Williams have been suspended from the Formula 1 Teams' Association (Fota) after signing up for the 2010 season.
The teams are in talks over planned budgetary curbs for next year and several teams including Ferrari say they will quit if a deal is not agreed.
"Fota's decision, although regrettable, is understandable," said team principal Frank Williams.
"As a company whose only business is F1 with obligations to our partners and employees entering was unquestionable."
Team chiefs met in Monaco at the weekend to discuss the proposals put forward by International Motorsport Federation (FIA) chief Max Mosley, and further talks are planned for London on Wednesday.Ferrari, Renault, Red Bull and Toyota have all threatened to pull out of the sport if the budgetary restrictions are forced through, but on Monday, the day after the Monaco Grand Prix, Williams broke ranks and confirmed they were signing up for next season.
At the time, Williams chief executive Adam Parr said they felt "morally and legally obliged" to make it clear the team would continue to take part in F1.
"We owe it to our employees, sponsors and fans who are affected by statements that teams may not enter next year," he added.
Teams have until this Friday to submit their entries for 2010 season. It is not clear how long Williams' suspension from Fota will be in operation.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Williams suspended in sign-up row
D-day looms for 2010 F1 entries
The deadline for teams to submit their entries for the 2010 Formula 1 championship expires on Friday as debate over the rules continues.
Teams wishing to fill one of the 13 available places must inform governing body the FIA by 29 May.
On Monday, Williams broke ranks with Formula 1 teams' association (Fota) by announcing that they intend to enter.
The remaining nine members of Fota are expected to make a united decision on whether to follow suit on Friday.
The heads of each team met in London on Wednesday to plot their next move as negotiations with the FIA over the future of the sport continue.
While Williams were temporarily suspended from Fota after deciding to sign up for 2010, a spokesman said that meeting was generally "positive and constructive".
The teams have told the FIA they will commit until 2012 if president Max Mosley scraps his controversial rules, which include a 45m euro (£39.6m) budget cap, for 2010. At a meeting at the Monaco Grand Prix, it was agreed in principle to delay the cap until 2011, while Mosley has made other concessions to the teams on governance.
The ongoing debate over F1's regulations has made the issue of submitting an entry for 2010 more complex than usual.
Although the deadline expires on 29 May, six months earlier than normal, the FIA will consider late entries, although delayed submissions could trigger a penalty.
There is, however, little leeway for late entries as the FIA will publish its list of accepted teams and drivers for the 2010 championship on 12 June.
A number of new teams are expected to submit entries for consideration by the FIA on Friday.
Team US F1 and Spain's Campos Racing have already applied to compete next season while other names, including former F1 constructor Lola, are expected to throw their hats into the ring before the deadline runs out.
Norfolk-based Litespeed GP confirmed they will also submit an entry.
The FIA's cost-cutting directive is partly designed to encourage new teams to enter F1 and Litespeed GP's commercial director Dominic England agreed a budget cap would help.
"As long as we can see the budget cap coming down, we are moving towards a level playing field," England told BBC Sport.
"We are hoping the cap will come down to a sensible level, if it goes above £40m it makes things more difficult."
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Improved display pleases Ferrari
Team boss Stefano Domenicali says Ferrari have made significant progress after closing in on 2009 pacesetters Brawn at the Monaco Grand Prix.
Kimi Raikkonen finished third, one place ahead of team-mate Felipe Massa.
"Both cars collected points which was a very important step," said Domenicali. "We are going in the right direction."
Raikkonen, who collected Ferrari's first podium of the year, added: "We need to be happy after such a difficult start to the season."
Ferrari emerged from their worst start to a campaign in 28 years at the Spanish Grand Prix as Massa limped home in sixth, sacrificing fourth when he mistakenly believed he was running low on fuel. But the team pushed on in Monaco as Raikkonen lined up on the front row alongside eventual race-winner Jenson Button before claiming third.
Domenicali was satisfied to see his cars exhibit genuine pace around the streets of Monte Carlo to spark hopes that Ferrari, and not Red Bull, can take the fight to Brawn in the remaining 11 races.
"Now we can see that we are closer to the other cars in front of us," the Italian said. "That's a good sign.
"That is good motivation for all the people at home who are working flat out to improve our performance.
