Last-gasp Button grabs Spain pole



SPANISH GRAND PRIX
Venue: Circuit de Catalunya, near Barcelona Dates: 8-10 May 2009 Coverage: Comprehensive live coverage of Sunday's race - which starts at 1300 BST - across BBC TV, radio and online platforms. Find complete listings here

Button had largely been off the front-runners radar until his speedy last lap


By Chris Whyatt


Brawn GP's championship leader Jenson Button snatched pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix with the last lap of Saturday's qualifying session. The Englishman pushed Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel into second ahead of Button's team-mate Rubens Barrichello.
Ferrari's Felipe Massa was fourth but team-mate Kimi Raikkonen suffered from a tactical error and ended up 16th.
McLaren's world champion Lewis Hamilton will start in 14th, with local hero Fernando Alonso's Renault eighth.
Button, who has won three of this season's first four races to establish a 12-point lead over Barrichello for dominant Brawn, has put himself in a strong position to add to that tally - the past eight Circuit de Catalunya pole-sitters have gone on to win the race.

It was by far the best lap I've had all weekend. It was a bit of a surprise so when I realised, it felt very good



Jenson Button

He did so in tight fashion, sneaking ahead of Vettel at the last opportunity with a time of one minute 20.527 seconds as he and the German both went quicker than Kimi Raikkonen's 2008 lap record.
"I just got across the line [to go out on my last lap] with a couple of seconds to spare," said the 29-year-old.
"It was by far the best lap I've had all weekend. All weekend, Rubens has been tremendous and I've found it very hard to hang onto him on low fuel.
"I got the lap on the high fuel so I'm very happy. I just got to hope I can stay there on Turn One. It was a bit of a surprise so when I realised [I had pole], it felt very good."
Red Bull, who have started the season so well and sit second in the constructors' championship, continued to impress and Vettel's team-mate Mark Webber will start Sunday's race fifth on the grid.
Most teams have come into the first of nine European races with important upgrade packages to their cars, though judgement on how they have responded so far is mixed.
After qualifying, Hamilton was unequivocal when BBC Sport asked whether his McLaren upgrade package had improved his cars performance in any way.
"No", he said, adding: "I guess it's a bit of a disappointing qualifying for us.
"We did the best we could but the laps weren't fantastic. We had hoped to be higher up.
"It's not last and there's lots that can happen. It's a long tough race. I hope we can get a point, that would be great."
Toyota, third in the championship, are one of the minority not to have added to their car - which has served them well so far - and drivers Timo Glock and Jarno Trulli are sixth and seventh on the grid.
Ferrari's new aerodynamics package put Massa - who lost out on the world title last year to Hamilton by just one point - back in touch with the leaders after picking up only three points from the first four races for its worst ever start to a season.
606: DEBATE

With the reductions in downforce and engine revs, I think it's fair to say we were all expecting to see cars which would be a fair amount slower than last year - or at least I was!



sushifiesta

And Button said that, with Ferrari using the energy recovery and boost system (Kers), the Brazilian could be in contention for a first victory of the season.
"I don't think anyone's gone that much faster than the Ferrari. They're quick," he said.
"I think we have the legs on them but they're closing quickly and I'm surprised."
Yet the reigning constructors' champions failed to see Raikonnen get through the first qualifying session as they made a repeat of the pit lane miscalculation which saw Massa suffer the same early exit in Malaysia.
Finnish driver Raikkonen, whose last GP race victory came last year in Spain, watched from the garage as Trulli knocked him out of contention as Ferrari's confidence in his time proved to be misplaced.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/moto...ne/8041568.stm