Course: Button, royal in Monaco, takes off in the championship

The 6th Grand Prix of the year takes place in Monaco and it’s the ideal venue to prove that Brawn GP is a great team and Button is a good driver. After 78 laps, the Briton secures his 5th victory in 6 races. He started from pole position and never relinquished the lead. He finishes ahead of his teammate, Rubens Barrichello, for a Brawn GP one-two. Räikkönen, second on the grid, still finishes on the podium in third place. Massa is 4th, proving Ferrari’s return to top form. Disappointment for BMW and Toyota while Bourdais scores a new point!

The engines fire up for the warm-up lap. It’s very sunny and hot on the Monegasque rock, and smoke is escaping from a single-seater. It’s Rosberg’s FW31. He finally starts without any problem.

The single-seaters line up on the grid. Everyone gets off the line correctly, with the Brawn GP cars doing better than the others. Button and Barrichello lead at the first corner. Räikkönen is third while behind him, Alonso battles with Nakajima and Webber.

After the first lap and no major incidents, the standings are as follows: Button, Barrichello, Räikkönen, Vettel, Rosberg, and Massa. The Brazilian is faster and quickly overtakes Rosberg.

Hamilton didn’t start from the pits, so he’s light and starts to make his way up. He overtakes Trulli, attempts to overtake Glock. Kubica cuts the chicane to avoid an accident. Glock also cuts the chicane a lap later. The big loser of this start is Fisichella. He loses two positions and is in 15th place.

In the 6th lap, Massa attempts to overtake Vettel. He applies pressure but must be careful not to lose his position. He overtakes Vettel after the tunnel, the German holds his position, and Massa must go straight to avoid a collision. The Brazilian slows down to let Vettel pass, and Rosberg takes advantage. Massa loses two places in the process.

The battle for 4th place is intense. Vettel makes a mistake on the 10th lap under pressure from Rosberg. He loses his position and, losing traction, is overtaken by Massa. The German finds himself in 6th place just ahead of his teammate, Mark Webber.

On the 11th lap, Vettel is the first to come into the pits. He comes out on soft tires. Hamilton imitates the German, but opts for hard tires. At the same moment, two cars have stopped at Sainte Dévote. It’s a Renault and a Toro Rosso. Buemi didn’t brake early enough and collided with Nelson Piquet’s R29. The cars are overlapping and end up in the runoff area. One with a broken front wing, the other with a dismantled rear wing. Only Piquet returns to the track, only to stop permanently in his box. Two fewer cars on the track.

Button and Räikkönen are the first of the front-runners to pit. They put on the hard tires again on the 16th lap while the Finn was beginning to seriously threaten Barrichello’s Brawn GP, which was struggling with its tires. Barrichello also pits.

On the 17th lap, cameras show a Red Bull stopped at St Devote. Vettel got caught out just like Hamilton did yesterday in qualifying. The RB5 has its left rear suspension broken and cannot restart. The yellow flag (only) is deployed. The car is in the way, but the track marshals are undeterred and clear the RB5 in less than a minute. Remarkable work.

« I was on the least performing tires, I thought I could attack, but it didn’t work. You know, it’s racing, especially in Monaco, the slightest mistake, you have to pay the price, » commented the German on the BBC microphone.

After 19 laps of the race, Button, Massa, Kovalainen, Webber, Barrichello, Räikkönen, Alonso. Massa pits on the next lap and comes out 7th behind Alonso. Kovalainen follows his Brazilian colleague. He refuels a few seconds later and returns behind Rosberg’s Williams in 8th place. Bourdais, without having refueled, is currently in 10th place.

After this first supply round, most drivers come back out on hard tires. Hard tires are indeed preferred in Monaco. Strangely, they perform as well as soft tires while being more stable on longer stints. Soft tires, used for example by Rubens Barrichello, start to deteriorate after 5-6 laps.

Alonso is the last of the Q3 men to pit. He comes in on lap 29, he was 4th and comes out 11th on hard tires. On lap 30, Kubica is pushed back into his pit by the mechanics. The Pole had problems with the F1.09.

At the 37th lap, Button holds a 13-second lead over Barrichello and, symbolically and for the second consecutive time in the race, laps Lewis Hamilton, the reigning world champion.

After 47 laps, the gap is now 16 seconds. Button holds the fastest lap in the race. He is ahead of Barrichello and Räikkönen. Massa is 4th, ahead of Webber, Rosberg, Kovalainen, Fisichella, Alonso. Bourdais has refueled and is 10th. Fisichella has not yet refueled. He is the only one with Glock so far.

There are 25 laps remaining, Button and Barrichello pit for their second and final stop. Fisichella makes his first stop at the Force India pit. It will be his only one, and he comes out 9th behind Bourdais.

On the 53rd lap, the second crash of the race. It’s a McLaren, Kovalainen’s. He loses control of the MP4 and hits the barrier. His front wing is destroyed, and he ends up outside the Piscine. The marshals deploy the yellow flag, but the Safety Car still doesn’t come out. With the same efficiency, they clear the McLaren in less than a minute.

Three laps later, the cameras show a replay of Bourdais’ Toro Rosso going straight through the chicane after the Tunnel. He doesn’t receive any warning. Massa has received two warnings for clipping the chicane. He’s advised over the radio to be careful. The Brazilian is still pushing and holds the fastest lap in the race.

On the 59th lap, Glock finally makes his first and last pit stop. He has 20 laps to go. He was in 13th place. The pit stops continue. Between the 63rd and 66th laps, Rosberg, Trulli, and Alonso pit. They all come out on soft tires. The Spaniard was 6th, he is now 7th, in front of Bourdais who is currently in the points. The Frenchman is still on cameras for having gone straight at the turn after the tunnel. Second warning.

There are less than 10 laps to go and Bourdais is increasingly under pressure from Fisichella and Nakajima for 8th place. 4 seconds separate them. Nakajima pits. He remains 10th but comes out a lap behind Button. Behind, Hamilton is battling with Heidfeld for 12th place.

With two laps to go in this Monaco Grand Prix, without much suspense, Nakajima makes a mistake. Fatigue takes its toll on the Japanese driver, who ends his race against the rail at the Mirabeau corner. A few seconds later, Button crosses the finish line under the checkered flag in the lead. He finishes nearly 8 seconds ahead of Barrichello. Räikkönen and Massa follow the two Brawn GPs with the Scuderia’s F60s; a sign of Ferrari’s resurgence. Webber is 5th and earns some precious points for Red Bull in the absence of Vettel. Rosberg is 6th, ahead of Alonso and the R29 back in the points. Bourdais also scores a point, his second of the season, proving to his team that they can trust him.

Note the disappointment for Force India. Fisichella finishes ninth and could have scored the team’s first points in F1. He finishes one second behind Bourdais. Hamilton tests 12th ahead of Trulli and Sutil. The German is the last driver to cross the checkered flag, with 14 cars finishing the race.

Results of the Monaco Grand Prix – Sunday, May 24, 2009: