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A little later than usual but it’s time for Round 10 of the F1 Buzz Prediction Game.  The Hungarian Grand Prix is only a few days away.

Two weeks ago the German Grand Prix shook up the order and proved that the Championship is not going to be a one (or even two) horse race.

Mark Webber finally scored his first victory after eight years of trying and kept the Brawns on the back foot.  After a couple of races where the White Cars have struggled for grip will the traditionally warm Hungarian Grand Prix allow Button and Barrichello to bounce back or is the Red Bull the best car on the grid now?

The Hungaroring is the scene of Jenson Button’s first victory in 2006 so he is looking forward to the race:

Hungary is always one of my favourite races. Even more so this year as it should finally be a return to some real summer temperatures. The circuit holds some very special memories for me as the venue of my first Formula One win three years ago.

But Webber is hoping Button’s run of good luck has come to an end:

Jenson has had a flawless season, in terms of bad luck or accidents or whatever, and the law of averages says he has to have one of those sooner or later. No-one goes through a whole season like that.

To make your predictions in round 10 of the F1 Buzz prediction game (and be in with a chance to win some nice prizes), just leave a comment on this post with your driver predictions for the race in the following format:

Pole:
First:
Second:
Third:
Fastest lap:

Remember, the deadline for entries is start of qualifying on Saturday, that’s 12:00 GMT.

Good luck!

Image: Red Bull

According to a Nielsen survey, from February 2008 to February 2009 Twitter grew 1,382 percent and now has close to 2 million users.

And it’s not just your mates tweeting about what they had for breakfast, either.  Everyone from Barack Obama to Paris Hilton is using Twitter and a few Formula One drivers are, too.

There are official team Twitter pages like McLaren and Brawn GP, but some of the drivers also have their own Twitter accounts which can be a bit more personal.

Today there was this little exchange between Jenson Button, Rubens Barrichello and Nelson Piquet Jr:

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You can follow F1 Buzz on Twitter, too.  If you know any other drivers that are using Twitter I would love to hear about it in the comments.

Despite all the off-track politics, we shouldn’t forget there is still a race on this weekend.

It could be the last British Grand Prix at Silverstone for some time and both Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button will be wearing special helmet designs for their home Grand Prix.

It is the first time Lewis Hamilton has altered the design of his famous yellow crash helmet for his home race since starting his grand prix career in 2007.

The design shows the top of his helmet peeling away to reveal a British flag underneath.  Hamilton said:

I’m really proud to be a British driver in a British team racing in front of the British crowd. I wanted to choose a design that not only showed that I am a British sportsman but, more importantly, recognised all the support I get from the fans at Silverstone.

Jenson Button, on the other hand, has a tradition of wearing a different helmet design for the British Grand Prix.  This year’s design was the result of a competition to give Jenson’s fans the opportunity to design a helmet that incorporated a British theme and Bernie Zobl’s ‘Push The Button’ design was the one chosen by Jenson.

Button commented:

For the last few years, it has become something of a tradition for me to have a special British themed helmet and this year is no exception. I wanted my fans to be involved so we ran a competition on my website www.jensonbutton.com and chose the winning design by Bernie. What I loved about Bernie’s design was its unique take on the Union Jack flag and how he had incorporated it into my own Button logo. The helmet looks great and I can’t wait to wear it at Silverstone this weekend.

More pictures of Jenson Button’s helmet are below.

Images: McLaren, Brawn GP

In the words of second place finisher Mark Webber, Jenson Button was “on another planet” today as he stormed to another crushing victory in the Turkish Grand Prix.

Starting in second place on the dusty side of the track, Jenson stayed behind pole sitter Sebastian Vettel through the first lap until turn 9 when Vettel ran wide.  That was all the opportunity Button needed to take the lead and from then on he drove a perfect race.

Sebastian Vettel managed to close in on Button in his second stint but couldn’t get past and Red Bull’s choice to keep him on a two stop strategy saw team mate Mark Webber pass him during his second pit stop.

Rubens Barrichello had a bad start losing 10 places off the grid due to a clutch problem.  His day went from bad to worse when, after a great battle with Heikki Kovalainen and several attempts at putting his car in places it wouldn’t fit, he retired on lap 47 with a gearbox problem – the first Brawn retirement of the season.

Despite finishing 13th, a smiling Lewis Hamilton “thoroughly enjoyed the race”:

It was quite an uneventful race but I actually enjoyed myself this afternoon.  I was very heavy at the start but I just pushed and pushed.  That’s why I can smile – because I think I drove to my full potential.  The most important thing is for us to keep our heads up and to keep pushing.

There has been a big change in Hamilton’s attitude since the beginning of the season.  After the controversy of Australia, Lewis’s post race interviews were monosyllabic and he looked very unhappy with himself and his team.  Now,  he seems to be enjoying racing again.  It is as if Button and Hamilton have switched positions this year.  Last year it was Jenson that was always putting a positive spin on his team’s terrible performance.

Now that Lewis has given up all hope of retaining the Championship he can relax and concentrate on developing and getting the most out of his car.

