Barrichello back in the limelight after five years

MOTOR SPORT/ EUROPEAN GRAND PRIX:RUBENS BARRICHELLO took his first grand prix victory in five years yesterday after a pit-stop error cost Lewis Hamilton a possible win at the European Grand Prix.

The Brazilian’s Brawn GP team had arrived in Spain this weekend on the back of a string of disappointing results after a sequence of colder than expected races had exposed their car’s inability to perform in anything other than the warmest conditions. But with track temperatures in Valencia nudging 50 degrees throughout this race weekend, the pendulum swung back towards the team and Barrichello lined up a useful third on the grid, behind the McLarens of pole-winner Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen.

With the McLarens equipped with the KERS power-boost system, though, Barrichello’s chances of victory looked risky at best and when the lights went out signalling the start Hamilton, as expected, rapidly established a healthy gap back to his team-mate and the chasing Brazilian.

Barrichello though was matching Kovalainen sector for sector and with a slightly heavier fuel load was able to maximise a clear track after the Finn pitted. By the time the Brawn GP driver dived in for his first stop he had clawed back enough time on the McLaren to take on fuel and tyres and emerge in second place. And it was in the next stint that Barrichello put himself in the frame for his first win since China 2004.

The former Ferrari driver matched Hamilton for pace throughout and when the Briton arced towards the pit lane for fresh tyres, Barrichello rattled off a sequence of quickest laps.

Whether the Brazilian’s own stop would have been quick enough to put him out ahead of Hamilton was moot, however, as Hamilton’s stop was going disastrously wrong.

Called in by the team, Hamilton crossed into the pit entry just as his team told him to abort the stop and circle the track for one more quick lap in an attempt to keep Barrichello at bay.

Hamilton though was committed and when he slotted his car into his pit box, the team were unprepared and a delay in fitting the front right tyre dropped him almost seven seconds behind the Brawn driver with a 17-lap blast to the flag left. Barrichello didn’t let the opportunity slip, finishing two seconds ahead of Hamilton with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen taking third place.

“It has been fantastic, a weekend that I will never forget – you know, after five years, you don’t forget how to do it,” Barrichello said afterwards. “It was tough. In the race, every time you push, push, push and although you are pushing like hell there are things that go through your mind.

“You want to do it for yourself, your country, your family – there was a lot going through my mind,” he added. “The car was perfect and I have to thank the team for that. I wish this moment could be forever.”

Despite the tyre error Hamilton refused to lay the blame at the door of his pit crew. “We win or lose together and the team have had a tremendous effort to get us here so we could not at all be disappointed that we didn’t get the win,” he said. “These things happen and this is maybe only the second time in all the races I’ve done. For all the team has done they deserve a pat on the back.”

If Barrichello was overjoyed enough to burst into tears during his victory lap of Valencia’s street circuit then team-mate Jenson Button probably wasn’t far behind.

In the weeks preceding this race the title leader had seen his once commanding championship lead gradually eroded by Red Bull Racing as drivers Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel racked up a sequence of wins and podium finished that left Button just 18.5 points ahead of Webber.

A blown final qualifying lap here left Button starting fifth, one behind Vettel but four ahead of closest title rival Webber. But when, early in the race, Webber blasted past Button after a poor start from the Englishman it looked like further damage would be done to his title hopes.

But Vettel was soon out of the picture, a fuel rig failure and two visits to pitlane dropping him to 16th. Then on lap 24 a second engine failure of the weekend dumped him out of the race altogether.

The blow-ups could cost Vettel dearly. Each driver has just eight fresh engines at his disposal for the season and Vettel is now believed to be down to his last new powerplant.

If that too fails at any point he will then have to revert to engines used in practice Fridays, with considerable mileage on board and with diminishing horsepower.

For Webber the day also turned sour. After passing Button early on, Webber Overshot his mark on his second stop and not only let Button through to take seventh and two points, but BMW’s Robert Kubica also slipped past to dump Webber out of the points altogether.

“It’s been a tough weekend,” said Button. “Rubens did a great job and he deserves the victory, it’s been a long five years for him. We came to beat the Red Bulls and we did but I didn’t expect my teammate to finish so far ahead of me.”