Sunday, July 31, 2011

Jenson Button


enson Button won an exciting and wet 25th Hungarian Grand Prix for McLaren on Sunday, making the most of his 200th Formula One race on the course where he claimed his first victory five years ago.
Button won from world championship leader Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso while long-time leader Lewis Hamilton in the other McLaren had to settle for fourth in the end.
Australia's Mark Webber finished in fifth spot, having started the race sixth on the grid.
Button and Vettel had the best strategy for the second half of the race when they chose hard tyres and stayed on them even as light rain set in.
The rain caused Hamilton to spin, he got a drive-through penalty and changed to intermediates which ended all his hopes of a second win in eight days, the first being the German GP.
Vettel increased his championship lead again thanks to the second place, now holding 234 points from 11 of 19 races.
His team-mate Webber has 149, Hamilton 146, Alonso 145 and Button 134.
Vettel gained valuable points but the second straight McLaren win showed that the season is far from over when it resumes after a four-week summer holiday in Belgium in late August.
"Guys, perfect going into the summer break. Let's come back and win them all." said Button via team radio.
Vettel won the start from pole ahead of Hamilton, but soon came under pressure from the 2008 champion who could clearly drive faster in the wet conditions and almost effortlessly passed in the fifth lap as the German went wide.
A drying track after morning rain prompted the drivers to get dry-weather slicks and Button overtook vettel in the 14th lap for a double McLaren lead.
But the drama unfolded later as different strategies were chosen and light rain set in as well.
Hamilton spun in the chicane in the 47th lap as Button snatched the lead and Vettel closed in on the McLarens as well.
By that time Button, Vettel and Webber were on harder tyres with which they could complete the race, while Hamilton and Alonso on softer rubbers required at least one more pit stop.
Webber and Hamilton were the first to pit for intermediates while the others stayed out on slicks which proved the winning formula.
Hamilton's woes were complete when he was handed a drive-through penalty for getting his car back in the right direction on the track after his spin, which forced Paul di Resta off the course.
Up front, Button coasted to victory in the fourth straight wet GP in 1 hour 46 minutes 42.337 seconds, with Vettel 3.5 seconds adrift and Alonso 19 seconds off the pace.
Earlier, Nick Heidfeld escaped a burning Renault unharmed after a second pit stop in the 24th lap.
"The pitstop took longer than it should have. Probably something overheated," Heidfeld said in first television interviews.
"I was a bit (scared). After I stopped I think the fire marshals were trying to put the fire out and then there was a small explosion on the left. I've never seen anything like that before."

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