2009 Brazilian Grand Prix

  2009 Brazilian Grand Prix

Race details
Race 16 of 17 in the 2009 Formula One season
Date	18 October 2009
Official name	XXXVIII Grande Prêmio Petrobras do Brasil
Location	Autódromo José Carlos Pace, São Paulo, Brazil
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.309 km (2.677 mi)
Distance	71 laps, 305.909 km (190.067 mi)
Weather	Heavy Rain (qualifying) Mainly cloudy, dry (race)
Pole position
Driver	Rubens Barrichello	Brawn-Mercedes
Time	1:19.576
Fastest lap
Driver	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault
Time	1:13.733 on lap 25
Podium
First	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault
Second	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber
Third	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes
Lap leaders

The 2009 Brazilian Grand Prix (formally the XXXVIII Grande Prêmio Petrobras do Brasil) was a Formula One motor race which was held on 18 October 2009 at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, São Paulo, Brazil. It was the sixteenth race of the 2009 Formula One season. The drivers' title and the constructors' title were both decided by the result of the race in favour of Jenson Button and Brawn GP.^[1] This race was won by Mark Webber, who earned his second victory of the season and his career.^[2]

Report

Background

Local favourite Felipe Massa won the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix for Ferrari as Lewis Hamilton picked up the World Championship for McLaren by overtaking Timo Glock on the last corner of the race for 5th. Massa also won the race in 2006, and was runner-up to team-mate Kimi Räikkönen in 2007 as the Finn took the World Championship. The World title had been won at Interlagos for the previous 4 years, with Hamilton, Räikkönen and Fernando Alonso (twice) taking the title. Alonso has never won the Brazilian GP, however, with Juan Pablo Montoya and Massa winning the 2005 and 2006 races respectively. Another former Brazilian Grand Prix winner lining up was Giancarlo Fisichella, who won in 2003.

The race has a history of home success, with Massa, Ayrton Senna, Nelson Piquet Sr, Carlos Pace and Emerson Fittipaldi winning. Rubens Barrichello aimed for his first win at Interlagos, hoping to improve on his previous best placing of 3rd in 2004. Massa had targeted a return after injuries sustained in an accident in qualifying in the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix, but this was not possible. Massa instead was given the honour of waving the chequered flag at the end of the race.^[3]

Championship leader Jenson Button needed to finish within four points of team-mate Barrichello to seal the 2009 drivers' title. Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel needed to finish first or second in order to stay in the running for the title fight. In the constructors' standings, Brawn GP required just half a point to be declared champions, while Red Bull Racing needed to finish first and second in both Brazil and Abu Dhabi with Brawn not scoring in either round to take the title for themselves.

GP2 driver and Toyota test driver Kamui Kobayashi replaced Toyota's Timo Glock after tests revealed that he had cracked a vertebra in his qualifying accident at the previous race at Suzuka.^[4]

Qualifying

Qualifying was dominated by a tropical storm that would interrupt the session for over an hour, and made the session last 2 hours and 41 minutes, the longest qualifying session in the history of F1.^[5] The first session saw the elimination of Giancarlo Fisichella, both McLaren cars and championship contender Sebastian Vettel; Nick Heidfeld joined them as the fifth and final car eliminated. The rains set in after the first session, delaying qualifying until the circuit could be declared safe. Nico Rosberg topped the timing sheets with a lap time of 1:22.828.

When the weather had cleared and the cars eventually re-emerged, Rosberg would once again come out on top. The session was almost immediately red-flagged with Vitantonio Liuzzi crashing heavily at the first corner. Unable to set a time, he was subsequently eliminated. Q2 also saw the elimination of championship leader Jenson Button down in fourteenth and behind Jaime Alguersuari, Kamui Kobayashi and Romain Grosjean, the three least-experienced drivers in the field.

For the first time since the knockout qualifying system was introduced, the third and final ten-minute session was contested by drivers from nine of the ten teams, the only exclusion being McLaren, with both Hamilton and Kovalainen having been knocked out in the first session; Williams were the only team to field two cars in the final session. Jenson Button's closest championship rival and team-mate Rubens Barrichello took pole on a drying circuit with a 1:19.576, but the release of the post-qualifying car weights revealed him to be the lightest car on the grid. Due to the continuous delays in qualifying due to rain, this session holds the record for the longest qualifying session in Formula 1 history.

