BUDAPEST, Aug 6 - Briton Jenson Button raced through the rain
to seize an emotional first Formula One victory in a Hungarian Grand Prix
thriller on Sunday.
"Over the last 10 laps, I just didn't want the race to end," said the Honda
driver, a winner at last after one of the longest waits in the sport's history.
"I wanted it to go on forever, I was loving it.
"What a day. It's been amazing. Coming through from 14th place, I couldn't
have done it a better way."
While the 26-year-old celebrated success at the 113th attempt, taking full
advantage of others' misfortune to get a monkey off his back on a chaotic
afternoon, Renault's world champion Fernando Alonso crashed out while leading.
Alonso's smile returned when Ferrari's Michael Schumacher retired three laps
from the end with broken steering after banging wheels with Nick Heidfeld's BMW
Sauber.
That would have left the Spaniard still 11 points clear in the championship
with five races remaining but the later disqualification of Poland's Robert
Kubica lifted Schumacher to eighth place and a vital point.
Alonso has 100 with Schumacher on 90. In the constructors' standings, Renault
are just seven ahead of Ferrari.
Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa was second for McLaren, his first podium finish,
after pole sitting team mate Kimi Raikkonen crashed out. Heidfeld was third.
Alonso's car slewed and skidded into the tyre barriers with 18 laps to go
while in the lead after a breathtaking charge from 15th place on the grid in wet
conditions that caught out plenty of others.
Initial reports suggested a drive shaft failure.
"What an incredible race," said Alonso, who showed his mettle by overtaking
Schumacher round the outside of turn five in lap four despite starting with a
heavy fuel load.
DRAMATIC DAY
Button's win, from 14th on the grid after a 10-place penalty for an engine
change on Saturday, was Honda's first as a constructor since 1967.
The first British winner of a grand prix since David Coulthard for McLaren in
Australia in 2003, Button finished 30.8 seconds clear of de la Rosa.
By coincidence, the last race winner for Honda was also a Briton -- former
champion John Surtees in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
