As races at Barcelona go, this one held rather more than the usual amount of interest. Felipe Massa's good start to enter the first corner ahead of the two Red Bulls was the pivotal point in the race, ensuring that Barrichello and Button would be able to build a lead and remain in control thereafter; the apparently inexplicable difference in pit strategies between the two Brawn drivers gave us something to talk about too. And the accident at turn 2 added to the fun, immediately putting Trulli, the two Toro Rossos and Sutil out of the race while elevating the lucky ones above their grid status.
It's that man Button again!
Just as expected, Massa's KERS capability enabled him to get amongst the cars ahead of him at the start; what we had not counted on, however, was Barrichello's surge from second into first spot which effectively put him beyond the Ferrari's reach. Button was out of danger too at the entry to turn 1 and so the Brawns were now insulated against the Red Bull threat. Not that the Ferrari was that much slower than the Brawns - Massa drove an excellent first stint to remain in touch with the leaders.
But there can be no doubt that he held back the Red Bulls sufficiently for their heavier fuel strategy to be negated. Without Massa's intervention, Vettel would almost certainly have been able to stay very close to Button and then overtake him when the Brawn went in for its first stop. Given the decision to run Barrichello on a three-stop strategy, that would have been enough for Vettel to take the race, perhaps even for a Red Bull one-two.
It was the Brawn strategy that became the most controversial subject of the race. Was the team really going for a three-stopper for both drivers until it was decided to change Button to two stops so that Rosberg could not get in his way? Or was it collusion to ensure that the driver in the lead of the championship, Button, collect the maximum points, rather than his team mate? There is no doubt that it looked as though the team were backing Button but that is largely because Barrichello's strategy did not work as planned, mainly due to his third set of tires being below par. In the end, it depends on our personal preference as to how we see it: if you think Ross is a Machiavellian mastermind pulling the strings from behind the scenes, it was quite intentional; if you prefer to think that it was an even-handed choice left for Rubens to decide, it was just bad luck on his part.
Personally, I incline towards the first view - it just makes more sense that the team should prefer to have Button winning now that he has established a good lead. It may be cynical but, at this stage of the season, Brawn GP need one of their drivers to become unassailable in the championship before allowing a general free for all. That was the philosophy when Ross was at Ferrari and it makes sense that he should continue with it now. It works, doesn't it?
Whatever we may think, the result stands: another one-two finish for Brawn GP, with Button in first, Barrichello second. From a team point of view, it does not get any better. The Brawn BGP 001 remains the car to beat, the drivers are not squabbling (yet) and that man Ross gives them the best chance of outwitting any challengers.
In contrast, it is hard not to feel sympathy for the man who had the most influence on the race, Felipe Massa. One can understand only too well his frustration on being told to slow down towards the end; he had worked magnificently to keep the Ferrari in a potential podium-winning place and then was defeated by crafty pit stop timing from Webber and a miscalculation of fuel for his last stint. His radio conversation with Rob Smedley will go down as a quote of the year: "Slow down? How can I slow down when I'm trying to defend my place?" He deserved better than sixth place and the team has only itself to blame for yet another blunder.
As for Red Bull, they must see their three-four finish as an underachievement, given the prevailing hopes for another Vettel win. As Webber said in the post race press conference, however, at least they are still pulling away from the pack. They will have other chances to put one over Brawn GP, I'm sure.
Fernando Alonso had his usual spirited race, at one point getting the better of a ding-dong battle with Webber, but the Renault was not really up to the task on this circuit and he was lucky to finish fifth. Team mate Piquet was completely anonymous, however, coming home a lap down in 12th.
Nick Heidfeld had a lucky start to the race, emerging from the second corner accident several places above his grid position and ahead of Kubica, but thereafter he drove a solid race, generally setting faster times than his team mate and fending off all Raikkonen's attempts to get past. Seventh was reasonable reward for Nick's efforts and it keeps the scores ticking over until BMW can acquire their own magical fix of a double diffuser.
The Williams boys were slightly disappointing, Rosberg having a boring race to hold station more or less and Nakajima having to pit under the safety car and out of contention thereafter. That was better than Toyota managed, however, with Trulli out in the accident and Glock on a strategy that dropped him down the order as the race progressed.
McLaren had a pretty dire race in spite of Hamilton lifting the car beyond its true capabilities. Not even he was able to get it into the points, however, and yet another Kovalainen retirement merely underlined a miserable weekend for the team.
At first sight, Force India appear to have had a poor race as well but there are signs of hope. For one thing, Fisichella set the eighth fastest race lap, proving that the car is better than its lack of points suggests. Whether the team can persuade Giancarlo to do such times more consistently I do not know but it might be worth letting Liuzzi have a go for a change.
By the standards of yesteryear, this Spanish GP was scintillating in incident and interest but it was still Barcelona and pretty tame after the early races this season. Perhaps we are becoming spoiled by all the action and upheaval this year and expect too much of circuits like Barcelona as a result. But next on the agenda is Monaco and that is worth it for the atmosphere alone!