page_title: 2009 European Grand Prix
section_title: Race
hierarchical_section_title: 2009 European Grand Prix / Report / Race
caption_attribution_description: Fernando Alonso driving for Renault F1 at the 2009 European Grand Prix.
context_page_description: The 2009 European Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 23 August 2009 at the Valencia Street Circuit in Valencia, Spain. It was the 11th race of the 2009 Formula One season. The race was contested over 57 laps, an overall race distance of 308.9 km. The winner was Rubens Barrichello for Brawn GP after starting from third on the grid. The 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton finished second for McLaren-Mercedes, while 2007 world champion Kimi Räikkönen finished in third for Ferrari. Championship leader Jenson Button finished in seventh for the second race in a row, but extended his lead as Red Bull Racing's Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel both failed to score.
  It was Barrichello's first Grand Prix victory since the 2004 Chinese Grand Prix while he was still driving for Ferrari. He also marked the 100th victory for a Brazilian driver in F1. Hamilton's second place granted him another podium, while Räikkönen's third place was his second podium in a row. The race saw the debut of GP2 Series driver Romain Grosjean. He replaced Nelson Piquet Jr. at Renault. This race also saw the Grand Prix return of Luca Badoer who had not raced since the 1999 Japanese Grand Prix.
context_section_description: Around 12:00 (UTC) the formation lap for the Grand Prix started with race starting a few minutes later. With the air temperature at 31 °C (88 °F) and the track temperature at 49 °C (120 °F), it looked like the conditions were favouring the Brawn cars. The race started with Lewis Hamilton, Heikki Kovalainen and Rubens Barrichello as the top three after the first lap. Kimi Räikkönen had a good start making his way to fourth from sixth on the grid. Jenson Button had a poor start dropping to ninth in the first few corners, while Luca Badoer starting from the back of the grid jumped six positions to 14th at the start. Romain Grosjean then tapped the rear of Badoer's Ferrari, causing the Italian to spin. Grosjean had to pit for repairs, as did Timo Glock after he and Sébastien Buemi collided, the Swiss driver also pitting for a new nose. Mark Webber down in ninth got on the radio claiming that Button had cut the chicane to stop Webber's attempt of a pass. Button then fell behind Webber although it is unclear whether it was a legitimate pass or Jenson let the Red Bull driver through.
  On lap 15, Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel came into the pits. Hamilton rejoined in sixth place but Vettel's fuel pump failed to work so he had to come in again. Kovalainen came in a lap later while Barrichello was pushing to try and build a gap. Button and Räikkönen pitted on lap 18, the Finn coming out in eighth while Button rejoined in 11th. Barrichello came in on lap 19, the Brazilian had made a lot of ground as he rejoined just behind Lewis after being around 10 seconds adrift. But most importantly for Brawn he had jumped the other McLaren of Kovalainen. On lap 24, a lot of smoke was pouring from the rear end of Vettel's car and he retired with a suspected engine failure. Hamilton was ordered over the radio to try to cool down his rear brakes as the temperature were getting out of control, but he was unable to shake off the challenge of Barrichello in second.
  Hamilton seemed to have found some pace but he pitted soon after on lap 37. He came in but his new tyres were still in their blankets and a lot of time was wasted. Barrichello came in three laps later on lap 40 and came out in first. Button came in on lap 41 along with Alonso leaving Webber to tackle a bit of traffic. Webber pitted and the traffic had cost him as he came out behind Button and Kubica leaving himself out of the points. Räikkönen also jumped Kovalainen in the second round of stops.
  As the race was heading into the closing stages, Hamilton seemed to be on a charge to try to catch the leading Brawn but in reality it looked only a mistake would stop the Brazilian winning. As Button was lapping a second off the pace just making sure his car got to the end. Kubica was catching Button at a high rate of knots but it seemed a long shot if Button was going to lose them two points. Barrichello took the chequered flag to win his first grand prix since the inaugural Chinese Grand Prix in 2004, and record the 100th win by a Brazilian driver in Formula One (including the victories of Emerson Fittipaldi, José Carlos Pace, Nelson Piquet, Ayrton Senna, Felipe Massa and Barrichello). Hamilton came second, while Finn Räikkönen came home in third. Kovalainen came fourth, while Nico Rosberg had a reasonably quiet race as he came home in fifth. Fernando Alonso came sixth in his home race, championship leader Jenson Button came seventh, while Robert Kubica came eighth, only his second points scoring finish so far this season. Neither Red Bull's Vettel or Webber scored a point, while Barrichello moved into second place in the drivers championship. Button kept his lead although he only added two points to his tally. Brawn edged further ahead in the constructors' championship by scoring 12 points with Red Bull not scoring a single point this weekend.
caption: Fernando Alonso finished in sixth in front of his home crowd.
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