Monte Carlo

21 - 24 May 2009

Lap Distance 3.340 Km

Race 78 Laps 260.520 Km

Jenson Button drove a flawless race to the chequered flag to win the Monaco Grand Prix with the only mistake the Brawn GP driver made parking his car in the wrong place on the victory lap. As a result Button had to run the last few hundred yards to the adulation of an appreciative crowd to reach the podium ceremony. Rubens Barrichello brought his sister Brawn GP car home safely to a fine second place ahead of the charging Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen who had performed so well in qualifying. Felipe Massa came home fourth giving the Maranello team something to cheer about after a difficult front end to their 2009 campaign. Mark Webber saved the day for Red Bull with a good 5th place with team mate Sebastian Vettel going out on lap 15. Nico Rosberg rounded out the top six for Williams with Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Bourdais claiming the  last remaining world championship points for seventh and eighth places.

Nico Rosberg yet again topped the free practice time sheets ahead of this weekend Monaco Grand prix. Rosberg had ended the first session in 7th place but after a battle for supremacy with Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time of the day at 1m 15.243s edging Hamilton down into second place. It was a better start to the weekend for Hamilton who was third fastest in Practice 1 with an aggressive drive. The dominant Brawn GP cars of Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button were well placed at third and 4th fastest with Barrichello having topped out the earlier session. Felipe Massa and Sebastian Vettel rounded out the top 6. Heikki Kovalainen and Kimi Raikkonen were next up in 7th and 8th with Kazuki Nakajima and Nelson Piquet closing out the top ten fastest in the final session. Robert Kubica failed to set a time in the second session suffering a rare BMW engine failure on the exit of Ste Devote. Other than that and a few trips up the escape road everyone avoided the barriers which is something of an achievement in itself.

Jenson Button drove a great lap to secure pole position for the Monaco Grand Prix, pushing his Brawn GP car to the limit around the street circuit that is so unforgiving of even the slightest driver error. Kimi Raikkonen joins Button on the front row of the grid and this lap will surely bring some cheer to a Ferrari team struggling to keep up so far in 2009. Rubens Barrichello was third fastest unable to beat his team mate but once again underwriting the superb performance of the Brawn car on just about every circuit so far this season. Sebastian Vettel was eased down into 4th place but still remains a very real threat to the other front runners as the Red Bull car continues to improve. Felipe Massa and Nico Rosberg rounded out the top six fastest drivers in the final shoot out.. It was another disastrous session for Lewis Hamilton who was unable even to make it through the first eliminator after brushing the barriers.

01 R Barrichello
1m 17.189s
02 F Massa
1m 17.499s
03 L Hamilton
1m 17.578s
04 H Kovalainen
1m 17.686s
05 K Raikkonen
1m 17.839s
06 K Nakajima
1m 18.000s
07 N Rosberg
1m 18.024s
08 J Button
1m 18.080s
09 F Alonso
1m 18.283s
10 M Webber
1m 18.348s
11 S Buemi
1m 18.695s
12 N Piquet
1m 19.204s
13 S Vettel
1m 19.233s
14 S Bourdais
1m 19.255s
15  G Fisichella
1m 19.534s
16 R Kubica
1m 19.560s
17 N Heidfeld
1m 19.579s
18 A Sutil
1m 19.600s
19 T Glock
1m 19.698s
20 J Trulli
1m 19.831s
 

01 J Button
1m 14.902s
02 K Raikkonen
1m 14.927s
03 R Barrichello
1m 15.077s
04 S Vettel
1m 15.271s
05 F Massa
1m 15.437s
06 N Rosberg
1m 15.455s
07 H Kovalainen
1m 15.516s
08 M Webber
1m 15.653s
09 F Alonso
1m 16.009s
10 K Nakajima
1m 17.344s

Eliminated Q2
11 S Buemi
1m 15833s
12 N Piquet
1m 15.837s
13 G Fisichella
1m 16.146s
14 S Bourdais
1m 16.281s
15  A Sutil
1m 16.545s

Eliminated Q1
16 L Hamilton
1m 16.264s
17 N Heidfeld
1m 16.264s
18 R Kubica
1m 16.405s
19 J Trulli
1m 16.548s
20 T Glock
1m 16.788s
 

01 N Rosberg
1m 15.243s
02 L Hamilton
1m 15.445s
03 R Barrichello
1m 15.590s
04 J Button
1m 15.774s
05 F Massa
1m 15.832s
06 S Vettel
1m 15.847s
07 H Kovalainen
1m 15.984s
08 K Raikkonen
1m 15.985s
09 K Nakajima
1m 16.260s
10 N Piquet
1m 16.286s
11 F Alonso
1m 16.552s
12 M Webber
1m 16.579s
13 A Sutil
1m 16.675s
14 J Trulli
1m 16.915s
15  S Buemi
1m 16.983s
16 S Bourdais
1m 17.109s
17 N Heidfeld
1m 17.109s
18 T Glock
1m 17.207s
19 G Fisichella
1m 17.504s
20 R Kubica
1m No Time
 

01 F Alonso
1m 15.164s
02 J Button
1m 15.233s
03 H Kovalainen
1m 15.278s
04 R Barrichello
1m 15.286s
05 F Massa
1m 15.293s
06 K Raikkonen
1m 15.382s
07 L Hamilton
1m 15.389s
08 S Vettel
1m 15.722s
09 N Rosberg
1m 15.758s
10 M Webber
1m 15.985s
11 K Nakajima
1m 16.103s
12 A Sutil
1m 16.228s
13 S Bourdais
1m 16.301s
14 G Fisichella
1m 16.317s
15  N Piquet
1m 16.382s
16 S Buemi
1m 16.432s
17 T Glock
1m 16.527s
18 R Kubica
1m 16.599s
19 N Heidfeld
1m 16.661s
20 J Trulli
1m 16.810s
 

©First4F1.com 2009 All Rights Reserved

01  J Button
02  R Barrichello
03  K Raikkonen
04  F Massa
05  M Webber
06  N Rosberg
07  F Alonso
08  S Bourdais
09  G Fisichella
10  T Glock
11  N Heidfeld
12  L Hamilton
13  J Trulli
14  A Sutil
15  K Nakajima

Retired
L51 H Kovalainen
L28 R Kubica
L15 S Vettel
L10 N Piquet
L10 S Buemi

Fastest Lap
F Massa
1m 15.154s L50