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Featured Sport News

Button upsets the form-book

Author: Sir David Smith
Date: 12/06/2009

When the 2009 season began in Melbourne just over ten weeks ago, few people predicted that one driver would win six of the first seven races, with no-one suggesting that man would be Jenson Button.

However, with more than half of the season left, the Brawn GP driver is already looking like the champion-elect, with Sunday's success at the Turkish Grand Prix lifting him 26 points clear at the top of the standings.

He is now the runaway favourite among every sportsbook to be crowned Formula One world champion.

It is all a far cry from the depths of mid-winter when Honda decided to leave the sport as a result of the global economic downturn and Button's career appeared to be in tatters.

But thanks to Ross Brawn's expertise and know-how, the Englishman and his team-mate Rubens Barrichello have taken the Formula One world by storm, beginning with an unbelievable first and second place in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix.

The one-two finish for Brawn in the race itself set the tone for the opening rounds of the season with only the Red Bull duo of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber being able to challenge them.

Vettel's victory in China, when Red Bull claimed a one-two of their own, has stopped Button completing a clean sweep but he remains on course to beat Michael Schumacher's 2004 record of 13 Grand Prix victories in a season.

The dominance of Ferrari and McLaren in 2007 and 2008 seems a long time ago and Lewis Hamilton has never recovered from being accused of lying to the stewards in Melbourne.

He has only nine points, although that is five more than his struggling team-mate Heikki Kovalainen, equal with 2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen and just two points behind Felipe Massa.

Toyota have enjoyed a much better season than of late with their highlight coming in Bahrain when Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock were the two fastest drivers in qualifying.

Although they eventually had to settle for third and seventh place in the actual race, the Japanese team are currently third in the constructors' championship and Trulli enjoyed a podium finish in Australia as well as Bahrain.

Glock also managed a third place, in Malaysia, and is on course to beat last year's tally of 25 points.

Williams have once again flattered to deceive although Kazuki Nakajima was unfortunate not to break his duck in Turkey when a sloppy pit-stop denied him some points while BMW Sauber are enduring a dreadful year.

Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld amassed 135 points in 2008 but have accumulated only eight so far this year with only Toro Rosso and Force India behind them in the constructors' championship.

Despite two-time world champion Fernando Alonso's best efforts, Renault appear to have gone backwards this year with Nelson Piquet again looking out of his depth in Formula One.

With Hamilton, Raikkonen and Alonso all currently way off the pace, there will be a new champion this year, and it already seems certain to be Button.

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