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Monday October 19, 2009

F1: Briton and Brawn clinch world crowns in penultimate race

BRITON Jenson Button was crowned drivers world champion yesterday when he finished fifth in an incident-filled Brazilian Grand Prix won by Australian Mark Webber.

Button, who has led the championship all season after winning the opening Australian Grand Prix in March, had started 14th on the grid, but drove with courage and determination to achieve his goal and send the Brawn GP team into wild celebration.

“We are the champions,” Button sang out of key from his cockpit after crossing the finishing line and capturing the title with one race to spare.

Later the 29-year-old told the BBC: “It’s really amazing especially after the last few weeks. It was such an awesome race – I’m world champion baby!

Brawn GP's driver Jenson Button, of Britain, celebrates after winning the F1 World Championship 2009.

“When I first jumped in a car 21 years ago I never expected to be world champion – but we did it today.”

Button’s success ensured also that the Brawn team, created out of the ashes of the defunct Honda team last winter, also clinched the constructors’ world championship.

“It’s very special,” said team boss Ross Brawn who paid tribute to Button and also former company workers who were laid off in the tam’s reorganisation.

“The work over the winter was sensational and I give all my thanks to all the people who couldn’t be with us and who had to leave.

“The second half of the season was hard but it was a great race today. Jenson knew what he had to do.”

Button’s great success came in his 169th Grand Prix and at the end of his ninth season in Formula One, a year when he won six of the opening seven races and then struggled to recapture that form.

It was a classic case of the tortoise and the hare in the second half of the season as Button survived the intensifying pressure around him, but continued to collect points.

Webber celebrated the second won of his career.

“I think he (Button) can sleep better now because he’s been absolutely bricking it after the last few races,” Webber said with a smile. “He can enjoy (the last race in) Abu Dhabi.”

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel, the 22-year-old German who had needed to finish in the top two to have a chance of staying in contention for the title, took fourth place on a hot and humid afternoon at Interlagos.

Brawn GP's Jenson Button, of Britain, centre, celebrates with teammates and mechanics after Button won the Formula One World championship by finishing fifth during Brazil's Grand Prix at the Interlagos race track in Sao Paulo.

Button, winner of six of the first seven races, now has 89 points to Vettel’s 74 and Barrichello’s 72.

Brawn, who had needed only a point to be sure of the constructors’ championship, become the first team to take the crown in their first full season.

Poland’s Robert Kubica was second for BMW-Sauber with McLaren’s outgoing world champion Lewis Hamilton taking third place from 17th on the grid at the circuit where he clinched the title in a 2008 thriller.

The safety car was deployed for four laps after chaos on the opening lap when Force India’s Adrian Sutil, Toyota’s Jarno Trulli and Renault’s Fernando Alonso crashed out.

Trulli and Sutil, who had been third on the grid, then had a heated argument on the run off with the Italian clearly feeling more aggrieved.

McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen finished the race with a stewards’ investigation still pending after he left the pits with the fuel hose still attached, spraying fuel over Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari.

The fuel then ignited, causing a flash fire near the pit lane wall. — Agencies

RACE RESULTS

72 laps: 1. Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1’32:23.081, 2. Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 7.626 behind, 3. Lewis Hamilton (Bri) McLaren 18.944, 4. Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 19.652, 5. Jenson Button (Bri) Brawn 29.005, 6. Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 33.340, 7. Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Toro Rosso 35.991, 8. Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Brawn 45.454, 9. Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren 48.499, 10. Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Toyota 1:03.324, 11. Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Ferrari 1:10.665, 12. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Force India 1:11.388, 13. Romain Grosjean (Fra) Renault 1 lap, 14. Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Toro Rosso 1 lap.

Retired: Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault) 2nd lap, Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India) 2nd, Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 2nd, Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 22nd, Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 28th, Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) 31st.

Overall standings

Drivers: 1. Button 89.0pts, 2. Vettel 74.0, 3. Barrichello 72.0, 4. Webber 61.5, 5. Hamilton 49.0, 6. Raikkonen 48.0, 7. Rosberg 34.5, 8. Trulli 30.5, 9. Alonso 26.0, 10. Timo Glock (Ger) 24.0, 11. Felipe Massa (Bra) 22.0, 12. Kovalainen 22.0, 13. Kubica 17.0, 14. Heidfeld 15.0, 15. Fisichella 8.0, 16. Sutil 5.0, 17. Buemi 5.0, 18. Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) 2.0.

Constructors: 1. Brawn 161.0pts, 2. Red Bull 135.5, 3. McLaren 71.0, 4. Ferrari 70.0, 5. Toyota 54.5, 6. Williams 34.5, 7. BMW Sauber 32.0, 8. Renault 26.0, 9. Force India 13.0, 10. Toro Rosso 7.0.

QUALIFYING TIMES

1. Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Brawn-Mercedes 1:19.576; 2. Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 1:19.668; 3. Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India-Mercedes 1:19.912 ; 4. Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:20.097; 5. Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:20.168; 6. Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:20.250; 7. Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams-Toyota 1:20.326; 8. Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:20.631; 9. Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams-Toyota 1:20.674; 10. Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:21.422; 11. Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Toyota 1:21.960; 12. Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:22.231; 13. Romain Grosjean (Fra) Renault 1:22.477; 14. Jenson Button (Bri) Brawn-Mercedes 1:22.504; 15. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Force India-Mercedes; 16. Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault 1:25.009; 17. Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes 1:25.052; 18. Lewis Hamilton (Bri) McLaren-Mercedes 1:25.192; 19. Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:25.515; 20. Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Ferrari 1:40.703.

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