Australian Grand Prix: Jenson’s back for more

Jenson Button injects excitement back into F1 with McLaren winBoring? Who said anything about boring? Formula One rediscovered its vroom Down Under on Sunday as Formula One’s “cool guy” Jenson Button claimed his maiden victory for McLaren in an incident-packed, rain-affected Australian Grand Prix.An inspired call from Button to switch to dry-weather tyres on lap six, one lap before the rest of the field, paid off as he moved from seventh place into second. Sebastian Vettel’s brake failure midway through the race completed the job as Red Bull were once again left ruing their lack of points on a weekend in which they had the fastest car.As thousands of race fans trudged off into the Melbourne rain, chattering excitedly about the thrilling drama they had just witnessed, back in the paddock McLaren’s luminous orange victory shirts lit up the night sky as Button celebrated wildly with his team and inner circle.This was the eighth victory of the world champion’s career but arguably the most important given the “Lion’s Den” he was presumed to have entered at McLaren; the house that Ron Dennis built around Lewis Hamilton.Poor Hamilton. A wretched weekend, in which he was nabbed by Melbourne traffic police performing “burnouts” before struggling to 11th in qualifying, was nearly consigned to history with a truly magnificent drive that saw him climb as high as third at one point. “It was probably the drive of my life,” he said.Unfortunately, a poor call from McLaren to bring him in for a change of tyres backfired and he eventually finished sixth after a less-than-brilliant shunt from home favourite Mark Webber.It was tough luck on Hamilton, although his radio outburst at the team’s “freaking terrible” decision to bring him in, while borne of understandable frustration, only served to highlight the fact that Button had made his call unaided. Button’s experience showed on this occasion, although he admitted he thought his “game-changing” call might backfire badly as he struggled to stay on the track immediately after switching rubber.”When I went into the pit lane I thought I had made a catastrophic decision as it was soaking wet,” he said. “I then had a little off at turn three but generally the pace was good and I was able to overtake three or four cars when they stopped.”Button’s win was his second in succession at Albert Park after his emotional victory on debut for Brawn GP…

Posted by admin 29 March 2010

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