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By Andrew Benson
BBC Sport in Monaco |
Jenson Button took his fifth victory in six races this season as he led Rubens Barrichello to a Brawn one-two at the Monaco Grand Prix.
Button sealed his victory in the early stages of the race, when he managed the deteriorating tyres on his car far better than his Brazilian team-mate.
Barrichello was left to hold off the Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa, who finished third and fourth.
Red Bull's Mark Webber was fifth with world champion Lewis Hamilton 12th.
Williams's Nico Rosberg, Renault's Fernando Alonso and the Toro Rosso of Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais filled the remaining points places down to eighth place.
McLaren's Hamilton was never in contention after crashing in qualifying and starting at the back after a penalty for changing his gearbox.
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I'm lost for words with him [Button] because he's exceeding everything I thought possible. Stunning
Brawn GP team boss Ross Brawn
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In contrast, the man who looks increasingly likely to succeed him to the crown had a flawless afternoon.
Button's victory extends his world championship lead over Barrichello to 16 points - and to 28 over the third placed man, Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, who scored no points after crashing out of the race.
It was Button's first win at Formula 1's most glamorous venue, and the drive of a champion in the making, taking advantage of circumstances as they unfolded to carve an unassailable winning margin.
"I'm lost for words with him because he's exceeding everything I thought possible," said his team boss Ross Brawn. "Stunning."
Unlike all the other front-runners, the Brawns started on the super-soft tyres, which give better initial grip, but are subject to graining, when the surface of the tyre rips and reduces grip.
Button and Barrichello both suffered the problem from about eight laps into the race but Button coped much better and was able to extend his lead by as much as two seconds a lap.
That meant that Barrichello, who was less than two seconds behind his team-mate on lap six, was 18.2secs adrift by the time he made his first pit stop on 16.
From that moment on, the race as effectively over, and Barrichello was left to concern himself far more with the Ferraris behind him rather than with beating Button to the victory.
"The tyres gave us a start, but we didn't expect them to give us so much trouble in the first stint," added Brawn. "But the drivers managed it well.
 England's Button has led Brawn team-mate Rubens Barrichello all season
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"It is a special race and it's a challenging weekend. In such circumstances, to come first and second is stunning."
Constructors champions Ferrari achieved their first podium of 2009 as they bid to recover from the worst start to a season in their long history.
Though Raikkonen and Massa were evenly matched, the Finn was able to convert his second place on the grid into third place, while Massa was caught up in some frenetic action in the opening laps.
"I am very happy about the result because it shows we are working in the right direction," said Ferrari team boss Stefano Domencali.
"We are catching up and getting closer. I am very positive we will push on and this is just a start."
Brazil's Massa trailed Vettel from the start and soon began to climb all over the back of the German's car as the Red Bull driver suffered similar tyre problems to the Brawns.
There was soon a huge queue behind him, right down to 12th place and by lap 10 Vettel's tyres were in such poor shape that he was no longer able to resist his pursuers.
First Rosberg - who had passed Massa after the Ferrari driver tried an overtaking manoeuvre at the chicane that did not come off - powered past the Red Bull, and then the others poured past, too, before Vettel pitted for new tyres at the end of the lap.
His race ended six laps later when he slammed into the barrier at Sainte Devote after making a mistake.
His team-mate Webber was much more impressive, jumping ahead of Rosberg at the first stops thanks to some consistently fast laps and consolidating that position through the middle of the race.
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