Brazilian GP 2009

OCTOBER 18, 2009

Race Notes - Webber wins Brazilian GP - Button clinches championship

Robert Kubica, Mark Webber, Lewis Hamilton, Brazilian GP 2009
© The Cahier Archive

Mark Webber won the Brazilian Grand Prix in Sao Paulo today in his Red Bull-Renault, while Jenson Button clinched the 2009 Drivers World Championship with his fifth place finish.

Robert Kubica finished second in his BMW Sauber, 7.6 seconds behind. Lewis Hamilton was third in his McLaren-Mercedes, some 18.9 seconds behind the leader.

The result also clinched the Constructors' Championship title to Brawn-Mercedes. The win is Webber's second career victory, his first win coming at the German GP this July.

Sebastian Vettel (19.6s) finished fourth in the Red Bull-Renault, Jenson Button (29.0s) in the Brawn-Mercedes was fifth, Kimi Raikkonen (33.3s) in the Ferrari was sixth, Sebastien Buemi (35.9s) in the Toro Rosso-Ferrari was seventh and Rubens Barrichello (45.4s) in the Brawn-Mercedes finished in the final points paying position.

Overnight before the race Vitantonio Liuzzi's car needed a new gearbox with repairs from his qualifying accident, and he is given a 5-grid position penalty and will start 20th.

At the start Barrichello gets the lead with Webber in second and Raikkonen passing Adrian Sutil in the Force India-Mercedes into the second corner, further back Heikki Kovalainen spins. On the run to the third corner Raikkonen looks to pass Webber for second but makes contact and losses his front wing, and limps back to the pit.

A few seconds later Jarno Trulli gets a run and attempts to overtake Sutil on the outside, Sutil gives him no room, and Trulli puts a wheel off track at the exit of the corner, spins and crashes into Sutil, both out on the spot. Fernando Alonso is taken out of the race when Sutil flys across the track at the next corner.

The Safety car is deployed.

Kovalainen and Raikkonen pit, Kovalainen leaves his pit with the fuel filler still connected, ripping the fuel hose away, which then sprays fuel on Raikkonen who is following behind. The fuel catches fire, but quickly goes out. Both rejoin.

At the start of lap 5 the Safety Car comes in and the race resumes with Barrichello leading Webber. Kubica takes third place from Nico Rosberg.

On lap 6 Button passes Kazuki Nakajima into turn one to take seventh place.

At lap 12 Barrichello leads Webber by 1.8 seconds followed by Kubica (2.8s), Rosberg (4.4s), Buemi (7.8s), Kamui Kobayashi (12.2s), Button (12.7s), Nakajima (13.5s), Vettel (14.0s) and Nick Heidfeld (14.6s) in tenth place.

Barrichello puts in a number of fast laps and stretches his lead to 2.7 seconds by lap 20.

On lap 21 Heidfeld is the first to make a pitstop.

Race leader Barrichello pits the next lap, rejoining in 8th place - Vettel then gets a run and passes Barrichello for 8th.

Heidfeld pulls to the side of the track - it appears that there was a fuel rig problem on his stop and he is out of fuel.

On lap 24 Kubica pits from third place and rejoins in six in front of Barrichello.

On lap 25 Rosberg and Buemi pit from second and third.

Button battling with Kobayashi, finally gets by the Japanese rookie. Nakajima then battles with his countryman.

On lap 27 Webber pits from the lead, and rejoins still in the lead. Nakajima pits as well.

At lap 28 Webber leads Button by 0.8 seconds, followed by Kobayashi (5.1s), Vettel (5.5s), Kubica (6.4s), Barrichello (7.6s), Hamilton (8.4s), Kovalainen (9.0s), Romain Grosjean (18.6s) and Raikkonen (19.1s) in tenth place.

On lap 28 Rosberg retires in the pitlane with a gearbox problem.

On lap 30 Button pits from second place, rejoining in tenth. Kovalainen pits as well. The next lap Kobayashi pits from second.

On Lap 31 Nakajima tries to pass Kobayashi who just rejoined from the pits, makes contact and takes off his from wing, lost control as he jumps over the wing and crashed into the inside barrier, and then, still at speed, the WIlliams crossed the road at turn 4, hitting the barriers on the outside. Nakajima gets out of the car okay.

On lap 34 Button passes Buemi into turn one for seventh place.

On lap 35 Grosjean pits - on a one-stop strategy.

At lap 35 Webber leads his team mate Vettel by 4.7 seconds, followed by Kubica (7.5s), Barrichello (11.2s), Hamilton (11.7s), Raikkonen (25.1s), Button (26.2s), Buemi (28.0s), Giancarlo Fisichella (28.7s) and Liuzzi (33.8s) in tenth place.

On lap 38 Vettel pits from second place, rejoining in seventh place behind Button. Fisichella pits as well - the last driver to make a first stop.

On lap 43 Hamilton pits from fourth place, rejoining in ninth place. Raikkonen pits on the next lap. Liuzzi pits on lap 45.

On lap 47 Kubica makes his second pitstop from second place, rejoining in third ahead of Button.

At lap 48 Webber leads Barrichello by 16.5 seconds, followed by Kubica (27.1s), Button (29.6s), Vettel (30.4s), Buemi (35.1s), Hamilton (41.1s), Kobayashi (45.4s), Kovalainen (46.8s) and Raikkonen (54.6) in tenth place.

On lap 51 Barrichello makes his final stop from second place, and rejoins in sixth place.

On lap 52 Webber pits from the lead for his final stop, rejoining without losing a position.

On lap 55 Buemi pits from fifth place. The next lap Button makes his final stop from third place, rejoining in eighth place. On lap 57 Vettel pits from third place, rejoining in fifth place, ahead of Kovalainen and Button.

On lap 60 Kovalainen makes his final stop.

At lap 60 Webber leads Kubica by 5.0 seconds, followed by Barrichello (18.0s), Hamilton (19.0s), Vettel (25.7s), Button (31.7s), Raikkonen (34.8s), Buemi (38.4s), Kovalainen (51.3s) and Fisichella (58.1s) in tenth place.

On lap 63 Hamilton passes Barrichello for third place at the first corner.

It appears that Hamilton touched Barrichello's left-rear tyre with his right-front wing end-plate as he made his past. Barrichello's tyre has a puncture and he is forced to pit for tyres on lap 64. He loses four positions and falls to eighth place.

On lap 68 Kobayashi passes Fisichella for tenth place.

The order stays the same to the finish, Jenson Button takes the drivers title, while Brawn GP takes the constructors' with one round still remaining.