ISTANBUL – Brawn GP’s Jenson Button won the Turkish Grand Prix on Sunday for his sixth victory in seven Formula One races.
Button overtook pole sitter Sebastian Vettel on the first lap following a mistake by the Red Bull driver and held on for a 6.7-second win over Red Bull’s Mark Webber.
Vettel, the first driver not to win from the pole in five races at Istanbul, finished third after opting for a three-stop strategy.
Button leads with 61 points. Teammate Rubens Barrichello, who retired after starting third, has 35 points. Vettel has 29 and Webber 27.5.
“(It’s) the first race where the car has been absolutely perfect,” Button said. “This car is just outrageous. Before this, I really believed the Red Bulls were on our pace, but today we were a step ahead.”
Vettel may not get another chance for a second win this season.
“Maybe today was the first day that Jenson showed what he could do,” the German driver said.
Button’s fourth straight win – the best streak by a Briton for 17 years – makes him the fifth driver to achieve six victories in a season so quickly. The previous four – Alberto Ascari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Jim Clark and Michael Schumacher – all went on to win the championship.
Nigel Mansell was the last British driver to win four straight wins in one season as he took the title in 1992. Button joined Mansell, Damon Hill, Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart and James Hunt as the only Britons to win six races in a season.
It’s an unbelievable start for a driver who languished at the back of the grid the past four years and only found out that he would be racing two weeks before the start of this season when Brawn bought out Honda after the automaker’s surprise pullout. (AP)