F1 Brazilian GP: Jubilant Jenson

Jenson Button was crowned Formula One world champion and his Brawn team wrapped up a fairy-tale constructors’ title at an incident-packed Brazilian Grand Prix that was memorable for a superb display of attacking driving from the Englishman.

Luck played a part too, as Button’s two title rivals failed in any event to do what they had to do to take the championship to a last-race decider: Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull was to all intents and purposes already out of it after a bitterly disappointing 16th-place showing in a rain-fragmented qualifying session had left the German with next to no chance of the top-two finish he was looking for; Button’s team-mate Rubens Barrichello started his home Grand Prix from pole but went backwards during the race, struggling for pace after his first pit-stop and then suffering a late puncture, out of reach of the points he needed to maintain his challenge.

Yet at the end of the race there was no sense of anticlimax, of Button being handed the title on a plate. This was due to a performance from the Brawn man that was every bit worthy of the occasion: his advance through the field to 5th from 14th on the grid featured a succession of fearless wheel-to-wheel overtaking manoeuvres that were all precision and controlled aggression. Mark Webber of Australia won this Grand Prix but it will be remembered rather for Button’s title. And, after all the doubts about whether he would hold his nerve at the end of a tough second half of the season, it is a title that Button has earned, and deserves.