"We now have to stay focused on our job and stay focused on our need to improve internally.
"Downforce is the most important thing that we have to recover as this will help a lot in the high-speed corners."
Relaxed Button cool on title talk
Jenson Button rejected suggestions that the world championship title is his to lose after he won the Monaco Grand Prix to take his fifth victory in six races.
The 29-year-old Englishman extended his lead to 16 points over Brawn team-mate Rubens Barrichello, who was second.
But Button, who drove an impeccable race, said: "You're putting in a bit of negative energy by saying I can't lose.
"I have an advantage over the others, but it's all to play for and not mine to lose. I wouldn't put it like that."
Button is only the seventh driver to win five of a season's first six races in the history of Formula 1, following in the footsteps of all-time greats Alberto Ascari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Jim Clark, Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell and Michael Schumacher.
All those drivers won the championship in the season they started in that fashion. Button said: "I'm doing the best I can, and at the moment that's good enough, but we'll see what happens in the next few races."
He did allow, though, that his Monaco victory had put him in a strong position in the championship.
"We've proved that the package is good and I think we're looking very strong for the next few races. This race is massive for us.
"After winning five races I would have hoped to have had a little bit more of a lead.
"The good thing is in a way it makes it more exciting that there's only two points between first and second.
"If Rubens starts winning the next few, or someone else starts winning the next few races, I'll be happy there's just two points from first to second. It's just the way the points system is.
"To win five races in a season is different from most seasons in F1. It is a competitive season. Red Bull's up there, McLaren, Ferrari, Toyotas, we have a lot of different challengers, and in a way that's good because everyone's fighting over the points." Current world champion Lewis Hamilton thinks Button is well placed to take his title.
"Jenson's doing a fantastic job and clearly he's in the best position to win the championship. I'd definitely put my money on him," said Hamilton.
Button admitted that a win around the famous street track in the Mediterranean Principality had a special meaning.
"I crossed the line and I said to the boys, 'Yeah, Monaco baby.' This one means so much," the 29-year-old said.
"I said before the race it doesn't mean any more than any other race, but that might have been a little white lie. I didn't want to put any pressure on myself.
"We all know the truth - this circuit is fantastic. It's completely different to any other circuit we race on and to win here is a great feeling.
"It's very strange feeling because you start backing off a little bit but in reality it's the worst thing because when you lose concentration anything can happen. So much was going through my mind. You start thinking: 'If I get this to the end I'm going to win in Monaco'.
"I had to really concentrate. But the last two laps were very enjoyable - I knew I had a big enough gap and I could just enjoy it."
Button's position is all the more remarkable because for much of the winter the team were fighting for survival.
Classy Button eases to Monaco win
Jenson Button extended his championship lead with a fifth victory in six races as he led Rubens Barrichello to a Brawn one-two in the Monaco Grand Prix.
Button sealed his victory in the early stages of the race, when he managed the deteriorating tyres on his car far better than his Brazilian team-mate.
Barrichello was left to hold off the Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa, who finished third and fourth.
Red Bull's Mark Webber was fifth with world champion Lewis Hamilton 12th.
Williams's Nico Rosberg, Renault's Fernando Alonso and the Toro Rosso of Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais filled the remaining points places down to eighth.
McLaren driver Hamilton was never in contention after making a disastrous mistake to crash out in qualifying and then starting at the back of the grid after a penalty for changing his gearbox.In contrast, the man who looks increasingly likely to succeed him to the crown had a flawless afternoon.
His only mistake came after the chequered flag when he parked his car in the wrong place and had to run back along the pit straight for the podium ceremony.
Button's victory extends his world championship lead over Barrichello to 16 points - and to 28 over the third-placed man, Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, who scored no points after crashing out of the race.
It was Button's first win at Formula 1's most glamorous venue, and the drive of a champion in the making, taking advantage of circumstances as they unfolded to carve an unassailable winning margin.
"Before the weekend I said this race doesn't mean anything different from any other, that was more to stop the pressure building up on me," he told BBC Sport. "It's a bit of a lie really.
"We all know the truth - this circuit is fantastic.I said on the radio: 'we've got Monaco, baby'. We've got the victory and that means a lot, a one-two here is exceptional. It's going to go down in history [what this team has achieved] this year, for sure."
