Tost excuses Buemi after poor Hungarian GP

Scuderia Toro Rosso team boss Franz Tost has excused Sebastien Buemi for a poor performance in Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix...  

Button pips Vettel to pole in Spain

• Jenson Button posts quickest time in dramatic last lap• Lewis Hamilton starts 14th on the grid in McLarenBrawn GP's Jenson Button snatched pole position from Red Bull's Sebastien Vettel in a dramatic finish to qualifying at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya.The British driver posted the fastest time of the day on his final lap with a time of one minute 20.52 seconds to beat Germany's Vettel to the No1 slot on the grid by just 0.133 seconds. The last eight winners at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya, and 13 of the last 14 overall, have all started on pole, underlining how notoriously difficult it is to overtake on this track. It was Button's sixth pole of his career, and third this season.The current champion, Lewis Hamilton, finished a disappointing 14th after yesterday being honoured by unveiling a champions plaque at the circuit.The season's two most impressive drivers now look set to slug it out for the drivers' championship with Button on 31 points and Vettel on 19 for the four races to date. Button will be hoping to make it four wins out of five tomorrow."It could have gone very wrong, but it was by far the best lap I've had this weekend, so I'm very happy. It was a bit of a surprise," Button said."When I heard the shouts I had qualified on pole, it felt very good. The package is a good step forward. We have to work with it a bit more, and get the most out of it – I hope we can anyway. But I'm excited. I didn't expect to be sat in this position at the moment."Vettel, who has qualified in the top three in each of the five races this season, said: "We have a very strong car. This weekend it has worked pretty well, but not good enough to beat Jenson. I would have loved to have had the pole, but second position is great."Lewis Hamilton's 14th is the worst position of his F1 career in the dry."I guess it's a bit of a disappointing qualifying for us. We did the best we could, but the laps weren't fantastic. We had hoped to be higher up," Hamilton said."But it's not last, and there's lots that can happen. It's a long tough race, so I hope we can get a point, that would be great."Kimi Raikkonen's miserable season continued with 16th place after Ferrari mistakenly calculated his time after just five laps would be enough. It was the second time this season Ferrari had called a driver in too early, with Felipe Massa suffering due to the team's overconfidence in Malaysia.Raikkonen was forced to sit in the garage as his name slowly slid down the timing screen until coming to rest at 16th, his worst performance since Australia last year.Raikkonen said: "It's really disappointing because the car was looking in good shape this weekend. I was not too keen to go out again either really because I thought the time we had done would be enough."1 Jenson Button (Gbr) Brawn GP 1min 20.527secs2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1:20.6603 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Brawn GP 1:20.7624 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:20.9345 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:21.0496 Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 1:21.2477 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:21.2548 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:21.3929 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 1:22.55810 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:22.68511 Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams 1:20.53112 Nelson Piquet Jr (Bra) Renault 1:20.60413 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:20.67614 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1:20.80515 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:21.06716 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:21.29117 Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:21.30018 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren 1:21.67519 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:21.74220 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India 1:22.204Formula oneJenson ButtonLewis Hamiltonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Buemi apologises after Piquet shunt

May 24 (GMM) Sebastien Buemi, the only rookie in the 2009 Monaco grand prix, apologised in person to Nelson Piquet after taking his Brazilian rival out of the race.

Buemi apologises after Piquet shunt

Bourdais makes his point for Toro Rosso Sebastien Buemi, the only rookie in the 2009 Monaco Grand Prix, apologised in person to Nelson Piquet after taking his Brazilian rival out of the race...  

Buemi shines again for Toro Rosso

Chinese GP - Toro Rosso Ferrari - Race After qualifying an impressive tenth, Sebastien Buemi put in a great race in his Toro Rosso Ferrari to finish in eighth position, adding another points to the two secured in Melbourne...  

