Button finally earns maiden win
Jenson Button broke his Formula One duck in amazing style at the Hungaroring today when he won a thrilling Hungarian Grand Prix from 14th on the grid.
The Englishman, in his 113th grand prix, recovered from the engine penalty which left him way down the grid to battle a sodden circuit and take an emotional first win.
He becomes the first British winner since David Coulthard three years ago, winning his team’s first race as well at the scene of Damon Hill’s first win in 1993.
He led home McLaren’s Pedro de la Rosa by 30.8 seconds after the Spaniard pipped Michael Schumacher to second with four laps to go.
The Ferrari driver was on course for second but slowed dramatically with three laps to go, seemingly suffering extreme tyre wear.
That meant he blew a golden opportunity to cut into Fernando Alonso’s championship lead, which still stands at 11 points.
Renault ace Alonso was fighting with Button for the lead and would likely have pipped the Honda man but for a drive shaft failure 18 laps from home.
Schumacher’s woes helped promote Nick Heidfeld into a surprise third for BMW-Sauber, the first podium for the new team.
Rubens Barrichello was fourth in the other Honda with David Coulthard fifth for Red Bull. Ralf Schumacher took sixth for Toyota while Robert Kubica was seventh on his BMW-Sauber debut.
Felipe Massa scored the final point after a torrid race for Ferrari.
Massa’s race started badly when he blew second on the grid to slide out of the points as Schumacher and Alonso roared into the top five despite mid-grid spots.
Button also made ground but Alonso was soon right on Schumacher’s tail in the battle for fourth.
Schumacher lost pace and also lost fourth when Alonso bravely squeezed by on the outside on lap four and matters rapidly deteriorated.
Button sneaked through and then Giancarlo Fisichella launched a fierce attack, making contact twice before finally bullying his way past on lap 17. Schumacher damaged his front wing trying to repass while Fisichella crashed out altogether soon after.
He was not the only one to fall victim to the wet track, with Williams rookie Nico Rosberg and Red Bull’s Christian Klien also ending their race in the barriers.
Even more drama came on lap 27 when second-placed Kimi Raikkonen slammed into the back of Scuderia Toro Rosso’s Vitantonio Liuzzi, who looked to have lifted off to allow the McLaren man past.
By that stage Alonso in a clear lead, which was eroded when the safety car came out, bringing Button up to second from De la Rosa.
When the racing resumed, Alonso had three backmarkers separating him from Button so he breezed clear while behind the Schumacher brothers suffered near simultaneous spins.
Ralf was pushed around by Massa as they scrapped for eighth while Michael managed it all on his. They both continued.
As the track dried, Button began to haul in Alonso as the prospect of a maiden win began to seem realistic.
He closed to within a second before his final pit stop, but continued to set a searing pace and was rewarded when Alonso ploughed into the barriers.
That left him well clear and he was able to make a late tyre stop and still cruise to the flag as Schumacher crawled into retirement on lap 67.
Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix, Hungaroring, Hungary
70 Laps: 1 Jenson Button (Gbr) Honda 1hr 52mins 20.941secs, 2 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) McLaren 1:52:51.798, 3 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:53:04.763, 4 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Honda 1:53:06.146, 5 David Coulthard (Gbr) Red Bull at 1 lap, 6 Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Toyota at 1 lap, 7 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber at 1 lap, 8 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari at 1 lap, 9 Tiago Monteiro (Por) Midland at 3 laps, 10 Christijan Albers (Ned) Midland at 3 laps, 11 Scott Speed (USA) Scuderia Toro Rosso at 4 laps, 12 Takuma Sato (Jpn) Super Aguri at 5 laps
Not Classified: 13 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 66 laps completed, 14 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 65 laps completed, 15 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 51 laps completed, 16 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Scuderia Toro Rosso 25 laps completed, 17 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren 25 laps completed, 18 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 19 laps completed, 19 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Renault 18 laps completed, 20 Christian Klien (Aut) Red Bull 6 laps completed, 21 Mark Webber (Aus) Williams 1 lap completed, 22 Sakon Yamamoto (Jpn) Super Aguri 0 laps completed
Fastest Laps: Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1min 23.516secs on lap 66
Drivers’ Championship: 1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 100pts, 2 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 89, 3 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 51, 4 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren 49, 5 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Renault 49, 6 Jenson Button (Gbr) Honda 31, 7 Juan Montoya (Col) McLaren 26, 8 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Honda 21, 9 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 19, 10 Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Toyota 16, 11 David Coulthard (Gbr) Red Bull 14, 12 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) McLaren 10, 13 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 10, 14 Jacques Villeneuve (Can) BMW Sauber 7, 15 Mark Webber (Aus) Williams 6, 16 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 4, 17 Christian Klien (Aut) Red Bull 2, 18 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 2, 19 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1
Manufacturers’ Championship: 1 Renault 149pts, 2 Ferrari 140, 3 McLaren 85, 4 Honda 52, 5 BMW Sauber 28, 6 Toyota 26, 7 Red Bull 16, 8 Williams 10, 9 Scuderia Toro Rosso 1
