Button cops first F1 title; Webber tops Brazil GP
SAO PAULO – Jenson Button clinched his first Formula One drivers’ title with a fifth-place finish at the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday and his Brawn GP team made history by becoming the first to take the constructors’ crown in its debut season.
“This race was the best race I’ve driven in my life,” Button said. “I knew I had to make it happen.”
He was ecstatic at the finish, singing Queen’s “We Are The Champions” over the team radio as he crossed the line.
Red Bull’s Mark Webber claimed only his second Grand Prix win ahead of Robert Kubica of BMW Sauber and defending champion Lewis Hamilton of McLaren.
Home-crowd favorite Rubens Barrichello – Button’s Brawn GP teammate and his closest rival at the start of the race – began from pole but finished only eighth after a puncture, while Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel couldn’t place higher than fourth after starting well down the grid.
Fifth-place was good enough to give Button an insurmountable 15-point lead over Vettel in the drivers’ standings ahead of the season-ending race in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 1.
Button’s triumph gives Britain back-to-back F1 titles for the first time since Graham Hill won in 1968 and Jackie Stewart in 1969. Hamilton won last year, also clinching at the Brazilian GP. (AP)
- Latest
- Trending
