Rubens Barrichello claimed his 1st victory in 5 years as he took the chequered flag in the European Grand Prix ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen.
The Brazilian took advantage of a pit stop error from Hamilton’s McLaren pit crew. Hamilton came in for his 2nd stop on Lap 37 he arrived in his pit stop box but the tyres weren’t ready. This cost him valuable time as the crew rushed to get the tyres on his car. Hamilton exited the pits behind Barrichello on the track.
Barrichello produced consistent lap times to win the race by +2.3 seconds ahead of Hamilton who never really recovered from his 2nd pit stop error. Kimi Raikkonen finished 3rd in his Ferrari +15.9 seconds behind Barrichello.
Hamilton’s team-mate Heikki Kovalainen – who was overtaken by Raikkonen in the 2nd round of pit stops – finished 4th ahead of the Williams of Nico Rosberg who was consistent again as he finished 5th.
Fernando Alonso finished 6th in front of his home crowd but Championship Leader Jenson Button could only finish in 7th. Robert Kubica finished in the final points position in his BMW Sauber.
However, it wasn’t all bad for Jenson Button as his main rivals for the Championship before this race were the Red Bull duo of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel who both failed to score any points. Webber finished in 9th with Vettel failing to finish a race for the 2nd consecutive Grand Prix as he suffered Engine Failure.
