Barrichello wins at Monza

Rubens Barrichello has taken another small slice out of Jenson Button's world championship lead after winning the Italian Grand Prix.

Button's lead cut to 14 points with four races to go

Rubens Barrichello has taken another small slice out of Jenson Button's world championship lead after winning the Italian Grand Prix. The Brazilian led home his Brawn GP team-mate at Monza with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen claiming the final podium position. World champion Lewis Hamilton had held third place heading into the final lap but, attempting to close the gap on Button, he instead retired in spectacular style. The McLaren driver lost control of his car exiting the first Lesmo bend and slammed into the barriers on the inside of the track. Hamilton climbed out the wreckage unhurt but debris lined the circuit, meaning the race finished under safety car conditions. Adrian Sutil took the chequered flag in fourth for Force India, ahead of Renault's Fernando Alonso and McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen. BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld finished seventh while Hamilton's shunt promoted Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel into the points with eighth. Sunday's result means that, with four races remaining, Button holds a 14-point lead over Barrichello in the drivers' standings. And with Brawn GP's main title contenders Red Bull having an awful afternoon - Vettel's team-mate Mark Webber retiring on the opening lap after colliding with BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica - Sunday's winners have stolen a valuable march in the race for the constructors' title.

Confident

Button, whose 26-point lead after June's Turkish Grand Prix had been whittled down to 16 coming into the race, appeared more confident this weekend than he had for some time. However, that much appeared even more true of Barrichello, who seems to be coming to the boil at just the right time to set up an exciting title run-in against his team-mate. With the improved speed of Brawn GP's car being revealed during Saturday qualifying, both drivers elected for a one-stop strategy around the famous autodrome. In contrast, the top three on the grid, Hamilton, Sutil and Raikkonen, all chose two stops to set up F1's very own version of the tortoise and the hare. Hamilton assumed the latter role by virtue of his clean start from pole position, while Barrichello emerged as his challenger when he dived past another one-stopper, Kovalainen, at the first chicane whilst also holding off Button. Meanwhile, Raikkonen made use of his KERS button at the lights to pass Sutil around the outside into the first chicane. Hamilton set a series of fastest laps as he pulled clear of the field and held a 17-second lead over Barrichello, who was running fourth behind Raikkonen and Sutil when he made his first stop on lap 14. Sutil and Raikkonen in turn pitted for the first time on laps 17 and 19 respectively, handing the lead over to Barrichello, who led his team-mate by 2.1 seconds. Button could not close the gap any further and he also lost out by pitting at the end of lap 28 - one lap earlier than Barrichello. The Brazilian therefore rejoined comfortably ahead of Button after his stop, with Hamilton once more taking over at the front. The world champion, who still led Raikkonen and Sutil on track, held a 16-second lead over Barrichello by the time he made his second stop on lap 33.

Not enough

However, his advantage proved nowhere near big enough and Hamilton rejoined the fray comfortably behind the Brawn GP pair. Barrichello moved in front once more when Raikkonen and Sutil pitted in tandem on lap 36 and with no more stops to make, the big question now was whether Hamilton could hinder his countryman's championship challenge further by making a pass on the track. The McLaren driver closed on Button during the closing laps although in truth the Brawn car appeared too far ahead when Hamilton overdid it on the 53rd and final lap. Sutil spent the closing laps shadowing Raikkonen, again without being able to pass, while Alonso had a quiet run to fifth. With McLaren hedging their bets in terms of tactics, Kovalainen had appeared strong heading into the race after setting the fastest fuel adjusted time in qualifying. But the Finn, who is racing for his future at the team, fell away badly in the early laps and only got on the pace of the leaders when it was too late. Elsewhere, Vitantonio Liuzzi ran as high as fourth on his debut for Force India before retiring with a gearbox problem on lap 24, while Giancarlo Fisichella finished ninth on his debut for Ferrari. Results:
1 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Brawn GP 1hr 16mins 21.706secs, 2 Jenson Button (Gbr) Brawn GP 1:16:24.572, 3 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:16:52.370, 4 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:16:52.837, 5 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:17:20.888, 6 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren 1:17:22.399, 7 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:17:44.118, 8 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1:17:47.106, 9 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Ferrari 1:17:48.506, 10 Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams 1:19:03.806, 11 Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 1:19:05.631, 12 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren at 1 Lap, 13 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso at 1 Lap, 14 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota at 1 Lap, 15 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Renault at 1 Lap, 16 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams at 1 Lap
Not Classified: 17 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Force India 22 Laps completed, 18 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 19 Laps completed, 19 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 15 Laps completed, 20 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 0 Laps completed World Championship Standings after Italian Grand Prix
Drivers: 1 Jenson Button (Gbr) Brawn GP 80pts, 2 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Brawn GP 66, 3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 54, 4 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 51.5, 5 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 40, 6 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 30.5, 7 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 27, 8 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 22.5, 9 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 22, 10 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren 20, 11 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 20, 12 Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 16, 13 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 12, 14 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Ferrari 8, 15 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 8, 16 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 5, 17 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 3, 18 Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso 2, 19 Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams 0, 20 Nelson Piquet Jr (Bra) Renault 0, 21 Luca Badoer (Ita) Ferrari 0, 22 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Renault 0, 23 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 0, 24 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Force India 0
Manufacturers: 1 Brawn GP 146pts, 2 Red Bull 105.5, 3 Ferrari 62, 4 McLaren 47, 5 Toyota 38.5, 6 Williams 30.5, 7 BMW Sauber 20, 8 Renault 20, 9 Force India 13, 10 Scuderia Toro Rosso 5