Brazilian Grand Prix Review

Qualifying started off in appalling wet conditions that claimed Giancarlo Fisichella and Vitantonio Liuzzi amongst its victims, and the amount of aquaplaning had some arguing that perhaps the entire session should have been postponed, rather than dragged over two and three-quarter hours. Whilst there is some force to that position, in this day and age when more TV networks also take live qualifying coverage, indefinite postponements are not really an option. It is a difficult call for race officials.

But once the track dried out for race day, given the respective fuel loads it was always likely to be Webber's race unless Rubens Barrichello could bolt in the first stint. The safety car, Webber's speed and Rubens' track position after his first stop put paid to any chance the Brazilian had, and the race was Mark's to control from that point. He was never headed again and, after five non-scoring races, this result sealed 4th place in the drivers' championship and gave much-needed momentum into Abu Dhabi and 2010.

One of the drives of the race came from Robert Kubica in 2nd. Having moved from 8th on the grid to 4th on lap one, he clinically disposed of Nico Rosberg after the safety car and set about keeping Webber honest. This was the Pole's best drive of 2009, even better than Melbourne and Spa. After a season when BMW's deficiencies have resulted in Robert going off the boil and being matched and beaten by Nick Heidfeld far too often, this too was a drive that gives him a solid platform into 2010 with his new team Renault.

Love him or loathe him, there is no denying that Lewis Hamilton has given his all like the reigning champion that he is in 2009, and has maximised the potential of his car better than most. Here, the wrong set-up for the abysmal conditions in qualifying cost him a Q2 berth, but McLaren took advantage of the safety car to get rid of the soft tyre phase and change Lewis only a one-stopper in effect. This required Hamilton to optimise lap time on heavier fuel loads whilst preserving tyre life.

Romain Grosjean gifted a place to him, and his ultra-late first stop got him ahead of Kamui Kobayashi and Sebastien Buemi. A later second stop put him in front of Button as well. Vettel's only pass of note - although it was a very good one at that - was around the outside of Barrichello at the Ferradura, but given that Rubens had just come out of the pits and was on a full tank, and it was of little import in net terms, it was not of any particular significance.

By contrast, Button really earned his position on the track. For the second year in a row, an Englishman claimed the title with a 5th place at Interlagos, but this drive had more overtones of Michael Schumacher's farewell appearance in 2006, thanks to a series of commanding overtakes. His move on Grosjean, lasting from turn 4 to turn 6, was full of calculated risk given Romain's unpredictability, and by comparison his pass on Kazuki Nakajima was straightforward.

If Grosjean was unpredictable, then Kobayashi in this first Grand Prix with nothing to lose was something else altogether. Button had to get past the Toyota not once but twice, the second time an exercise in outsmarting the impressive but inexperienced newcomer. Finally, Button dive-bombed Buemi early in the second stint in a move for net position. This series of passes meant that Jenson fully deserved his final position and the championship that came with it.

Was Barrichello the better Brawn driver in the nine races from Britain onwards? Probably. Certainly he was the faster qualifier. Whereas Rubens has been quite stellar in that department, Jenson has been good in three of those nine events (Germany, Europe, Italy), average in three others (Britain, Hungary, Japan), and poor in the remaining three (Belgium, Singapore, Brazil). But in the nine races, Rubens has not been that much better than Jenson, only taking three podiums, albeit including two wins.

However, Button has been good, if not very good, in four of them (Germany, Italy, Singapore and Brazil), average in four others (Britain, Hungary, Europe and Japan), and one cannot rate Belgium where was taken out by Grosjean on the first lap. In other words, Button has not had a poor Sunday, and race day is when it counts. Barrichello has caught more headlines, but not always when it matters, and he has not been regularly the class of the field, especially given the form of Red Bull and McLaren.

