Button sews up third win

After wins in Australia and Malaysia, Button's Brawn GP car simply had too much brute force for his rivals to seriously compete with the 29-year-old Briton.

Last Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix winner Sebastien Vettel had to settle for the runner-up spot, with pole-sitter Jarno Trulli third in his Toyota.

Once the five red lights disappeared to signal the start of the 57-lap race, it was Timo Glock who held sway over his team-mate. The young German was quicker off the line than the Italian, and by turn one had grabbed a lead he held for a mere 11 laps.

The surprise was the sight of Trulli, three laps heavier on fuel, pit just one lap later than Glock, relegating both men back into the traffic of a congested mid-field. It paved the way for Button to make hay, with the pit wall telling him to "give it everything you've got" - which he duly did for three laps.

When he made his first call into the pits, he emerged ahead of the 34-year-old Trulli, keeping faith with the supersoft tyres that had served him well to that point. In contrast, Trulli had switched from the soft tyres to the primes which were running close to a second per lap slower, as was proved during the middle stint of the race.

By the time of the second stop at the end of lap 37, with both men in, Button had opened up a cushion of almost 18 seconds. Trulli switched back to the soft tyres, whilst Button was forced to take on the prime, and the duel appeared to be on between those two drivers.

Starting from third on the grid, Vettel was passed by both Button and reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton, who used the KERS boost button to pass the German and his fellow Briton on the run down to the first corner.

It was a position Hamilton was soon to relinquish, though, with Button making his move on the 24-year-old at turn one of lap two. Vettel then edged out Hamilton at the first pit stop and then Trulli at the second.

Come the finish, Button clinched his victory by 7.1secs over Vettel, with Trulli third, followed by Hamilton who was 22 seconds down, but who grabbed his best result of the season. Rubens Barrichell finished fifth, helping Brawn to a 22.5 point lead over Red Bull Racing. Finally Kimi Raikkonen came home sixth and Fernando Alonso placed eighth.