His team boss, Ross Brawn, added: "I'm lost for words with him because he's exceeding everything I thought possible. Stunning."
Unlike all the other front-runners, the Brawns started on the super-soft tyres, which give better initial grip, but are subject to graining, when the surface of the tyre rips and reduces grip.
Button and Barrichello both suffered the problem from about eight laps into the race but Button coped much better and was able to extend his lead by as much as two seconds a lap.
That meant that Barrichello, who was less than two seconds behind his team-mate on lap six, was 18.2secs adrift by the time he made his first pit stop on 16.From that moment on, the race was effectively over, and Barrichello was left to concern himself far more with the Ferraris behind him rather than with beating Button to the victory.
"The tyres gave us a start, but we didn't expect them to give us so much trouble in the first stint," added Brawn. "But the drivers managed it well.
"It is a special race and it's a challenging weekend. In such circumstances, to come first and second is stunning."
Constructors champions Ferrari achieved their first podium of 2009 as they bid to recover from the worst start to a season in their long history.
Though Raikkonen and Massa were evenly matched, the Finn was able to convert his second place on the grid into third place, while Massa was caught up in some frenetic action in the opening laps.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Hamilton talks up Monaco chances
World champion Lewis Hamilton is hopeful the unique challenge of the Monaco circuit could help him have his best race of the season on Sunday.
McLaren have been off the pace in 2009 but the street track could play to its strengths and minimise its weaknesses.
"I do struggle in the high-speed corners - I'm probably losing 0.2-0.3 seconds overall," he said.
"In other areas I'm able to do a little bit better than other drivers. It gives us a fighting chance to do better." The 24-year-old was third and second fastest in Thursday's two practice sessions and while these are a notoriously poor indicator of race form, Hamilton looked genuinely more competitive than so far this season.
The McLaren car is slow in the high-speed corners - Massenet, Tabac, and the first Swimming Pool chicane - because it lacks aerodynamic downforce compared with the front-running cars of Brawn and Red Bull.
But the McLaren is reasonably strong in the sort of slower corners that abound elsewhere on the track.
The track's nature also makes it one of the few where a good driver can make up for some of the deficiencies in his car, and Hamilton's driving style is particularly well suited to the circuit.
He won here last year, and felt he was robbed of a debut win in 2007 when McLaren forced him into an earlier-than-planned pit stop while he was chasing team-mate Fernando Alonso. "Driving Monaco is a spectacular thing," said Hamilton, talking to BBC Sport.
"You can never compare it to any other circuit you go to or any other experience. It's such a huge buzz here it feels amazing.
"It gives me a much better fighting chance in terms of getting the car up there, but the others are strong, too."
Hamilton qualified only 14th for the Spanish Grand Prix two weeks ago after he failed to get into the third session of qualifying, the run-off for the top 10 grid places.
But he is optimistic that things should be different here on Saturday.
"Q3 should be possible," he said, "then when we get there we have to see how we can do. To beat the Brawns will be tough."
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Fighting Massa eyes Monaco podium
Felipe Massa believes Ferrari will be back on the podium at Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix as they bid to recover from their worst start to a season.
The best result so far in a disastrous 2009 for the constructors' champions was Massa's sixth in Spain, where the Brazilian spotted "some steps forward".
"I really think Monaco can be the turning point in our season," he said.
"I believe in the first podium of the season. After a start to the season we didn't expect, we've improved a lot."
Ferrari have been beset by problems this year with a number of other teams - such as Brawn GP, Red Bull and Toyota - forging ahead on the track thanks to new Formula 1 regulations which the reigning constructors' champions have struggled to adapt to.
After the Spanish GP I read that I've raised the white flag for this season - this is not the case and I want that to be clear
Felipe Massa
Off the track, they have threatened to quit the sport over the budget cap and two-tier championship proposed by governing body, the FIA, and have now filed an injunction to block the move.
Even Massa's first points of the season in Spain last time out were tinged with regret - running in fourth, he was ordered to slow down during the closing stages to conserve fuel as he faced the threat of running out.
But the Brazilian, whose team-mate Kimi Raikkonnen finished a season-best sixth in Bahrain, insists they can turn their season around.
"After the Spanish GP I read that I've raised the white flag for this season - this is not the case and I want that to be clear," added Massa, who just missed out on the title last year.
