Unstoppable Button stretches lead in Turkey

Jenson Button

Jenson Button's charge to the 2009 world championship continued in style on Sunday, as pretenders Sebastian Vettel and Rubens Barrichello mounted flawed challenges at Istanbul.

The Brawn driver's advantage over Sebastian Vettel, who by some is considered the Briton's most likely challenger for the crown, blew out to more than double the Red Bull racer's points tally of 29.

"Today we were a step ahead," Button said, "and it's a nice feeling."

Vettel, third, had to follow his teammate Mark Webber to the checkered flag, after a three-stop strategy. The 'hold station' team order was given in the form of: "Sebastian, save the car, Mark is faster".

The German led away from pole position, but let Button past with an early mistake at the exit of turn 10.

"It was my mistake," an unhappy Vettel, 21, said, "but I think Jenson was just too quick today, I wouldn't have been able to hold him."

Barrichello had a bad day, beginning with an atrocious start, a messy run through the pack requiring a new nose, and ultimately retirement with a suspected gearbox problem.

Jarno Trulli ended Toyota's Monaco slump with fourth, while Felipe Massa ended his run of Turkish GP victories, dating back to 2006, with his sixth place.

The win is Button's sixth of the season out of seven races, and his seventh career victory. Button increases his lead in the Drivers' World Championship to 26 points over his teammate Barrichello.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner's said after the race, "Jenson was that little bit too quick for us today, Sebastian made a small mistake on the first lap which is exactly what we didn't want. We tried the 3 stop strategy but we would have had to have passed Jenson, and Sebastian couldn't pass Jenson which ruined it. Nevertheless, Mark drove a great race and a strong team results, 14 points is very healthy for the constructors. Vettel couldn't pass a heavy Jenson just because of the dirty air. At the end of the race, we needed to save the engines so we told them not to race each other, so we saved the engines for the last few laps. They both drove a very good race."

Results

FASTEST LAP: Jenson Button Britain Brawn-Mercedes Lap 40 1:27.579