Valencia, Spain
21st - 23rd August 2009
Lap Distance 5.419 Km
Race 57 Laps 308.883 Km
Rubens Barrichello drove flawlessly to win the European Grand Prix at Valencia. Barrichello was beaten off the line by the KERS powered McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen but he kept his cool and bided his time picking off Kovalainen during the first pit stop sequence. He then kept the pressure on a hard charging Lewis Hamilton and pounced when the McLaren team faltered during Hamilton's second pit stop and easing into a relatively comfortable lead. McLaren's blunder almost certainly cost Hamilton any chance of victory although this was disputed after the race by team boss Martin Whitmarsh. Hamilton was 2.3 seconds adrift at the flag and led third placed Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari by 13.6 seconds. Kovalainen drove a strong and competent race to secure fourth place and more valuable points to add to McLaren's growing tally. Nico Rosberg produced another great drive for Williams pushing Kovalainen hard all the way to the finish and missing out by the narrow margin of 0.8 seconds. Fernando Alonso finished a useful 6th in the Renault but was never in contention to challenge the front runners much to the disappointment of the partisan fans. Jenson Button was seventh after a difficult start lost him places and forced him to cut across a corner after which he apparently yielded to Mark Webber to avoid a penalty. Although the championship leader ended the race with good pace he was unable to overhaul Alonso and settled for two valuable points and safety. Robert Kubica earned the final point for hard pressed BMW with eighth place. Sebastian Vettel endured a difficult race after experiencing refueling problems during the first pit sequence that forced a return to the pits for a top up. He then suffered what looked to be engine failure and subsequent retirement. Team mate Mark Webber also struggled for pace throughout the race finishing outside the points in ninth place and adding to Red Bull's woes. Barrichello's win takes him to second place in the title race eighteen points adrift of team mate Button.
Fernando Alonso delighted the partisan crowd at Valencia to secure the fastest lap on the opening day of practice for the European GP. It was far from plain sailing for Alonso though after he collided with the BMW of Nick Heidfeld causing damage to both cars necessitating emergency repairs in the pits. Brawn seem to have bounced back to form with Rubens Barrichello topping out the first session of the day and Jenson Button ending the final session of the day second to Alonso with Barrichello third fastest. Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima continued to demonstrate the speed of the Williams car with srtong drives to fourth and fifth places. Adrian Sutil impressed with 6th fastest time for Force India with Robert Kubica taking seventh sandwiched by the Force India of Giancarlo Fisichella. Sebastian Vettel and Heikki Kovalainen rounded out the top ten fastest in the final session. Lewis Hamilton spun his McLaren early on causing enough damage to prevent him rejoining the session and finishing bottom of the time sheets. Romain Grosjean did well on his first outing with Renault ending 13th fastest in the final session. Luca Badoer standing in for the injured Felipe Massa was 18th fastest.
McLaren underlined its recent improved form big time at Valencia today. Lewis Hamilton secured a scorching pole position with team mate Heikki Kovalainen following him with the second fastest time in the final shoot out. Brawn also enjoyed something of a resurgence after their recent poor performances with Rubens Barrichello third fastest and Jenson Button fifth with the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel splitting the two Brawns after setting the fourth best time. Kimi Raikkonen rounded out the top six but new team mate and long term Ferrari test driver Luca Badoer struggled badly and ended up slowest of the field in twentieth place almost three seconds adrift of pole sitting Hamilton. Nico Rosberg set the seventh fastest time ahead of local hero Fernando Alonso who was eighth fastest in the Renault. Mark Webber finished a disappointing ninth fastest with Robert Kubica closing out the top ten for BMW.
01 R Barrichello
1m 42.460s
02 H Kovalainen
1m 42.636s
03 L Hamilton
1m 42.654s
04 J Button
1m 43.074s
05 S Vettel
1m 43.088s
06 A Sutil
1m 43.209s
07 K Nakajima
1m 43.225s
08 M Webber
1m 43.243s
09 F Alonso
1m 43.345s
10 K Raikkonen
1m 43.384s
11 S Buemi
1m 43.389s
12 R Kubica
1m 43.419s
13 J Alguersuari
1m 43.637s
14 N Rosberg
1m 43.746s
15 N Heidfeld
1m 44.040s
16 G Fisichella
1m 44.126s
17 R Grosjean
1m 44.356s
18 J Trulli
1m 44.638s
19 T Glock
1m 44.732s
20 L Badoer
1m 45.840s
01 L Hamilton
1m 39.498s
02 H Kovalainen
1m 39.532s
03 R Barrichello
1m 39.563s
04 S Vettel
1m 39.789s
05 J Button
1m 39.821s
06 K Raikkonen
1m 40.144s
07 N Rosberg
1m 40.185s
08 F Alonso
1m 40.236s
09 M Webber
1m 40.239s
10 R Kubica
1m 40.512s
Eliminated Q2
11 N Heidfeld
1m 38.826s
12 A Sutil
1m 38.846s
13 T Glock
1m 38.991s
14 R Grosjean
1m 39.04s
15 S Buemi
1m 39.514s
Eliminated Q1
16 G Fisichella
1m 39.531s
17 K Nakajima
1m 39.795s
18 J Trulli
1m 39.807s
19 J Alguersuari
1m 39.925s
20 L Badoer
1m 41.413s
01 F Alonso
1m 39.404s
02 J Button
1m 40.178s
03 R Barrichello
1m 40.209s
04 N Rosberg
1m 40.385s
05 K Nakajima
1m 40.503s
06 A Sutil
1m 40.596s
07 R Kubica
1m 40.643s
08 G Fisichella
1m 40.681s
09 S Vettel
1m 40.723s
10 H Kovalainen
1m 40.738s
11 K Raikkonen
1m 40.739s
12 J Trulli
1m 40.770s
13 R Grosjean
1m 40.787s
14 M Webber
1m 40.956s
15 T Glock
1m 40.985s
16 S Buemi
1m 41.156s
17 N Heidfeld
1m 41.350s
18 L Badoer
1m 42.017s
19 J Alguersuari
1m 42.089s
20 L Hamilton
1m 43.214s
01 A Sutil
1m 39.143s
02 K Nakajima
1m 39.247s
03 R Kubica
1m 39.513s
04 H Kovalainen
1m 39.553s
05 N Rosberg
1m 39.732s
06 G Fisichella
1m 39.764s
07 J Button
1m 39.883s
08 L Hamilton
1m 39.950s
09 J Trulli
1m 40.017s
10 R Grosjean
1m 40.088s
11 S Buemi
1m 40.118s
12 R Barrichello
1m 40.192s
13 N Heidfeld
1m 40.230s
14 K Raikkonen
1m 40.260s
15 F Alonso
1m 40.402s
16 T Glock
1m 40.443s
17 M Webber
1m 40.879s
18 S Vettel
1m 40.916s
19 J Alguersuari
1m 41.125s
20 L Badoer
1m 42.198s
©First4F1.com 2009 All Rights Reserved
01 R Barrichello
02 L Hamilton
03 K Raikkonen
04 H Kovalainen
05 N Rosberg
06 F Alonso
07 J Button
08 R Kubica
09 M Webber
10 A Sutil
11 N Heidfeld
12 G Fisichella
13 J Trulli
14 T Glock
15 R Grosjean
16 J Alguersuari
17 L Badoer
Retired
L54 K Nakajima
L42 S Buemi
L24 S Vettel
Fastest Lap
T Glock
1m 38.683s L55
