Button clinches Formula One title in Brazil
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Jenson Button clinched his first Formula One title on Saturday by capitalizing on his rivals' miscues to finish fifth in a Brazilian Grand Prix won by Mark Webber.
The fifth-place finish gave But
ton an insurmountable 17-point lead in the drivers' standings ahead of the season-ending race in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 1."It's amazing," Button said. "This race for me was the best race I've run all year. I needed it."
His closest competition for the title, Brawn GP teammate Rubens Barrichello, started from pole but
Red Bull's Webber took his second F1 win ahead of Robert Kubica of BMW Sauber and defending champion Lewis Hamilton of McLaren at the 2.6-mile Interlagos track.
Barrichello had to win and hope Button finished fourth or worse. The Brazilian has never won in front of his home crowd in his 17-year career. Vettel did well to finish fourth after starting 15th, but it was not enough to keep his title hopes alive.
Button's triumph gives Britain
back-to-back F1 titles for the first time since Graham Hill won in 1968 and Jackie Stewart in 1969."Today it's been an extremely tough day," said Hamilton, who wrapped up last year's title at the Brazilian GP. "To fight all the way up to third from 18th, it's a great job for the whole team."
Brawn GP also made history on
Sunday, becoming the first team to win the constructors' championship in its debut season."It hasn't sunk in yet, it hasn't sunk in yet," team principal Ross Brawn said. "It'll take awhile."
Button started 14th after a poor qualifying under heavy rain on Saturday, but he drove aggressively from the beginning to quickly move up the grid. He also took advantage of an eventful start in which several cars ahead of him had problems and dropped to the back of the pack.
He was up to ninth place after the safety car left the track on the third lap, and then he made bold passes to overtake the Renault of Romain Grosjean and the Williams of Kazuki Nakajima.
All three title contenders had a mostly clean start, but the safety
car was brought out before the first lap was over because of a crash between Toyota's Jarno Trulli and Force India's Adrian Sutil. Trulli was extremely upset with Sutil and confronted him on the track.A scary incident took place on pit lane when McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen left his box before re
fueling was finished and spilled fuel as he drove away with the hose still attached. Kimi Raikkonen briefly sparked a huge ball of fire under his Ferrari when he drove through the fuel after changing his front wing.Kovalainen had touched wheels with Ferrari's Giancarlo Fisichella at the start, and Nakajima crashed hard into a tire barrier on lap 31 but was unhurt. Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso of Renault also was out after problems in the beginning of the race.
Barrichello stayed at the front in the beginning of the race, but dropped out of contention after
the first round of pit stops. He began the race with a lighter fuel load and the strategy proved costly. He was set for a podium finish until the flat caused him to make another pit stop at the end, ending his hopes for the home victory and a shot at the title.Webber, who won for the first
time at the German Grand Prix earlier this season, took the lead in the first round of pit stops and dominated from there."Fantastic day for the team to win again," the Australian said.
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