"Obviously the situation in the championship is very difficult, and it is quite realistic to say that catching up seems to be almost impossible, but that doesn't mean we've given up."
Massa trails Brawn's championship leader Jenson Button by 38 points but is adamant Ferrari will fight until the end of the season. "We'll continue working on the car and will give it our all to win races and finish the championship the best way possible.
"We showed last year we're not a team that gives up when there are negative results.
"I will fight and push with the whole team to improve things race by race.
"The time for a comeback always comes, and I'm certain it will - today more than ever - both in the constructors' and drivers' championships."
Ferrari fail in budget cap appeal
Ferrari have failed in their bid to stop Formula 1's governing body introducing controversial new rules that limit team spending.
Their appeal against the FIA, which wants to introduce an optional £40m budget cap from 2010, was dismissed by a French court in Paris on Wednesday.
The proposal has prompted Ferrari to threaten to quit F1, with Renault, Red Bull and Toyota sharing a similar view.
The official deadline for entries into the 2010 world championship is 29 May.
The FIA's regulations for 2010 propose giving teams who accept the cap greater technical freedom than those wishing to carry on with unlimited budgets, such as Ferrari.
It says it wants to introduce the move in order to cut costs and ensure F1's survival amid the global financial crisis - along with encouraging new teams to enter the sport. Ferrari say the optional budget cap would make it a two-tier championship, which they cannot accept, and that they do not believe it is possible to control.
They also say they believe it is wrong that a team accepting the budget cap has more freedom and different technical regulations, and that - with 700 employees worldwide - they are unable to reduce its finances significantly in such a short time.
Reacting to the rejection of the court injunction on Wednesday, FIA president Max Mosley said he welcomed the judges decision.
"No competitor should place their own interests above those of the sport in which they compete," he said.
"The FIA, the teams and our commercial partners will now continue to work together to ensure the well being of the Formula 1 in 2010 and beyond."
All 10 team owners had met with F1 commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone and Mosley in London on Tuesday and, though it was agreed a two-tier championship was not acceptable, Mosley insisted there would be "no compromise" on the cap.
Having failed to emerge with a concrete solution then, team bosses are now set to meet in Monaco ahead of this weekend's Grand Prix where they will again hold discussions with Mosley.
"You're seeing many teams trying to get into F1 next year, but if you lose Ferrari and gain new teams it won't be the same," said team driver Felipe Massa following Wednesday's appeal rejection.
"I'm a Ferrari driver and I'm very proud of that.
"The way the championship has started is very different [this year]. We've had a lot of political fighting and this does not help the sport.
"It would be nice to have more sport and less politics. It's difficult comment but many things are not over yet."
On Tuesday, Mosley said he believed that submitting the injunction was a sign Ferrari do not want to go through with their threat to quit the sport.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Quit threat is no bluff - Ferrari
Ferrari insist they are serious in their threat to pull out of Formula 1 at the end of the year over plans to introduce a budget cap.
Board member Piero Ferrari likened the situation to a threat by his father Enzo, the company's founder, to quit F1 for the Indianapolis 500 in the 1980s.
"He wasn't bluffing," Piero Ferrari told The Guardian newspaper. "He was serious. And so are we."
Ferrari are one of four major teams to be unhappy with new rules for 2010.
Red Bull, Toyota and Renault have also said they will not enter next year's F1 championship if the rules are not changed.
Governing body the FIA has plans to introduce a voluntary £40m budget cap, with greater technical freedom for the teams that choose to apply it.
These freedoms would give a car a performance advantage estimated at as much as three seconds a lap.
Piero Ferrari is the only surviving son of Enzo Ferrari and owns 10% of the company.
He was present in the board meeting on Tuesday when the company's directors decided to end their 60-year involvement in F1 if FIA president Max Mosley does not amend his new rules."Our first objection is to the budget cap, which we don't believe it's possible to control," he said.
"The second is that it is wrong that a team accepting the budget cap has more freedom and different technical regulations.
"If we are on the starting line of a grand prix, we have to stay within the same regulations, the same technical specifications.
Ferrari stated: "It's like soccer. In Italy we have Internazionale, who are winning, and they spend huge amounts of money for the best players.
"But in Serie A you also have a team like Catania, who have no money.
