Someone once asked me if its possible to grow out of slot car racing.  This is how you answer that question, if you can look at this Brawn GP vs McLaren Mercedes slot car racing set and not want it then yes, you can grow out of it.  However, it is IMPOSSIBLE to look at this and not want it! Slot car racing lives inside us all forever!  If you have 63 bucks and are willing to wait for this to come to your house all the way from the UK then do it! Do it now!

News recently broke that Jenson Button will be leaving Brawn GP (Now known as Mercedes Grand Prix thanks to a large investment) and will join Lewis Hamilton at McLaren.  This marks the first time that two champions have been on the same team since…well, a long time ago!  It looks like even with all the money Jenson’s former team just received from Mercedes it wasn’t enough to keep the 2009 Champion driving for them.  Which also shows just how much money McLaren had all along since they had to buy a 40% team stake back from Mercedes yet still had enough to pay Mr. Button what he was asking for.  The British public is of course ecstatic about this move.  Two British champions on an all British team is a big deal for them but, its yet to be seen how the two will get along next year.

[Photo: guardian.co.uk]

With the championship already decided the last race of the 2009 Formula 1 season at a brand new track in Abu Dhabi was about making history and having a strong finish to the season.  At first it looked like Lewis Hamilton would have all of that as he was the fastest in practice and captured the pole position.  When the lights went out he shot to the lead but unfortunately he suffered brake problems which ultimately put him out of the race early.  It was the first mechanical retirement for Lewis and the McLaren Mercedes team all year so he couldn’t complain all that much. 

With Lewis out all it took was some extra effort and a pit cycle for F1’s newest superstar Sebastien Vettel to take the lead and run away from the field.  Once he got open air he was unstoppable and pressed on to a victory and history as being the first driver to ever win a race at the brand new Abu Dhabi race track.  Check out the video below for a full post race report via SPEED.

[Photo: Clive Mason/Getty Images]

It is starting to look like a safe bet that who ever wins the 2009 F1 World Championship will probably be wearing white black and yellow if you catch my drift.  So with only four races left now is probably you’re only chance to get some Brawn GP swag and be able to tell people “Hey I was fan BEFORE they were winning titles!”  A nice place to start would be this 1:12 scale nose cone from the F1 store.  If I was big and important and had a desk I would so have my business cards resting against this thing.  How fresh is this?!

It seems like most racing series these days are facing their wild ups and downs, even drifting.  Formula One hasn’t been any difference.  There was a major injury, a team suspension, an announcement of another team withdrawing from the sport, a living legend’s return, and that same living legend canceling that return.  And all of that happened just between one race and the next!  So after all of that Formula One finally reached Valencia, Spain we saw a familiar sight on the podium in the form of Brawn GP driver Rubens Barrichello in the number one spot.

Now this is the first win for Rubens in five years and his first win with Brawn GP but this is far from Brawn’s first win all season.  However this victory may not have happened if it weren’t for a mishap with McLaren Mercedes.  Lewis Hamilton had the pole position for this race and the lead for most of it.  It was his race to lose, and lose he did!  He came in for a pit stop that quickly went south which allowed Rubens to inherit the lead and that was all she wrote.  Lewis holds no grudge against his team though.  After all the success they’ve given him he can handle a mistake here and there.

This victory lands Rubens in the second place points position just behind his team mate Jenson Button, who has been struggling lately.  Could this be Rubens’ year?  Has he finally gotten the car that he needs to show everyone what he is really capable of?  Stay tuned!

As usual the SPEED TV trio has some insights to share and some sharp critisim for Ferrari.  Check it out below.

[Photo: Brawn GP]

For the second race in a row I don’t have to complain about Jenson Button furthering the boredom that is Brawn GP’s domination.  This time I can tell you that a mile stone was finally reached for Mark Webber as he scored his first F1 win ever in his 8 year career and 100+ starts.  The win was actually his second “first” of the weekend as the day before he landed his first ever pole position in qualifying by dominating all three sessions of qualifying with his fastest lap of 1.31.257 coming in Q1.  Once race day came Mark capitalized on his starting position and despite a rocket start by Lewis Hamilton he held off the field and rode his way to his first victory.  Congrats mark!  Check out the post race by the SPEED Trio below.

Photo: Courtesy of Red Bull Racing

So let me set the stage for you.  Jenson Button has been kicking ass and taking names all season and seems virtually unstoppable.  The only time he didn’t win so far was in China when Sebastien Vettel ran away with it.  This weekend the F1 show rolls into Sliverstone; Thats England for you Geography majors out there.  So the unstoppable points leader shows up to his home track… Game over right?  WRONG!  It looks like the Sliverstone curse was reset this year because neither Jenson Button or Lewis Hamilton could catch a break on their home turf.  The best Jenson could muster was a respectable 6th place while Hamilton was waaaaaayyyyy in the back..so far that it isn’t even worth mentioning what position he finished in.  No worries for the Brits though Jenson still retains a healthy lead over the rest of the field.  Check out the post race recap by the SPEED trio below.

So Jenson Button and the “underdog” Brawn GP team has been sweeping up all season so far while Ferrari and McLaren where spinning their wheels and not really getting anywhere.  It was almost starting to get boring with Brawn GP and Jenson Button dominating the field in almost all the races, but this weekend F1 came back to Turkey AKA Felipe Massa’s playground.  Massa has one the Turkish GP the previous three years consecutively.  For a moment I genuinely thought that Brawn’s dominance wouldn’t be enough to overcome Massa’s Turkish streak.  I was totally wrong…

After Sebasten Vettel made a mistake and went off track in turn 10 on the first lap Jenson took the lead away and that was all she wrote.  He remained in the lead for almost the entire race there-after, save for the pit stops.  He had both Red Bull F1 cars on his tail but neither Mark Webber nor Vettel had anything for Jenson Button who went on to take his sixth win in seven races. 

He now has a 26 point lead over his teammate and points runner up Rubens Barrichello.  I’m thinking we should just give Jenson Button the trophy now and call the rest of the season F1 “exhibitions” instead of races!

Check out the vid below for a recap from the SPEED guys.  Photo courtesy of BrawnGP.com.

I never thought I’d say this but one of the most historically eventful races on the F1 schedule was surprisingly…uneventful.. I wish I would have a rousing report of exciting unbelievable events that took place but honestly it went down the same way most of the races have unfolded this season: Jenson Button earned pole and lead most of the race until he took the win.  I’m glad Brawn GP is doing so well but I’d like to see them get challenged at least!

Ferrari did manage to score a podium finish with Kimi Raikkonen taking third due to some nice driving and fuel strategy but apart from that the two Brawn GP cars walked the field for almost the whole race.

Ferrari and McLaren get on fixing your rear diffusers already!

Anyway, below you’ll find a post race report from the SPEED crew although in this instance it isn’t all that necessary…

These F1 posts are starting to get predictable, no?  I wonder how hard Honda is kicking themselves right now for pulling out before giving Ross Brawn a shot hmm?  For the fourth time this season Jenson Button has found his way to the top of the podium while the former big dogs McLaren and Ferrari struggle just to stay in the points.  Heck, this time Lewis Hamilton didn’t even score a single point.  He fought loss of rear traction all race to a disappointing 9th place finish, one position shy of a points paying place.

Get the full gist of the race from the SPEED crew below.