Jenson Button: Formula 1 World Champion!
By Eric Johnson
Sunday afternoon in the 71-lap Formula 1 Grande Premio Petrobras Do Brasil at the Interlagos circuit in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Brawn GP’s Jenson Button drove his Mercedes-Benz FO108W-powered BGP 001 to the 2009 Formula 1 World Championship. The 170th Grand Prix career start for the British driver, Button placed fifth in the race, more than enough to clinch his first world title.
"It's really amazing," he said afterwards. "After the last few races I've had this makes up for it. It was a totally awesome race, I'm world champion!
"Its 21 years since I first raced a kart,” added the Monster Energy-supported driver. “I love winning, I never expected to be world champion in F1, because you think racing drivers in F1 are different from you. But I did it today."
Button certainly earned the championship on Sunday as after a poor qualifying performance on Saturday forced him to start the race from the 14th position on the grid. After the five red lights dissolved themselves to start the 71-lap affair, Button capitalized on an early safety car period, scratching and clawing his way up to ninth by the end of lap number one. Button then executed several impressive and intrepid passes along the way, swayed clear of any on-track trouble, and deftly motored up to fifth place, the place he remained in to lock down the World Championship. The fifth place finish earned Jenson four points, putting him 15 points clear of his nearest combatant, Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing. With one race left on the 2009 F1 schedule, it is now impossible for Vettel to make up the difference in points.
“It’s great to be sat here as the world champion, and personally I feel that I deserve it,” Button told the global media. “I was the best over 16 races and that’s what world champions are. I am it. I am a world champion! And I’m gonna keep saying it all night!”
Added tearful team principal Ross Brawn, the former Ferrari technical chief who formed the Brawn GP outfit at the eleventh hour after Honda pulled out of Formula 1 just prior to the beginning of 2009 season.
“It’s still got to sink in,” Brawn told the BBCafter the checkered flag was waved by sidelined Ferrari driver Felipe Massa in Sao Paulo. “It will take a while to sink in. It’s special - very special.
"We made hard work of it over the second half of the year, but we've done it, and it's very special. It's going to take a while to set in.
"As for Jenson, he's a fantastic racer and on the day he had a great race. He knew what he had to do.
"We've lost a little bit of pace in the car compared to some of our rivals over the second half of the season, but he's stuck with it and deserves everything he's got."
The final race of the 2009 Formula 1 season – The Formula 1 Etihad Airways Grand Prix Abu Dhabi - will take place on Sunday, November 1 at the new Yas Marina Circuit.