"So do you say to Catania, 'You can play with 12 players' and to Inter, 'You must play with nine'? It wouldn't be fair.
"But this is what the new Formula 1 rules are like. They're not acceptable at all.
"Everybody on the grid has to start with the same rules, otherwise there's no competition and it's somebody else deciding who's going to win."Mosley has said that the budget cap is necessary for F1 to survive the global financial crisis.
He says it is too expensive to run a winning car and believes the costs are discouraging new teams from entering.
However, Ferrari insisted: "This is not because we want to spend money. We want to save money. All the constructors are keen on reducing the F1 expenses.
"But you can reduce the expenditure without having a budget cap. And it's not enforceable, anyway.
"It's difficult enough to enforce the technical rules, as was proved recently by the business of the diffuser. So how can you enforce or control a budget cap?
"A better way is by controlling the expenses on the technical side.
"We are doing it on engines and it will be done next year on the gearbox. We can even introduce limits on material costs - carbon fibre, maybe.
"I have good friends racing in Nascar in the United States. They control the costs - the number of mechanics, for instance - and the teams are racing with the same rules for everybody. We could do something like that."
Monday, May 11, 2009
Massa writes off title hopes
Felipe Massa has written off his title chances for this year in the wake of another bitterly frustrating race with Ferrari.
Massa at least ended his worst start to a Formula One season with a sixth-placed finish in Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix.
But it was not without its issues as Massa was ordered to slow down during the closing stages to conserve fuel otherwise there was the threat he would run out.
From a relatively comfortable fourth, Massa was passed by Sebastian Vettel in his Red Bull at the start of lap 63, and then on the last lap by Renault's Fernando Alonso.
Although he has three points in the bag, he now trails championship leader Jenson Button by 38, too many as far as he is concerned.
"I don't think this year, maybe next year," replied Massa when asked if he could still fight for the championship.
"We have so many problems to solve, firstly to improve the car, and then with all the problems we had in the race and with those during the season.
"Brawn have now won four times in five races. How can you fight? Even if we improve the car massively, it doesn't mean they will not score points."
When questioned as to whether it was over, he said: "For us I think yes. I think so.
"But it doesn't mean we will not fight for victory. If we carry on like that we can fight for victories."
Massa's problem stemmed from the fact all the fuel at his second stop did not make its way inside the car, with that matter to now be investigated by the team.
"It's frustrating because after a great qualifying and great race, we lost a great opportunity to score good points, but we didn't because of an issue," added Massa.
"But for the fuel problem I could have certainly stayed ahead of Vettel and Alonso. It meant the final part of the race was a pain.
"I was already struggling on the harder tyres and then I had to try and save fuel as much as possible, while at the same time staying ahead of Vettel.
"Then the team told me if I wanted to make it to the finish I would have to let Vettel by and slow down a lot.
"If I had made another pit stop I would have finished out of the points.
"It's a real shame to have lost two places in the final stages, even if we've finally made it to the scoreboard."
To add to Ferrari's woes, Kimi Raikkonen retired on lap 18 with a hydraulic problem.
Hamilton: What can I do?
Lewis Hamilton is at his wit's end with a car he has been unable to defend his F1 world title with this season.
Although girlfriend and Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger was at the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday to cheer on Hamilton, he finished out of the points in ninth and a lap down on race winner Jenson Button.
The 24-year-old has revealed his McLaren was so tetchy around the Circuit de Catalunya that at times it felt as though he was driving on ice.
"What can I do?" queried a frustrated Hamilton.
"I drove my heart out, as I always do, it's just that the car is not good. I had no grip.
"It's just a shame they [McLaren] haven't given me a car to defend the championship with. It's that bad because I'm driving the socks off it, yet there's just no hope.
"I gave it 100% for the entire race, so ninth place doesn't feel like the proper reward for the team who worked hard all weekend."
With 12 races remaining, Hamilton is 32 points behind Button, and barring a miracle is virtually out of the title race.
Although insisting he is "not even thinking about that," he came close to conceding the game is almost up.
"At the moment we don't have the car to win the championship," added Hamilton.
"But the team have done a fantastic job and every weekend they do a fantastic job. We have great reliability and the morale in the team is high."
