Results:
Qualifying:
Race:
Championships:
Full Report:
Approximately three hours before the scheduled race start it was announced Nick Heidfeld would be starting the race from the pitlane, after his team discovered insufficient ballast had been fitted to his car. This promoted all the cars behind him one position on the grid, significantly moving both the Brawn cars onto the 'clean' side of the starting grid, on the racing line.
The race began shortly after 8pm local time with Lewis Hamilton making a clean start from pole position. Nico Rosberg took advantage of being on the clean side of the track to overtake Sebastian Vettel into the first corner. Fernando Alonso attempted to also pass Vettel but was unsuccessful, giving Mark Webber the opportunity to overtake Alonso on the outside of Turn 7. Both Alonso and Webber went off track as Webber completed the move. Stewards deemed Webber's move illegal and on lap seven he was told to hand the position back to Alonso, which also meant letting Timo Glock through as the German had also passed Alonso on the first lap. Alonso's Renault team-mate Romain Grosjean was not having any more luck, having to retire at the end of lap three with a recurring brake problem.
With Barrichello in seventh and Button out of the points scoring positions in 10th, Vettel looked to capitalise and try to close Button's 26 point lead in the Championship. By lap 13 he was 2.1 seconds behind Rosberg, who was in turn 2.5 seconds behind Hamilton. Vettel was the first of the leaders to stop, on lap 17. A lap later Rosberg pitted but he misjudged the level of grip on the pit exit, causing his car to cross the white line that distinguishes the pit lane from the race track, an offence that is punished by a drive-through penalty. Rosberg was issued with the penalty on lap 20 and would have to serve penalty within three racing laps. Hamilton also pitted on lap 20.
The following lap, an accident involving Adrian Sutil and Nick Heidfeld necessitated the deployment of the Safety Car to remove debris from the track. Sutil spun attempting to pass Jaime Alguersuari on the inside of Turn 14 and, with his car facing the wrong way, attempted to rejoin the circuit as Heidfeld was taking the corner, causing a collision that forced both cars to retire, Heidfeld's first non finish since the 2007 United States Grand Prix. Sutil was later reprimanded and fined $20,000 by stewards for dangerous driving.
Most cars that had thus far not pitted for fuel and tyres did so under the Safety Car conditions, including both Brawn cars. The Safety Car did not benefit Rosberg, as Formula One regulations prevent a drive-through penalty being served under Safety Car conditions, meaning he would have to stop within two laps of the restart when the field was still closely bunched. During this round of pit stops, Alguersuari repeated the infamous mistake made by Felipe Massa at the 2008 race by attempting to exit his pit garage with the fuel hose still attached.
The race restarted on lap 26, with Vettel now pressurising Hamilton for the lead. Rosberg served his penalty on lap 28, demoting him to 14th position. Hamilton and Vettel traded fastest laps with the gap between them hovering under a second. Behind Vettel the longer-fuelled Timo Glock was being encouraged to keep pushing as his team believed they could leap-frog the Red Bull in the pits.
Vettel pitted for his second stop on lap 39 and was clearly pushing very hard, running over a kerb on his out lap and damaging the underside of his car, having already lost his right wing mirror. However, worse was to come, as on lap 40 the stewards handed him a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
This left Hamilton 9.2 seconds ahead of Glock, who was in turn 7.6 seconds ahead of Alonso as Vettel served his penalty on lap 43. Red Bull's afternoon went from bad to worse three laps later as Webber spun out at Turn 1 after a right-front brake failure.
McLaren brought in both Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen for their second stops, and Timo Glock also pitted. The Safety Car was not deemed necessary to clear Webber's car, giving Jenson Button, who had been following Kovalainen, the opportunity to put in a series of fast laps before his pit stop. With Barrichello running in seventh after a small problem at his second pit stop, Button had an opportunity to stay ahead of his team-mate and extend his Championship lead. He pitted on lap 51, emerging in a net fifth position behind the impressively recovering Vettel and ahead of Barrichello.
Button seemed to have the speed to catch Vettel, who was concerned about his brakes following the retirement of Webber as well as that of Alguersuari, of Red Bull's sister team Toro Rosso, also with brake problems. Button closed the gap to under two seconds before he too appeared to develop brake problems. Fortunately for Button, his attempts to catch Vettel had given him a ten second cushion over Barrichello with two laps to go.
Nearly two hours after the race started, Hamilton completed the final lap to take the chequered flag, ahead of Glock and Alonso. Vettel and Button held on for fourth and fifth respectively, ahead of Barrichello, Kovalainen and Robert Kubica in the final points paying position. Button extended his Championship lead by one point to 15 ahead of Barrichello, with just three races remaining. Vettel was 25 points behind Button while Webber's crash meant he was now officially out of the running for the World Championship. Brawn would need 12 points from the remaining three races to clinch the Constructors Championship, while Ferrari's poor race, with neither driver scoring points, allowed McLaren to close the gap to Ferrari to three points in the battle for third.
Interestingly, under Bernie Ecclestone's proposed 'winner takes all' medals system, Button would have been declared World Champion after this result, with no other driver able to match his tally of six race wins. The Olympics-style system was planned to be used to decide the 2009 World Champion but was dropped after pressure from teams in favour of the traditional points method.
The Fast Castor
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