F1: Jenson right on the Button

The finest first lap of Jenson Button's career propelled him to his third win in four races this Formula One season.

Button was a convincing winner of Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix in scorching conditions, both inside and outside the car, painfully so as he finished the race with a burnt left buttock.

But after taking the chequered flag following 57 punishing laps at the Sakhir circuit from Red Bull Racing's Sebastien Vettel and the Toyota of Jarno Trulli, Button has a 12-point lead over Brawn GP team-mate Rubens Barrichello.

The F1 circus now heads to Europe, starting with the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona on May 10, where if the 29-year-old can maintain his momentum, the championship will soon become more realistic.

But with every team banking on an improvement with major upgrades, Brawn will have their work cut out to keep Button at the head of affairs.

"To achieve my third victory of the season is amazing, and we are going back to Europe with a strong lead in both championships," said Button.

"We've now had four races, and they've been pretty important to us, especially at the start of the season when people have reliability issues or are making mistakes, so we've been able to pick up points.

"But when we get to Europe we don't know where anyone is going to be.

"We have an upgrade for Barcelona ourselves, which I just hope is enough, but we will have to wait and see because nobody knows.

"The thing is we can't go testing, so we won't get a chance to get a feel for things.

"At least it's exciting going to Europe, and I think for Formula One, this (the season) is great.

"There's so much change in the sport, and going to Europe there's going to be more change. It's what the sport needed, and I think we've got it."

Close friend Anthony Davidson, a former Honda test driver and now a radio summariser, felt Button's performance was the finest he had witnessed from the Briton.

Button did not quite go that far, but was nonetheless grateful for Davidson's kind words.

"I'd say it was my finest first lap of my career, that's for sure," assessed Button, after a to-and-fro battle with Lewis Hamilton in which he crucially moved up to third to stay in touch with Trulli and Toyota team-mate Timo Glock.

"I was very happy with the race. I didn't feel I put a foot wrong at all.

"It's nice to be in car in which I can show what I can do, even in a difficult situation because it wasn't a perfect one.

"But it's a very special feeling to have got this win, and the 'ginger racer' as I call him, thank you very much for those nice comments."

Button's main problem was the heat, notably inside the cockpit as an electrical box left him smarting in a particular place.

"It was really hot. All the boxes around my seat were burning," added Button.

"I burnt the top of my left buttock on an electrical box. It's a little bit burnt. Hopefully we can solve that issue (the box, not his bottom)."

Vettel's second place leaves him 13 points behind Button, whilst Trulli is 16.5 points adrift after disappointingly missing out on a maiden win for Toyota.

Hamilton continued McLaren's resurgence with fourth, with the world champion followed home by Barrichello, and most notably the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen as he finally ended his team's points drought.

After starting from second, Glock was a disappointing seventh, with Fernando Alonso collecting the final point for eighth with Renault.

BMW Sauber's pitiful season continued as Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld finished a dismal 18th and 19th.

ESS