It is now a case of roll on Monaco for Hamilton, the scene of one of his greatest victories of last season, and a circuit where he may have a chance of fighting at the front.
With no high-speed corners to contend with, unlike in Barcelona, the McLaren should react more favourably to the demands of the principality's famed street circuit.
"We're all hopeful Monaco will be a better race for us because the absence of fast corners shouldn't hurt us as much as it did here," assessed Hamilton.
"In fact, I'm already looking forward to it."
Sadly for Hamilton, racism again reared its ugly head in Barcelona, with the FIA looking into the latest incident to blight the sport.
BBC pictures caught a man with a blacked-up face, arms and hands, and wearing a Vodafone McLaren Mercedes T-shirt prior to the start of the race.
He appeared to be an isolated figure in a crowd of 92,000, but it was all too reminiscent of the scenes in February last year when Hamilton was racially abused during a test session.
On that occasion a group of people with their faces painted black, wearing curly wigs and t-shirts adorned with the words 'Hamilton's family', caused outrage.
The FIA have confirmed the issue is under review as a spokesperson said: "We are aware of it and we are looking into it."
Circuit boss Ramon Praderas will be on tenterhooks as the FIA made it clear after what transpired 15 months ago that serious sanctions could be imposed if they were to offend again.
Barrichello quit threat to Brawn
Rubens Barrichello has threatened to quit Formula 1 if he finds out his Brawn team are favouring Jenson Button.
The Brazilian lost Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix to his team-mate after boss Ross Brawn changed Button's strategy.
"If I get the slightest sniff of the fact that they have favoured Jenson, I will hang up my helmet tomorrow," he told United States channel SpeedTV.
"But I know Ross wouldn't do that. He asked me to drive for him and he knows I want to race fairly with Jenson."
Team orders is a sensitive subject for the veteran Brazilian, who left Ferrari in 2005 a year before the end of his contract because he was fed up with not being allowed to race team-mate Michael Schumacher.
Brawn was Ferrari's technical director at the time.Barrichello will also be aware that Button's win extended his lead in the world championship over his team-mate to 14 points - and that there will eventually come a time when Brawn have to focus their efforts on one driver as they seek to fend off the threat from other teams.
Asked if he feared a return to those days with his new team, Barrichello said: "I have had experience of that and if it happens I won't follow any team orders. I'm making this clear now but we have a much more friendly situation in this team.
"There's no way I'm going to be crying and saying I should have this or that. I had the ability to win and I didn't."
Barrichello had expected to win the race after making a brilliant start from third on the grid and leading into the first corner.
Brawn planned for both cars to do three pit stops but they changed Button's strategy at his first stop because they were worried he would otherwise get held up by the Williams of Nico Rosberg - who Barrichello only just emerged ahead of after his first stop.Button then proceeded to set an impressive series of times, despite his heavy fuel load early in his second stint.
However, Barrichello remained on target to win until his own second stop - he then had problems with his third set of tyres and lost sufficient time for Button to get ahead.
As the drivers waited to go out on to the podium, Barrichello sat on a sofa and asked: "How did I lose that race?"
He added: "My third set of tyres was not good, I don't know if something was broken on the car. So I couldn't keep the pace up and from then on it was a struggle to keep the car on the track and a relief to come second.
"I'm disappointed I didn't win the race because I felt I had it in the bag today but it's still great for the team."
Brawn denied there had been any decision to favour Button.Absolutely not," he insisted. "The strategy change was my decision. The engineers and the drivers pool their information and make their recommendations but I make the call in the pit lane and, good or bad, we stand by it.
"If Rubens hadn't had his problem, it would have been incredibly close.
"If you look at the lap times on the tyres and the fuel, there was a period of the race where Rubens was a lot slower than expected.
"And that's what cost him the race because Jenson on more fuel was quicker."
Button wins as Brawn GP dominate
Jenson Button's superb season continued as he grabbed his fourth 2009 race win out of five at a tactical Spanish Grand Prix which Brawn GP totally dominated.
Team-mate Rubens Barrichello got past pole-sitter Button with a great start - but a strategy change benefited the Englishman, who pushed him into second.
Red Bull's Mark Webber was third ahead of team-mate Sebastian Vettel, who passed Felipe Massa's Ferrari late on.
McLaren's world champion Lewis Hamilton finished outside the points in ninth.
