Yes the race may have been cut short by the crazy amount of rain that was dumped from the sky in just a few minutes, but I’m pretty sure that Jenson Button doesn’t mind at all, the only disappointment he might have is that the race hadn’t gone a little longer so that he could have claimed full points (only half points were awarded because the race didn’t reach 75% completion).
Brawn GP’s dream start has continued with Button claiming victory after the race was red flagged with 20-odd laps still remaining. It was a case of choosing the right tyres at the right time, even though by the time the red flag came out it didn’t matter what rubber anyone was wearing nobody was finding it easy it stay on the track, even at very low speeds.
Nick Heidfeld was second and Timo Glock got up to third after choosing to go to intermediate tyres at just the right time, for several laps before the deluge he was up to 10 seconds per lap quicker than Button and co at the front of the race, passing people at his own will.
The same couldn’t be said for Ferrari who sent Raikkonen out on full-wet tyres on a full-dry track, it only took a handful of laps to destroy the tyres, and this was still several laps before the rain even begun to arrive. His penalty was the was being passed like he was standing still, and there was nothing he could do about it. Even if he’d gone straight back into the pits and put more sensible rubber on he still would have sacrificed the same number of positions.
Mark Webber had a much stronger race than in Melbourne (where he didn’t make it pas the first corner) at time he was looking a chance for the podium. In the end it was the shuffling around with pitstops and tyres the probably kept him off the podium, but when the race ended he was in 6th, especially since it was ahead of both factory Renaults, both Ferraris and both McLarens.
I really enjoyed Webber’s battle with Hamilton for a handful of laps early in the race, yes Hamilton is struggling, but its great to see that this years rule changes have definitely even up thing between the top teams and the traditional mid-pack runners. They swapped positions a number of times, with most of Hamilton’s passes aided by his KERS system (which Red Bull isn’t using yet). Good close, fair racing, its just what has been missing in the last few years where one or two teams have been miles ahead of the rest. 2009 is looking good.
