An extraordinary pit-lane blunder by McLaren cost Lewis Hamilton a second successive victory as Brawn GP’s Rubens Barrichello took the chequered flag at today’s European grand prix in Valencia.
Hamilton, who began in pole, was leading the Brazilian by around four seconds before his second stop on lap 37 but his afternoon came unstuck when McLaren’s mechanics failed to have a new set of tyres ready.
The incident cost Hamilton around six seconds and allowed the hard-charging Barrichello through for his first victory since the 2004 Chinese grand prix. guardian.co.uk
“It’s been a weekend that I will never forget,” Barrichello said afterwards. “After five years you don’t forget how to do it. But in the middle of the race they are telling me push, push push. There was a lot going through my mind, but the car has been perfect and I want to thank the team for that.”
At 37, Barrichello is the oldest regular driver in the series, and holds the record for the most races run in the series by any driver, with 281 races since he began racing in Formula One in 1993.
The victory lifts Barrichello back into second place in the championship. His teammate, Jenson Button, who finished seventh, leads the series with 72 points, Barrichello is second with 54 points, Mark Webber is third with 51.5 points. New York Times
Hamilton finished second ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen after having started the Valencia street race from pole position.
Formula 1: European Grand Prix - Race Results
McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen finished fourth after starting second, while Nico Rosberg of Williams rounded out the top five ahead of Renault’s Fernando Alonso.The Associated Press
Button continued his indifferent recent form by finishing a distant seventh, but with Webber out of the points and the Sebastian Vettel failing to finish in the second Red Bull, it completed a fruitful afternoon for Brawn.
Luca Badoer, who is replacing injured Ferrari driver Felipe Massa, finished 17th and way off the pace.
Seven-time champion Michael Schumacher, who had been set to come in for Massa but aborted his comeback because of a neck injury, watched the race from the Ferrari pit wall. CNN International
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