Formula One:An extraordinary pit-lane blunder by McLaren cost Lewis Hamilton a second successive victory as Brawn GP's Rubens Barrichello took the chequered flag at today's European Grand Prix in Valencia.
Pole-sitter Hamilton was leading the Brazilian veteran by around four seconds prior to his second stop on lap 37 but his afternoon came unstuck when McLaren’s mechanics failed to have a new set of tyres ready.
The incident cost Hamilton around six seconds and allowed the hard-charging Barrichello through for his first victory since the 2004 Chinese Grand Prix.
A great day for Brawn was made better by Jenson Button’s damage-limiting drive to seventh, ahead of his nearest rival in the drivers’ standings heading into this weekend, Red Bull’s Mark Webber, who finished outside the points in ninth.
Webber’s team-mate Sebastian Vettel suffered an engine failure for the second day in succession to bring a premature end to his afternoon, and Brawn come away from Spain looking stronger than ever to claim both world titles.
Button’s lead in the drivers’ championship is now 18 points over Barrichello, while Webber is now 20.5 points back and Vettel 25. Brawn are 27.5 points clear of Red Bull in the constructors’ championship.
Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen produced a solid drive to third place from sixth on the grid while McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen failed to deliver on his front-row start as he came home fourth.
Williams’ Nico Rosberg produced a typically consistent drive to fifth ahead of Renault’s Fernando Alonso, while BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica took eighth and the final point.
But the day belonged to Barrichello, who celebrated his 10th career win with characteristic emotion on the podium.
“It’s been fantastic,” said the veteran of 281 grands prix. “It’s been a weekend that I will never forget, especially because after five years, it’s tough.
“Although you are pushing, there are some things that go through your mind — you want to do it for yourself, for your family and for your country.”
Hamilton, meanwhile, refused to point the finger of blame at his team for the pit-lane error which cost him a shot at victory.
“We win and lose together,” he said. “We had a great team effort to get here, so we cannot at all take second place for granted, or be disappointed that we did not get a win. I still believe it was a tremendous effort, and these things happen.”
RESULTS
Leading Positions after Race (57 Laps):1 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Brawn GP 1hr 35mins 51.289secs, 2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1:35:53.647, 3 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:36:07.283, 4 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren 1:36:11.321, 5 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 1:36:12.159, 6 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:36:19.033, 7 Jenson Button (Gbr) Brawn GP 1:36:26.202, 8 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:36:27.956, 9 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:36:36.199, 10 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:36:39.224, 11 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:36:40.111, 12 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India 1:36:54.903, 13 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:36:55.816, 14 Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 1:37:17.808, 15 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Renault 1:37:23.033, 16 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso at 1 Lap, 17 Luca Badoer (Ita) Ferrari at 1 Lap, 18 Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams at 3 Laps
Not Clssified:19 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 41 laps completed, 20 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 23 laps completed
World Championship Standings after European Grand Prix
Drivers:1 Jenson Button (Gbr) Brawn GP 72pts, 2 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Brawn GP 54, 3 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 51.5, 4 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 47, 5 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 29.5, 6 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 27, 7 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 24, 8 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 22.5, 9 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 22, 10 Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 16, 11 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 16, 12 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren 14, 13 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 6, 14 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 3, 15 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 3, 16 Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso 2, 17 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India 0, 18 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 0, 19 Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams 0, 20 Nelson Piquet Jr (Bra) Renault 0, 21 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 0, 22 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Renault 0, 23 Luca Badoer (Ita) Ferrari 0
Manufacturers:1 Brawn GP 126pts, 2 Red Bull 98.5, 3 Ferrari 46, 4 McLaren 41, 5 Toyota 38.5, 6 Williams 29.5, 7 Renault 16, 8 BMW Sauber 9, 9 Scuderia Toro Rosso 5, 10 Force India 0