Jenson Button won for the fourth time in first five races in 2009 after leading his team mate Rubens Barrichello in another dominant display for new Brawn GP team.
The Brawn GP story is one of the most beautiful, most unusual and the most intricate in the history of Formula 1 – a team that, after Honda’s withdrawal from the sport, was close to extinction, but was saved at the last minute by Ross Brawn who secured Mercedes’ engines and pulled one, but worthy trick from his sleeve – a double diffuser.
The rest is history – their fantastic speed was initially attributed to a underweight car (which is allowed in testing), but after Button and Barrichello locked out the front row in Australia it was clear that their speed is real.
In Spain, Button entered his final Q3 lap in the last seconds and won the pole position with 0.133 seconds ahead of Vettel in Red Bull.
Button won convincingly with 13 seconds ahead of Barrichello and the main goal was accomplished – the team won a maximum 18 points, Button increased the lead in the drivers championship (41 points), Barrichello was second (27) and Vettel in Red Bull third (23).
Mark Webber finished third in Red Bull, just 0.9 seconds behind Barrichello, and fourth was Sebastian Vettel in second Red Bull.
Brawn drivers also set the fastest laps of the race – Barrichello was 0.137 seconds faster than Button.
STARTING GRID
| 1 | 22 | Jenson Button | Brawn/Mercedes | 1:20.527 | – |
| 2 | 15 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull/Renault | 1:20.660 | 0.133 |
| 3 | 23 | R.Barrichello | Brawn/Mercedes | 1:20.762 | 0.235 |
| 4 | 3 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:20.934 | 0.407 |
| 5 | 14 | Mark Webber | Red Bull/Renault | 1:21.049 | 0.522 |
| 6 | 10 | Timo Glock | Toyota | 1:21.247 | 0.720 |
| 7 | 9 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 1:21.254 | 0.727 |
| 8 | 7 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 1:21.392 | 0.865 |
| 9 | 16 | Nico Rosberg | Williams/Toyota | 1:22.558 | 2.031 |
| 10 | 5 | Robert Kubica | BMW Sauber | 1:22.685 | 2.158 |
| 11 | 17 | Kazuki Nakajima | Williams/Toyota | 1:20.531 | 0.004 |
| 12 | 8 | Nelson Piquet Jr. | Renault | 1:20.604 | 0.077 |
| 13 | 6 | Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber | 1:20.676 | 0.149 |
| 14 | 1 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren/Mercedes | 1:20.805 | 0.278 |
| 15 | 12 | Sébastien Buemi | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 1:21.067 | 0.540 |
| 16 | 4 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:21.291 | 0.764 |
| 17 | 11 | S.Bourdais | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 1:21.300 | 0.773 |
| 18 | 2 | H.Kovalainen | McLaren/Mercedes | 1:21.675 | 1.148 |
| 19 | 20 | Adrian Sutil | Force India/Mercedes | 1:21.742 | 1.215 |
| 20 | 21 | G.Fisichella | Force India/Mercedes | 1:22.204 | 1.677 |
RACE RESULTS
| 1 | 22 | Jenson Button | Brawn/Mercedes | 66 | 1:37:19.202 | |
| 2 | 23 | R.Barrichello | Brawn/Mercedes | 66 | 1:37:32.258 | 13.056 |
| 3 | 14 | Mark Webber | Red Bull/Renault | 66 | 1:37:33.126 | 13.924 |
| 4 | 15 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull/Renault | 66 | 1:37:38.143 | 18.941 |
| 5 | 7 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 66 | 1:38:02.368 | 43.166 |
| 6 | 3 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 66 | 1:38:10.029 | 50.827 |
| 7 | 6 | Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber | 66 | 1:38:11.514 | 52.312 |
| 8 | 16 | Nico Rosberg | Williams/Toyota | 66 | 1:38:24.413 | 1:05.211 |
| 9 | 1 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren/Mercedes | 65 | 1:37:20.216 | 1 lap |
| 10 | 10 | Timo Glock | Toyota | 65 | 1:37:20.990 | 1 lap |
| 11 | 5 | Robert Kubica | BMW Sauber | 65 | 1:37:23.811 | 1 lap |
| 12 | 8 | Nelson Piquet Jr. | Renault | 65 | 1:37:26.107 | 1 lap |
| 13 | 17 | Kazuki Nakajima | Williams/Toyota | 65 | 1:37:37.113 | 1 lap |
| 14 | 21 | G.Fisichella | Force India/Mercedes | 65 | 1:37:50.740 | 1 lap |
| (10) | 4 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 17 | 28:17.924 | Hydraulics |
| (16) | 2 | H.Kovalainen | McLaren/Mercedes | 7 | 14:57.995 | Gearbox |
| 9 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 0 | Collision | ||
| 12 | Sébastien Buemi | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 0 | Collision | ||
| 11 | S.Bourdais | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 0 | Collision | ||
| 20 | Adrian Sutil | Force India/Mercedes | 0 | Collision | ||
Fastest lap: Rubens Barrichello – 1:22.763 (lap 28)
DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP AFTER 5/17 RACES
| 1 | Jenson Button | 41 | 10 | 5 | 6 | 10 | 10 |
| 2 | Rubens Barrichello | 27 | 8 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 8 |
| 3 | Sebastian Vettel | 23 | – | – | 10 | 8 | 5 |
| 4 | Mark Webber | 15.5 | – | 1.5 | 8 | – | 6 |
| 5 | Jarno Trulli | 14.5 | 6 | 2.5 | – | 6 | – |
| 6 | Timo Glock | 12 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | – |
| 7 | Lewis Hamilton | 9 | – | 1 | 3 | 5 | – |
| 8 | Fernando Alonso | 9 | 4 | – | – | 1 | 4 |
| 9 | Nick Heidfeld | 6 | – | 4 | – | – | 2 |
| 10 | Nico Rosberg | 4.5 | 3 | 0.5 | – | – | 1 |
| 11 | Heikki Kovalainen | 4 | – | – | 4 | – | – |
| 12 | Felipe Massa | 3 | – | – | – | – | 3 |
| 13 | Kimi Räikkönen | 3 | – | – | – | 3 | – |
| 14 | Sébastien Buemi | 3 | 2 | – | 1 | – | – |
| 15 | Sébastien Bourdais | 1 | 1 | – | – | – | – |
| 16 | Adrian Sutil | 0 | – | – | – | – | – |
| 17 | Nelson Piquet Jr. | 0 | – | – | – | – | – |
| 18 | Robert Kubica | 0 | – | – | – | – | – |
| 19 | Giancarlo Fisichella | 0 | – | – | – | – | – |
| 20 | Kazuki Nakajima | 0 | – | – | – | – | – |
CONSTRUCTORS’ CHAMPIONSHIP
| 1 | Brawn/Mercedes | 68 | 18 | 7 | 11 | 14 | 18 |
| 2 | Red Bull/Renault | 38.5 | – | 1.5 | 18 | 8 | 11 |
| 3 | Toyota | 26.5 | 11 | 5.5 | 2 | 8 | – |
| 4 | McLaren/Mercedes | 13 | – | 1 | 7 | 5 | – |
| 5 | Renault | 9 | 4 | – | – | 1 | 4 |
| 6 | BMW Sauber/BMW | 6 | – | 4 | – | – | 2 |
| 7 | Ferrari | 6 | – | – | – | 3 | 3 |
| 8 | Williams/Toyota | 4.5 | 3 | 0.5 | – | – | 1 |
| 9 | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 4 | 3 | – | 1 | – | – |
| 10 | Force India/Mercedes | 0 | – | – | – | – | – |
