Mark Webber took full advantage of his front row start and heavier fuel load to record the second win of his career in emphatic style in today’s 71 lap Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos. It came on the same day that Brawn GP driver Jenson Button was crowned the 2009 Formula One World Champion while Brawn GP captured the Constructors’ Championship in their very first year of existence.

Webber had the upper hand before the race had even started as he was fuelled longer than pole sitter and home favourite Rubens Barrichello. The Red Bull Racing driver was able to maintain his position off the start but came under immediate pressure from the KERS assisted Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen and Adrian Sutil. However, moments later with Webber defending his position, the Finn ran into the back of the RB5, losing his front wing but fortunately Webber’s car was escaped undamaged. The limping Ferrari of Raikkonen caused confusion amid the chasing pack resulting in a tangle between Sutil and Jarno Trulli which forced the Safety Car to be deployed while the debris was cleared.

Racing resumed on lap four and Barrichello was quick to create a two second gap to Webber although the Australian responded by setting a succession of fastest laps. Behind Webber, Robert Kubica was able to match the pace of the two frontrunners, bringing himself in contention for the race win. The gap between Barrichello and Webber stayed just under three seconds before the Brazilian pitted on lap 21. Barrichello came out into the path of traffic which heavily compromised his race while Webber, who now had a clear track ahead, was able to reel off a series of quick laps including the fastest lap of the race (his third this season) with a time of 1:13.703. He pitted on lap 26 and emerged back in the lead in front of Brawn GP driver and champion-elect Button.

BMW driver Kubica was able to jump Barrichello as a result of his longer first stint and was in effect running second behind Webber. The Australian had a gap of 7.7 seconds to Kubica but the Pole was on a charge and closing. Webber upped his own pace and they were soon setting virtually identical lap times before the BMW driver pitted on lap 45, 5.5 seconds behind Webber. The race leader stayed out six laps longer and once again re-emerged into lead after another faultless pit stop by the Red Bull Racing team.

Webber began to build on his lead as Kubica seemingly backed off with ten laps remaining. Barrichello’s bad luck at Interlagos continued as he was forced to stop for a third time after suffering a puncture, promoting Lewis Hamilton into the final podium position. From then on, Webber simply guided his car home for Red Bull Racing’s fifth win this season and the second of his career. His victory capped off a memorable weekend for Australian motorsport after Jason Crump wrapped up the Speedway World Championship in Poland and Casey Stoner won his home race at Phillip Island.

‘You never know in the first stint how the race is really going to pan out but I knew Rubens (Barrichello) was a bit shorter as was Robert. I was impressed by Robert's pace to start with and then when they pitted, I knew I had a nice clear run to get a good gap for my second stint. I just cleared JB on my out lap which was nice as well. It was then a case of ensuring the tyres were nice and comfortable for the whole stint and doing just enough. I was a little bit panicked by Robert in the second stint because he started closing and I thought my pace wasn’t too bad. The guys though, told me he was quite short in that stint, so that clarified things for me. I asked the team if anyone was on the option tyre in the middle stint, if so how did it look, what would I need to do maybe for the first part of the last stint because the option wasn’t great for us on Friday to be honest,” he said.

“Starting the last stint, it was nice to have a bit of a buffer, so I just controlled that. Obviously the tyres are very good straight away but you can't go bananas on them. The gap to Robert remained at about five seconds and appeared to be stalemate, so he backed off a bit towards the end. That gave me a nice run home. It's been a fantastic day for the team, to win again. We've had quite a few victories this year off the back of some tough seasons at Red Bull, totally confirming second place for us in the Constructors'.

“Obviously we weren't good enough over the whole season to win any championships but we've done ourselves very proud as a team, as a unit. I would like to thank Renault as well, the engines have been very good. It's not an easy environment for them, so yeah, very, very good. It's been a special weekend for Australians because Jason Crump won the World Speedway Championship last night; he’s a very close friend of mine, and he won under very difficult conditions as he was badly injured a few weeks ago, and Casey (Stoner) won the motorbikes yesterday, so it's been a great weekend for the Australians.”