Button takes second spot in top F1 performance

British race-ace Jenson Button notched up his best-ever Formula 1 performance to take second place at the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola yesterday.

Button had claimed pole position in the BAR-Honda but was only able to hold off the challenge from Michael Schumacher's scarlet Ferrari which was close to the BAR's gearbox until the Briton pitted. After the first round of pit stops Schumacher, who pitted two laps later, had taken two seconds off Button in a quick pit stop and three on the track to emerge from the pits with a five second lead over Button's BAR.

Trackside pundits claimed Button had perhaps taken on a heavier fuel load, slowing the car, but he did not have the pace to stick with 'Schumi' who eventually stretched out a comfortable 27 second lead.

The BAR-Honda team had a scare when Takuma Sato suffered an engine failure in the 57th lap. It saw Button fall off his previous pace by a full six seconds within two laps, but by the end of the race he had recovered to put in his former lap times.

In the after-race press conference Button admitted he was shocked by the lead that Ferrari had taken after the first pit stop. He said: "If we knew the reasons why they're so fast then we would work on it. It is very difficult to understand why we are so far away from them."

Button, whose eyes are clearly on taking a first place this season, admitted Ferrari were "untouchable" in a race.

Juan Pablo Montoya who finished third was clearly upset by a first lap incident involving Michael Schumacher. Montoya's BMW-Williams had managed to pace an initially sluggish Ferrari up to Tamburello, though 'Schumi' avoided an attempted pass with a shimmy. At Tosa hairpin, Montoya tried going the long way round, but found his BMW-Williams forced onto the grass by a Ferrari that firmly squeezed closed the door. The BMW-Williams driver gesticulated his displeasure.

In the post-race conference Schumacher made light of the incident, saying that he thought the Colombian was "congratulating" him, though Montoya retorted "I never do actually".

A four out of four brace of wins in the early season races for Michael Schumacher has set a tough challenge for the championship contenders in not only reliability but race-trim speed.

(SP)