By Imran Ashraf.
Jenson Button is the new Formula One World Champion after a 5th place finish was good enough at the Brazilian Grand Prix won by Red Bull’s Mark Webber. Button’s team-mate and main title rival Rubens Barrichello suffered a late puncture while in 3rd and dropped to 8th after the resulting pit stop. The 2nd Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel finished in 4th but it wasn’t good enough to take the Championship into the season finale at Abu Dhabi. Button started from 14th but executed a series of spectacular early overtaking moves to complete a sublime recovery drive to finish 5th. Button has an unassailable 15 point lead over Vettel who leapfrogs Barrichello with just one race remaining. It completes a fairytale season for Brawn who also clinched the Constructors Championship. Vettel’s team-mate Mark Webber comfortably won the race +7.626 seconds ahead of the BMW Sauber of Robert Kubica. The man Button takes over from as World Champion Lewis Hamilton finished 3rd in his McLaren. Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen finished in 6th but it could have been even better if he had not suffered a broken nose after he ran into Mark Webber on Lap 1 after a blistering start. The resulting pit stop saw Heikki Kovalainen exit with the fuel pump still attached and the spilt fuel saw Raikkonen caught up in a fireball. Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Buemi finished in a solid 7th with Barrichello making up the final points position. Toyota’s Jarno Trulli and Force India’s Adrian Sutil were involved in a first lap collision which resulted in Renault’s Fernando Alonso being caught up in the aftermath.
