30th April 09 - Race weekend number four didn’t let up on the qualifying surprises, with Mark Webber of Red Bull Racing getting a hugely disappointing 19th.  This is a man who only a week earlier in China qualified 3rd and finished the race in 2nd.  So, for four weeks in a row, qualifying has seen a surprise in the first knock out session.

Session two again had more surprises, with both BMW Sauber drivers and Kazuki Nakajima of Williams, failing to make it through to the top 10.  During the final session, teams fought back against each other recording better times.  However, at the end of the 10 minute qualifying time, Toyota had picked up the front row, with Jarno Trulli picking up pole with 1:33:431 and his team mate, Timo Glock, taking 2nd. Sebastian Vettel, last week’s winner, picked up another solid 3rd whilst the current world championship leader, Jenson Button, picked up 4th place.

As for the race itself, I wasn’t able to focus on it as much as I would have liked. Earlier that night I’d been out having some leaving drinks for a friend and 10 laps had already been completed by the time I got home, and for the rest of the race I was close to falling asleep!  Nevertheless, it was an exciting race.

BMW Sauber went on to have a terrible race with both drivers only managing to finish in 18th and 19th place, and Webber, after his dismal qualifying, was only able to finish in 11th place.  This was a huge disappointment as his team mate, Vettel, picked up 2nd place for his 2nd podium in a row. 3rd place went to Jarno Trulli of Toyota, which left Button picking up his 3rd victory of the season.  This was also his first full race victory, as his first win was behind the safety car and his second came from an abandoned red-flagged race.

So, after 4 races, Button has a commanding lead in the championship and the big question is ‘can anyone catch him?’