Button leads in Monte Carlo

Jenson Button led a Brawn GP one-two around the first lap of the Monaco Grand Prix.

Starting from his fourth pole position of the year, the championship leader made a clean getaway once the five red lights disappeared to signal the beginning of the prestigious 78-lap race.

Button was followed by team-mate Rubens Barrichello, who managed to beat Kimi Raikkonen away off the line in his Ferrari.

At the back of the grid, world champion Lewis Hamilton, starting from 19th as Toyota opted to start Timo Glock from the pit lane, managed to move up one place by passing Jarno Trulli in his Toyota.

Hamilton, who yesterday crashed in qualifying which also resulted in a gearbox change, so culminating in the worst grid position of his career, pulled off a stunning move on BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica through the tunnel on lap two.

The Pole, though, then pitted at the end of that lap, dropping him to the rear of the field behind the Toyotas.

The leading trio then began to pull away comfortably from fourth-placed Sebastian Vettel despite the fact the German was running by far the lightest fuel load in his Red Bull.

On lap seven, and being hounded by Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, the Brazilian attempted an audacious move out of the tunnel.

Massa, though, locked his brakes and was forced onto the run-off area, immediately slowing down as he returned to the track to allow Vettel by.

But in doing so, Williams’ Nico Rosberg also took the chance to slip past Massa on the run down to Tabac.

Vettel and Hamilton were the first to make routine stops at the end of lap 10, relegating the latter to the back of the field.

On lap 13, Hamilton found himself lapped by Button, who had pulled out a 10-second lead over Barrichello, with Raikkonen on the tail of the 37-year-old.

From the end of lap 15 to 18 all the main contenders made their pit stops, starting with Raikkonen, then Barrichello, Button and Rosberg, with no change to the order.

Button’s stop, though, at least allowed Hamilton to un-lap himself.

One of the other main protagonists in Vettel crashed out at the start of lap 17, losing the rear of his car through Sainte Devote and sliding sideways into a tyre barrier.

Despite the position of his car on the track, the always efficient marshals at Monaco did a superb job in removing it without the need for a safety car.

Vettel was the third casualty of the race at that stage because just a few laps earlier Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi had collided into the rear of Nelson Piquet in his Renault, sending both out.

At the end of lap 20 Massa made his stop, putting in enough of a charge that he leapfrogged Rosberg in the order.

It was the same with Mark Webber in his Red Bull as he too passed the German in the opening round of stops.

Running fourth at the time, Fernando Alonso in his Renault was the last of the leaders to pit, dropping him to ninth.

By the end of lap 29, Button was on course for another famous win as he held a 15.6 second lead over Barrichello, with the Ferraris of Raikkonen and Massa running third and fourth.

They were followed by Webber, Rosberg, Heikki Kovalainen in his McLaren and Williams’ Kazuki Nakajima, with Hamilton 15th.