Webber wins as Button and Brawn secure championship

F1 Grand Prix, GP Brazil, Autódromo José Carlos Pace, Interlagos

Mark Webber has made his strategy work brilliantly and drove an excellent 71 laps to claim the Brazilian GP. Kubica joins him on the podium with a stellar drive, along with Hamilton, moving up from 17th position. Jenson Button finished 5th, enough to secure his first world championship title.

After yesterday's extremely wet qualifying session that turned out to be the longest ever due to several red flags, race day is dry. Both McLaren drivers will sure be happy with that as they have been running all weekend on a dry weather setup, hence their disappointing grind slots.

At the moment of the start, the track temperature has dropped to only 33°C and there may we showers coming up in the next half hour.

As the lights went out, Rubens Barrichello could easily keep his first place, but is was Raikkonen who initially made the best start and moved up to third, just behind Webber. Adrian Sutil is down to fourth, followed by Jarno Trulli.

At turn two, Kovalainen spun his car without any harm done. It was only a problem for Fisichella who had to move through the grass to get safely around the McLaren.

On the back straight though, Raikkonen tried to pass Webber, but the Finn got cut by Webber's defense movements and got his front wing broken.

After turn 3, Sutil had to hold off a little bit as Raikkonen went through the corner slower than expected. Trulli then attempted to pass Sutil via the outside kerb and crashed into the German. The crash caused Trulli to go off on the inside while Sutil went through the grass on the outside, before crossing the track and bumping into Fernando Alonso. All three men involved are out of the race.

The crash caused the safety car to come out for three laps, and upon the restart Kubica managed to pass Rosberg and move up to third place.

Minutes before that, Raikkonen was put on flames in the pits in an incident with Kovalainen who was making a pitstop at the very same moment. Kovalainen left his pitcrew just ahead of the Ferrari driver but still has the fuel hose attached. The hose spilt fuel in the fast lane and went up in flames as son as Raikonen drove over it.

With the return to racing, Button made up several places quickly but got stuck behind Kobayashi. Sebastian Vettel also managed to move up some places and is just one position behind the championship leader.

By lap 5, Barrichello is still in the lead, only 2 seconds ahead of Webber. Kubica is third, followed by Buemi, Kobayashi, Button and Nakajima.

On lap 21, Heidfeld is the first to make a pitstop, followed by Barrichello one lap later. Rubens is rejoining the race just ahead of Vettel, who managed to pass him 3 corners later.

One further lap later, Heidfeld is out of the race with a probable technical problem.

In lap 25, Button finally gets past Kobayashi after complaining to his team about the Japanse swerving in the braking zone. The first lap after that pass, Button was a massive 1.5 seconds faster than the Toyota and can now run away from a close pack of cars, including Barrichello who is effectively losing his advantage there.

That last matter showed one lap later as Mark Webber came out on track 3 seconds ahead of Button while Barrichello at this time is only 6th.

Nico Rosberg then retired from the race with a gearbox problem. He slowed on the track and calmly parked his car in the Williams pitbox.

On lap 31 there is another abandon from the race as Nakajima, minus a front wing flies off and across the track on turn 4. He tried to pass Kobayashi who defended his position so hard that the Williams driver touched the Toyota and flew off the circuit.

Vettel and Hamilton still have to stop after 35 laps in this race. Vettel is now flying and he must have been saving considerable fuel while being stuck in traffic. Sebastian dives into the pitlane one lap later from second position. He rejoins the track just behind Button and is now 7th. Both men will have to stop a second time as neither fitted the softer tyre again.

Lewis Hamilton meanwhile almost ruined his race after his pitstop. Upon the approach to the circuit, he nearly crashed into the barriers of the narrow pitlane exit. The Briton is fuelled to the end of the race and may look forward to a good score of points if he leaves out the mistakes. He could become important for the championship as he could jump Vettel and Button after their second pitstops.

Robert Kubica meanwhile also pitted and rejoins the track in 3rd place with a clear track ahead and behind him.

On lap 51, Barrichello pits from second and fits the option tyre in 6.3 seconds. He rejoins in 6th place. Mark Webber also takes on the options one lap later and is back on track still in the lead.

5 laps later and 15 laps from the end, Button makes his final stop and rejoins just behind Kovalainen. Sebastian Vettel does the same one lap later after having followed Button closely all through their second stints. Vettel clearly is the faster driver here and joins the track quite distantly ahead of Kovalainen and Button.

10 laps from the end, Hamilton then gets ahead of Barrichello. Hamilton's race is spectacular in the positive way, but Barrichello's is amazingly bad as Barrichello is called into the pitlane with a puncture. A new set of option tyres should enable him to save at least a single point. It appeared later on that it was about the left rear tyre, apparently the one that Hamilton touched with his front wing upon his pass along the straight on lap 61.

Mark Webber therefore easily wins this Grand Prix, ahead of Robert Kubica who secures a great goodbye present for BMW Sauber. Jenson Button has enough with a 5th place to secure his first world championship title, along with the constructor's title for Brawn GP.