British grand prix – live!

Join Gemma for all the action. Any insights, questions or comments can be e-mailed hereLap 17: Raikkonen (P10) has leap-frogged Nakajima (P11) in those stops. Hamilton - being held up by the slower Kubica - tells his engineer he cannot pass as he has no grip.Lap 16: Kazuki 'I'm running on a wisp of fuel' Nakajima is the first to pit. He stays on the harder tyre. Vettel does another fastest lap. Button is now 27.4 seconds adrift of the leader. Raikkonen also pits.Lap 12: Not much drama to report I'm afraid folks. Here's the order: Vettel, Barrichello, Webber, Nakajima (I know!), Raikkonen, Rosberg, Trulli, Button, Massa, Glock, Fisichella (go on my son), Heidfeld, Alonso, Kubica, Hamilton, Piquet, Bourdais, Buemi, Kovalainen and Sutil.Lap 11: My carefully-positioned boyfriend... erm, sorry, I mean track-side mole... is embedded at Club. But all he has to report is that there are plenty of chips being consumed (gernerous servings too, apparently). And it's a bit chilly.Lap 10: Vettel's lead now 10 seconds and he's just posted another fastest lap. Webber maintains his close pursuit of Barrichello but has not thrown any moves.Lap nine: Hamilton's engineers have told him he must get past Kubica (P14). But the Brit said yesterday that his car is so poor the only way to drive it is slowly.Lap eight: Heidfeld is running well in 12th, having started 15th, despite his poorly nose (on the car, you understand).Lap seven: Vettel's lead is over 7 seconds now, but there's only eight tenths between Barrichello and Webber. Button still in eighth - he's over 15 seconds shy of the race leader now.Lap five: Webber is six seconds behind his team-mate in third. He'll need to get past Barrichello if he wants to hunt him down. Kubica has taken 14th from Hamilton - looks like happened when Alonso (in P13) ran wide and held up Hamilton, allowing the BMW through.Lap four: Over the radio we can hear Heidfeld's engineer telling him 'box! box!' (which means pit, not slam another driver in the face) for a new nose. But the militant German says 'nein'. He'll wait until the first stop. Vettel's lead now 4.4sec.Lap three: Vettel is storming - he made almost a second on Barrichello in that lap. Kovalainen wins the prize for worst start: he lined up in 13th and he's back in 19th.Lap two: Vettel's lead is already 2.5seconds, he's the fastest car on track. Hamilton is up to 14th already - he can see a points finish in his sights. Button has re-passed Massa for eighth.Lap one: Trulli also dropped down the order at the start. The Ferraris both got flyers - Massa looked fantastic surging past Button. The order in the top ten after the first tour: Vettel, Barrichello, Webber, Nakajima, Raikkonen, Rosberg, Trulli, Massa, Button and Glock.The start: Vettel good start, keeps ahead of Barrichello and Webber. Button has dropped down to eighth.Most of the frontrunners - apart from the Williams cars - are starting on the softer option tyres. We're about to get underway...Enough politics. We're counting down to the start of the GP now. It looks a little breezy at the former airfield. Flavio Briatore has told the BBC's Martin Brundle that he "loves" Bernie Ecclestone. Victoria Pendleton "cannot believe" that she's been standing on the Formula One grid. And Lewis Hamilton is casting round for a pair of binoculars so he can get a glimpse of the front of the pack...More breaking news: The Big Row has given Donington Park a 'get out of jail free' card. Apparently, if the planned breakaway goes ahead, the circuit bosses can pull out of their contract to host the GP. Which would help them out of any hole, were they not to achieve the funding necessary to bring the circuit up to scratch, wouldn't it?I think the news editor will pull out my computer's power cable if I don't mention The Big Row. The latest news: in a quote that will leave the City's finest barristers weeping into their copies of the Sunday Times this morning, Max Mosley has said that a resolution is imminent. "I think we would rather talk than litigate," he said. "We are very, very close as far as the facts are concerned. It's just if the teams want to sit down and iron out the last few difficulties." So are we close to a resolution then? Let's hope so: my fingernails are already bitten to the quick and I can handle any more last-minute re-writes. But what do you care about my bleeding hands - email me with your thoughts.Elsewhere on the grid, the Williams pair were light-fuelled and running highly. But the big story had to be Lewis Hamilton's dire 19th position. He wasn't helped by the red flags coming out owing to Adrian Sutil's heafty shunt, but the reigning champion later claimed he had little more to come from his curtailed flying lap. At least it'll be fun to watch him try and work his way up the field. Funny, though, how we've been uttering that line for the past few races. But we absolutely won't say 'what a difference a year makes'. That would be too cliched. Ooops.So Vettel, the only man other than Jenson to have won a grand prix this season, sits on pole. And what a lap it was. Information on the fuel loads released last night showed that the young German's car was carrying two more laps of fuel compared to team-mate Webber - with the Brawn GP drivers' cars carrying less than both the Red Bulls. So you'd have to fancy that the energy drink-powered cars have the edge, right? Both drivers praised recent technical developments made by the Milton Keynes-based squad, while Button could only whinge about his skitterish Brawn.1. