Formula One: Barrichello, Button Show Brawn Is Back

Brawn GP's Rubens Barrichello brandishes his trophy after winning the Formula One Italian Grand Prix at Monza. (Mario Laporta/AFP/Getty Images)

After a great early season followed by several bad races, Brawn GP is back on form, as Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button finished one-two at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix at Monza on September 13.

This was the fourth one-two finish of the season for Brawn, and kept both Brawn drivers well ahead in the Driver’s Championship. Rubens Barrichello scored his third career win at Monza, while Jenson Button got some much-needed championship points.

“My pace was there, my brakes were great, the car was there all the time; it felt great. I have no big words—I just feel really good,” Barrichello said after the race.

Monza is the fastest track on the F1 schedule, with cars hitting 213 mph down the long straights. KERS-equipped cars were expected to have an advantage, as with the long straights, they could use the system twice each lap for an extra 80-hp boost.

Barrichello said that getting by Heiki Kovalainen’s KERS-equipped McLaren at the start was key: “Great first lap—it made my race. Kovalainen was coming quite fast with that power button [KERS] and I had to defend myself and I went wide so it was a bit tough. The guys with the KERS, they had 20 meters on us at the start. Luckily we had a good start and I could run my pace. The pace was good enough to be in front of them by the last pit stop.”

The win keeps Barrichello in the hunt for the Drivers’ Championship, while his second-place finish keeps Jenson Button securely in the lead.

Jenson Button also said the start was important. “You are always wary at the start here because of the KERS cars Alonzo didn’t get a jump, which was quite good, Rubens and myself were pretty good down into Turn One and Kovalainen was struggling a little bit. He braked late; these two (gesturing at Barrichello and Ferrari driver Kimi Räikkönen) almost got together, and then I was stuck behind Kovalainen, through the second chicane, and then through Lesmo One [Turn Six], I just got a nose up the inside, he ran a tough wide and I was able to get him going into Lesmo Two. It was a much needed move. If I didn’t make that move I probably would have finished third or fourth in this race.

“It’s nice to be back up here, second position. Obviously I’d rather be where Rubens is sitting, but he did a better job the weekend so congratulations to you, man. (Buttons shakes Barrichello’s hand and slaps him on the shoulder.) I lost two points to Rubens but gained seven on Vettel. This guy here (again indicating Barrichello) is my closest rival and it’s good, I think we’ve got a good relationship, but we’re very competitive people so I am sure we are going to take it down to the wire.”

Kimi Räikkönen in the Ferrari finished third after Lewis Hamilton crashed on the last lap. Räikkönen and Adrian Sutil in the Force India car had a chance to finish one-two, but both had pit stop problems on lap 38. The two were in the lead and running fast, but under pressure, they made mistakes. Sutil, who finished fourth, came in too fast and nearly missed his pit, while Räikkönen tried to leave too early. They rejoined the field behind the Brawns, and that’s where they finished.

“I was in a hurry to get out, because I knew it was going to be very close,” Räikkönen explained. “The lollipop guy moved the lollipop [sign indicating Wait or Go], and I was ready to go already, and then he put it back down and I stopped. Luckily the fuel rig was out and nobody was under the tires. We lost a little bit of time but not too much. It would not be enough anyhow for beating McLaren on the pit stop, but we kept Force India behind so it didn’t make much difference.

“We got third place a little bit as a gift, but it doesn‘t matter—it counts. It is a bit disappointing to drive as well as you can every lap, not really making any mistakes, and still finish quite far away from the first two so it’s not the perfect position for me or the team but at least we scored some points. It is good for the fans; to be on the podium it is much better than finishing fourth.”

While Räikkönen’s third-place finish was a gift to Ferrari, the Brawns’ results put Raikonnen out of contention for the Drivers’ Championship. There is no way he could earn enough points to win in the remaining four races.

Pit strategy played a key role in the race. Cars doing one stop had to conserve their tires, while cars doing two stops had to push hard and make up a lot of time on each stint.

The Brawns chose a single-pit stop strategy while the other frontrunners, Force India, McLaren, and Ferrari, stopped twice. The strategy seemed to be paying off for pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton, who led most of the first half of the race, but his McLaren-Mercedes seemingly slowed in the second stint, forcing him to pit early and give up some advantage. Then, on the final lap, Hamilton put a rear wheel over a curb, spun, and slammed into the tire wall, ending his race.

Red Bull, Brawn’s strongest opposition, had a terrible day. Sebastian Vettel, third in championship points, finished in eighth place after an unspectacular race and an off-track excursion, while Mark Webber, fourth in the points, was knocked out in the first lap by Robert Kubica in the BMW. This hurt both drivers badly in their quests for championship points, and set the team back in the Constructors’ points race.

The one-two-finish gives Brawn a 40.5 point lead in the Constructors’ Championship. As long as both Brawns finish in every race where both Red Bulls cars finish, the Constructors’ Championship will go to Brawn.

And unless Rubens Barrichello wins a race which Jenson Button doesn’t finish, it seems that Jenson Button will manage to preserve his early championship lead, despite the dismal middle of the season.

Formula One races next on the streets Singapore, at the Singtel Singapore Grand Prix on September 27. Please visit the Formula One Web site for ticket and travel information.

 

2009 Formula One Drivers’ Championship
	Driver	Team		Points	Gap
1	Jenson Button	Brawn-Mercedes		80
2	Rubens Barrichello	Brawn-Mercedes		66	14
3	Sebastian Vettel	RBR-Renault		54	26
4	Mark Webber	RBR-Renault		51.5	38.5
5	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari		40	40
6	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota		30.5	49.5
7	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes		27	53
8	Jarno Trulli	Toyota		22.5	57.5
9	Felipe Massa	Ferrari		22	58
10	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes		20	60
2009 Formula One Constructors’ Championship
	Team		Points	Gap
1	Brawn-Mercedes		146
2	RBR-Renault		105.5	40.5
3	Ferrari		62	86
4	McLaren-Mercedes		47	99
5	Toyota		38.5	107.5
6	Williams-Toyota		30.5	115.5
7	BMW Sauber		20	126
8	Renault		20	126
9	Force India-Mercedes		13	133.5
10	STR-Ferrari		5	141

 

 

Formula 1 Gran Premio Santander D'Italia 2009
Pos	No	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Pts
1	23	Rubens Barrichello	Brawn-Mercedes	53	1:16:21.706	5	10
2	22	Jenson Button	Brawn-Mercedes	53	+2.8 secs	6	8
3	4	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	53	+30.6 secs	3	6
4	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	53	+31.1 secs	2	5
5	7	Fernando Alonso	Renault	53	+59.1 secs	8	4
6	2	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	53	+60.6 secs	4	3
7	6	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	53	+82.4 secs	15	2
8	15	Sebastian Vettel	RBR-Renault	53	+85.4 secs	9	1
9	3	Giancarlo Fisichella	Ferrari	53	+86.8 secs	14
10	17	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	53	+162.163 secs	17
11	10	Timo Glock	Toyota	53	+163.925 secs	16
12	1	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	52	Accident	1
13	12	Sebastien Buemi	STR-Ferrari	52	+1 Lap	19
14	9	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	52	+1 Lap	11
15	8	Romain Grosjean	Renault	52	+1 Lap	12
16	16	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	51	+2 Laps	18
Ret	21	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Force India-Mercedes	22	+31 Laps	7
Ret	11	Jaime Alguersuari	STR-Ferrari	19	+34 Laps	20
Ret	5	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	15	+38 Laps	13
Ret	14	Mark Webber	RBR-Renault	0	Accident	10