Vettel had claimed pole position in Saturday’s qualifying session as the chequered flag was raised at the end of the session ahead of Button.
Barrichello qualified in third followed by Webber in fourth and Toyota driver Jarno Trulli in fifth. The two Ferrari drivers of Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa were in sixth and seventh place ahead of Fernando Alonso in the Renault in eighth. Nico Rosberg in the Williams started from ninth followed by Robert Kubica in the BMW Sauber completing the top ten.
As the lights went out Vettel took the lead as Trulli moved into third place while Barrichello suffered some sort of problem and almost stalled on the grid, dropping him back several places.
Button passed Vettel exiting turn 10 of the first lap after the German hit the kerb and ran wide at turn 9, meanwhile Webber passed Trulli to take the third place.
Giancarlo Fisichella in the Force India was one of the first drivers to pit on lap 5 while in eighteenth place. He had been suffering from some sort of brake problem during qualifying and seems it had not been rectified as he retired from the race.
On lap 7, Barrichello made a pass on Heikki Kovalainen but couldn’t make it stick as Kovalainen re-passed the Brawn GP driver using his KERS system. On lap 9, Barrichello tried again but this time there was contact between the two drivers and Barrichello’s car span on the track, dropping him back to seventeenth and behind the second McLaren of Lewis Hamilton.
Barrichello passed Hamilton on lap 9 and then went onto pass the Renault of Nelson Piquet easily on lap 11 before hunting down the Force India of Adrian Sutil. On lap13, however, the Brazilian once again made contact, this time with Sutil, losing part of his front wing and seeing him pit on the following lap, moving him back to fifteenth position.
By lap 15, Button had created a gap of six seconds from Vettel, as Alonso entered the pits for his first stop from seventh place and Vettel pitted from second.
Vettel rejoined in sixth place as Trulli pitted from third. Button then entered the pits for his first stop on lap 17, along with Massa, Webber, and Rosberg, leaving Button to return to the track in first place.
Button led the race followed by Vettel, Kubica and Webber, until Kubica pitted on lap 21 and Vettel began closing in on the Brawn GP driver. The gap became less and less between the front two cars until Vettel once again pitted confirming he was on a three-stop strategy.
Vettel rejoined in third place behind Button and Webber. Rosberg was now in fourth ahead of Trulli, Massa and team-mate Kazuki Nakajima.
Lewis Hamilton, who had qualified the McLaren in sixteenth place, was in tenth by lap 33 and all over the back of Alonso. He then pitted and rejoined ahead of Piquet until the Renault driver passed him going into turn 13 and 14. On lap 28, Hamilton was also passed by Sebastian Buemi in the Toro Rosso.
Button made his final pit stop on lap 43, with Webber doing the same on the following lap from second. Button once again rejoined to take the lead followed by Vettel, who had yet to stop for the third time which he finally did on lap 49.
Barrichello entered the pits for the third time of lap 49, but this time he retired the Brawn GP car after suffering clutch trouble at the start and then a problem with the gearbox.
It was another dismal weekend for the Ferrari team, although both drivers finished inside the top ten at the Istanbul circuit. Raikkonen had a bad start, losing ground at the off and then tangled with Alonso, damaging his front wing.
The Williams driver Nico Rosberg, claimed his best result of the season so far with a fifth place, although he could have had a possible fourth had he not been held up by his team-mate. Nakajima ran well until his mechanics suffered problems fitting his front-left wheel during his final pit stop, putting him out of the points.
Button now lead the championship by 26 points over his team-mate Barrichello, winning six out of the seven rounds so far this season. Mark Webber finished in second place only 7 seconds behind Button ahead of his team-mate Sebastian Vettel in third.
Jarno Trulli finished in fourth followed by Nico Rosberg in fifth, Felipe Massa in sixth, Robert Kubica in seventh, Timo Glock in eighth, Kimi Raikkonen in ninth and Fernando Alonso completing the top ten drivers of the day.
Here are the results;
1. Jenson Button Britain Brawn-Mercedes 58 laps 1hr 26m 24.848s
2. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault +00m 06.7s
3. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault +00m 07.4s
4. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota-Toyota +00m 27.8s
5. Nico Rosberg Germany Williams-Toyota +00m 31.5s
6. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 39.9s
7. Robert Kubica Poland BMW Sauber +00m 46.2s
8. Timo Glock Germany Toyota-Toyota +00m 46.9s
9. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 50.2s
10. Fernando Alonso Spain Renault-Renault +00m 62.4s
11. Nick Heidfeld Germany BMW Sauber +00m 64.3s
12. Kazuki Nakajima Japan Williams-Toyota +00m 66.3s
13. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes +00m 80.4s
14. Heikki Kovalainen Finland McLaren-Mercedes +1 lap
15. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap
16. Nelson Piquet Jr Brazil Renault-Renault +1 lap
17. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes +1 lap
18. Sebastien Bourdais France Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap
Rtd Rubens Barrichello Brazil Brawn-Mercedes 47 laps completed mechanical
Rtd Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Force India-Mercedes 4 laps completed mechanical
Fastest lap:
Jenson Button Britain Brawn-Mercedes 1m 27.579s lap 40
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