Jenson Button wins after heavy downpour halts Malaysian GP
JENSON BUTTON recorded his second consecutive victory for Brawn GP at the rain-soaked Malaysian Grand Prix.
The British driver, who had qualified in pole, was leading on the 33rd of 56 scheduled laps when the race was stopped after a thunderstorm broke at the Sepang International Circuit.
With the torrential rain refusing to relent and darkness descending on the track due to the late starting time, organisers eventually decided not to restart the race, awarding half-points to the top eight finishers.
Nick Heidfeld benefited from a decision to run a heavy fuel load as he finished second for BMW Sauber while Timo Glock was third after a strong run in intermediates during a period before the heavens fully opened.
Jarno Trulli was fourth in the second Toyota, with Brawn GP's Rubens Barrichello fifth and Mark Webber sixth for Red Bull.
World champion Lewis Hamilton was seventh for McLaren with Nico Rosberg eighth for Williams.
It was the first race to be red-flagged for rain since the 1991 Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide.
Rosberg got a great jump at the start, accelerating past Glock and Trulli and passing Button on the inside of the first corner.
Button, who had changed the front wing of his car shortly before the start, looked out of sorts early and dropped to fourth after also being passed by Trulli and Fernando Alonso in the first complex of corners.
He regained third place from Alonso at turn 13 but it was Rosberg that held a 1.2-second lead over Trulli at the end of the opening lap.
Heikki Kovalainen was an early casualty, spinning his McLaren out on turn five of the first lap when something appeared to break on the back of his car, while Robert Kubica, who had started slowly in his badly-misfiring BMW Sauber retired on the second when his engine gave out.
Barrichello and Alonso were involved in an early scrap with the Brazilian putting the two-time champion under intense pressure before finally overtaking him on the run to the first corner on the fourth lap.
The Spaniard was running a heavily-fuelled Renault and dropped to sixth when he let Kimi Raikkonen past on turn four of the 11th lap after his tyres lost traction on the 11th lap.
Rosberg had opened a 3.3-second lead when he came in for his first pit stop on the 15th lap, handing the lead to Trulli, with Button in hot pursuit in second.
Trulli went into the pits at the end of the 17th lap handing the lead over to Button, who ran a fastest lap of 1:36.041 to maintain first place when the first sequence of pit stops ended.
Raikkonen made a switch to wet tyres on lap 19 but the gamble failed to pay off as the threatening dark clouds failed to open immediately, dropping his Ferrari down to near the back of the field.
The rain finally arrived on lap 22, bringing most of the field in for a change to wet tyres and Hamilton was the biggest beneficiary as his first fuel stop helped to elevate his McLaren up to sixth place.
The Brawn had enjoyed little testing in wet conditions but Button showed his mastery of the conditions by opening up a 24.6-second lead over second-placed teammate Barrichello by lap 25.
But Glock was flying in his Toyota, moving up through the field rapidly on intermediate tyres.
Having swallowed up many of the other runners, the German took the lead when Button came in to the pits to change from wets to intermediates on lap 29.
It proved an untimely decision for the Brawn GP driver as the heavens opened up immediately after forcing Button into the pits for a fourth time to change back to wets but with Glock also stopping for wets, he managed to emerge from the pits in first place.
The rain intensified and Giancarlo Fisichella, Sebastian Vettel and Sebastien Buemi spun out in the treacherous conditions.
The safety car was deployed soon afterwards before the cars were red-flagged on lap 33 with Button leading from Glock in second and Heidfeld in third.
Trulli was fourth at the stoppage with Barrichello fifth, Hamilton sixth, Rosberg seventh and Webber eighth.
Some drivers opted to wait out the stoppage in their cars but Raikkonen decided not to restart and was seen on television dressed in civilian clothes and enjoying an ice cream.
But with the rain refusing to relent and darkness approaching, the decision was made, 50 minutes after the stoppage, not to restart with half-points awarded to the top eight finishers.
The results were counted back to the end of the 31st lap with Heidfeld taking second and Glock third behind Button.
Jenson Button (2008) Photo credit:  Mark McArdle at Flickr
Sepang International Circuit
Brawn-Mercedes driver Jenson Button wins FIA Formula One 2009 Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang International Circuit, Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia. The race was suspended by red flag due to heavy rain after 33 laps and later stopped after more than half an hour of waiting the track to dry up. All drivers earned only half possible points counted after 31 laps.

Nick Heidfeld on his KERS-equipped BMW Sauber car placed second from 11th place on the starting grid. Both Toyota drivers Timo Glock and Jarno Trulli ended up behind Heidfeld. Button's teammate Rubens Barrichello finished 5th. Mark Webber's Red Bull gained one place from the start, finishing 6th.

McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton finished 7th after burst from 13th place on the start.

Nico Rosberg had a fantastic start overtaking all drivers in front of his 6th place to the first corner. Still he lose this advantage throughout the race and closed the top eight with only half a point for his Williams team.