Button Prevails (Finally)

Being an avid Formula One fan, I never want to miss any action when it is shown live on television. However, due to other commitments, I almost didn't turn on the TV in time to witness one of the most exciting races for quite a while.

The Hungarian Grand Prix has been known as a yawner of a race, given the track's slow speed nature and the difficulty in overtaking. Since its inception in 1986, only two Hungarian Grand Prix races have been won by a driver who qualified outside the top three (Nigel Mansell won it in 1989 from 12th on the grid, while Kimi Raikkonen won it from fourth last year).

However, there is a twist to this year's race: The top two drivers of this year's Championship, Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher, have both been assessed a two-second penalty to their qualifying times for separate infractions. As a result, Schumi started 11th on the grid, Alonso 15th.

And when I finally turned on my TV, it was raining heavily on the race track. I knew it was going to be a chaotic race, destined to be full of surprises.

And it most definitely was.

The first lap saw both Schumi and Alonso storming to the front of the grid. Being handicapped by the ill-performing wet Bridgestone tyres on his car, Schumi fought defiantly against Alonso, but in the end had to yield.

At the front, the pole-sitter Raikkonen soon built a comfortable advantage over the rest of the field, and looked as though he could notch up his first victory of the season. Yet in quick succession, he lost his lead to Alonso, then inadvertently crashed into the back of the slowing Toro Rosso of Vitantonio Liuzzi, forcing him to retire on the spot and bringing out the safety car, which completely changed the outcome of the race.

With the cars bunched up behind the safety car, Jenson Button, who started 14th due to an engine change in practice, was able to significantly close his gap to Alonso. And when Alonso crashed out following a damaged wheel nut, Button took the lead which he never relinquished. In the end, Button finally took his first ever victory in Formula One on his 113th try. And it was Honda's first victory as a constructor since the 1967 Italian Grand Prix .

Only two other drivers had to wait longer before winning their first race in Formula One: Rubens Barrichello got his maiden win on his 124th try, while Jarno Trulli won his first (and so far the only) race in his 117th race.

McLaren's replacement driver Pedro de la Rosa finished second some 30 seconds back, while BMW's Nick Heidfeld finished third. All three drivers on the podium combine for ZERO victory in Formula One before this race, a rare feat indeed.

And although Schumi didn't finish the race and was out of the points for being classified ninth, he was promoted to eighth when the seventh-placed Robert Kubica of Poland, on his debut, was disqualified for having an underweight car. This allowed Schumi to gain a single vital point in the race for the Championship. He now trails Alonso by only 10 points.

With five races to go, this year's Championship remains very much wide open.

And I'm praying for more rain in the coming races.