World championship leader Jenson Button made it five wins out of six races this season when he drove his Brawn GP car to a consummate triumph in yesterday's Monaco Grand Prix.
The 29-year-old Englishman delivered a flawless performance as he and 37-year-old Brazilian team-mate Rubens Barrichello came home one and two for the second race in succession and third time this year.
Starting from his fourth pole position of this fairy-tale season and the seventh of his career, Button pulled clear at the start and, apart from brief interruptions due to pit-stops, led all the way with a supreme performance of mature and well-judged racing.
"Yeah, Monaco baby!" he screamed on his car-to-pits radio after becoming the first man since Michael Schumacher in 2006 to complete a hat-trick of consecutive Grand Prix wins.
His win lifted him to 51 points in the standings after six of the 17 races in this year's championship, giving him a 16-point lead over Barrichello and increasing the Brawn team's advantage at the top of the constructors' standings to more than 40 points.
It was Button's first win in Monaco and he becomes the sixth British winner of the classic event around the streets of Monte Carlo.
The Ferrari duo of Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa maintained the Italian team's improvement following their appalling start to the year by coming home third and fourth.
Mark Webber finished fifth for Red Bull after his team-mate Sebastian Vettel, 21, for once betrayed his relative inexperience by crashing, and Nico Rosberg, son of former champion Keke, was sixth for Williams.
Two-time champion Fernando Alonso also drove a measured race to finish seventh for Renault ahead of Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais, who gave his countrymen something to celebrate by bringing his Toro Rosso car home for a point in eighth place.
Defending world champion Lewis Hamilton, who started from last on the grid, endured another torrid afternoon and finished 13th while his McLaren Mercedes team-mate Heikki Kovalainen completed a disappointing weekend for them by crashing while running seventh.
At the start, Barrichello made an excellent getaway and took advantage of Raikkonen's surge in pursuit of a pass on pole-sitter Button.
The Brazilian, third on the grid, followed his Brawn team-mate through Ste Devote and they were running first and second at the front.
After six laps behind Vettel's Red Bull, Massa attempted to pass him and overran at the chicane where he bounced across the run-off kerbs allowing not only Vettel but also Rosberg to overtake him when he rejoined and slowed.
Vettel, his tyres shot to pieces, was passed by Rosberg, Massa and Kovalainen before he pitted after 11 laps when Sebastien Buemi in his Toro Rosso crashed into Nelson Piquet's Renault.
On fresh tyres, Vettel tried too hard to rejoin the fray at the front and he showed his inexperience when, after 17 laps, he slid off and crashed into the.
Kovalainen, crashed out after 53 laps when he lost control at the Swimming Pool exit and wrecked the front end of his McLaren.
Button was chased hard for one lap by Massa, before the Brazilian pitted again, after which it was business as usual with the two Brawns cruising home ahead of the two Ferraris.
Standings
Drivers: 1. Button 51, 2. Barrichello 35, 3. Vettel 23, 4. Webber 19.5, 5. Trulli 14.5, 6. Glock 12, 7. Alonso 11, 8. Raikkonen 9, 9. Hamilton 9, 10. Massa 8, 11. Rosberg 7.5, 12. Heidfeld 6, 13. Kovalainen 4, 14. Buemi 3, 15. Bourdais 2.
Constructors: 1. Brawn 86, 2. Red Bull 42.5, 3. Toyota 26.5, 4. Ferrari 17, 5. McLaren 13, 6. Renault 11, 7. Williams 7.5, 8. BMW Sauber 6, 9. Toro Rosso 5.
Next race: Turkey GP, June 7.