VALENCIA, Spain : August 23, 2009 - Rubens Barrichello (Brawn Mercedes) took the lead from reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes) on the 40th lap of the European Grand Prix at Valencia on Sunday.
From that point on he controlled the pace of the race, crossing the line 2.3 sec ahead of Hamilton, with Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) third.
On the opening lap, Hamilton was followed through the first corner by Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren-Mercedes), Rubens Barrichello (Brawn-Mercedes), Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari), Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault), Nico Rosberg (Williams-Toyota), Fernando Alonso (Renault) and Jenson Button (Brawn-Mercedes).
Championship leader Button had a bad start, dropping from fifth place to eighth.
Luca Badoer, who was racing as a replacement for injured Felipe Massa, moved his Ferrari up six place from last on the grid.
Rookie Romain Grosjean (Renault) returned to the pits, his first race lasting only a few hundred metres before an incident. Timo Glock (Toyota) and Sébastien Buemi (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) were also involved in tangles and pitted for repairs.
Hamilton set a target time of 1'41.807 on the second lap as Button drew alongside Vettel but was unable to get past. Badoer had a spin and dropped down to 17th and last of the cars which had not pitted.
Ninth-placed Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault) claimed over his pit radio that Button should relinquish a place to him, as the Australian claimed that the Brawn-Mercedes driver had gained an advantage by short-cutting the chicane. Button duly moved over and allowed Webber past into eighth place.
On lap 6, Hamilton set a new fastest lap of the race - 1'39.810 - as he opened up his gap over team mate Kovalainen to 5.4 sec. There was a gap of 2.0 sec back to Barrichello with Räikkönen a further 2.2 sec behind.
The two McLarens were both running the soft compound tyres with third-placed Barrichello on the hards. Each driver has to use each compound at least once in the race.
On the ninth lap, 18th-placed Grosjean had a spin, but was able to recover without incident.
Kovalainen had dropped to 6.2 sec behind race leader Hamilton by lap 13, but he was still trying and set the fastest recorded time for the first sector and a lap time of exactly 1'40.000. It wasn't enough though as Hamilton went quicker still and set a new fastest lap of 1'39.455 ahead of his first pit stop.
It was lap 16 before the first car made a scheduled stop for tyres and fuel, and it was race leader Hamilton who lost 9.4 sec and rejoined on another set of softs. Cars then streamed into the pits leaving the race order scrambled.
Sebastian Vettel had bad luck in his pit stop. The first fuel rig was connected and was left attached for some time before the pit crew realised no fuel was flowing from it. They removed the rig but the pit chief thought that signalled the end of refuelling and sent Vettel on his way. He had to return to the pits a lap later to be refuelled from the second rig and he dropped to 15th place as a result.
Barrichello was relieved of the turbulent air from the two leading McLarens which had pitted, and as the new race leader he was able to set a new fastest lap of 1'39.427 as his tanks became lighter. The Brazilian finally pitted on lap 19 and he emerged ahead of Kovalainen in second place, 3.2 sec behind Hamilton and 4.3 ahead of the Finn.
Vettel's problems became much more serious when his brand new engine failed on lap 24 after another one failed in practice. He has already used six of the eight motors he is able to use this season.
Barrichello was still just over three seconds behind Hamilton and racing for the lead, and was setting lap times a full second faster than team mate Button down in ninth place and still out of the points. On lap 27, eighth-placed Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India-Mercedes) and tenth-placed Kazuki Nakajima (Williams-Toyota) were the only cars in the top ten yet to pit.
On lap 30, the top six cars were strung out with 4-5 sec gaps between them and no-one under pressure, but there was a good dice developing for seventh place between Webber, Fisichella (+1.3) and Button (+1.8).
Fisichella finally pitted on lap 31 after a very long first stint.
18th-placed Badoer was given a drive-through penalty after he drove over the white line separating the pit exit lane from the track when he left the pits after his first stop. He took the penalty on lap 34. On the same lap, Barrichello set a new fastest time of 1'39.421 as he chased race leader Hamilton 3.9 sec ahead.
Badoer and Ferrari's embarrassment continued as the Italian, who qualified last on Saturday, was lapped by the leading McLaren. Badoer underlined his predicament with yet another spin.
Barrichello kept chipping away at Hamilton's lead, setting a new fastest lap of 1'39.354 on lap 36 as Hamilton made his second pit stop and Barrichello went into the lead. Räikkönen, who was having a quiet afternoon in third place, was next to join the party with a 1'39.276.
Hamilton's pit stop was compromised by sloppy work in the pits as crew members did not have his wheels ready for him and precious seconds ticked away...
Barrichello maintained the pressure as his car's fuel load lightened and he moved the bar to 1'38.990 on lap 39, as Nakajima toured slowly back to the pits with a puncture. Barrichello pitted on lap 40 and his quick laps had worked for him as he rejoined the race in the lead and 4 sec ahead of Hamilton.
Rosberg, Webber and Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber) all pitted on lap 43 from fourth, seventh and tenth places respectively.
