Jenson Button has clinched the Formula One World Championship after finishing fifth in the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos.
Fifth place enough for Briton at Interlagos
Jenson Button has clinched the Formula One World Championship after finishing fifth in the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos.
The Brawn GP driver came through the field from 14th place on the grid - Button producing a fine display to move forward but also profiting from a number of incidents on the opening lap.
Team-mate Rubens Barrichello, who had appeared favourite to take their title battle to the final race in Abu Dhabi after qualifying on pole position in Saturday's rain-drenched session, could only finish eighth after suffering a late puncture.
The race was won by Red Bull's Mark Webber, with BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica second ahead of outgoing world champion Lewis Hamilton.
Webber's team-mate Sebastian Vettel saw his own slim title challenge end despite finishing fourth ahead of Button, while Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen finished sixth ahead of Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi and Barrichello.
Sunday's result also means that Brawn GP clinch the constructors' title at the first attempt - the team having only secured their future following Honda's withdrawal from the sport less than a month before the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
Speaking in the wake of his awful qualifying session, Button said he would need to produce something special in the race if he was to take the title with one race to spare and his body language once the lights went out suggested a man who meant business.
Chaotic
However, a champion also needs luck and Button got plenty on a chaotic opening lap which saw him thread his way through a number of incidents in the field.
With Barrichello earning the approval of his home crowd by taking the lead at the opening corner, Webber and Raikkonen jostled for second place - the latter then losing part of his front wing on the back straight after clipping the back of the Australian's car.
Raikkonen then almost had a coming together with Force India's Adrian Sutil who, backing off, was collected by Toyota's Jarno Trulli as Renault's Fernando Alonso too became involved.
With the safety car deployed, Raikkonen pitted and was lucky to continue when the McLaren of Heikki Kovalainen - who had himself spun at the back of the field on the opening lap - left its pit box trailing a fuel rig, which doused the Ferrari in fuel - a flash fire briefly erupting.
Button had already climbed to ninth and once racing resumed he set about making up further places.
It seemed easy at first, with Renault's Romain Grosjean and Williams driver Kazuki Nakajima dispatched on the fifth lap. However, Button's progress was then halted by Toyota debutant Kamui Kobayashi.
After one aborted passing attempt at the Senna S corner - Button complaining that the youngster was weaving and blocking - he finally claimed sixth place by lap 25 with another driver ahead of him, Nico Rosberg, retiring two laps later.
By this stage it had already become apparent that Barrichello might be heading in the opposite direction, however, and despite putting in a series of fast laps ahead of his opening pit stop on lap 20 both Webber and Kubica leapfrogged him.
Button climbed as high as second prior to his opening stop on lap 29, two laps before Kobayashi made another cameo when, having made a stop himself, he veered in front of Nakajima on the back straight - the latter lucky to escape after his car took to the grass and briefly became airborne at approximately 190mph.
Inroads
Hamilton and Vettel joined Button in making inroads from the back of the grid and having taken on board a heavy load of fuel under the safety car, the McLaren star was making his presence increasingly felt.
By lap 33 he was harrassing Barrichello for fifth place and with Button passing Buemi for ninth one lap later it became clear by half-distance that the race was moving towards the Englishman.
With Vettel and Kubica both having made stops, Barrichello was back up to second by lap 47 but his 15.8-second deficit to Webber told its own story.
He stopped again on lap 50 and with Button making his last stop five laps later, the places they held - third and sixth - had tilted matters decisively in Button's favour.
The final nail in Barrichello's title bid was hammered home by Hamilton on lap 61, the latter closing up behind the Brawn on the start-finish straight to pass into the Senna S.
Barrichello also picked up a left rear puncture around this time and needed an unscheduled pit stop as his challenge, which had promised so much less than 24 hours earlier, finally evaporated.
Brazilian Grand Prix, result:1 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1hr 32mins 23.081secs, 2 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:32:30.707, 3 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1:32:42.025, 4 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1:32:42.733, 5 Jenson Button (Gbr) Brawn GP 1:32:52.086, 6 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:32:56.421, 7 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:32:59.072, 8 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Brawn GP 1:33:08.535, 9 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren 1:33:11.481, 10 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Toyota 1:33:26.081, 11 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Ferrari 1:33:33.746, 12 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Force India 1:33:34.469, 13 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Renault at 1 Lap, 14 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso at 1 Lap
Not Classified: 15 Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams 30 Laps completed, 16 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 27 Laps completed, 17 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 21 Laps completed, 18 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 0 Laps completed, 19 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 0 Laps completed, 20 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 0 Laps completed
World Championship Standings
Drivers: 1 Jenson Button (Gbr) Brawn GP 89pts, 2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 74, 3 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Brawn GP 72, 4 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 61.5, 5 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 49, 6 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 48, 7 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 34.5, 8 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 30.5, 9 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 26, 10 Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 24, 11 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 22, 12 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren 22, 13 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 17, 14 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 15, 15 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Ferrari 8, 16 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 5, 17 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 5, 18 Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso 2, 19 Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams 0, 20 Nelson Piquet Jr (Bra) Renault 0, 21 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Toyota 0, 22 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Force India 0, 23 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Renault 0, 24 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 0, 25 Luca Badoer (Ita) Ferrari 0
Manufacturers: 1 Brawn GP 161pts, 2 Red Bull 135.5, 3 McLaren 71, 4 Ferrari 70, 5 Toyota 54.5, 6 Williams 34.5, 7 BMW Sauber 32, 8 Renault 26, 9 Force India 13, 10 Scuderia Toro Rosso 7
