GET IN THERE!Victory at last! Jenson storms thru the rainAfter what seems like a lifetime, British superstar Jenson Button finally scored his maiden Formula 1 victory in a rain-hit incident-packed Hungarian Grand Prix.
After the losing streak that lasted a painful and tortured 113 GPs, Jenson finally sunk his demons for good in the storms of Budapest as he charged through from 14th.
Not since the Australian GP three years ago when David Coulthard was victorious has a British driver won in Formula 1. Sixty-three long races past.
It has been the longest barren spell for British drivers’ in the sport.
In slippery conditions tailor-made to the silky skills of Britain’s new sporting hero, Jenson chased world championship leader Fernando Alonso hard, and even out-gunned him, until the Renault star dropped out with a drive-shaft failure with less than 20 laps to go.
But as the rain finally faded away for good, those last 20 laps saw the Honda driver keep his cool as ITV Sport guest commentator and Honda test driver Anthony Davidson spoke for the rest of his team, and the rest of the country, saying: “He’s the only one that is!”
It was also Honda’s first win since it returned as a constructor at the beginning of this year and the result goes in contrast to the rest of the team’s season which has been one of heartbreak and disappointment.
But this race belonged to Jenson who did not inherit, but took for himself, a brilliant first win at a track that has always rewarded British talent.
Remember Nigel Mansell’s ’92 championship win or Damon Hill’s own maiden win a year later?
Behind Jens it was all chaos.
In the final laps Pedro de la Rosa fought a running and controversial battle with Michael Schumacher – who had tyre troubles all day.
The McLaren stand-in came out on top as the Ferrari star twice ran across the chicane, and finally made contact with Nick Heidfeld as he battled for third.
The German BMW driver scored the constructors’ first podium after another brilliant drive.
Kimi Raikkonen, Giancarlo Fisichella and Mark Webber all crashed out in the treacherous conditions.
A full report follows shortly...
