The 2009 Santander British Grand Prix was the eighth race of the 2009 Formula One season. It was held on 21 June 2009 at Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire, England. This is scheduled to be the last British Grand Prix to be held at Silverstone, before the event moves to Donington Park for the 2010 season. The race was won by Sebastian Vettel, who started on pole, with championship leader Jenson Button finishing in sixth position.

Report

Background

Home driver Jenson Button led the Drivers' Championship by 26 points from Brawn team-mate Rubens Barrichello. Barrichello was 8 points clear of Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, who lay 1.5 points ahead of team-mate Mark Webber.

Ross Brawn's team led the Constructors' Championship by 39.5 points from Red Bull Racing and a further 24 points ahead of Japanese manufacturer Toyota.

Home favourite and eventual World Champion Lewis Hamilton won the 2008 British Grand Prix for McLaren. As well as Hamilton, the British Grand Prix has a history of native success. Down the years these include wins for David Coulthard, Johnny Herbert, Damon Hill, Nigel Mansell, John Watson, James Hunt, Jackie Stewart, Jim Clark and Stirling Moss. Britain will be represented this year by Hamilton and Jenson Button.

Due to the continuing political dispute between the Formula 1 Teams Association (FOTA) and the FIA and Formula 1 Management (FOM), there was talk that the teams against the proposed 2010 season budget cap will not compete in the 2010 season.

Other former British GP winners in the field were Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen, Renault's Fernando Alonso and Brawn GP driver Rubens Barrichello.

Practice and qualifying

Sebastian Vettel was fastest in both the first and second practice sessions, with Mark Webber coming second in both. The last session saw Nico Rosberg top the time charts.

Qualifying began in some of the coolest conditions experienced all year, with an air temperature of just sixteen degrees Celsius. The session was mostly dominated by the Red Bull drivers, until a late flying lap by Kazuki Nakajima saw him fastest by a tenth of a second. The session ended prematurely in the final minute when Adrian Sutil crashed heavily at Abbey, forcing reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton to abort his final lap and leaving him nineteenth with Giancarlo Fisichella, Sébastien Bourdais, Sutil and Sébastien Buemi also eliminated. Sutil's accident was later found to have been a result of brake failure.

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, with Mark Webber remaining unchallenged for most of the session with team-mate Sebastian Vettel only out-pacing him on his final run. Championship leader Jenson 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. and Nick 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, 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 team-mate Webber. After qualifying, it was announced that BMW Sauber would be abandoning their KERS program for good.

Race

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.

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 18th 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.

At the front of the race while Vettel was setting fastest laps, team-mate 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 stops, 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 team-mate Heikki Kovalainen who had just emerged from the pits on lap 34. The following Sebastian Bourdais attempted a similar manoeuver at the Abbey chicane, however the Torro 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 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 team-mate Webber, who was a further 25.9 seconds ahead of Barrichello . 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.

Post-race

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. Button's Championship lead was reduced to a, still substantial championship, lead of 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's Christian 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. Button dismissed talk of Red Bull now having a sizeable advantage, saying Brawn looked wearer than they were because of the cool conditions.

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.

Away from the track action, the talk of the paddock was the threat of a breakaway series, with FIA President Max Mosley confident of a solution to the dispute. Commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone admitted for the first time the British Grand Prix would be returning to Silverstone if Donnington Park was unable to host the 2010 event.

Classification

Cars that used KERS are marked with "‡"

Qualifying

Pos	No	Name	Constructor	Part 1	Part 2	Part 3	Grid
1	15	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	1:18.685	1:18.119	1:19.509	1
2	23	Rubens Barrichello	Brawn-Mercedes	1:19.325	1:18.335	1:19.856	2
3	14	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1:18.674	1:18.209	1:19.868	3
4	9	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	1:18.886	1:18.240	1:20.091	4
5	17	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	1:18.530	1:18.575	1:20.216	5
6	22	Jenson Button	Brawn-Mercedes	1:18.957	1:18.663	1:20.289	6
7	16	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	1:19.228	1:18.591	1:20.361	7
8	10	Timo Glock	Toyota	1:19.198	1:18.791	1:20.490	8
9	4‡	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari‡	1:19.010	1:18.566	1:20.715	9
10	7	Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:19.167	1:18.761	1:20.741	10
11	3‡	Felipe Massa	Ferrari‡	1:19.148	1:18.927		11
12	5	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	1:19.730	1:19.308		12
13	2	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:19.732	1:19.353		13
14	8	Nelson Piquet, Jr.	Renault	1:19.555	1:19.392		14
15	6	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	1:19.559	1:19.448		15
16	21	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Mercedes	1:19.802			16
17	11	Sébastien Bourdais	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:19.898			17
18	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	1:19.909			18
19	1	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:19.917			19
20	12	Sébastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:20.236			20

Race

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	19
17	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	59	+1 lap	18
18	12	Sébastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	59	+1 lap	20
Ret	11	Sébastien Bourdais	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	37	Collision damage	17
Ret	2	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	36	Collision damage	13

Notes

• Lap Leaders: Sebastian Vettel 57 (1-44, 48-60), Mark Webber 3 (45-47)
• This race was Sebastian Vettel's first Formula One "hat trick" (pole position, win and fastest lap).

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Jenson Button	64
2	Rubens Barrichello	41
3	Sebastian Vettel	39
4	Mark Webber	35.5
5	Jarno Trulli	21.5

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	Brawn-Mercedes	105
2	Red Bull-Renault	74.5
3	Toyota	34.5
4	Ferrari	26
5	Williams-Toyota	15.5

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8110915.stm
2. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8111672.stm
3. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8111672.stm
4. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8111909.stm
5. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8111162.stm
6. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8110859.stm

External links

• Official results at Formula1.com