MOTOR SPORT:BRAWN GP reasserted their claim to both the Formula One drivers' and constructors' titles in Monza yesterday, Rubens Barrichello leading Jenson Button home to a one-two victory at the Italian Grand Prix, with Kimi Raikkonen sneaking the final podium place when Lewis Hamilton crashed out on the final lap while chasing down series leader Button.
Hamilton, who had scored his second pole in three races on Saturday, led through the early stages at Monza, his lighter-fuelled, two-stop strategy giving him an early pace advantage over the Brawn cars, Barrichello and Button running one-stop programmes from fifth and sixth on the grid.
But when Hamilton stopped for the first time on lap 15, followed by the similarly two-stopping Raikkonen and the much improved Force India of Adrian Sutil, Barrichello assumed the race lead, with Button close behind.
Hamilton’s pit to car radio crackled with the order that if he were to stand any chance of beating the Brawns he would have to pick up three- to four-tenths of a second per lap, a tall order on a day when Brawn rediscovered the kind of pace that had seen them win six of the first seven races this season.
The first laps of his short second stint saw Hamilton battle hard and when the Brawns pitted and slid briefly back down the order the defending champion once again found himself in clean air and in a position to fight for more lost time.
But, despite pulling back upwards of a second a lap on Button, the shortness of his second stint never gave him enough time to threaten and after the McLaren driver’s second visit to pitlane he emerged third, just over two seconds adrift of Button.
Hamilton, though, appeared convinced he could reel in the series leader and began to chip away, closing to within a second. But on the final tour of the Monza circuit, Hamilton pushed too hard, the back end of his car snapping out violently as he exited the second Lesmo corner, his McLaren pitching hard into the wall, scattering debris and a podium finish across the circuit.
Barrichello’s second win in three races now closes the gap to team-mate Button to just 14 points.
“I don’t think I have do anything more than I’m doing right now,” he said of his prospects of challenging for the title. “I just have to push to the limit, take everything I can, keep on feeling good about the challenge and just go for it.”
Barrichello admitted the one-stop strategy had been the key to his victory, saying that running a similar race to the Kers equipped McLaren of Hamilton and Ferrari or Raikkonen would have jeopardised their chances.
“It was a great decision yesterday to go on the one-stop,” he said. “The guys with the Kers button had 20 metres on us at the start and we had to have that in mind. So the one-stop was definitely the right choice.”
Button concurred, adding that the work done on Friday, when outwardly the pair had seemed off the pace in 18th and 19th had laid the foundation for the team’s fourth one-two result of the season.
“You get asked lots of questions on a Friday . . . people saying ‘where’s the performance?’ But we were doing race work, that’s what we’re here for, to race, and we were always working towards that. The strategy we chose was the perfect one for us and it worked out beautifully.”
For Button the beauty also came in seeing a non-finish for Mark Webber and just one point scored for Sebastian Vettel, the Briton’s main challengers beyond his own team garage.
Webber exited the race on lap one, the Australian tangling with the BMW of Robert Kubica as the field snaked though the Variante della Roggia chicane and ending up stalled in the gravel traps.
The first lap was only marginally more successful for Vettel. Loaded with fuel and struggling for grip he was soon eclipsed by the lighter-fuelled Renault of Fernando Alonso and moments later by the second Ferrari of Giancarlo Fisichella. After that there was no way back though Vettel lucked into a solitary point when he inherited eighth position following Hamilton’s final lap accident.
After a string of poor results, though, the focus now shifts back to Button. The Brawn driver’s lead, which stood at 26 points in June, has been slashed to 14 but with just four races to go he insisted he is ready for the challenge.
“I lost two points to Rubens today but gained seven on Vettel,” he said. “Now I just have to stay as close to Rubens as possible. But also I want to win races, I don’t just want to finish behind him. We have got more improvements coming and that should help in Singapore.”
RESULT
1 R Barrichello (Bra) Brawn-Mercedes
1hr 16mins 21.706secs
2 J Button (Eng) Brawn-Mercedes+00:02.866
3 K Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari00:30.664
4 A Sutil (Ger) Force India-Mercedes00:31.131
5 F Alonso (Spn) Renault 00:59.182
6 H Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes 01:00.693
7 N Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 01:22.412
8 S Vettel (Ger) RedBull-Renault 01:25.407
9 G Fisichella (Ita) Ferrari 01:26.856
10 K Nakajima (J) Williams-Toyota 02:42.163
11 T Glock (Ger) Toyota 02:43.925
12r L Hamilton (Eng) McLaren-Mercedes 1 lap 13r S Buemi (Swi) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1 lap; 14 J Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1 lap; 15 R Grosjean (Fra) Renault 1 lap; 16 N Rosberg (Ger) Williams-Toyota 2 laps; r V Liuzzi (Ita) Force India-Mercedes 31 laps; r J Alguersuari (Spn) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 34 laps; r R Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 37 laps; r M Webber (Aus) RedBull-Renault 53 laps (rank: r = retired, nc = not classified).
DRIVERS’ STANDINGS
1 J Button (Eng) Brawn 80
2 R Barrichello (Bra) Brawn 66
3 S Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 54
4 M Webber (Aus) Red Bull 51.5
5 K Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 40
6 N Rosberg (Ger) Williams 30.5
7 L Hamilton (Brit) McLaren 27
8 J Trulli (Ita) Toyota 22.5
9 F Massa (Bra) Ferrari 22
10 H Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren 20
11 F Alonso (Spn) Renault 20
12 T Glock (Gery) Toyota 16
13 N Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 12
14 G Fisichella (Ita) Force India 8
15 R Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 8
16 A Sutil (Ger) Force India 5
17 S Buemi (Swi) Toro Rosso 3
18 S Bourdais (Fra) Toro Rosso 2
19 K Nakajima (Jpn) Williams 0; 20 N Piquet (Bra) Renault 0; 21 L Badoer (Ita) Ferrari 0; 22 R Grosjean (Fra) Renault 0; 23 J Alguersuari (Spn) Toro Rosso 0; 24 V Liuzzi (Ita) Force India-Mercedes 0
CONSTRUCTORS’ STANDINGS
1 Brawn -Mercedes 146
2 RedBull-Renault 105.5
3 Ferrari 62
4 McLaren-Mercedes 47
5 Toyota 38.5
6 Williams-Toyota 30.5
7 BMW Sauber 20
8 Renault 20
9 Force India-Mercedes 13
10 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 5
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