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Brazil’s Rubens Barrichello secured his first Formula One victory in almost five years with an impressive display on the streets of Valencia this afternoon. Despite starting third, and keeping his position off the line, Barrichello picked off Kovalainen and Hamilton in consecutive pitstops, to eventually win with ease and put him back in the championship fight.
With fellow championship contenders Button, Webber and Vettel falling from contention for the win early on, Barrichello has jumped to second in the championship fight, 18 points behind team-mate Button, who scored two points today. Both Webber and Vettel failed to score after a disastrous race for Red Bull.
Second-placed Hamilton saw his chances of victory vanish following a botched second pitstop, when the right-front tyre was not ready in time, losing the Briton approximately five seconds. The cushion provided comfort for Barrichello, but he nevertheless pushed hard before his final stop four laps later, emerging six seconds ahead of Hamilton. The Brawn driver, who ran longer than the McLarens in the first stint also, overtook Kovalainen during the first round of stops, while Kovalainen went on to lose a further place to Räikkönen in his second pitstop.
Räikkönen therefore claimed his third podium finish of the season in third, beating Kovalainen, Williams’ Nico Rosberg, home hero Fernando Alonso, championship leader Jenson Button and BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica. Red Bull’s Mark Webber could do no better than ninth with an underperforming Red Bull, while another suspected engine failure for Sebastian Vettel added to their woes further.
Here are the results;
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 23 | Rubens Barrichello | Brawn-Mercedes | 57 | 1:35:51.289 | 3 | 10 |
| 2 | 1 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 57 | +2.3 secs | 1 | 8 |
| 3 | 4 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 57 | +15.9 secs | 6 | 6 |
| 4 | 2 | Heikki Kovalainen | McLaren-Mercedes | 57 | +20.0 secs | 2 | 5 |
| 5 | 16 | Nico Rosberg | Williams-Toyota | 57 | +20.8 secs | 7 | 4 |
| 6 | 7 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 57 | +27.7 secs | 8 | 3 |
| 7 | 22 | Jenson Button | Brawn-Mercedes | 57 | +34.9 secs | 5 | 2 |
| 8 | 5 | Robert Kubica | BMW Sauber | 57 | +36.6 secs | 10 | 1 |
| 9 | 14 | Mark Webber | RBR-Renault | 57 | +44.9 secs | 9 | |
| 10 | 20 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 57 | +47.9 secs | 12 | |
| 11 | 6 | Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber | 57 | +48.8 secs | 11 | |
| 12 | 21 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Force India-Mercedes | 57 | +63.6 secs | 16 | |
| 13 | 9 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 57 | +64.5 secs | 18 | |
| 14 | 10 | Timo Glock | Toyota | 57 | +86.5 secs | 13 | |
| 15 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Renault | 57 | +91.7 secs | 14 | |
| 16 | 11 | Jaime Alguersuari | STR-Ferrari | 56 | +1 Lap | 19 | |
| 17 | 3 | Luca Badoer | Ferrari | 56 | +1 Lap | 20 | |
| 18 | 17 | Kazuki Nakajima | Williams-Toyota | 53 | Retired | 17 | |
| Ret | 12 | Sebastien Buemi | STR-Ferrari | 41 | Brakes | 15 | |
| Ret | 15 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault | 23 | Engine | 4 |
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