Buemi suffered a front brake failure on lap 44 on his Toro Rosso-Ferrari and he joined Vettel in retirement from the race.
Button had finally moved up into the points in seventh place and he set a new fastest lap of 1'38.874 as he reduced the gap to sixth-placed Alonso to 6.2 sec.
With ten laps left, Hamilton set a new personal best time on lap 50 to reduce the lead to 5.9 sec. Further back Button had halved the gap between himself and Alonso in sixth to just 3.8 sec.
Hamilton had a moment on lap 52 when the rear of his McLaren stepped out under braking, but he was able to control it.
As the remaining laps grew fewer, both Rosberg and Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber) set their personal best times of the race.
With four laps left, Rosberg began to close up on Kovalainen 1.7 sec ahead in a battle for fourth place. He took nearly a second out of the gap in just one lap.
In a late charge, Glock set the fastest lap time on the penultimate tour - 1'38.683.
Hamilton caught Barrichello over the last few laps but was not close enough to challenge and the Brazilian scored his tenth career win and first since China in 2004. Hamilton was second, just 2.3 seconds behind, in the 250th race for the McLaren / Mercedes partnership.
Race Result : Formula 1 - 2009 Telefonica Grand Prix of Europe
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Time | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 23 | Rubens Barrichello | Brawn-Mercedes | Winner | 10 |
2 | 1 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | +2.3 secs | 8 |
3 | 4 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | +15.9 secs | 6 |
4 | 2 | Heikki Kovalainen | McLaren-Mercedes | +20.0 secs | 5 |
5 | 16 | Nico Rosberg | Williams-Toyota | +20.8 secs | 4 |
6 | 7 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | +27.7 secs | 3 |
7 | 22 | Jenson Button | Brawn-Mercedes | +34.9 secs | 2 |
8 | 5 | Robert Kubica | BMW Sauber | +36.6 secs | 1 |
9 | 14 | Mark Webber | RBR-Renault | +44.9 secs | - |
10 | 20 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | +47.9 secs | - |
11 | 6 | Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber | +48.8 secs | - |
12 | 21 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Force India-Mercedes | +63.6 secs | - |
13 | 9 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | +64.5 secs | - |
14 | 10 | Timo Glock | Toyota | +86.5 secs | - |
15 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Renault | +91.7 secs | - |
16 | 11 | Jaime Alguersuari | STR-Ferrari | +1 Lap | - |
17 | 3 | Luca Badoer | Ferrari | +1 Lap | - |
18 | 17 | Kazuki Nakajima | Williams-Toyota | +3 Laps | - |
Ret | 12 | Sebastien Buemi | STR-Ferrari | +16 Laps | - |
Ret | 15 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault | +34 Laps | - |
Driver Championship Standings :
Pos | Driver | Nationality | Team | Points |
1 | Jenson Button | British | Brawn-Mercedes | 72 |
2 | Rubens Barrichello | Brazilian | Brawn-Mercedes | 54 |
3 | Mark Webber | Australian | RBR-Renault | 51.5 |
4 | Sebastian Vettel | German | RBR-Renault | 47 |
5 | Nico Rosberg | German | Williams-Toyota | 29.5 |
6 | Lewis Hamilton | British | McLaren-Mercedes | 27 |
7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Finnish | Ferrari | 24 |
8 | Jarno Trulli | Italian | Toyota | 22.5 |
9 | Felipe Massa | Brazilian | Ferrari | 22 |
10 | Timo Glock | German | Toyota | 16 |
11 | Fernando Alonso | Spanish | Renault | 16 |
12 | Heikki Kovalainen | Finnish | McLaren-Mercedes | 14 |
13 | Nick Heidfeld | German | BMW Sauber | 6 |
14 | Robert Kubica | Polish | BMW Sauber | 3 |
15 | Sebastien Buemi | Swiss | STR-Ferrari | 3 |
16 | Sebastien Bourdais | French | STR-Ferrari | 2 |
17 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Italian | Force India-Mercedes | 0 |
18 | Adrian Sutil | German | Force India-Mercedes | 0 |
19 | Kazuki Nakajima | Japanese | Williams-Toyota | 0 |
20 | Nelsinho Piquet | Brazilian | Renault | 0 |
21 | Jaime Alguersuari | Spanish | STR-Ferrari | 0 |
22 | Romain Grosjean | French | Renault | 0 |
23 | Luca Badoer | Italian | Ferrari | 0 |
Constructor Championship Standings :
Pos | Team | Points |
| 1 | Brawn-Mercedes | 126 |
| 2 | RBR-Renault | 98.5 |
| 3 | Ferrari | 46 |
| 4 | McLaren-Mercedes | 41 |
| 5 | Toyota | 38.5 |
| 6 | Williams-Toyota | 29.5 |
| 7 | Renault | 16 |
| 8 | BMW Sauber | 9 |
| 9 | STR-Ferrari | 5 |
| 10 | Force India-Mercedes | 0 |
[Source : Super Wheels , Brawn Mercedes, F1 Official]
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