Massa ran third for much of the race, holding up Vettel's faster Red Bull, but the Brazilian lost the place to Webber at the second pit stops thanks to clever strategy from Red Bull.
Massa then slipped down to sixth behind Vettel and Renault's Fernando Alonso in the closing laps when the Brazilian was forced to go into fuel-saving mode when a problem at his pit stop meant not enough fuel was put into his car. BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld and Williams's Nico Rosberg finished seventh and eighth in the final points positions.
With a win that never looked in doubt after he had built up more than 11 seconds between his car and the rest of the field half-way through the race, Button has further stretched his lead at the top of the drivers' championship and now sits 14 points ahead of Barrichello.
The Brazilian veteran, the oldest man on the grid, could have recorded a first race victory in five years after his superb start.
But the introduction of the safety car after a first-lap collision - for just the fifth time in 18 years at the Circuit de Catalunya - meant Brawn changed Button's race strategy from doing three pit stops to two and he drove superbly to make the switch pay off.
Team boss Ross Brawn said that three stops was theoretically a quicker strategy but that Barrichello had been too slow in his third stint to make it work.
The Brazilian blamed a problem with his tyres in that part of the race for his slow pace."Three stops was the quicker strategy we thought [initially]," said Button.
"I wasn't sure about it [changing to two] and when we put the fuel on board it felt very heavy.
"I didn't think I'd come out ahead of Massa and Vettel [after his first pit stop], but I did and I could just get my head down.
"It's a good feeling and gives me a lot of confidence for the rest of the season."
Red Bull felt they had a car fast enough to beat the Brawns but had to be satisfied with consolidating their second position in the constructors' championship after a race defined by Massa's Ferrari.
Using his energy storage and boost system (Kers), Massa bravely edged past Vettel into third place off the start despite the German's best efforts to block him.
That meant the Red Bull pair, led by Vettel, were forced to follow the slower Brazilian until the first pit stops.
Vettel ended up stuck there throughout the race - he and Massa made both their pit stops on the same lap as each other and the German could not hide his frustration after the race.I think the car was very quick and we definitely could have fought the Brawns," Vettel said.
"It was impossible to pass Felipe [Massa], I tried many times. It was a difficult race but I'm disappointed.
"Sitting behind Massa for 63 laps, it's very frustrating. Especially when you know you can go so much quicker."
Both men ended up being leapfrogged by Webber, who took a gamble on a longer middle stint in a successful attempt to get ahead of the Ferrari.
The strategy change meant Webber made his second pit stop seven laps later than Massa and Vettel, allowing the Australian to make up enough time to emerge from his second pit stop in third place.
Webber had put himself in a position to try the strategy by brilliantly preventing Alonso snatching fifth place after the restart.
The Spaniard blasted past the Red Bull on the straight with the help of his Kers power-boost system, but Webber braked as late as he dared and fought the Renault off as they snaked through the first chicane.
The early crash which helped affect the outcome of the race did not directly involve the front-runners, occurring at the back of the pack after Jarno Trulli's Toyota drifted onto the gravel around Turn Two before coming back onto the track and into the racing line.That caused both Toro Rosso cars to collide with him and Force India's Adrian Sutil was also affected - leaving all four drivers out of the race along with McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen, who retired a few laps later with what appeared to be gearbox failure.
Racing with typical aggression, Hamilton came from 14th on the grid to finish ninth but could not put in the required lap times needed to truly compete in his updated McLaren.
"What can I say, what can I do, I drove my heart out as I always do and that car is just not good - I just had no grip," he said.
"For sure at the moment, I don't have a car to win the championship.
"Everyone is wondering what's going on, but the car is that bad. I am driving the socks off it but... There's just no hope."
The sixth race of the season takes place on the street circuit of Monaco in two weeks' time on 24 May.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Force India to use improved diffuser
Encouraged by their double finish in Bahrain, Force India are to introduce an improved version of the interim diffuser.
Team chairman Vijay Mallya also said that some further aero upgrades will also be introduced in the Spanish Grand Prix next month.
After the much-debated diffuser used by Brawn, Williams and Toyota got the clearance from FIA, Force India too jumped on the bandwagon and got a prototype double diffuser onto the VJM02 cars for Bahrain Grand Prix.
