The 2008 season was won by Louis Hamilton with a 6th place finish in the final grand prix beating Ferrari’s Fillippe Massa by one point. The battle was on the wire and with the retirement of Toyota’s Timo Glock. This controversial end gave McLaren’s Louis Hamilton the first career title becoming the youngest in history to do so. He last the 2007 season to compatriot Kimi Raikonnen of Ferrari by 1 point but he bounced back to claim his world title.

The 2009 era started with a bang in Melbourne, Australia. Team Honda came up as Brawn GP who was sponsored by Richard Branson of Virgin Airlines. The team promised to keep the good work done by team Honda. In qualifying, Brawn GP kept up to expectation by having pole position by Britain’s Jenson Button and Brazilian Rubence Barichello lining up behind Button. On race day Button went passed the checker flag before any other, only to collect his second win from 154 starts in his career. Rookies Brawn GP finished up in a high with Button’s team mate Barichello finishing second. World champion Louis Hamilton was the other to go on the podium.

The the teams moved onto Malaysia. The ‘Sepang’ circuit was influenced with bad weather that weekend. The race had to be minimized to 32 laps due to a storm and bad light conditions. Drivers were awarded half points according to the standings after 32 laps. Button who was leading at that moment bagged his second win of the season. Nick Heidfield of BMW and Timo Glock of Toyota were respectively second and third. By the end of two races, Button was leading the table by 15 points from his teammate Rubence who had 10.

Singapore Grand Prix

China was their 3rd circuit of the season. Though the weather wasn’t that much of a help, the race ran the full distance. German driver Sebastian Vettel of Redbull came first breaking the streak of Button. Vettel’s teammate Mark Webber came onto claiming second place while Button pulled up to third to get a podium finish. The free running Brawn GP was now under threat by team Redbull. Last year’s constructors champions Ferrari were yet to score a point after three races.

The teams moved into Bahrain. Brawn GP’s Button came up with another triumph as he went onto win the race extending his lead in the driver’s championship. Sebastian Vettel finished second while Jarno Trali who started the race at pole position became third. Ferrari opened up their account with Kimi Raikonnen coming up as the 6th. Spanish Grand Prix changed nothing to the other teams who were expecting to clinch a victory. Button snatched it up with team mate Barichello coming second. Redbull’s Webber completed the podium for the Barcelona race. Brawn was extending their lead more and more making it harder to reach by the end of each race.

The fastest track Monaco gave Button his fifth win increasing his tally to 51 points. He became the second person to win a hat-trick of races which was only done before by Micheal Schumacker. Barichello ended up second making Brawn GP a heavy force to reckon with. While Ferrari, McLaren and Renault were struggling the new admitted Brawn GP and Redbull were dominating. The 7th race which was held at Turkey was again clinched by Button with Webber and Vettel completing the podium. After Istanbul, the standings read out as Button 61, Barichello 35 and Vettel 29. Brawn had gone through with 96 points with a massive lead.

Button’s home race proved unlucky to him as Vettel drove to get the checker flag of the British Grand Prix. This was Vettel’s third career win. At Germany, Redbull’s Mark Webber went out to win his first career pole position. The Australian won this after 130 starts in his career. Vettel became second and Ferrari’s Filippe Massa gave Ferrari its first podium finish in 9 races. Hungarian Grand Prix gave triumph to world champion Louis Hamilton.

2007 winner Kimi Raikonnen came in second as Webber clinched third. The European Grand Prix was won by Brazilian Barichello which was his 10th career victory and first after leaving Ferrari. Barichello came ahead of Hamilton and Raikonnen who finished up on the podium. With this win, Barichello moved up to second in the driver’s championship.

Kimi Raikonnen won the Belgium Grand Prix giving Ferrari its first season triumph. Force India’s Fischella went to become second.  In Italy, Barichello bagged his second win while table leader Button came back into work with a second place while a crash in the last lap, ruined Hamilton’s podium finish which was taken by Raikonnen. The night race of the season was won by Hamilton. Singapore proved to be good hunting ground for McLaren as Hamilton cruised to a victory followed by Glock and Button with Button leading the points table. There are 3 more races to be completed to end this season with Japan, Brazil and Abudhabi in line.

By – Minura Munasinghe

Related articles :-

• Formula One: With Not a Hint of Chicanery, Hamilton Wins in Singapore (nytimes.com)
• Vettel wins Japanese GP to boost F1 hopes (thestar.com)
• Vettel wins Japanese GP, keeps drivers race alive (cbc.ca)
• Hamilton storms to victory in Singapore (nationalpost.com)
• Hamilton Wins Singapore Grand Prix (nytimes.com)
• Formula One: Raikkonen Wins in Wild Belgian Grand Prix (formulaone.blogs.nytimes.com)