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).

2009 Malaysian GP top 3 qualifying Button Trulli Vettel Photo Red Bull
2009 Malaysian GP top 3 qualifying – Button, Trulli and Vettel (Photo: Red Bull)

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. “

2009 Malaysian GP start Photo Red Bull
2009 Malaysian GP start (Photo: Red Bull)

“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

122Jenson ButtonBrawn/Mercedes1:35.181
29Jarno TrulliToyota1:35.2730.092
310Timo GlockToyota1:35.6900.509
416Nico RosbergWilliams/Toyota1:35.7500.569
514Mark WebberRed Bull/Renault1:35.7970.616
65Robert KubicaBMW Sauber1:36.1060.925
74Kimi RäikkönenFerrari1:36.1700.989
823R.BarrichelloBrawn/Mercedes1:35.6510.470
97Fernando AlonsoRenault1:37.6592.478
106Nick HeidfeldBMW Sauber1:34.769-0.412
1117Kazuki NakajimaWilliams/Toyota1:34.788-0.393
121Lewis HamiltonMcLaren/Mercedes1:34.905-0.276
1315Sebastian VettelRed Bull/Renault1:35.5180.337
  10 place grid penalty for the incident with Kubica in the Australian GP
142H.KovalainenMcLaren/Mercedes1:34.924-0.257
1511S.BourdaisToro Rosso/Ferrari1:35.4310.250
163Felipe MassaFerrari1:35.6420.461
178Nelson Piquet Jr.Renault1:35.7080.527
1821G.FisichellaForce India/Mercedes1:35.9080.727
1920Adrian SutilForce India/Mercedes1:35.9510.770
2012Sébastien BuemiToro Rosso/Ferrari1:36.1070.926

REZULTATI UTRKE

122Jenson ButtonBrawn/Mercedes3155:30.622 
26Nick HeidfeldBMW Sauber3155:53.34422.722
310Timo GlockToyota3155:54.13523.513
49Jarno TrulliToyota3156:16.79546.173
523R.BarrichelloBrawn/Mercedes3156:17.98247.360
614Mark WebberRed Bull/Renault3156:22.95552.333
71Lewis HamiltonMcLaren/Mercedes3156:31.3551:00.733
816Nico RosbergWilliams/Toyota3156:42.1981:11.576
93Felipe MassaFerrari3156:47.5541:16.932
1011S.BourdaisToro Rosso/Ferrari3157:12.7861:42.164
117Fernando AlonsoRenault3157:20.0441:49.422
1217Kazuki NakajimaWilliams/Toyota3157:26.7521:56.130
138Nelson Piquet Jr.Renault3157:27.3351:56.713
144Kimi RäikkönenFerrari3157:53.4632:22.841
1515Sebastian VettelRed Bull/Renault3054:03.504Spun off
1612Sébastien BuemiToro Rosso/Ferrari3054:30.736Spun off
1720Adrian SutilForce India/Mercedes3055:58.4261 lap
1821G.FisichellaForce India/Mercedes2953:16.065Spun off
 
(19)5Robert KubicaBMW Sauber12:02.738Engine
 2H.KovalainenMcLaren/Mercedes0 Spun off

Fastest lap: Jenson Button – 1:36.641 (lap 18)

2009 Malaysian GP Raikkonen leads Webber Photo Ferrari
Kimi Raikkonen leads Mark Webber during the 2009 Malaysian GP (Photo: Ferrari)

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP AFTER 2/17 RACES

1Jenson Button15105
2Rubens Barrichello1082
3Jarno Trulli8.562.5
4Timo Glock853
5Nick Heidfeld44
6Fernando Alonso44
7Nico Rosberg3.530.5
8Sébastien Buemi22
9Mark Webber1.51.5
10Lewis Hamilton11
11Sébastien Bourdais11
12Adrian Sutil0
13Felipe Massa0
14Giancarlo Fisichella0
15Kazuki Nakajima0
16Sebastian Vettel0
17Nelson Piquet Jr.0
18Kimi Räikkönen0
19Robert Kubica0
Heikki Kovalainen0

CONSTRUCTORS’ CHAMPIONSHIP

1Brawn/Mercedes25187
2Toyota16.5115.5
3BMW Sauber/BMW44
4Renault44
5Williams/Toyota3.530.5
6Toro Rosso/Ferrari33
7Red Bull/Renault1.51.5
8McLaren/Mercedes11
9Force India/Mercedes0
10Ferrari0
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