The updates did make a difference as Giancarlo Fisichella finished 15th, followed by teammate Adrian Sutil after both had risen to top 10 at some stages.
"We have another update coming in Barcelona, more particularly an improved version of this interim diffuser, and some further aero upgrades," Mallya said.
He said with other teams constantly trying to raise the bar, upgrading was necessary.
"I'm not naive enough to believe that other teams aren't improving. I'm sure everybody is going hammer and tongs trying to find better performance. But we're there and we're racing, and it's so competitive.
"In the midfield everything is separated by hundredths now, and to be in the hunt is quite an impressive achievement," Mallya said.
The flamboyant liquor baron said Force India showed alacrity by introducing the diffuser in Bahrain and is committed to excel within its limitations.
"We've shown we can react quickly. I think we can walk down the paddock with our heads held high, without being apologetic for anything.
"We're a small team, we have limited resources and within what we have I think we have a highly motivated bunch of guys who are now committed, professional and all charged up. I think we're showing to the world that we can race, and race on a limited budget," Mallya said.
Sutil came tantalisingly close to winning Force India's maiden Formula One point in the rain-marred race in Shanghai but Mallya said it was great to see the car becoming competitive in the dry Bahrain race as well.
"I've never been someone who subscribes to the theory that something unusual must happen for us to be competitive," Mallya said.
"Late last year we made a lot of changes to the team in the structure and the management. That entire effort was not to be the minnows at the back, hoping for something unusual to happen.
"It was to really be racing competitively, albeit in midfield. I've always said that this year's goal would be racing midfield, and hopefully scoring points. I think we're doing just that," Mallya said.
Button claims pole in Spain
World championship leader Jenson Button captured a crucial pole position for Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix.
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, snatched in the dying moments ahead of Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, with Brawn GP team-mate Rubens Barrichello third.
Felipe Massa epitomised Ferrari's improvement this weekend as he will start from a season-high fourth, with Mark Webber in his Red Bull fifth.
The bottom five, though, was equally as remarkable as it proved to be a bad day for Finland with Kimi Raikkonen and Heikki Kovalainen failing to make it into Q2.
Reigning champion Lewis Hamilton faired little better as he will start from 14th, the worst position of his F1 career in the dry.
With a degree of understatement, Hamilton said: "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.
"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."
With regard to Raikkonen, it was yet another dreadful error of judgment from Ferrari because as with Massa in Malaysia the team felt he was safe with his time after running for just five laps.
But as he sat in the garage his name slowly slid down the timing screen until coming to rest at 16th, his worst performance since Australia last year.
Even more galling for 2007 champion Raikkonen is that Massa topped the timesheets at the end of the opening 20-minute session.
At least Ferrari had the good grace to hold their hands up as they conceded they "miscalculated," but the mistakes continue to mount up and cost them dear.
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."
Behind Sebastien Bourdais in his Toro Rosso, Kovalainen will start a woeful 18th, his lowest grid slot since joining McLaren prior to last season.
Afterwards, Kovalainen revealed he "didn't have the grip and...no confidence to push it (the car) whatsoever".
Ahead of this race the team had warned their car would not suit the circuit, but it is almost certain they did not expect to be in such miserable positions.
Kovalainen only narrowly finished ahead of the Force India duo, with neither Adrian Sutil nor Giancarlo Fisichella making it into Q2 for the 23rd consecutive race as they will start 19th and 20th.
The top 10 was rounded out by the Toyotas of Timo Glock and Jarno Trulli in sixth and seventh, Fernando Alonso eighth for Renault, with Nico Rosberg ninth in his Williams and Robert Kubica 10th for BMW Sauber.
In the mid-field, Williams' Kazuki Nakajima starts 11th, followed by the Renault of Nelson Piquet who came within 0.095secs of out-qualifying Alonso.
Sandwiching Hamilton are Nick Heidfeld in his BMW Sauber and the Toro Rosso of Sebastien Buemi.
"It could have gone very wrong," said a relieved Button after a pulsating qualifying performance.
"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.
"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."
Like Button, Barrichello is also happy with the car, but knows he has to do more if he is to beat the Briton.
"A great effort from Jenson," said Barrichello.
"He is doing a really good job and deserves to be there. I just have to try harder and harder to get him."