Jenson Button continued his dominance in F1 with his fourth win in five races at the Spanish Grand Prix.

This was the ninth successive year that a driver has won from pole position at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya, but it was no conventional procession from start to finish for Button.

After being passed by Brawn GP team-mate Rubens Barrichello on the run down to the first corner, Button and his team made the call to run from three stops to two early on.

It proved decisive as the 29-year-old did enough when Barrichello made his three trips into the pits to again take the chequered flag at the end of the 66 laps.

Yet despite standing on the top step of the podium for the fourth time this year, Button’s lead is only 14 points over Barrichello, who duly claimed second ahead of Red Bull’s Mark Webber.

The start to the race was marred by a four-car accident, bringing a swift end for Toyota’s Jarno Trulli, Giancarlo Fisichella in his Force India, and the Toro Rosso duo of Sebastiens Bourdais and Buemi.

Williams’ Nico Rosberg was the instigator as it was he who gently nudged Trulli off the circuit coming out of the opening chicane.

After running onto the gravel, it was evident Trulli had little traction as he made his way back onto the track as he slid into the on-rushing traffic.

Unable to take evasive action, Fisichella rammed into the side of Trulli, sending both shattered cars careering onto the gravel.

It was remarkable that as passengers at that point they failed to collect any of their rivals because the Bourdais/Buemi encounter was a separate affair.

Driving into the back of young Swiss Buemi, Frenchman Bourdais was temporarily launched into the air, running over the top of the 20-year-old, yet remarkably no driver was hurt.

With debris strewn across the track, world champion Lewis Hamilton was fortunate not to sustain damage, in particular to his tyres.

Button Victorious in Spain … read more »

Jenson Button fears first-corner mayhem should Ferrari’s Felipe Massa get a flyer at the start of Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix.

Button produced a stunning one-lap performance in qualifying on Saturday to claim the sixth pole of his career, and third this season with Brawn GP.

The world championship leader crossed the line to start his final hot lap with just two seconds to spare of the 10-minute period, and 80 enthralling seconds later he had deposed Sebastian Vettel from top spot.

Underlining the critical nature of his latest pole, the last eight winners – and 13 of the previous 14 overall at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya – have started from top spot on the grid.

But this year, in comparison to those past races, there is KERS, the device that gives a select number of cars at the moment a short burst of power at the touch of a button.

None of the top three in Button, Red Bull’s Vettel and Rubens Barrichello possess KERS, but fourth-on-the-grid Massa does, and he threatens to be the unknown quantity.

As Button remarked: “I’ve heard that KERS gives you 10 metres from the start to the first corner, which is quite a lot, so that’s a problem.

“If he (Massa) gets a good start it could be a problem for me, but I think it will make it a bit crazy going into turn one more than anything else.

“When one car is going into the first corner a lot quicker than those in front of him, it could cause mayhem, especially at quite a high-speed corner like this one.

“So it will be about keeping your nose clean going into turn one, and that’s going to be difficult for all of us.”

Button All Ready For Corner Chaos … read more »