Jenson Button earned himself a place in Formula One's history books with a pole-to-flag victory in Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix.

It was Button's fifth win in six races, and he joins a pantheon of F1 greats to achieve such a feat, after Alberto Ascari (1952), Juan Manuel Fangio (1954), Jim Clark (1965), Sir Jackie Stewart (1969), Nigel Mansell (1992) and Michael Schumacher (1994, 2002 and 2004).

The brilliant Briton also spearheaded a third Brawn GP one-two of the season, stretching his convincing lead over team-mate Rubens Barrichello to 16 points, with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen back on the podium for the first time since last year's Brazilian Grand Prix.

Button joins another exclusive club, becoming only the sixth Briton in the 60 years of the world championship to win in Monaco.

Stirling Moss, Graham Hill, Sir Jackie Stewart, David Coulthard and Lewis Hamilton have all previously emerged victorious at the end of the world's most famous motor sport event.

Now Button can add his name to that illustrious list of Britons, and at a venue where his apartment is just a short walk away from the far eastern side of the circuit at Portier.

It was as routine as they get, with Button making it look easy in a car that has won in a park, in the wet, the dry, and now on the streets as the Brawn has so far supremely adapted to every type of condition.

Once he was away cleanly from the start, what followed was a drive of sheer class and perfection, underpinned by the car beneath him.

Hamilton had predicted that without any incidents, Button would enjoy a nice Sunday drive, and that was precisely the case.

It was a mistake-free afternoon, well, other than after taking the chequered flag because after his victory lap he parked his car back in the pits rather than in the top three parc ferme.

That forced him into a run out of the pits, around La Rascasse and up the start/finish straight - around 600 metres in total - to take his place on the podium.

Behind the runaway Briton, Barrichello's second place arrived via a superb start, beating Raikkonen off the line, and from that moment the result was a foregone conclusion barring catastrophe.

The Finn did threaten at one stage early in the race as the Brawn duo used the less-suited super-soft tyres for their first stint, but on this notoriously difficult circuit to pass, Raikkonen never got a look in.

Even at the pit stops, the Brawn team were inch perfect, doing all that was necessary to send their drivers on their way without the threat of being challenged from either Raikkonen or his team-mate in Felipe Massa.

The Brazilian did enjoy one of the race's more dramatic moments early on as he attempted a pass on a surprisingly slow Sebastian Vettel coming out of the tunnel on the run down to the chicane.

With the Red Bull the lightest car on fuel, Massa hounded Vettel, only to brake too late, forcing him onto the run off.

Forced to slow down to allow Vettel to retake position, Massa was too slow back on the throttle and lost his fifth place at the time to Williams' Nico Rosberg.

Vettel's race did not last too much longer, though, as he slid into a barrier coming out of Sainte Devote, with the typically efficient Monaco marshals avoiding the need for a safety car by craning the Red Bull off the track.

He was one of five retirements as Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi drove into the back of Renault's Nelson Piquet heading into the first corner.

BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica retired with mechanical failure, whilst McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen crunched his car into the barriers coming out of the swimming pool complex and into La Rascasse.

As for world champion Hamilton, after starting 19th, he did all he could to finish 12th on a bleak day for his team when they had come into it hoping for so much.

As for the rest of the top eight, Red Bull's Mark Webber was followed by Rosberg and Renault's Fernando Alonso, with Sebastien Bourdais claiming a fine eighth for Toro Rosso.

Button, becoming the first Briton to win from pole in Monaco since Stewart in 1973, said: "This victory is massive for us.

"I got off the line clean, and it was all good from there other than the usual Monaco things such as traffic and the barriers getting nearer and nearer as the race dragged on.

"It's a strange feeling because you start backing off a little bit, and it started going through my mind that if I kept it together I'd win at Monaco.

"But that's dangerous, so I had to concentrate, keep a steady pace and end up enjoying a great day at Monaco.

"It's been an outstanding weekend. The team have been fabulous, and we're looking very strong over the next few races.

"Before the weekend I said winning here would not mean as much, but that was just to take the pressure off my shoulders.

"In fact, to win here is fantastic. It does mean so much."

Barrichello had to be content with second as he said: "I had a great start, had a run on Kimi, and then I had good pace behind Jenson, but was possibly too close.

"Losing the aerodynamics I was graining the rear tyres, and from doing 16s (one minute 16 second laps), I was doing 20s.

"That really defined the race, although I guess qualifying did that because Jenson had great momentum going into this race."

Raikkonen, appreciating the job his team have done since a woeful start to the year, said: "We've still work to do to be where we want to be, to fight for the victory.

"But we have to be happy because we've improved the car greatly since the start of the season.

"We should have a new package for the next race, and that should help."