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull-Renault2. Rubens Barrichello, Brawn-Mercedes3. Mark Webber, Red Bull-Renault4. Jarno Trulli, Toyota5. Kazuki Nakajima, Williams-Toyota6. Jenson Button, Brawn-Mercedes7. Nico Rosberg, Williams-Toyota8. Timo Glock, Toyota9. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari10. Fernando Alonso, Renault11. Felipe Massa, Ferrari12. Robert Kubica, BMW-Sauber13. Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren-Mercedes14. Nelson Piquet, Renault15. Nick Heidfeld, BMW-Sauber16. Giancarlo Fisichella, Force India-Mercedes17. Sebastien Bourdais, Toro Rosso-Ferrari18. Adrian Sutil, Force India-Mercedes19. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren-Mercedes20. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso-FerrariBut let's say 'pah!' to those anoraks at the circuit anyway - they were smugly expecting to watch hero-de-jour Jenson Button triumph, weren't they? Not so confident now though. Sixth on the grid? What's all that about we demanded after yesterday's qualifying session. No grip, according to Sir Jenson of Frome. Skating around like a duckling on an icy pond, apparently. Ole Button has written off his chances of victory already, so what can we expect from today's race? Let's remind ourselves of the grid...Well hello. So you're not one of the 90,000 people who've made the pilgrimage to Silverstone for it's last-ever Formula One grand prix* (*possibly) then? Never mind. I was going to say that it'll probably rain and you're better off tucked up on your sofa watching the action with a mug of tea and a packet of Hob Nobs. But I have to report that when I left home this morning - the Briggs abode being close enough to the track that the fat cats' helicopters were interfering with my television signal as I tried to watch Roary the Racing Car early this morning - the skies were a beautiful blue and not a drop of moisture threatened my 'do.Formula oneMotor sportBrawnToyotaFerrariToro RossoRed BullForce IndiaRenaultSauberWilliamsMcLarenLewis HamiltonJenson Buttonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Jenson Button on Monaco pole

• British driver pips Kimi Raikkonen into second position• World champion Hamilton to start 16th after sliding offJenson Button put himself in the perfect position from which to win his fifth race of the season when he took pole position for tomorrow's Monaco grand prix with a last-minute lap of 1min 14.902 sec during today's final qualifying session.Next to his Brawn-Mercedes on the front row will be the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen, with the second Brawn of Rubens Barrichello and the Red Bull-Renault of Sebastian Vettel behind them. Felipe Massa's Ferrari and Nico Rosberg are on the third row, ahead of Heikki Kovalainen's McLaren-Mercedes and Mark Webber's Red Bull.Of the 55 editions of the race held since the second world war, 22 have been won by the driver starting from pole position. The forecast is for fine weather in the principality tomorrow, reducing the risk of the sort of chaos that can produce a surprise result on this tight street circuit.Button's challengers are unlikely to include Lewis Hamilton, who found his way past an all-Ferrari front row to win his first Monaco GP with a brilliant display last year but crashed out of today's first session. He had just clocked the fastest first-sector time when he lost control under heavy braking for the sharp right-hander at Mirabeau, sliding wide and clouting the barrier with his left rear wheel.The red flag came out to call a temporary halt to the session while marshals removed the McLaren-Mercedes and Hamilton walked back to the pits, resigned to a place on the eighth row of the grid for tomorrow's race. To compound his frustration, the car had been looking like a candidate for its best result of the season on a circuit where its mechanical grip is not compromised by its aerodynamic deficiencies.Others who failed to make it past the first session included the entire BMW and Toyota teams, with Nick Heifeld and Robert Kubica an ignominious 17th and 18th in the German cars and Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock an even worse 19th and 20th for the Japanese manufacturer.Trulli, normally an outstanding performer in qualifying and a winner of this race from