| 2009 British Grand Prix | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Race 8 of 17 in the2009 Formula One World Championship
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 Silverstone Circuit in 2009 | |||||
| Race details[1] | |||||
| Date | 21 June 2009 | ||||
| Official name | 2009 Formula 1 Santander British Grand Prix[2] | ||||
| Location | Silverstone Circuit, Northamptonshire andBuckinghamshire, England | ||||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||||
| Course length | 5.141 km (3.194 miles) | ||||
| Distance | 60 laps, 308.355 km (191.603 miles) | ||||
| Weather | Dry, overcast | ||||
| Attendance | 128,000 | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | Red Bull-Renault | ||||
| Time | 1:19.509 | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |  Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | |||
| Time | 1:20.735 on lap 16 | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | Red Bull-Renault | ||||
| Second | Red Bull-Renault | ||||
| Third | Brawn-Mercedes | ||||
Lap leaders | |||||
The2009 British Grand Prix (formally the2009 Formula 1 Santander British Grand Prix) was aFormula One motor race held at theSilverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire, United Kingdom, on 21 June 2009. The 60-lap race was the eighth round of the2009 Formula One season. It was scheduled to be the last British Grand Prix to be held at Silverstone, before the event moved toDonington Park for the2010 season. However, due to Donington being unable to raise the required funds the event returned to Silverstone again in 2010, on a new layout.[3][4] The race was won bySebastian Vettel, who started on pole, with championship leaderJenson Button finishing in sixth position.[5]
Home driverJenson Button led the Drivers' Championship by 26 points fromBrawn teammateRubens Barrichello. Barrichello was 8 points clear ofRed Bull'sSebastian Vettel, who lay 1.5 points ahead of his teammate,Mark Webber.[6]
Brawn GP led the Constructors' Championship by 39.5 points fromRed Bull Racing and were a further 24 points ahead of JapanesemanufacturerToyota.
Home favourite and reigning World Champion,Lewis Hamilton, had won theprevious year's event forMcLaren. As well as Hamilton, theBritish Grand Prix has a history of native success. Down the years these include wins forDavid Coulthard,Johnny Herbert,Damon Hill,Nigel Mansell,John Watson,James Hunt,Jackie Stewart,Jim Clark andStirling Moss. Britain was to be represented this year by Hamilton andJenson Button.
Due to the continuing political dispute between the Formula 1 Teams Association (FOTA), the FIA and Formula 1 Management (FOM), there was talk that the teams against the proposed 2010 season budget cap would not compete in the2010 season.[7][8]
Other former British GP winners in the field wereFerrari'sKimi Räikkönen,Renault'sFernando Alonso andBrawn GP driverRubens Barrichello.
Sebastian Vettel was fastest in both the first and second practice sessions, withMark Webber coming second in both. The final session sawNico Rosberg top the time charts.
Qualifying began in some of the coolest conditions experienced all year, with an air temperature of just 16 °C (61 °F). The session was mostly dominated by the Red Bull drivers, until a late flying lap byKazuki Nakajima saw him fastest by a tenth of a second. The session ended prematurely in the final minute whenAdrian Sutil crashed heavily at Abbey, forcing reigning World ChampionLewis Hamilton to abort his final lap and leaving him nineteenth withGiancarlo Fisichella,Sébastien Bourdais, Sutil andSébastien Buemi also eliminated. Sutil's accident was later found to have been a result of brake failure.[9]
The second session did not begin until the remains of Sutil's car were removed from the circuit, with track conditions remaining constant and Red Bull continuing their pace, withMark Webber remaining unchallenged for most of the session with teammateSebastian Vettel only out-pacing him on his final run. Championship leaderJenson Button only narrowly missed elimination, setting the eight-fastest time at the end of the session when he had previously been sitting eleventh.Felipe Massa,Robert Kubica,Heikki Kovalainen,Nelson Piquet Jr. andNick Heidfeld were all eliminated.
The third and final session saw most of the cars switching to the softer option tyre. Sebastian Vettel took pole from Rubens Barrichello, with Webber third. Button qualified sixth – his worst of the season – after Nakajima found some of his first-session pace to steal fifth place out from under him,[10] resulting in his career-best qualifying position. When the weights of each car was published post-qualifying, it emerged that Vettel was 9 kg heavier than the Brawn of Barrichello and 7 kg heavier than teammate Webber.[11] After qualifying, it was announced thatBMW Sauber would be abandoning their KERS program for good.[12]
Vettel and Red Bull dominated the Grand Prix, with the young German driving away from the field from pole position, often pulling away from Barrichello at the rate of one second per lap.[13]
It was a good day for the Red Bull drivers from the moment the lights went out, with championship rival Button dropping down to ninth position at the end of the first lap after a poor start. Fellow home driver Hamilton was having more success, albeit from 19th on the grid, gaining four positions in the first two laps. The mixed-up race order was perhaps reflective of the season as a whole, with the only World Champions in the field – Raikkonen, Alonso and Hamilton – at one point battling for 13th, 14th and 15th positions.[14]
At the front of the race while Vettel was setting fastest laps, teammate Mark Webber was unable to pass Rubens Barrichello for second position until the Brazilian pitted on lap 20. Webber pitted a lap later but produced a good enough in-lap to emerge from the pits ahead of Barrichello. Nico Rosberg also benefited from the pit stop phase, emerging in fourth position, ahead of Felipe Massa.
