2009 Season Review Part 2
After a three week break after the British Grand Prix, the championship continued at the German Grand Prix at Nurburgring. Jenson Button and Brawn GP dominated the first half of the season, as the British driver was able to win 6 out of 8 races. Jenson currently leads the drivers’ championship with 64 points, ahead of teammate Rubens Barrichello who sits at 41 points, Sebastian Vettel with 39 points and Mark Webber with 35.5 points.
Brawn GP faced similar problems as they did at Silverstone as both drivers were unable to finish at the podium. However, both drivers managed to score some decent points. Red Bull dominated the race as they scored their second consecutive 1-2 after the three week break, maintaining their momentum. Sebastian won the race followed by his teammate Mark Webber ahead of Felipe Massa in the Ferrari. This was his first podium.
It was not a good sign for Brawn GP as they were constantly closing in on the points and Sebastian and Mark were now at the second and third place in the drivers’ standings respectively. The drivers went on to Hungaroring two weeks later and the story completely changed as Lewis Hamilton won the race followed by Kimi Raikkonen and Mark Webber in second and third places respectively.
It was a quite a breakthrough for McLaren and Ferrari as both of them were not able to perform up to the mark until this race. After another 3 week break, Rubens Barrichello snatched the victory at the European Grand Prix in Spain, giving Brawn GP their first win after three races. Lewis finished second followed by Kimi. This relieved a lot of pressure off Brawn GP as Rubens regained the 2nd place in the drivers’ standings and Jenson Button increased his lead by 18 points.
The Belgian Grand Prix gave Kimi and Ferrari their first win of the season followed by an amazing performance by Force India’s Giancarlo Fisichella and Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel in second and third places respectively. Jenson Button was not able to finish after a devastating collision on the tracks. This increased pressure on Brawn GP as the team was now worried that they might lose their lead in both constructors and drivers’ standings.
However, it was not until the Italian Grand Prix two weeks later that the team got its pace back as they scored a 1-2 with Rubens taking the victory, ahead of teammate Jenson Button, followed by Kimi Raikkonen. The season continued at Singapore with mixed results as Lewis Hamilton won his second race of the season followed by Timo Glock and Fernando Alonso in the second and third places respectively.
This result did not affect the race for the title but increased the mental pressure on Red Bull since there were just 3 races remaining in the season. With Jenson 15 points ahead of his teammate and 25 points ahead of Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull’s journey for the title ended as it was nearly impossible to win the title from here. However, with just 3 races remaining, Sebastian took the victory at the Japanese Grand Prix followed by Jarno Trulli and Lewis Hamilton. Red Bull thought they were back in the game after this race but a week later at Brazil; Jenson Button finished in 5th place and assured his team the drivers’ title as he was 15 points ahead of Sebastian with just 1 race remaining and the constructors’ title as well as the team was 25.5 points ahead of Red Bull.
Nevertheless, the teams went on to race at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and Red Bull managed to finish the season with a strong result as Sebastian won the race followed by teammate Mark Webber. This gave the team a dominant 1-2 position. Jenson finished at third place followed by teammate Rubens Barrichello. Brawn GP finished the season on top with a lot of comfort as Jenson scored 95 points - 11 points ahead of Sebastian Vettel. He was followed by Rubens Barrichello with 77 points in third place in the drivers’ standings. Brawn GP finished 18.5 points ahead of Red Bull and secured both drivers and constructors’ titles for the year 2009.
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