Rubens has, simply, been consistent without mounting a consistent-enough title campaign. Fortune has not always been on his side either, and yet again his Interlagos curse struck. The way his strategy played out, and the way the field spread, he rejoined after his first stop in the Kobayashi train which demoted him to 3rd. He then ceded the final podium place to Hamilton in the last stint only for a puncture to relegate him to 8th. Rubinho seems destined never to get a clear run on his home track.

Kimi Raikkonen continued his defiant I'm-leaving-Ferrari-now-let-me-show-you-how-good-I-am late-season run. Once again he made great use of KERS from 5th on the grid to catapult up to 3rd and challenge Webber for 2nd, only for Mark to give him the chop and trample on his front wing. Perhaps Mark was slightly fortunate to get away with that; he did make a second jolt to the left. Compared to the Nurburgring where the Aussie was penalised, the only difference was that Kimi had not got alongside.

Kovalainen got a 25-second post-race penalty for the fuel hose debacle, but as he finished 9th on the road anyway, it made little difference. The pit incident and his second-corner tangle with Vettel and Fisichella marked yet another race where Heikki only caught the attention for the wrong reasons as his top-team career seems to live on ever-more borrowed time. This was in contrast to the exhilarating, devil-may-care racyness demonstrated by Kobayashi in debut.

It was no surprise that Kamui did well in wet qualifying having been brought up on the occasional Japanese deluge, but it was his aggression in the dry that caught the eye. His first move on countryman Nakajima, around the outside into turn 4 after the safety car, was sensational. After Kazuki followed Button past the Toyota, Kamui's second move was just as brilliant, hanging around the outside of the Williams at turn one, claiming the inside line for turn two, and forcing Nakajima to yield at turn three.

His third move on his fellow Toyota young development driver was not so pretty, a chop that was even more vicious and sudden than Webber's on Raikkonen as Nakajima tried to slipstream whilst Kobayashi was getting up to speed coming out of the pits. While Kamui may need to learn some protocols, one hopes he gets further chances at Toyota next year (he will drive in Abu Dhabi as well) and his style doesn't get sterilised too much. F1 needs the odd banzai-master to spice up the show, and Kamui could fit the bill.

REJECT OF THE RACE
Jarno Trulli
Carried on like a pork chop when it was his fault

Liuzzi also pitted under the safety car to change onto a one-stopper for Force India, but after his massive qualifying shunt and the overnight rebuild he simply did not have the pace to finish higher than 12th on the road. That still put him ahead of the two-stopping Grosjean, whose lack of speed and fight - apart from his one moment of staunch defence against Button - continues to mystify. From 12th on the grid, Jaime Alguersuari fell back early and never recovered, coming home 14th.

Of the retirements, Rosberg's gearbox failure meant that another decent points haul - and possibly even a podium for 3rd - turned into his first DNF in 28 races. That spoilt any chance he had of challenging Heidfeld's consecutive finishes record, whilst Nick makes a habit of retiring with his second non-finish in three races. This time it was due to his fuel rig failing, and the BMW lollipop man letting him out before he was given fuel, such that he ran out of juice. That was mildly hilarious.

Fernando Alonso made it into Q3 again but was the innocent victim of yet more Adrian Sutil mayhem, this time his first lap collision with Jarno Trulli. However, like the German's clash with Kovalainen at Suzuka, it was again not the Force India driver's fault, after his sensational qualifying effort in the wet put him up the pointy end of the field. Momentarily delayed by Raikkonen's damaged Ferrari, Sutil was slowish into turn 4, but took his normal line only to find Trulli trying to pass on the outside.

Indeed, Adrian probably never knew Jarno was there. He certainly did not deviate from his rightful line, and he absolutely did not push the Toyota off the track. The Italian was simply too ambitious, and lost control. He lost control of his cool as well, his post-incident tantrum earning him a $10,000 fine and also our coveted 'Reject of the Race' award. Rarely in recent times has a driver made himself look like such a pork chop, when clearly in the wrong himself. It smacked of desperation as he tries to prolong his F1 career.