Fine Vettel celebrates grand prix win

• Red Bull one-two gives team first formula one win• Lewis Hamilton's McLaren finishes sixth in the wetSebastian Vettel led from the off in wet conditions in Shanghai to help Red Bull to their first formula one victory, ahead of team-mate Mark Webber. Current leader of the standings, Jenson Button, had to settle for third, while Lewis Hamilton came home in sixth for McLaren.The result leaves Button with 21 championship points, six ahead of fellow Brawn driver Rubens Barichello, who finished fourth. Vettel's win sees him join Timo Glock on 10 points. Meanwhile there was more misery for Ferrari, who remain without a point after Kimi Raikkonen finished 10th and Felipe Massa retired.With the weather forcing the gird to start behind the safety car, the race came down to a tactical battle between Red Bull and this season's pace-setters Brawn. Although both Barichello and Button had been quicker in qualifying once fuel load was taken into account, Vettel in particular tore around the circuit as the teams played cat and mouse through successive pit stops.Button briefly led, but Vettel soon regained the front when the British driver went in for refuelling, and never looked like relinquishing the lead as he and Webber built a commanding advantage over the rest of the field.Lewis Hamilton fought his way up after starting down in ninth, but span on more than one occassion to allow McLaren team-mate Heikki Kovalainen to eventually take fifth. The point-scorers were completed by Timo Glock's Toyota and the Toro Rosso of Sebastien Buemi.Button conceded Brawn GP were simply outpaced. His hopes were dealt a blow when clouds gathered for the first time this weekend before rain fell steadily a few hours before the race. Consequently, organisers decided to start the grand prix behind the safety car. That left Webber and Button vying for second."They seemed to be very strong from the word go," said Button. "It was a very difficult race today and I am so pleased that we got both cars to the end of 56 laps and scored as many points as possible."The conditions were pretty crazy with rivers of water all over the circuit which changed every time you encountered them. Mark Webber and I had a good fight for a few laps but I just couldn't stay with him. However to finish the race today is an achievement in itself and to be on the podium is fantastic. We couldn't have beaten the Red Bulls and congratulations to Sebastian and Mark on a great result."Brawn GP had been unable to do any testing in the wet prior to the start of the season and the struggle with the car's tyres in the conditions today is a cause for concern for Button. "I don't know if anyone else struggled but Rubens and myself struggled quite a bit," he added."I don't know what reason for that is. Obviously the car is working in a different way, but we will solve those problems I hope in the future because we can't have these guys that far in front. We just couldn't challenge these two guys [Vettel and Webber] today, who were immensely quick. But it is great to score six points and that's important so that we can keep the consistency."Lewis Hamilton meanwhile was left to rue what he saw as one of his worst ever drives in the wet. The 24-year-old traditionally thrives in wet conditions but struggled in Shanghai, coming off the circuit five times on his way to sixth at the chequered flag."I love racing in the wet and I would say that was one of my worst wet performances," he said. "I generally have good wet races but this was incredibly tough. I didn't have any downforce on this car and it was a real struggle but I am glad I got some points for the team.""All weekend I have been pushing that car beyond its limits but today just proved that I wasn't able to avoid the oversteer moments. It was a little bit fun at the beginning when I had some grip but as always I don't know if it is my driving style or my car, but I seem to destroy my tyres early on."Final race order1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1hr 57mins 43.485secs2 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:57:54.4553 Jenson Button (Gbr) Brawn GP 1:58:28.4604 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Brawn GP 1:58:47.1895 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren 1:58:48.5876 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1:58:55.3517 Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 1:58:57.9618 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:58:59.9249 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:59:07.79410 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:59:15.23511 Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:59:17.64112 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:59:19.31913 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:59:30.33814 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India +1 lap15 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams +1 lap16 Nelson Piquet Jr. (Bra) Renault +2 laps17 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India +6 lapsNot Classified: 18 Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams +13 laps19 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari +36 laps20 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota +38 lapsChampionship standingsJenson Button (Gbr) Brawn GP 21ptsRubens Barrichello (Bra) Brawn GP 15Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 10Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 10Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 9.5Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 8.5Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 4Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 4Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren 4Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 4Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 3.5Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 3Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1Formula oneRed BullBrawnMcLarenJenson ButtonLewis HamiltonMotor sportguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds