Button wins Monaco GP, extends points lead
Brawn driver goes wire-to-wire to beat teammate Barrichello
 | Brawn GP driver Jenson Button sprays champagne after winning the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday. |
Luca Bruno / AP |
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Brawn GP’s Jenson Button won the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday, capturing his fifth victory in six races to extend his Formula One championship lead.
“We’ve got Monaco baby,” Button said after crossing the finish line 7.6 seconds ahead of teammate Rubens Barrichello. Button’s fourth start-to-finish victory of the season was the first for a British driver from pole at the famed street circuit race since Jackie Stewart 36 years ago.
Button leads with 51 points. Barrichello has 35 after his fourth runner-up finish here and Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull, who crashed out after 16 laps, is third with 23 points.
“I think we’ve proven this weekend that our package has worked and we’re looking very strong for the next couple of races,” Button said. “This was a massive win.”
Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen earned Ferrari its first top-three finish of the season by taking third. Ferrari scored 11 points — the Italians best single race point haul this year — after Felipe Massa finished fourth ahead of Red Bull’s Mark Webber, who took his points tally to 19.5.
“I’m not happy with the third but for the team it’s still a good result,” Raikkonen said.
Brawn GP became the first team in its inaugural season to win in Monaco since Wolf’s Jody Scheckter accomplished the feat 32 years ago.
Defending F1 champion Lewis Hamilton, the 2008 Monaco winner, was 12th after starting last on the grid.
“It was an extremely tough race,” said Hamilton, who sustained damage to a footplate on his front wing.
Button ran along the track to reach the podium ceremony, waving to fans in the stands and overlooking apartment balconies before accepting the trophy from Prince Albert.
Brawn GP leads the constructors’ title with 86 points. Red Bull is next with 42.5 and Toyota has 26.5 after its two drivers finished near the end of the field.
Button easily held his pole position out of the start and slowly pulled away. The Briton, whose previous best result at Monaco was runner-up five years ago, maintained a double-digit advantage nearly to the end.
Barrichello breezed past the KERS-boosted Ferrari of Raikkonen to sit second after the first turn and eventually finished 5.8 seconds ahead of the Finn at the end.
“I had to start driving differently,” Barrichello said. “(Still) I’m proud of what we achieved today.”
Massa earned 11 points for Ferrari for its best single race total this season in what has been its worst start.
Vettel’s championship hopes were hit by sliding into a corner and damaging his rear suspension, an identical accident to Hamilton’s on Saturday that left the McLaren driver starting at the back of the grid.
“In Monaco, you make a little mistake and you pay the price,” said Vettel, the only other race winner this season.
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Vettel was involved in a battle with Massa and Nico Rosberg of Williams before his exit, as cars found space coming out of the Louis Tunnel II for rare overtaking maneuvers.
Rosberg finished sixth, Renault’s Fernando Alonso was seventh and Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Bourdais took the last point in eighth.
Robert Kubica’s disappointing weekend for BMW Sauber ended ended with a brake problem after 16 laps, one of six drivers to retire. The Pole remains without a point this season.
Despite being near the Cannes Film Festival, few celebrities were spotted at the race. Star Wars director George Lucas and former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell were among the 100,000 fans.
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