Though this was Barrichello’s tenth win, it was his first in five years. The veteran Brazilian driver felt the pressure of trying to finish on top.
“After five years, you don’t forget how to do it [win] but it’s tough,” Barrichello told reporters after the race. “In the middle of the race they were telling me, ‘Push, push, push,’ and although you are pushing, there are some things that go through your mind. You know that you cannot commit any mistakes. You want to do it for yourself, you want to do it for your country; you want to do it for your family. So there was a lot going through my mind.
“The car has been perfect, and I want to thank the team for that, because it wasn’t just me. The car was really brilliant. I wish this moment could be forever.”
Defending World Champion Lewis Hamilton finished second, losing the lead on a bungled pit stop.
Hamilton, though looking deflated after the race, was pleased that McLaren’s mid-season turn-around was continuing. He refused to blame his crew for the loss, saying, “We win and we lose together. We cannot at all take second place for granted, or be disappointed that we didn’t get the win. We’ve had extraordinary pace in the last three races, and it was a tremendous effort from everyone.
“We’ll keep pushing. We need to catch these guys up, because they generally are a little bit quicker than us. But I believe we can do that.”
The win moved Rubens Barrichello from fourth to second in the championship points race. Jenson Button retains an eighteen point lead, but if he continues to finish badly, his seeming lock on the championship could evaporate. Lewis Hamilton moved from eighth to sixth, while Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen advanced from seventh to fifth.
Barrichello Fast From the Start
The McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen sat first and second on the grid, and with their KERS assist, both made good starts. Kimi Räikkönen moved up from sixth to fourth, while Jenson Button dropped from fifth to eight. Timo Glock ran over Sebastien Buemi’s front wing, sending both cars to the pits. Buemi later retired when a brake rotor exploded; his crew suspected the first-lap accident damaged the cooling duct, leading to the later failure.
Barrichello held on to third place through the early laps. Though on the harder prime tires and carrying more fuel, he managed to gain ground on the McLarens. His early pace indicated that the McLarens would have to perform perfectly to earn the win.
Lewis Hamilton’s first pit stop was perfect, and he retook the lead after when Barrichello pitted four laps later. But Hamilton’s rear tires were wearing too fast, so his team told him to back off the pace. Meanwhile Barrichello, now second, was gaining ground again.
On lap 37, Hamilton pitted, catching the McLaren pit crew by surprise. Whether he pitted without warning because he felt a tire deflating, or due to muddled communication, the outcome was decisive; the pit stop cost him five seconds. While his crew struggled to unwrap fresh tires, Barrichello took the lead.
Barrichello continued to turn fast laps, opening a seven-second gap over second-place Heikki Kovalainen, and nearly eleven seconds over Hamilton.
On lap 39, Williams driver Nakajima blew a tire; the debris on the track prompted a local yellow, slowing the field. Barrichello took this opportunity to pit. With his lead, and the slow pace, Barrichello was able to and rejoin the race still in the lead.
From this point, it was Barrichello’s race to lose. The veteran Brawn driver continued to run fast, consistent laps. Hamilton didn’t surrender. He pushed right to the limit, and managed to cut the lead by a few tenths a lap.
When things got close, the Brawn pits told Barrichello, “Hamilton is speeding up. We may want to ease it forward just a bit.” But Barrichello had no need to worry; Hamilton simply did not have enough time to overcome the deficit.
Even if Hamilton had caught Barrichello, it seems unlikely he could have passed. While the McLaren did well on the slower parts of the track, the Brawn had the edge through the faster sections. Even though Barrichello relaxed a bit through the last few laps, he still brought the Brawn home 2.3 seconds ahead of Hamilton’s McLaren.
Kimi Räikkönen was third in the Ferrari, with Hamilton’s teammate Heikki Kovalainen fourth. Nico Rosberg brought his Williams-Toyota in behind Kovalainen, followed by Renault driver Fernando Alonso. Points leader Jenson Button in the second Brawn could manage no better than seventh, while BMW-Sauber’s Robert Kubica took the last point.
Red Bull had an off day, with Mark Webber finishing just out of the points in ninth, while Sebastian Vettel blew yet another engine, his second of the weekend. This hurt both drivers in their chases for the championship.
Two drivers made their season debuts at Valencia: 21-year-old Romain Grosjean replaced Nelson Piquet, Jr. in the second Renault, and 38-year-old Ferrari test driver Luca Badoer replaced Felipe Massa. Both drivers spun a few times, but neither had any contact. Badoer drove an extremely conservative race; at one point he pulled over so far on pit road to let Grosjeans past, he ran over the line separating the pits form the trasck, earning himself a drive-through penalty.
Grosjean finished fifteenth, ahead of Torro Rosso pilot Jaime Alguersuari, driving his second Grand Prix. Badoer finished last.
Formula One returns next weekend with the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps on August 30. Please visit the Formula 1 Web site for ticket and travel information.
| Championship Points | |||
| Driver | Team | Points | |
| 1 | 72 | ||
| 2 | 54 | ||
| 3 | 51.5 | ||
| 4 | 47 | ||
| 5 | 29.5 | ||
| 6 | 27 | ||
| 7 | 24 | ||
| 8 | 22.5 | ||
| 9 | 22 | ||
| 10 | 16 | ||
| 2009 Formula 1 Telefonica Grand Prix of Europe | ||||||
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Laps | Time/Retired | Pts |
| 1 | 23 | 57 | 1:35:51.289 | 10 | ||
| 2 | 1 | 57 | +2.3 secs | 8 | ||
| 3 | 4 | 57 | +15.9 secs | 6 | ||
| 4 | 2 | 57 | +20.0 secs | 5 | ||
| 5 | 16 | 57 | +20.8 secs | 4 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 57 | +27.7 secs | 3 | ||
| 7 | 22 | 57 | +34.9 secs | 2 | ||
| 8 | 5 | 57 | +36.6 secs | 1 | ||
| 9 | 14 | 57 | +44.9 secs | |||
| 10 | 20 | 57 | +47.9 secs | |||
| 11 | 6 | 57 | +48.8 secs | |||
| 12 | 21 | 57 | +63.6 secs | |||
| 13 | 9 | 57 | +64.5 secs | |||
| 14 | 10 | 57 | +86.5 secs | |||
| 15 | 8 | 57 | +91.7 secs | |||
| 16 | 11 | 56 | +1 Lap | |||
| 17 | 3 | 56 | +1 Lap | |||
| 18 | 17 | 53 | Retired | |||
| Ret | 12 | 41 | Brakes | |||
| Ret | 15 | 23 | Engine | |||