2009 Turkish Grand Prix Race Results

Pos	Driver	Team	Grid	Time	Points
1	Jenson Button	Brawn-Mercedes	2	1:26:24.848	10
2	Mark Wbber	Red Bull-Renault	4	1:26:31.562	8
3	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	1	1:26:32.309	6
4	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	5	1:26:52.691	5
5	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	9	1:26:56.387	4
6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	7	1:27:04.844	3
7	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	10	1:27:11.095	2
8	Timo Glock	Toyota	13	1:27:11.807	1
9	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	6	1:27:15.048	0
10	Fernando Alonso	Renault	8	1:27:27.248	0
11	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	11	1:27:29.175	0
12	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	12	1:27:31.224	0
13	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	16	1:27:45.302	0
14	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	14	lapped	0
15	Sebastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	18	lapped	0
16	Nelson Piquet Jr	Renault	17	lapped	0
17	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	15	lapped	0
18	Sebastien Bourdais	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	20	lapped	0
RET	Rubens Barrichello	Brawn-Mercedes	3	retired, 47 laps	0
RET	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Mercedes	19	retired, 4 laps	0

Image: Brawn GP

Brawn GP continued their fairytale first race weekend with a 1-2 finish in the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday.  Jenson Button took the chequered flag after leading from the start while team mate Rubens Barrichello finished second despite a poor start and trading paint several times during the race.

Button had driven away to a 47.7s lead only for it to be reduced to nothing when Kazuki Nakajima spun into the wall, drawing out the safety car, but the Brit managed to keep his lead under the restart.  Rubens’s chances of a podium looked unlikely until the final laps when Sebastian Vettel and Robert Kubica found themselves in the same place at the same time.  Their crash took both cars out of the race and Vettel was later handed a 10-place grid penalty for Malaysia for causing the accident.  The Red Bull driver was also fined $50,000 for continuing to drive a damaged car.  Although Vettel appologised for the accident, BMW’s Mario Theissen thinks that without the crash Kubica could have reeled in Button and won the race.  Whether that is true, we’ll never know, but the BMW was certainly quick.

Toyota’s Jarno Trulli was originally awarded third but continuing the theme of penalties and protests he was later handed a stop-go penalty for passing under the safety car.  As this occurred in the final laps of the race this was translated into a 25 second penalty, promoting reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton to an unexpected third place finish.  After going from starting in the pit lane to finishing third, Trulli wasn’t happy:

I can’t say how disappointed I am to finish third but have the result questioned. When the safety car came out towards the end of the race Lewis passed me but soon after he suddenly slowed down and pulled over to the side of the road. I thought he had a problem so I overtook him as there was nothing else I could do.

Neither of the Ferraris finished the race and Aussie Mark Webber continued his tradition of bad luck, especially in his home Grand Prix, by finishing last.

The BBC’s coverage was pretty good; no ads and it was good to hear more radio traffic, especially from Ferrari and McLaren but what is with all the Bernie love?  I know the BBC must be happy to have taken F1 from ITV but does their contract include a clause where Eddie Jordan has to praise Ecclestone every chance he gets?

Overall, though, It was a great start to the new season.  The racing was close and there were some fantastic drives.  Jenson drove a perfect race from lights to flag, rookie Sebastien Buemi scored two points for Toro Rosso on his debut, the Toyotas started from the pit lane but (almost) finished third and fourth and Barichello gave Brawn GP a perfect 1-2 finish despite driving into everyone he could see.  The BGP 001 is a tough car and seems to be fast even with bits of its front wing on the track.

But almost as amazing as the first 1-2 finish from a new team for fifty years was Hamilton’s third place.  Lewis wrung all he could from the struggling MP4-24 and his drive reminded me of Schumacher who could always somehow salvage a good finish from what seemed an impossible position.  Lewis was lucky, though, and his 6 points will only give him and the McLaren engineers a little breathing room until they can find the downforce they are lacking.

2009 Australian Grand Prix Race Results

Pos	Driver	Team	Grid Pos	Time	Points
1	Jenson Button	Brawn-Mercedes	1	01:34:15.784	10
2	Rubens Barrichello	Brawn-Mercedes	2	01:34:16.591	8
3	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	18	01:34:18.698	6
4	Timo Glock	Toyota	20	01:34:20.219	5
5	Fernando Alonso	Renault	10	01:34:20.663	4
6	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	5	01:34:21.506	3
7	Sebastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	13	01:34:21.788	2
8	Sebastien Bourdais	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	17	01:34:22.082	1
9	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	16	01:34:22.119	0
10	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	9	01:34:22.869	0
11	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Mercedes	15	01:34:23.158	0
12	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	19	01:34:42.388	0
13	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	8	lapped	0
RET	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	3	retired, 56 laps	0
RET	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	4	crash, 55 laps	0
RET	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	7	retired, 55 laps	0
RET	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	6	retired, 45 laps	0
RET	Nelson Piquet Jr	Renault	14	crash, 24 laps	0
RET	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	11	crash, 17 laps	0
RET	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	12	retired, 0 laps	0

Photograph: Mick Tsikas/Reuters