VALENCIA, Spain — Brazilian veteran Rubens Barrichello claimed an emotional 10th Formula One victory on Sunday when he drove his Brawn GP car through a perfectly-judged race in searing heat to win the European Grand Prix.
It was his first win this season and his first triumph in five years since the 2004 Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai for Ferrari as well as a popular victory greeted with delight and tears in the paddock.
Barrichello's win lifted him from fourth to second in the drivers' championship standings.
Briton Jenson Button, his Brawn team-mate, who was seventh, now leads with 72 points ahead of the Brazilian on 54 with Australian Mark Webber third on 51.5.
The 37-year-old driver from Sao Paulo came in ahead of defending drivers champion Lewis Hamilton in a McLaren and Finn Kimi Raikkonen for Ferrari at the Mediterranean street circuit in eastern Spain.
Hamilton had started from pole but his hopes of victory were dashed by a muddled second pit-stop when the McLaren team had not prepared his tyres.
Hamilton's McLaren team-mate Heikki Kovalainen, took fourth ahead of German Nico Rosberg of Williams and local hero Fernando Alonso of Renault, who was sixth.
Webber, second in the championship before the race, was ninth after his Red Bull team-mate German Sebastian Vettel was forced to retire with an engine failure.
Button, starting fifth, suffered a dreadful opening lap and, after being swamped in a rush through the first corner, emerged down in eighth place.
At the front McLaren's duo drove like a dream machine, leading the field comfortably with Hamilton reeling off fastest laps and little else changing as the procession stretched out around the harbour streets.
Only reliability, notably with the brakes, appeared to be a threat to the revitalised champion.
Hamilton made his first stop after 15 laps and rejoined sixth.
The stops gave Kovalainen the lead for a lap before he pitted and Barrichello took advantage with four fast laps as leader before his strategy brought him in later.
When Barrichello finally came in after 19 laps, he was in a strong position and soon found himself second behind Hamilton, just 3.6 seconds behind.
As they vied for the lead, Vettel was forced to retire as his Red Bull experienced another Renault engine failure, his second following a similar blow on Saturday.
It was a heartbreaking moment for the Red Bull team and Vettel whose title hopes almost certainly went up in smoke. "Too much, too many bad issues," he said.
"An engine failure..I don't know why - maybe I am a killer. But I will fight till the last breath for the title."
As the middle of the race unfolded, there were two key battles - at the front where Hamilton was fighting off Barrichello's challenge and for eighth place where Button was attacking Webber.
But when Hamilton pitted after 37 laps, his dream race turned into a nightmare because the pit crew were barely ready and had not brought the tyres out into the pit lane. The stop lasted nearly 14 seconds and a delighted Barrichello flew into the lead.
The Brazilian pitted again after 40 laps and his crew demonstrated how it should be done in less than seven seconds and he rejoined as clear leader by four seconds.
Barrichello extended his lead to six seconds as Hamilton fought to find the speed that would keep his hopes of a second straight win alive.
The Briton pushed hard, but it was not enough to stop Barrichello delivering an emotional win fuelled by his feelings after seeing compatriot Felipe Massa of Ferrari crash in Hungary, after being struck by debris from his Brawn car.
"Well done Rubens, well done, fantastic, just like the old days," said his team chief Ross Brawn.
The reply, on the team radio, from Barrichello was so flooded with emotion that it was incomprehensible.
And as he drove home to the Brawn pits down the pit lane, he was applauded all the way by rivals and friends before he bowed out of his car and slapped his head to denote his feelings for Massa, his successor at Ferrari, watching at home in Brazil.
(AFP)
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