pole position five years ago, claimed to have been baulked by a Renault. For the BMWs, however, there was no excuse. Those who were watching the morning's untimed session out by the entry to the swimming pool complex could not fail to notice how twitchy the white cars looked as they changed direction through the fast left-right flick, a place in which the Brawns looked almost unnaturally stable."It's not going to be easy," Button said afterwards, looking forward to starting as favourite to win for the first time in the place where he has lived for the past eight years. "But it's a great feeling to be on pole here."Formula oneJenson ButtonLewis HamiltonMotor sportMcLarenBrawnFerrariguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Jenson Button suffers qualifying blow

• Button to start from a season-low 14th, Lewis Hamilton 12th• Fisichella gives Force India their first Formula One poleJenson Button's Formula One world title hopes suffered a crushing blow in a bizarre qualifying session for tomorrow's Belgian grand prix. For the first time this year the championship leader failed to make it into the top-10 shootout, with the 29-year-old down in a season-low 14th.In a remarkable hour at the Spa circuit, Giancarlo Fisichella - the man being touted to replace the hapless Luca Badoer at Ferrari - gave Force India their first F1 pole, although it remains to be seen how much fuel is in the car. It is the veteran Italian's fourth pole of his career, and his first since Malaysia in 2006, with Toyota's Jarno Trulli second, BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld third and Button's Brawn GP team-mate Rubens Barrichello fourth.Fisichella, whose previous best grid slot this year was 13th, was unable to explain his performance. "Pole position is amazing, fantastic," remarked the 36-year-old. "I'm so happy and thanks to the team who have done a great job. It's a remarkable result. I've shown what I can do. This is one of my favourite circuits, but I didn't expect to be on pole, in particular considering the budget of our team."Button offered a simple explanation for his poor display, conceding he "wasn't fast enough." He added: "It is pretty disastrous for tomorrow really. It's going to make it very difficult. I didn't have any pace on the soft tyres and every time I hit the brakes, the rear would move. I did not have any confidence in the rear end. It's strange to be four or five tenths [of a second] off Rubens. Our cars are different, but they are not that different."The 15-minute middle session was not just a disaster for Button, but also for Lewis Hamilton. The reigning world champion was unable to build on his victory in Hungary and pole at the European grand prix last weekend, qualifying down in 12th. His McLaren struggled in the twisty middle section of the track, whilst his team-mate Heikki Kovalainen fared worse and will start 15th, his second worst qualifying display this season. Renault's Fernando Alonso was another casualty in Q2 and was only 13th fastest.Luca Badoer, meanwhile, could be out of a job following tomorrow's race in the wake of another poor performance. The 38-year-old replacement for the recuperating Felipe Massa will again start at the back of the grid, as he did last weekend on his Ferrari debut in Valencia. Badoer ended the opening 20-minute Q1 by breaking the rear suspension of his car in careering backwards into a tyre wall after passing Sebastian Vettel on the approach to Les Combes. Renault's Romain Grosjean also struggled on his second outing, coming only one place better than Badoer in 19th.Leading grid positions after qualifying1 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India 1min 46.308secs, 2 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:46.395, 3 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:46.500, 4 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Brawn GP 1:46.513, 5 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:46.586, 6 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:46.633, 7 Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 1:46.677, 8 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1:46.761, 9 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:46.788, 10 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 1:47.362, 11 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:45.119, 12 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1:45.122, 13 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:45.136, 14 Jenson Button (Gbr) Brawn GP 1:45.251, 15 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren 1:45.259, 16 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:45.951, 17 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:46.032, 18 Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams 1:46.307, 19 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Renault 1:46.359, 20 Luca Badoer (Ita) Ferrari 1:46.957Formula OneMotor sportJenson ButtonBrawnForce Indiaguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Button turns up heat in the desert

