Monaco Grand Prix 2009

Jenson Button raced from pole to podium at Monaco to take his fifth chequered flag of the season. The rejuvenated Brit is increasingly looking like the man to beat in the 2009 Drivers’ Championship, with another flawless race.

It’s his first win at the Formula 1 calendar’s most glamourous race, and he was clearly rather taken with the result – instead of pulling up by the podium, he parked in the pits and had to run in order to reach the end of race ceremony in time.

His teammate and nearest championship competitor Rubens Barrichello finished second, 7.6sec behind Button, while Sebastian Vettel retired after an accident. Ferrari had its best race of the campaign so far, with Räikkönen and Massa coming in third and fourth respectively to give hope to the Prancing Horse six races into what had been a fairly miserable season.

Lewis Hamilton finished 12th after starting from the back of the grid. His season is beginning to look lost, and he admitted he fancies Button’s chances at snatching the Drivers’ title from him – ‘Jenson's doing a fantastic job and clearly he's in the best position to win the championship. I'd definitely put my money on him’.

In other Formula 1 news, Williams has confirmed its 2010 Formula 1 championship entry. It’s the first team to do so, after protests over proposed team budget caps. After all F1 teams were threatening to pull out of the sport, it now looks like a compromise has been reached with the FIA.

Monaco Grand Prix results1     Jenson Button        Brawn-Mercedes     1:40:44.282     2     Rubens Barrichello     Brawn-Mercedes     +7.6 secs3     Kimi Räikkönen     Ferrari             +13.4 secs4     Felipe Massa         Ferrari             +15.1 secs5     Mark Webber         RBR-Renault         +15.7 secs6     Nico Rosberg        Williams-Toyota     +33.5 secs7     Fernando Alonso     Renault         +37.8 secs8     Sebastien Bourdais     STR-Ferrari         +63.1 secsDrivers’ Championship standings1     Jenson Button      Brawn-Mercedes      51 points2     Rubens Barrichello     Brawn-Mercedes     353     Sebastian Vettel     Red Bull-Renault     234     Mark Webber          Red Bull-Renault     19.55     Jarno Trulli          Toyota         14.56     Timo Glock          Toyota         127     Fernando Alonso     Renault         118     Kimi Raikkonen     Ferrari             99     Lewis Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes     910   Felipe Massa          Ferrari             8