Our twitter live-blog of the 2009 Turkish Grand Prix was a complete success. If you were checking it out this weekend, you already know what happened. If you didn't, hit the jump for the spoilers and a crude crayon drawing.
Jenson Button was so fast at this weekend’s Turkish Grand Prix, he could afford to sit down for a picnic with his girlfriend Jessica Michibata during the race.
In a surprising move which was nonetheless perfectly in line with the sheer dominance of both his car and his skills driving it, Jenson Button pulled over to the side of the track at Istanbul Park on the second to last lap of this Sunday’s Turkish Grand Prix to treat his girlfriend, fashion model Jessica Michibata, to an impromptu picnic of Turkish cuisine.
“I was on the last lap, way up in the lead from Mark and Seb in their Red Bulls, so I thought—why not? You can certainly use a cold ayran on a hot summer afternoon in Istanbul,” Button said.
After nine disappointing seasons in Formula One, the 29-year-old Englishman is currently the dominant driver on the grid by a long margin. While he did not start the Turkish Grand Prix from pole, he pounced on an early error by Sebastian Vettel to take a lead he would build up to picnicworthy proportions by lap 57.
“So Ross was saying, ‘Hey Jess, Jenson’s just said on team radio he’d prefer a quick bite before the checkered flag,’ so off I went,” recalled Michibata. “I took a few döner kebaps, two pints of ayran, some strained yogurt and a bite of baklava, all wrapped in the checkered flag he was set to take.” She would return the flag to race officials after their meal.
Seated on the car’s side air intakes in a brilliant blue Hermès silk scarf, the Argentine-Japanese Michibata recalled images of a more glamorous era of motor racing. After finishing their delicious Turkish meal, Button climbed back into his BGP-001 to drive the white racing car across the finish line.
“Jessica rustled up one hell of a meal. But man, I so could’ve used a Red Bull to wash that döner kebap down with,” Button said after his post-race interview.
In case you missed Jalopnik’s live coverage of the race, you can catch up here. We will continue with galleries and a full race report.
Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images. Drawing by the author.