Button bags Bahrain GP; Vettel, Trulli follow

NEW DELHI: Jenson Button wins the Bahrain Grand Prix to make it three out of four in 2009 as the first Asian leg of the Formula 1 Championship comes to an end.
The Toyotas of Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock may have straddled the first row for themselves in qualifying, but when the fuel loads on the cars were released, it was evident they wouldn't be staying out too long on their first stints - and that's exactly how it happened.
As the five red lights went out the Toyotas had a good start but it was Lewis Hamilton who really made the jump with full use of his KERS boost to come out behind them in third in the first sequence of corners. Jenson Button though, had other plans in mind. In what could be one of the best moves of the season yet, the British Brawn driver challenged and overtook Hamilton to move into third - a move that eventually won him the race.
The first few laps of the race saw some crazy racing action with battles all the way down the order but up front the Toyotas were opening up a gap. All that changed once the first round of pitstops happened and both Button and Vettel got clear tracks ahead of them respectively to put in some killer fast laps to come out ahead after their pit stops.
Strong between that mix was a quick Lewis Hamilton who was effectively putting his KERS to good use. In fact at one point it seemed like Lewis would definitely out his McLaren on the podium - though that was not how it ended. With the harder compound tyres performing worse than the super softs on a hot Bahrain track, it wasn't so much of a tyre gamble as it was about pure racing action.
As the final round of pitstops unfolded Jenson Button was clearly out in front - clear of any opposition from any of the other 19 cars on track. He comfortably took Brawn GP's third race win - and in race conditions for the first time - the Australian GP ended behind the safety car and the Malaysian GP was red flagged. Sebastian Vettel continues his awesome form from China and rolled in second while pole sitter Jarno Trulli salvaged third for Toyota.
Defending Champ Lewis Hamilton managed to finish off in fourth with Rubens Barrichello close on his heels in fifth with the second Brawn GP car. Ferrari finally managed to get some points with Kimi Raikkonen finishing in 6th - a consistently paced race for the Finn while his team mate Felipe Massa had major problems with his KERS. Rounding off the points at Bahrain were Timo Glock and Fernando Alonso.
The field heads to Europe in two weeks' time for the Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona. The news radars are going to be hot in the interim as almost all teams are certain to bring out their now-legal double decker diffusers and other aerodynamic updates. Expect Red Bull to make some major impact on the grid here on. Ferrari is out testing their new updates at their Maranello base - they could still make a huge comeback in 2009.
It's finally time for the rest of the field to catch up to Brawn GP as the diffuser advantage gets cut short in Europe. Stay tuned to all the news from Formula 1 right here on Times of India Racing.