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Home » Sports » Motor Racing
Hamilton wins, Button extends lead
Source: Agencies |
September 28, 2009, Monday
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Print Edition
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LEWIS Hamilton stormed to a floodlit victory at the Singapore Grand Prix last night while Jenson Button fought through the field to extend his championship lead to 15 points with three races left.
McLaren's world champion drove brilliantly around the 5.067-kilometer Marina Bay street circuit to lead from start to finish in the gruelling 61-lap race, finishing 9.6 seconds ahead of Toyota's Timo Glock.
Last year's winner Fernando Alonso was third for the embattled Renault team, reeling under a suspended permanent ban imposed for fixing the inaugural night race in 2008.
While Hamilton emerged from the cockpit to kiss pop singer girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger and embrace his mechanics, fellow-Briton Button had as much to celebrate after climbing from 11th on the grid to fifth at the finish.
Closest rival and Brawn teammate Rubens Barrichello was sixth after starting ahead of him in ninth place.
"There was a recovery for us, it looked pretty grim yesterday afternoon (after qualifying)," Brawn GP team principal Ross Brawn said."Our main competitors have not made progress today."
Brawn edged closer to claiming the constructors' title in its debut season as rival Red Bull let slip a great opportunity to narrow the gap between the teams.
Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel had started alongside Hamilton on the front row but a drive-through penalty for speeding through the pitlane on his second stop ended any hope the German had of winning the race. He had to settle for fourth place.
Vettel's Australian teammate Mark Webber crashed at the end of the finishing straight after 45 laps, allowing Brawn to extend its lead in the constructors' title to 42.5 points with a maximum of 54 still to be won.
"It's disappointing because it should have been an easy second today," Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said."It's a shame because (Vettel) drove a really good race and it was a great recovery to finish in fourth."
McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen was seventh and BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica was eighth.
Williams driver Nico Rosberg was running second through the first stint of the race, but crossed the pitlane exit lane on his way out after his first stop, and had to serve a drive-through penalty that cost him a chance of any points. He finished 11th, behind Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari.
Earlier, Germany's Nick Heidfeld started the race from the pitlane after his BMW-Sauber team discovered it had made a mistake with the weight of his car in qualifying.
Heidfeld had qualified seventh and his removal to the rear moved Button up to 11th place and Barrichello up to ninth on the grid.
"When Nick's car was weighed (after qualifying) we found out we were slightly under the minimum weight," said a team spokesman.
"We have been investigating this and have found that the wrong ballast weights were fitted to the car. We have reported our findings to the FIA.
"As a consequence Nick will start the Singapore Grand Prix from the pitlane. As we found ourselves in this situation, the team also decided to change both the engine and gearbox."
McLaren's world champion drove brilliantly around the 5.067-kilometer Marina Bay street circuit to lead from start to finish in the gruelling 61-lap race, finishing 9.6 seconds ahead of Toyota's Timo Glock.
Last year's winner Fernando Alonso was third for the embattled Renault team, reeling under a suspended permanent ban imposed for fixing the inaugural night race in 2008.
While Hamilton emerged from the cockpit to kiss pop singer girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger and embrace his mechanics, fellow-Briton Button had as much to celebrate after climbing from 11th on the grid to fifth at the finish.
Closest rival and Brawn teammate Rubens Barrichello was sixth after starting ahead of him in ninth place.
"There was a recovery for us, it looked pretty grim yesterday afternoon (after qualifying)," Brawn GP team principal Ross Brawn said."Our main competitors have not made progress today."
Brawn edged closer to claiming the constructors' title in its debut season as rival Red Bull let slip a great opportunity to narrow the gap between the teams.
Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel had started alongside Hamilton on the front row but a drive-through penalty for speeding through the pitlane on his second stop ended any hope the German had of winning the race. He had to settle for fourth place.
Vettel's Australian teammate Mark Webber crashed at the end of the finishing straight after 45 laps, allowing Brawn to extend its lead in the constructors' title to 42.5 points with a maximum of 54 still to be won.
"It's disappointing because it should have been an easy second today," Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said."It's a shame because (Vettel) drove a really good race and it was a great recovery to finish in fourth."
McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen was seventh and BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica was eighth.
Williams driver Nico Rosberg was running second through the first stint of the race, but crossed the pitlane exit lane on his way out after his first stop, and had to serve a drive-through penalty that cost him a chance of any points. He finished 11th, behind Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari.
Earlier, Germany's Nick Heidfeld started the race from the pitlane after his BMW-Sauber team discovered it had made a mistake with the weight of his car in qualifying.
Heidfeld had qualified seventh and his removal to the rear moved Button up to 11th place and Barrichello up to ninth on the grid.
"When Nick's car was weighed (after qualifying) we found out we were slightly under the minimum weight," said a team spokesman.
"We have been investigating this and have found that the wrong ballast weights were fitted to the car. We have reported our findings to the FIA.
"As a consequence Nick will start the Singapore Grand Prix from the pitlane. As we found ourselves in this situation, the team also decided to change both the engine and gearbox."
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