• Briton overcomes high temperatures to clinch third grand prix• Button comes from fourth place on the grid to claim winJenson Button won his third race of the season after surviving trying conditions in the desert heat to claim the Bahrain grand prix.Button, who started the 57-lap race in fourth place on the grid, consolidated his lead in the drivers' championship, after steering his Brawn past the chequered flag ahead of the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel and Jarno Trulli's Toyota in 1hr 31 min 48sec.There was good news at last for McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, who crossed the line in fourth place, and also Kimi Raikkonen, who finally ended Ferrari's points with a sixth-place finish.But it was a disappointing day for Timo Glock, who managed to get a better start than his Toyota team-mate Jarno Trulli – who began in pole position – to take the lead at turn one. The young German was unable to capitalise on his promising start though and eventually slipped back to eighth place, one ahead of the Renault of Fernando Alonso.Hamilton, starting from fifth in his McLaren, also made good progress early on, the world champion passing Button and Vettel before the first corner. Hamilton then attacked Trulli in a bid to gain second place on the opening lap, but the 34-year-old managed to fend off the Briton.At the start of lap two, though, Button pulled off a fine manoeuvre to overtake Hamilton and reclaim third place by slipping down the inside of the McLaren at turn one. The jostling behind the leading five was considerable as drivers traded places.At the start of lap three, Robert Kubica in his BMW Sauber and the Williams of Kazuki Nakajima were both forced into the pits for new front wings due to damage sustained in the early skirmishes. Ferrari's Felipe Massa, who had started from eighth, was another of the casualties due to a front wing problem, while the second BMW Sauber of Nick Heidfeld also made an early unscheduled stop.Their problems dropped the quartet to the back of the field, with Massa, Kubica, Nakajima and Heidfeld running in 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th, and seemingly with little hope of points.On lap eight, running third and within sight of the Toyotas, Button was told to turn down his engine to prevent overheating, with the heat of the day not helping as temperatures hit 36 degrees centigrade.Running with a light fuel load compared to those behind him, it was no surprise when Glock was the first of the leaders to pit at the end of 11. Surprisingly, despite carrying another three laps' worth of fuel more than Glock, Trulli pitted a lap later, resulting in a call to Button from the pit wall "to give it everything you've got".When he made his first call into the pits, he emerged ahead of Trulli, keeping faith with the supersoft tyres that had served him well to that point. In contrast, Trulli had switched from the soft tyres to the primes which were running close to a second per lap slower, as was proved during the middle stint of the race.By the time of the second stop at the end of lap 37, with both men in, Button had opened up a cushion of almost 18 seconds. Trulli switched back to the soft tyres, whilst Button was forced to take on the prime, and the duel appeared to be on between those two drivers.However, Vettel was to prove a major player following an unusually poor start from his perspective, although he was the heaviest with fuel of the top five. Starting from third on the grid he was passed by both Button and Hamilton, who used the KERS boost button to pass the German and his fellow Briton on the run down to the first corner.It was a position Hamilton was soon to relinquish, though, due to the superiority of the Brawn over the McLaren, with Button making his move on the 24-year-old at turn one of lap two. As for Vettel, he was forced to hang onto the exhaust of the duo and hope two rounds of pit stops would work in his favour. And they did as Vettel edged out Hamilton at the first and then Trulli at the second. The latter will have been especially gratifying as he found himself held up by Trulli for 18 laps in the middle stint, even though he was on the marginally quicker softer tyres.Over the closing stages the tables were turned as Trulli was unable to make any kind of move on Vettel, despite running closely behind the Red Bull. Come the finish, Button clinched his victory by 7.1 seconds over Vettel, with Trulli third, followed by Hamilton who was 22 seconds down, but who grabbed his best result of the season.Button now leads the drivers' championships by 12 points over his team-mate Barrichello, who has 19 points, one more than Vettel.Bahrain grand prix result1 Jenson Button (Gbr) Brawn GP 1hr 31mins 48.182secs2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1:31:55.3693 