlete and his English-speaking teammates and fans, was sentenced in federal court in Santa Ana to four years and nine months after pleading guilty last year. He was ordered to pay US$18 million in restitution, with nearly US$17 million going to Ohtani and the remainder to the US Internal Revenue Service. He was
SPEEDSKATER: Her bronze medal ended Taiwan’s run at the Asian Winter Games without a medal since the nation first participated in the second iteration in 1990 Speedskater Chen Ying-chu yesterday made history as the first athlete representing Taiwan to secure a medal at the Asian Winter Games. Competing at the HIC Speedskating Oval in Harbin, China, Chen clocked 10.510 seconds in the women’s 100m event, finishing third behind South Koreans Lee Na-hyum and Kim Min-sun, who posted times of 10.501 and 10.505 seconds respectively. Her bronze medal ended Taiwan’s drought at the Asian Winter Games since the nation first participated in the second iteration in 1990. This year’s Games mark Chen’s debut at the event. Previously excelling in roller speedskating, she won six medals at world championships before transitioning
The 40-year-old LeBron James on Thursday became the oldest player to score 40 points in an NBA game, putting up a season-high 42 in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 120-112 victory over the Golden State Warriors. James passed the record held by Michael Jordan, his idol and the only other NBA player to score 40 after his 40th birthday. “I’m old, that’s my take,” James said when asked about his latest achievement. “I need a glass of wine and some sleep, that’s what I think.” Jordan did it for the Washington Wizards just three days after turning 40 in February 2003. James is 38
Taiwan’s Lin Yun-ju and Kao Cheng-jui were defeated by their Chinese counterparts 3-0 on Saturday in the men’s doubles final at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Singapore Smash. Lin and Kao received their silver medals after being defeated by third-seeded duo Lin Shidong and Wang Chuqin of China 2-11, 4-11, 11-13. The Taiwan pair were left playing catch-up early in the match after the Chinese duo proved unstoppable in the first and second game. Although Lin and Kao picked up their pace in the third game and at one point took a 10-8 lead, they were crucially unable to take
RSS