May 24, 2009 – Monaco
Qualifying

Imagine what is two hundredths of a second? That was the difference between Button who eventually got to the pole before Kimi Raikonnen on a track which offers a maximum down force of all the Formula One tracks. Monaco is considered to be the world’s greatest and most challenging circuit. Nelson Piquet once remarked “Racing on this track is like flying a helicopter in your living room.” That is how difficult this track is. Button delivered a best time of 1 minute and 14.902 seconds to get his fourth pole in 6 races this year. He has already won 4 out of the 5 races. As far as Ferrari is concerned, this was the best start to finish so far in this year. Massa finished 5th. The 37 year old Rubbens Barrichello finished third ahead of Sebastian Vettel of the Red Bull.


The week that has led to the Monaco has been action packed with Ferrari threatening to leave the Formula One arena if the cap on technological investments was not removed and they appear serious when they sued the Formula One management over this issue. However, the ruling went against Ferrari. Ferrari who has taken part in the every Formula One race so far is an integral part of it and Formula One sans Ferrari would be unimaginable. Ferrari, a part of Fiat has been munificent in their spending so far. If however, Ferrari has to bog down to the demands of the F1 bosses, then this could be the last year of premier car racing.

Race Day

If someone’d have told Jenson Button before the start of the 2009 season that he’d win the first 5 out of 6 races, I am sure he would have died laughing. No one would have imagined that at the first place and to ask him this question. Most of us were happy to have Brawn on the grid after Honda pulled off after the last season as that made up the numbers. They were however written off by most of the F1 pundits. And here is the Briton, on the podium once again and leading the driver’s championship race.

The Monaco track is considered to be the most difficult track but Button by his flawless driving has more or less opened the gates of not only the driver’s championship but also the constructor’s championship as well. The way he drove today showed us how matured he is as a driver. I loved watching him drive today and was disappointed when the race was over. This win has lifted his tally to 51 points, 16 points clear off his own team mate Rubbens Barrichello who finished 2nd today after beating Kimi Raikkonen at the starting line.

The good news however came for the Ferrari team. Kimi Raikkonen had a podium finish today as he finished 3rd after Barrichello. And it was a delight for Massa who drove well and finished behind his team mate at no 4 position. The duo was able to make amends in their worst ever performance so far this year. The modifications (revised front wing) in their new F60 seemed to be working well.

The Red Bull star Mark Webber managed to finish 5th after Sebastian Vettel had a bad crash. Williams – Rosberg came close at 6th position. It has been a not-so-good year for Lewis Hamilton the current champion who managed to finish only 13th.

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