Hamilton's eventful race at the back of the field continued, running off track on several occasions. He was able to pass teammateHeikki Kovalainen who had just emerged from the pits on lap 34. The following lap,Sebastian Bourdais attempted a similar manoeuvre at the Abbey chicane, however the Toro Rosso driver was less successful, colliding with the Finn and causing both cars to retire.
At the second round of pit-stops, Button was able to take advantage of a long middle stint to move ahead of Raikkonen and Trulli and up to sixth position, behind Massa, who had in-turn leap-frogged Rosberg for fourth. Button was on the faster tyre compound[15] and pressured both cars until the finish, but was unable to pass Rosberg despite being just 0.3 seconds behind the German at the start of the last lap. Rosberg was himself just 0.8 seconds behind Massa.
As Vettel took the chequered flag, he was 15.1 seconds ahead of teammate Webber, who was a further 25.9 seconds ahead of Barrichello.[16] Jarno Trulli finished in 7th ahead of Raikkonen, who had to endure late pressure from Trulli's teammate Timo Glock. Hamilton finished a lowly 16th.
The combination of the fast sweeping circuit suiting the updated Red Bull RB5 and cold conditions hampering the Brawn produced what was a disappointing result for pace-setting Brawn.[15] Button's championship lead was reduced to a still substantial 23 points over Barrichello, who was now just 2 points ahead of Vettel. Webber was a further 3.5 points behind, while Brawn's Constructors' Championship lead was also cut.
Red Bull'sChristian Horner declared his team could mount a serious title challenge following the successful showing of their updated car, claiming it should be quick on the remaining circuits. Vettel declared his car to be "fantastic" while Mark Webber praised the team but admitted a mistake in qualifying cost him any chance of winning.[17] The race also saw Vettel claim his first "hat trick", with pole, fastest lap and the win. Button dismissed talk of Red Bull now having a sizeable advantage, saying Brawn looked weaker than they were because of the cool conditions.[18]
There were contrasting emotions for 2008 title contenders Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton, Massa describing his race from 11th to 4th as good as winning the race while Hamilton said he was pushing his hardest despite finishing 16th.[19]
Away from the track action, the talk of the paddock was the threat of abreakaway series, with FIA PresidentMax Mosley confident of a solution to the dispute.[20] Commercial rights holderBernie Ecclestone admitted for the first time the British Grand Prix would be returning to Silverstone ifDonington Park was unable to host the 2010 event.[21]
Cars that usedKERS are marked with "‡"
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 60 | 1:22:49.328 | 1 | 10 |
| 2 | 14 |  Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 60 | +15.188 | 3 | 8 |
| 3 | 23 |  Rubens Barrichello | Brawn-Mercedes | 60 | +41.175 | 2 | 6 |
| 4 | 3‡ | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 60 | +45.043 | 11 | 5 |
| 5 | 16 | Nico Rosberg | Williams-Toyota | 60 | +45.915 | 7 | 4 |
| 6 | 22 |  Jenson Button | Brawn-Mercedes | 60 | +46.285 | 6 | 3 |
| 7 | 9 |  Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 60 | +1:08.307 | 4 | 2 |
| 8 | 4‡ |  Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 60 | +1:09.622 | 9 | 1 |
| 9 | 10 | Timo Glock | Toyota | 60 | +1:09.823 | 8 | |
| 10 | 21 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Force India-Mercedes | 60 | +1:11.522 | 16 | |
| 11 | 17 |  Kazuki Nakajima | Williams-Toyota | 60 | +1:14.023 | 5 | |
| 12 | 8 | Nelson Piquet Jr. | Renault | 59 | +1 lap | 14 | |
| 13 | 5 |  Robert Kubica | BMW Sauber | 59 | +1 lap | 12 | |
| 14 | 7 |  Fernando Alonso | Renault | 59 | +1 lap | 10 | |
| 15 | 6 | Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber | 59 | +1 lap | 15 | |
| 16 | 1 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 59 | +1 lap | 18 | |
| 17 | 20 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 59 | +1 lap | PL | |
| 18 | 12 |  Sébastien Buemi | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 59 | +1 lap | 19 | |
| Ret | 11 |  Sébastien Bourdais | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 37 | Collision damage | 17 | |
| Ret | 2 | Heikki Kovalainen | McLaren-Mercedes | 36 | Collision damage | 13 | |
Source:[23] | |||||||
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| Previous race: 2009 Turkish Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 2009 season | Next race: 2009 German Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 2008 British Grand Prix | British Grand Prix | Next race: 2010 British Grand Prix |
52°04′43″N1°01′01″W / 52.07861°N 1.01694°W /52.07861; -1.01694
