An incident filled race and inspired driving by Jenson Button allowed him finish 5th, earning enough points to win the 2009 F1 Drivers Championship and Brawn GP to win the Constructors Championship with one race in the season still to go.
Starting 14th on the Grid it wasn’t promising for Button to have any chance at all securing the Championship this weekend at Interlagos, especially with his closest competitor teammate Rubens Barrichello sitting on Pole Position.
However, lady luck was with Button today, multiple incidents in front of Button taking out Alonso, Sutil, Trulli and sending Raikkonen to the pits allowed him to quickly move up 4 positions. These same incidents also brought out the Safety car, effectively ruining Barrichello’s race as Rubens needed to quickly build an early lead for his race strategy to work being the lightest car on the grid.
Once the race restarted Button quickly passed Grosjean in the Renault but had difficulty passing Kobiyashi’s Toyota who was driving outstandingly for his first Formula One race.
After a couple of close calls Button finally got by Kobayashi, and then Rosberg retired with Transmission issues and a few laps later Nakajima crashed out hitting Kobiyashi from the rear as Kobiyashi exited the pits, loosing his front wing and spinning out of control across the tack into the tire barrier narrowly missing Raikkonen. So, at his point the race order was Weber (1), Kubica (2), Barrichello (3), Hamilton (4), Button (5), Vettel (6).
Button pits before Vettel and comes out behind Kovalianen which cost him time. When Vettel pits he manages to come out in front of Button. so Button effectively moves to 6th.
Then Hamilton challenges Barrichello for third place and they touch as Hamilton overtakes, causing slight damage to the McLarens front wing, but that incident also punctured Rubens rear tire forcing him to pit again for new tires, pushing him down the field to 8th position, moving Button up to 5th behind Vettel and cementing Buttons Championship Title.
2009 F1 Drivers Championship after Interlagos
| Position | Driver | Team | Nationality | Current Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jenson Button | Brawn GP |  | 89 |
| 2 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing |  | 74 |
| 3 | Rubens Barrichello | Brawn GP |  | 72 |
| 4 | Mark Webber | Red Bull Racing |  | 61.5 |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren |  | 49 |
| 6 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari |  | 48 |
| 7 | Nico Rossberg | Williams | | 34.5 |
| 8 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota |  | 30.5 |
| 9 | Fernando Alonso | Renault |  | 26 |
| 10 | Timo Glock | Toyota | | 24 |
| 11 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | | 22 |
| 12 | Heikki Kovalainen | McLaren | | 22 |
| 13 | Robert Kubica | BMW Sauber |  | 17 |
| 14 | Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber | | 15 |
| 15 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Force India | | 8 |
| 16 | Adrian Sutil | Force India | | 5 |
| 17 | Sebastien Buemi | Torro Rosso |  | 5 |
| 18 | Sebastien Bourdais | Torro Rosso |  | 2 |
| 19 | Kazuki Nakajima | Williams |  | 0 |
| 20 | Nelshino Piquet | Renault | | 0 |
| 21 | Kamui Kobayashi | Toyota | | 0 |
| 22 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Force India | | 0 |
| 23 | Romain Grosjean | Renault | | 0 |
| 24 | Jaime Alguersuari | Torro Rosso | | 0 |
| 25 | Luca Badoer | Ferrari | | 0 |
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