Race

The opening lap was dominated by three separate incidents. Heikki Kovalainen made contact with Sebastian Vettel coming out of the Senna 'S', and while Vettel emerged unscathed, Kovalainen ran out of road and very nearly collected Fisichella, who was forced to go the long way around. The second incident took place just two corners later when Jarno Trulli tangled with Adrian Sutil while trying to make a pass coming out of the fifth corner. Both the Toyota and the Force India were eliminated, with Sutil taking out Fernando Alonso in the process when the Renault driver was unable to avoid his out-of-control Force India, an incident which caused the deployment of the safety car. The third and final incident took place in the pit lane; after his encounter with Vettel, Heikki Kovalainen pitted, followed closely by Kimi Räikkönen, the latter having damaged his front wing after light contact with Mark Webber. Kovalainen was released from his pit while the fuel hose was still attached, taking it with him and with it, a spray of fuel. Räikkönen's exhaust ignited the spilt fuel in a fireball, but no one was injured and both drivers were able to continue once Brawn mechanics extricated the McLaren fuel hose from Kovalainen's car.

Pole-sitter Barrichello controlled the first phase of the race, though Mark Webber and Robert Kubica stayed in touch, just two and a half seconds adrift. Aided by the first-lap incidents and the safety, Button was placed ninth at the end of the first lap. He proceeded to take Grosjean around the outside at Turn 6 and then Nakajima at the first corner once green-flag conditions resumed, before being held up by debutant Kamui Kobayashi. He was heard on the team radio voicing his displeasure at the newcomer's tactics in defending his line. When he finally cleared the Toyota driver, Button was able to build a lead of three and a half seconds on him in a single lap.

Barrichello was unable to sustain the pace needed to maintain his lead over Webber, and in the first round of pit stops, the home town driver was passed by the Australian before coming under fire from Robert Kubica. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton — having started seventeenth — had pitted on the first lap and removed the softer tyre compound as his team switched him to a one-stop strategy. Other incidents early in the race saw Nick Heidfeld run out of fuel after his fuel-rig malfunctioned, whilst Kobayashi's blocking tactics removed fellow countryman Kazuki Nakajima's front wing, and the Williams driver crashed heavily at the fourth corner. His team mate Nico Rosberg had succumbed to gearbox troubles a few laps earlier.

The second stage of the race saw Button leading a group of four one-stopping drivers, with their ultimate success or failures having consequences on the championship standings given Barrichello's position. Both Hamilton and then Vettel successfully leap-frogged Button after Button's second stop and the Briton was caught behind Kovalainen, though a fading Rubens Barrichello was in a position such that had the race ended there and then, Button would still be declared World Champion. Button inherited sixth position when Kovalainen pitted, while Hamilton managed a pass down the inside of Barrichello into the first corner that inadvertently damaged the Brazilian's tyre, causing a puncture and forcing him to pit. He resumed in eighth, with Vettel's fourth placing meaning that, barring a dramatic turn in events, Button would be the 2009 World Champion even if he retired.

Mark Webber, who had led unchallenged since the first stops, went on to win the race, with Robert Kubica securing BMW Sauber's first podium since Malaysia. Lewis Hamilton's pass on Barrichello was good enough to net him third place and see McLaren overtake Ferrari for third in the constructors' standings. Sebastian Vettel was fourth when he needed to be first or second to continue the championship fight in Abu Dhabi, while Button's fifth place from fourteenth on the grid was enough for him to secure the 2009 World Championship, becoming the tenth British champion and the first British champion to succeed another since 1969, when Jackie Stewart succeeded Graham Hill as World Champion. He also became the second driver in succession to win a World Championship by finishing fifth in Brazil whilst driving a Mercedes-powered car carrying the number 22. Button used only one chassis over the course of the season (most drivers change chassis several times), having driven it in every practice and qualifying session and race, meaning that he won the World Championship in the oldest car on the grid.^[6] Kimi Räikkönen, Sebastien Buemi and Rubens Barrichello rounded out the minor points placings.

Felipe Massa was the chequered flag waver in this Grand Prix. The podium trophies were of an unusual three-pronged design and matt-turquoise in colour. They were designed by the architect Oscar Niemeyer and were constructed of recycled plastic bottle tops, collected on site over the course of the grand prix weekend, and remoulded at the site's plastic recycling plant. The initiative is to highlight sponsor Petrobras' green credentials.^[7]

Classification

Qualifying

Cars that use the KERS system are marked with "‡"

