Race Report
Bahrain GP
Jenson Button produced another flawless drive for Brawn GP to win the Bahrain GP at Sakhir today. That makes it 3 wins from 4 races for Button who extends his lead in the title race to 12 points from team mate Rubens Barrichello. The race was relatively uneventful with Glock seizing the lead from Trulli, and Hamilton blasting through into 3rd place at the first corner. It was at the first round of pit stops that the race began to unravel, with Button briefly hitting the front on lap 13 and then again on lap 22 after which time he was largely unchallenged. He lost the lead briefly to Vettel on lap 37 as he made his 2nd stop but regained it on lap 41 pressing relentlessly on to take the flag. Sebastian Vettel drove a strong race to second place for Red Bull but reliability problems aside, was never quite on an equal footing with Button. It was a somewhat disappointing result for Toyota with pole position man Trulli finishing 3rd and team mate Glock slipping back to 7th after leading the opening laps. Toyota always seem to struggle for true race pace and that elusive first win is still tantalisingly out of reach. Lewis Hamilton had a better race in the McLaren having a race long struggle with Trulli and Vettel but at the end of the day he did not have the pace to catch and pass them. Rubens Barrichello secured more points for Brawn with 5th place but a three stop strategy hampered his chances of a better result today. At last Ferrari scored some points with Kimi Raikkonen in 6th which must have been a relief for the team especially with Luca Di Montezemolo present. Felipe Massa was less fortunate and following an early pit stop to replace a broken front wing he ended the race in a lack lustre 14t place. Fernando Alonso took the final point in 8th for Renault but was never a front runner. For BMW it can only be described as a disastrous race with Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld the last finishers in 18th and 19th places, what a difference a year makes. There was only one retirement today, Kazuki Nakajima, who went out on lap 49 in the Williams.
