Toyota aced the front row with Jarno Trulli claiming their first pole position since the Japanese Grand Prix four years ago ahead of team-mate Timo Glock. As expected however, both TF109’s were lightly fuelled and it was Jenson Button who made best of the situation to take control of the race following the first round of pitstops.It was a fairly routine race, the first of the season not to feature a safety car, but the battle for the race victory was fairly straight forward for Button as Glock got the jump on Trulli and led the field in the early stages but then opted to run the harder prime tyres during the second stint and quickly fell away from the Brawn Mercedes.
Toyota’s strategy allowed Sebastian Vettel to get the jump on Trulli in the second and final stop and the Red Bull Renault racer would finish in second position, withstanding the late race pressure from Trulli back on the softer option tyre.
The opening lap was key to Button’s success as he initially lost position to Lewis Hamilton who made best of his KERS-equipped McLaren Mercedes off the line, but a brave move from the Brawn driver later in the lap daw him regain the position and therefore allow him to tail the Toyota duo to the first round of stops...
Full report to follow...
No comments:
Post a Comment