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Part 1	Part 2	Part 3	Grid
1	23	Rubens Barrichello	Brawn-Mercedes	1:24.100	1:21.659	1:19.576	1
2	14	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1:24.722	1:20.803	1:19.668	2
3	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	1:24.447	1:20.753	1:19.912	3
4	9	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	1:24.621	1:20.635	1:20.097	4
5	4‡	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:23.047	1:21.378	1:20.168	5
6	12	Sébastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:24.591	1:20.701	1:20.250	6
7	16	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	1:22.828	1:20.368	1:20.326	7
8	5	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	1:23.072	1:21.147	1:20.631	8
9	17	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	1:23.161	1:20.427	1:20.674	9
10	7	Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:24.842	1:21.657	1:21.422	10
11	10	Kamui Kobayashi	Toyota	1:24.335	1:21.960		11
12	11	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:24.773	1:22.231		12
13	8	Romain Grosjean	Renault	1:24.394	1:22.477		13
14	22	Jenson Button	Brawn-Mercedes	1:24.297	1:22.504		14
15	21	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Force India-Mercedes	1:24.645	No time		20^1
16	15	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	1:25.009			15
17	2‡	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:25.052			16
18	1‡	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:25.192			17
19	6	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	1:25.515			18
20	3‡	Giancarlo Fisichella	Ferrari	1:40.703			19
Source:[8]

1.^ – Vitantonio Liuzzi received a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change.^[9]

Race

Cars that use the KERS system are marked with "‡"

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	14	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	71	1:32:23.081	2	10
2	5	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	71	+7.626	8	8
3	1‡	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	71	+18.944	17	6
4	15	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	71	+19.652	15	5
5	22	Jenson Button	Brawn-Mercedes	71	+29.005	14	4
6	4‡	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	71	+33.340	5	3
7	12	Sébastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	71	+35.991	6	2
8	23	Rubens Barrichello	Brawn-Mercedes	71	+45.454	1	1
9	10	Kamui Kobayashi	Toyota	71	+1:03.324	11
10	3‡	Giancarlo Fisichella	Ferrari	71	+1:10.665	19
11	21	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Force India-Mercedes	71	+1:11.388	20
12	2‡	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	71	+1:13.499^2	16
13	8	Romain Grosjean	Renault	70	+1 Lap	13
14	11	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	70	+1 Lap	12
Ret	17	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	30	Collision	9
Ret	16	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	27	Gearbox	7
Ret	6	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	21	Fuel system	18
Ret	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	0	Collision	3
Ret	9	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	0	Collision	4
Ret	7	Fernando Alonso	Renault	0	Collision	10
Source:[10]

2.^ – Heikki Kovalainen received a 25-second time penalty for an unsafe release from his first pit stop.^[11]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Jenson Button 89 2 Sebastian Vettel 74 3 Rubens Barrichello 72 4 Mark Webber 61.5 5 Lewis Hamilton 49

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Brawn-Mercedes 161 2 Red Bull-Renault 135.5 3 McLaren-Mercedes 71 4 Ferrari 70 5 Toyota 54.5

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.^[12]

References

1. "Brilliant Button clinches title". BBC Sport. 18 October 2009. Archived from the original on 22 October 2009. Retrieved 22 October 2009.
2. Carline, Peter (18 October 2009). "Brazilian Grand Prix: Jenson Button seals world title with brilliant drive". Daily Mail. London. Retrieved 22 October 2009.
3. "Massa given home race honour". ITV F1. ITV. 8 October 2009. Archived from the original on 11 October 2009. Retrieved 15 October 2009.
4. Beer, Matt (11 October 2009). "Glock ruled out of Brazilian Grand Prix". Autosport.com. Archived from the original on 13 October 2009. Retrieved 11 October 2009.
5. "Qualifying – Barrichello rises to the challenge in Brazil". Formula1. 17 October 2009. Archived from the original on 20 October 2009. Retrieved 17 October 2009.
6. Collins, Sam (18 October 2009). "Brawn BGP-001: record breaker". Racecar Engineering. Archived from the original on 21 October 2009. Retrieved 20 October 2009.
7. Jonathan Noble (19 October 2009). "Paddock Life: Interlagos edition". Autosport. Haymarket Publishing. Archived from the original on 22 October 2009. Retrieved 22 November 2009.
8. "2009 Brazilian GP Qualifying Results". formula1.com. Formula One Association. 17 October 2009. Archived from the original on 20 October 2009. Retrieved 17 October 2009.
9. "Liuzzi to get gearbox penalty after Q2 crash". formula1.com. Formula One. 17 October 2009. Archived from the original on 20 October 2009. Retrieved 18 October 2009.
10. "2009 Brazilian GP Race Results". formula1.com. Formula One Association. 18 October 2009. Archived from the original on 20 October 2009. Retrieved 18 October 2009.
11. "2009 Brazilian Grand Prix – Document 48" (PDF). fia.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 18 October 2009. Retrieved 18 October 2009.
12. "Formula One Championship Standings". BBC Sport. BBC. 4 October 2009. Archived from the original on 16 May 2009. Retrieved 27 September 2009.

External links

• 2009 Brazilian Grand Prix Preview