Jenson Button continued his perfect start of the season on this day in 2009 when he mastered difficult weather conditions to win the Malaysian GP from pole position, increasing his championship lead ahead of his team mate Rubens Barrichello.
Button had a dream season in 2009 when he won six of the first seven races. After his victory in the first race in Australia he added another triumph in wet Sepang which was red flagged after just 55% of laps due to poor conditions and visibility.
Button beat Trulli in a Toyota for just 0.092 seconds in qualifying (Button had fuel for two laps more than Trulli), Glock in the second Toyota for 0.509 s and Rosberg in Williams for 0.569 seconds. Brawn, Toyota and Williams in the first four places was not a surprise because these are the only three teams that started the season with the double diffusers. It was the fifth of eight career poles for Jenson Button, second of four in Brawn.
The race was red flagged due to bad weather and poor visibility (later race start) with only 31 of the 56 laps completed (less than 75%) so drivers were given only half points.
The winner was Button (instead of 10, he received 5 points) and Trulli, Webber and Rosberg (4th, 6th and 8th at the end of the race) had the ‘unique opportunity to win the decimal number of points (2.5, 1.5 and 0.5 points).

Button, with pole position and victory, also clocked the fastest lap – it was his first of the eight fastest laps in his career. Interestingly, Button achieved the first podium of his career in the BAR Honda 006 five years ago on the same track.
“What a crazy race,” Button said after his second consecutive win in 2009.
“It was really exciting and I’m thrilled we finished as winners. I didn’t have the best start and was surprised by the lack of grip on my side of the track. I went deep into the first corner and lost the back end so I fell to fourth but managed to overtake Alonso by the end of the first round of both Trulli and Rosberg after the first pitstops. “

“I was happy with the car and our speed was good, but the weather fully opened up the race. Choosing the tyres was tough, but we pulled the right moves at the right time, especially when it was just starting to rain heavily.”
“Many thanks to my engineer Andrew Shovlin who was with me on the podium today and the whole team for their work and strategy.”
“Last weekend we had the fairytale start of the season and I’m so proud that it continued here as well.”
STARTING GRID
1 | 22 | Jenson Button | Brawn/Mercedes | 1:35.181 | – |
2 | 9 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 1:35.273 | 0.092 |
3 | 10 | Timo Glock | Toyota | 1:35.690 | 0.509 |
4 | 16 | Nico Rosberg | Williams/Toyota | 1:35.750 | 0.569 |
5 | 14 | Mark Webber | Red Bull/Renault | 1:35.797 | 0.616 |
6 | 5 | Robert Kubica | BMW Sauber | 1:36.106 | 0.925 |
7 | 4 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:36.170 | 0.989 |
8 | 23 | R.Barrichello | Brawn/Mercedes | 1:35.651 | 0.470 |
9 | 7 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 1:37.659 | 2.478 |
10 | 6 | Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber | 1:34.769 | -0.412 |
11 | 17 | Kazuki Nakajima | Williams/Toyota | 1:34.788 | -0.393 |
12 | 1 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren/Mercedes | 1:34.905 | -0.276 |
13 | 15 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull/Renault | 1:35.518 | 0.337 |
10 place grid penalty for the incident with Kubica in the Australian GP | |||||
14 | 2 | H.Kovalainen | McLaren/Mercedes | 1:34.924 | -0.257 |
15 | 11 | S.Bourdais | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 1:35.431 | 0.250 |
16 | 3 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:35.642 | 0.461 |
17 | 8 | Nelson Piquet Jr. | Renault | 1:35.708 | 0.527 |
18 | 21 | G.Fisichella | Force India/Mercedes | 1:35.908 | 0.727 |
19 | 20 | Adrian Sutil | Force India/Mercedes | 1:35.951 | 0.770 |
20 | 12 | Sébastien Buemi | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 1:36.107 | 0.926 |
REZULTATI UTRKE
1 | 22 | Jenson Button | Brawn/Mercedes | 31 | 55:30.622 | |
2 | 6 | Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber | 31 | 55:53.344 | 22.722 |
3 | 10 | Timo Glock | Toyota | 31 | 55:54.135 | 23.513 |
4 | 9 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 31 | 56:16.795 | 46.173 |
5 | 23 | R.Barrichello | Brawn/Mercedes | 31 | 56:17.982 | 47.360 |
6 | 14 | Mark Webber | Red Bull/Renault | 31 | 56:22.955 | 52.333 |
7 | 1 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren/Mercedes | 31 | 56:31.355 | 1:00.733 |
8 | 16 | Nico Rosberg | Williams/Toyota | 31 | 56:42.198 | 1:11.576 |
9 | 3 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 31 | 56:47.554 | 1:16.932 |
10 | 11 | S.Bourdais | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 31 | 57:12.786 | 1:42.164 |
11 | 7 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 31 | 57:20.044 | 1:49.422 |
12 | 17 | Kazuki Nakajima | Williams/Toyota | 31 | 57:26.752 | 1:56.130 |
13 | 8 | Nelson Piquet Jr. | Renault | 31 | 57:27.335 | 1:56.713 |
14 | 4 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 31 | 57:53.463 | 2:22.841 |
15 | 15 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull/Renault | 30 | 54:03.504 | Spun off |
16 | 12 | Sébastien Buemi | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 30 | 54:30.736 | Spun off |
17 | 20 | Adrian Sutil | Force India/Mercedes | 30 | 55:58.426 | 1 lap |
18 | 21 | G.Fisichella | Force India/Mercedes | 29 | 53:16.065 | Spun off |
(19) | 5 | Robert Kubica | BMW Sauber | 1 | 2:02.738 | Engine |
2 | H.Kovalainen | McLaren/Mercedes | 0 | Spun off |
Fastest lap: Jenson Button – 1:36.641 (lap 18)

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP AFTER 2/17 RACES
1 | Jenson Button | 15 | 10 | 5 |
2 | Rubens Barrichello | 10 | 8 | 2 |
3 | Jarno Trulli | 8.5 | 6 | 2.5 |
4 | Timo Glock | 8 | 5 | 3 |
5 | Nick Heidfeld | 4 | – | 4 |
6 | Fernando Alonso | 4 | 4 | – |
7 | Nico Rosberg | 3.5 | 3 | 0.5 |
8 | Sébastien Buemi | 2 | 2 | – |
9 | Mark Webber | 1.5 | – | 1.5 |
10 | Lewis Hamilton | 1 | – | 1 |
11 | Sébastien Bourdais | 1 | 1 | – |
12 | Adrian Sutil | 0 | – | – |
13 | Felipe Massa | 0 | – | – |
14 | Giancarlo Fisichella | 0 | – | – |
15 | Kazuki Nakajima | 0 | – | – |
16 | Sebastian Vettel | 0 | – | – |
17 | Nelson Piquet Jr. | 0 | – | – |
18 | Kimi Räikkönen | 0 | – | – |
19 | Robert Kubica | 0 | – | – |
– | Heikki Kovalainen | 0 | – | – |
CONSTRUCTORS’ CHAMPIONSHIP
1 | Brawn/Mercedes | 25 | 18 | 7 |
2 | Toyota | 16.5 | 11 | 5.5 |
3 | BMW Sauber/BMW | 4 | – | 4 |
4 | Renault | 4 | 4 | – |
5 | Williams/Toyota | 3.5 | 3 | 0.5 |
6 | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 3 | 3 | – |
7 | Red Bull/Renault | 1.5 | – | 1.5 |
8 | McLaren/Mercedes | 1 | – | 1 |
9 | Force India/Mercedes | 0 | – | – |
10 | Ferrari | 0 | – | – |