Brazilian Felipe Massa wrote off his and Ferrari's Formula One championship chances on Sunday. Despite scoring his first points of the season with sixth place at the Spanish Grand Prix, Massa shook his head when asked whether he felt he could still fight for the title with just three points to Briton Jenson Button's 41 from five races.
After winning three of the first four races of the Formula One season in Asia and the Middle East, Jenson Button heads back to Europe and into the unknown. The championship-leading Briton has been the quickest and most consistent driver so far but, as McLaren's world champion Lewis Hamilton showed on Bahrain on Sunday, the rest are picking up the pace.
The desert heat will make Brawn GP hard to beat in Bahrain on Sunday after losing out to Red Bull in a wet Chinese race last weekend, Formula One championship leader Jenson Button said on Thursday. Button, winner of the first two races of the season in Australia and Malaysia, struggled to get heat into his tyres in Shanghai and finished third behind Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.
German Sebastian Vettel gave Red Bull their first Formula One win with a pole to chequered flag victory ahead of team mate Mark Webber in the rain-soaked Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday.
Jenson Button made the best possible start to his quest for a third successive Formula One victory by setting the quickest lap time in Friday's two practice sessions for the Chinese Grand Prix. The Briton, who won the first two races of the season from pole position, again showed the pace of his Brawn GP car with a storming lap of one minute, 35.679 seconds late in the second session.
Jenson Button will be favourite to clinch a third win in three races at this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix after the row over the legality of his Brawn GP car's diffuser was settled in the team's favour.
Jenson Button clinched his second pole position in a row for the new Brawn GP team at the Malaysian Grand Prix on Saturday while McLaren's world champion Lewis Hamilton could qualify only 12th.
Years of hard slog and failure have made success all the sweeter for Formula One championship leader Jenson Button.
Brawn GP still have plenty of room for improvement despite their one-two debut finish in Sunday's season-opening Australian Formula One Grand Prix, according to race winner Jenson Button.
Britain's Jenson Button led an astonishing one-two on his Brawn GP team's racing debut in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on Sunday. No Formula One team had won on their debut since Wolf in 1977 while the last to secure the top two places first time out was Mercedes in 1954.
Jenson Button and Brawn GP team mate Rubens Barrichello rocked Formula One to the core on Saturday by running away with Australian Grand Prix qualifying. The team who arrived in Melbourne with no sponsors, a barely-tested car and two drivers written off as has-beens only a few months earlier, were in a class of their own.
Jenson Button is relishing the prospect of climbing into the Formula One world champion's number one car for the first time this week.
Jenson Button put Honda's dismal 2008 season behind him and looked forward to a brighter Formula One future after an encouraging test in Barcelona on Wednesday. Formula One's rules are changing next year, with the sport going back to slick tyres and adopting heavily revised aerodynamics to try and create more overtaking.
Points still eluded Force India but the outfit managed its third double finish of the season at the Belgian Grand Prix with Adrian Sutil finishing 13th and Giancarlo Fisichella 17th on Sunday.
The reigning F1 world champion Jenson Button has hinted at a sensational switch to McLaren next season, after talks with Brawn GP were stalled.
Jenson Button celebrated the greatest night of his Formula One career alone in a Sao Paulo hotel room, lying in bed with a smile on his face and a pinch mark on his arm to prove it was not a dream. The 29-year-old had promised on Sunday, after clinching the title in the Brazilian Grand Prix with a race to spare, that he would enjoy the long-awaited moment "like you would not believe".
Jenson Button will sit down to discuss a new contract with his Brawn team just as soon as he has got rid of his hangover from winning the Formula One championship.
Jenson Button woke up with a smile on his face on Thursday ahead of what could be the happiest weekend of his Formula One career. Button is 14 points clear of team mate Rubens Barrichello with two races remaining and two more ahead of Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel.
Schumacher was the quickest, 0.172 seconds ahead of champion Alonso, on a damp track after morning drizzle at an overcast circuit.
Giancarlo Fisichella once again outshone team-mate Adrian Sutil even though both the Force India drivers managed to better their morning timings in the afternoon free practice session ahead of Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix.
Briton Jenson Button was second fastest for Honda, ahead of Brazilian team mate Rubens Barrichello.
With a third of the F1 season already wrapped up in white and neon green, here are a few facts we can glean from this insanely topsy-turvy year so far.
Force India driver Adrian Sutil emerged 12th among 13 drivers on the third and final day of Formula One testing in Barcelona on Sunday. The German clocked a best timing of 1 minute 23.800 seconds after 86 laps of testing at the Circuit de Catalunya, on the outskirts of Barcelona. Only Honda's British driver Jenson Button was slower at 1:23.808 seconds. Australian Mark Webber was fastest in his Red Bull, clocking 1:22.385.
Championship leader Jenson Button put himself on pole position for a fourth win in five races on Saturday after a last-gasp duel with Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel at the Spanish Grand Prix.
McLaren drivers Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button stepped onto the Formula One podium for the first time this season on Saturday -- but only in jest after yet another qualifying nightmare in Brazil.
Michael Schumacher broke the record of late great Ayrton Senna by storming to his 66th pole position of his career
Hamilton's team mate Valtteri Bottas finished third, ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, in a race aimed at providing more thrills for fans over the three days of track action and potentially shaking up the starting grid.
Jenson Button set the fastest time in a dramatic qualifying session to capture his third career pole
However, McLaren's David Coulthard warned Button not to be under any illusions.
The BAR driver explained team chief David Richards his decision to leave the team at the end of the year and join rivals Williams.
Jenson Button has indicated he might not stay at McLaren even if the Formula One team offered him a contract extension for next season.
The 33-year-old Roman, who started on pole position, took his third career victory in Malaysia
Formula One driver Jenson Button had reportedly signed a deal with McLaren for one more year, months ago, and the announcement is set to be made soon.
Red Bull, owned by Austrian energy drink billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz, have taken over the old Jaguar team.
Button suffered two hairline cracks to his ribs while go-karting last month and has not taken part in the two post-season tests so far.
The Honda driver suffered two hairline cracks to his ribs while go-karting.
Anthony Davidson will continue as Honda's test driver this season rather than racing for Super Aguri.
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