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:31:57.3524 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1:32:10.2785 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Brawn GP 1:32:25.9616 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:32:30.2397 Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 1:32:31.0628 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:32:40.9579 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 1:32:46.380Drivers' championship1 Jenson Button (Gbr) Brawn GP 31pts2 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Brawn GP 193 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 184 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 14.55 Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 126 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 9.57 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 98 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 59 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 410 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren 411 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 3.512 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 313 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 314 Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1Jenson ButtonBrawnFormula oneMotor sportguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Vettel pips Button to Turkish GP pole

• Sebastian Vettel beats Jenson Button on final lap in Istanbul• Lewis Hamilton suffers oversteer and finishes a lowly 16thRed Bull's Sebastian Vettel claimed pole position for the Turkish grand Prix ahead of Brawn GP's Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello in this afternoon's qualifying session at Istanbul Park.The 21-year-old German driver left it until the final lap to post his fastest time of 1min 28.316secs and denied Button a hat-trick of starts from the front of the grid.It is the third pole of the 21-year-old German's career, with both his victories to date coming from the front of the grid, in Italy last year and China this season."It's quite a surprise to be quickest in all three sessions, but finally we have made it and we are ahead of the white cars," said Vettel. "It's been quite an effort by the team because we had some parts arrive late, but they've fixed them on and we've made it."The 2008 champion, Lewis Hamilton, had another afternoon to forget as he continued to struggle with his car which former constructor Eddie Jordan described as "simply hopeless, possibly the worst McLaren have ever designed".Hamilton struggled with his steering at corner eight and spun out of qualifying on the first round. He will start tomorrow's grand prix facing an uphill battle from 16th on the grid."Welcome to my world," said Hamilton in a rare display of gallows humour. "It's the car. It has got slower and slower throughout the weekend as the track has got hotter. It looked great yesterday, but this morning it didn't look fantastic."I don't think we should rush anything. It's better we take our time to refine it. It's not like we can claw back 60 points [in the championship]."Vettel's Red Bull team-mate, Mark Webber, will start the race fourth on the grid, ahead of Toyota's Jarno Trulli and the Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa.Leading grid positions after qualifying1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1min 28.316secs, 2 Jenson Button (Gbr) Brawn GP 1:28.421, 3 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Brawn GP 1:28.579, 4 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:28.613, 5 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:28.666, 6 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:28.815, 7 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:28.858, 8 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:29.075, 9 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 1:29.191, 10 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:29.357, 11 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:27.521, 12 Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams 1:27.629, 13 Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 1:27.795, 14 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren 1:28.207, 15 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:28.391, 16 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1:28.318, 17 Nelson Piquet Jr (Bra) Renault 1:28.582, 18 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:28.708, 19 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India 1:28.717, 20 Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:28.918Formula oneMotor sportLewis HamiltonMcLarenguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Rubens Barrichello: 'Good things will come my way soon'

In the eight races in the 2009 Formula One season so far, Rubens Barrichello has come second behind his Brawn team-mate Jenson Button seven times.