Button makes it 6
June 7, 2009
Britain's Jenson Button extended his lead at the head of the drivers' world championship when he raced to a smooth victory in the Turkish Grand Prix. It's the sixth win in seven races for the 29-year-old Brawn GP driver.
Second and third place went to Red Bull team members Mark Webber and Germany’s Sebastian Vettel.
Both pole sitter Sebastian Vettel and Button got away well at the start, but at the end of the first lap, the German Red Bull driver briefly rode onto the grass allowing Button to pass him for first place.
Vettel spent the rest of the race chasing Button, but without success.
In the end, the German finished in third position, right behind his Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber.
But not everything went according to plan for Brawn as Rubens Barrichello had an afternoon to forget. He encountered clutch problems, spun, collided with Adrian Sutil's Force India and retired with 10 laps to go, the first time this season a Brawn did not go the full distance.
Germany's Nico Rosberg finished fifth, with Jarno Trulli narrowly missing out on the podium.
Defending champion Lewis Hamilton of McLaren Mercedes started from 16th on the grid, and battled his way through, to finish 13th.
Button now enters his British home GP in Silverstone on June 21 with a comfortable lead having secured 61 points from seven out of 17 races. Team-mate Rubens Barrichello follows on 35 after failing to finish on a terrible afternoon, and Vettel is third with 29 points.
Brawn maintains a large lead in the constructors' championship - they now have 96 points ahead of Red Bull on 56.5 points.
dm/av/dpa/AFP/Reuters
Editor: Andreas Illmer