Formula 1 2009 | Turkish Grand Prix

Istanbul

05 - 07 June 2009

Lap Distance 5.338 Km

Race 58 Laps 309.396 Km

Jenson Button made it six out of seven wins in 2009 by taking victory at the Turkish Grand prix at Istanbul today. Once again Button drove an impeccable race and although he was beaten off the line by the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel he immediately took advantage of a slight off track excursion by the young German driver on lap one to seize the lead. From that point Button was hardly troubled as he made his way to the flag and in doing so moving ever closer to that first drivers world championship. Sebastian Vettel opted for a three stop strategy which arguably cost him a second place finish as he followed his two stopping team mate Mark Webber home ending superb day for the Red Bull team. Jarno Trulli finished fourth for Toyota with Nico Rosberg's Williams and Felipe Massa's Ferrari closing out the top six. Robert Kubica took two badly needed points for BMW Sauber finishing seventh ahead of Timo Glock who earned the last world championship point for Toyota. Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso finished ninth and tenth. As expected it was another difficult day for McLaren with Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen finishing down in thirteenth and fourteenth places. Rubens Barrichello had a very poor start dropping to 12th place off the grid and then clashed with Kovalainen as he tried to make his way through the field, spinning down to 17th place in the process. He eventually suffered from gearbox problems and retired on lap 49.

Heikki Kovalainen ended the first day of free practice for the Turkish GP at the top of the timesheets giving McLaren a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel after a disastrous start to the season. McLaren drew further optimism from the fact that Lewis Hamilton ended the opening session of the day second fastest to 'Friday Man' Nico Rosberg who characteristically grabbed the top spot in the dying seconds. Hamilton did not fare so well in the second session ending up 13th fastest after several spins. Fernando Alonso rounded out the day second fastest for Renault with a resurgent Robert Kubica third in the BMW Sauber. Kazuki Nakajima outpaced Rosberg in the second session with a fine fourth place with Rosberg seventh. Sebastian Vettel and Jarno Trulli closed out the top six fastest in the final session. Championship leader Jenson Button kept a lower profile with twelfth place in the final session and 11th in session one. Team mate and title rival Rubens Barrichello was eighth in session two and ninth in session one. The Ferrari's of Raikkonen and Massa ended the final session with a promising seventh and fifth.

Sebastian Vettel put in a superb late lap to pip Jenson Button to pole position for the Turkish Grand Prix. It was a ding dong battle between the Red Bull and Brawn drivers with Rubens Barrichello securing third place on the grid followed by Mark Webber who will start from fourth. Jarno Trulli had been well in contention but in the end the Toyota driver was edged down into a still useful 5th place. The Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa are improving race by race but were unable to find the pace to compete with Brawn and Red Bull for pole, settling for sixth and seventh places on the grid. Fernando Alonso, Nico Rosberg and Robert Kubica all made it through to the final shoot out rounding out the top ten fastest. It was another dire qualifying performance from the McLaren team with Lewis Hamilton failing to make the first cut and ending down in sixteenth place with team mate Heikki Kovalainen faring only marginally better in fourteenth place.

01 N Rosberg
1m 26.687s
02 K Nakajima
1m 26.736s
03 K Raikkonen
1m 26.750s
04 R Barrichello
1m 27.226s
05 H Kovalainen
1m 27.453s
06 J Button
1m 27.467s
07 F Massa
1m 27.642s
08 T Glock
1m 27.710s
09 A Sutil
1m 27.993s
10 F Alonso
1m 28.123s
11 N Heidfeld
1m 28.137s
12 J Trulli
1m 28.142s
13 R Kubica
1m 28.511s
14 G Fisichella
1m 28.603s
15 S Buemi
1m 28.785s
16 L Hamilton
1m 29.042s
17 M Webber
1m 29.081s
18 N Piquet
1m 29.461s
19 S Bourdais
1m 29.499s
20 S Vettel
1m 32.784s

01 J Button
1m 26.202s
02 R Barrichello
1m 26.505s
03 S Vettel
1m 26.830s
04 R Kubica
1m 26.914s
05 N Rosberg
1m 26.973s
06 T Glock
1m 26.975s
07 F Massa
1m 27.003s
08 J Trulli
1m 27.127s
09 K Raikkonen
1m 27.163s
10 M Webber
1m 27.246s

Eliminated Q2
11 N Heidfeld
1m 25.504s
12 F Alonso
1m 25.605s
13 K Nakajima
1m 25.607s
14 H Kovalainen
1m 25.726s
15 L Hamilton
1m No Times

Eliminated Q1
16 S Buemi
1m 26.503s
17 N Piquet
1m 26.598s
18 G Fisichella
1m 26.677s
19 A Sutil
1m 26.742s
20 S Bourdais
1m 26.964s

01 N Rosberg
1m 26.053s
02 R Barrichello
1m 26.157s
03 J Trulli
1m 26.350s
04 M Webber
1m 26.370s
05 J Button
1m 26.374s
06 T Glock
1m 26.443s
07 K Nakajima
1m 26.560s
08 S Vettel
1m 26.740s
09 A Sutil
1m 27.040s
10 F Massa
1m 27.064s
11 K Raikkonen
1m 27.204s
12 F Alonso
1m 27.232s
13 G Fisichella
1m 27.282s
14 N Heidfeld
1m 27.317s
15 R Kubica
1m 27.398s
16 S Bourdais
1m 27.479s
17 H Kovalainen
1m 27.802s
18 L Hamilton
1m 27.813s
19 N Piquet
1m 27.828s
20 S Buemi
1m 28.076s

01 N Rosberg
1m 25.808s
02 J Trulli
1m 25.811s
03 J Button
1m 25.981s
04 F Massa
1m 26.020s
05 K Nakajima
1m 26.078s
06 R Barrichello
1m 26.348s
07 M Webber
1m 26.355s
08 T Glock
1m 26.410s
09 R Kubica
1m 26.514s
10 N Heidfeld
1m 26.555s
11 H Kovalainen
1m 26.652s
12 L Hamilton
1m 26.714s
13 S Vettel
1m 27.009s
14 A Sutil
1m 27.062s
15 S Bourdais
1m 27.152s
16 S Buemi
1m 27.192s
17 F Alonso
1m 27.357s
18 G Fisichella
1m 27.492s
19 N Piquet
1m 27.739s
20 K Raikkonen
1m 28.801s

01 J Button
02 M Webber
03 S Vettel
04 J Trulli
05 N Rosberg
06 F Massa
07 R Kubica
08 T Glock
09 K Raikkonen
10 F Alonso
11 N Heidfeld
12 K Nakajima
13 L Hamilton
14 H Kovalainen
15 S Buemi
16 N Piquet
17 A Sutil
18 S Bourdais

Retired
L6 G Fisichella
L49 R Barrichello

Fastest Lap
J Button
1m 27.579s L40