WATERSHED; Jenson Button wins a wild Hungarian Grand Prix.(Motorsports)

Byline: ALAN HENRY

Honda driver Jenson Button broke his string of 112 Formula One races without a win when he took the Hungarian Grand Prix, finally putting his name into the record book as one of the elite who have claimed their place atop of the podium.

The afternoon was a wildly unpredictable lottery thanks to heavy rain that began falling just before the start of the 70-lap race. It was the first time in the Hungarian Grand Prix's 21-year history that fans did not enjoy a dry race under a boiling sun. And what a treat it turned out to be.

Before bringing his car home 30.8 seconds ahead of Pedro de la Rosa's McLaren-Mercedes and Nick Heidfeld's BMW-Sauber, Button found the last 18 laps impossibly nerve-racking: From the moment Fernando Alonso steered his crippled Renault into the pit lane at the end of lap 51, this was a race Button could only lose. Only open road lay ahead of him, while Michael Schumacher's Ferrari was more than 13 seconds behind.

The Honda crew monitored Button's progress from the pit wall. His dry-weather Michelin tires gave better and more consistent grip than Schumacher's intermediate wet-weather Bridgestones. As Button reeled off the laps, Schumacher fell back into the clutches of de la Rosa's McLaren-Mercedes, also on dry-weather Michelins.

At the end of the lap, with the entire Honda crew lining the pit wall cheering, Button accelerated cleanly out of the final uphill 180-degree right- hander and exploded out onto the straight to take the checkered flag.

"Wow, what a day,'' said Button as he stepped down from the podium. "It's amazing, the weather conditions made it very difficult, but the team has certainly deserved it. For the last 10 laps we turned the revs down, but I just didn't want it to end.''