SAO PAULO, Brazil - Jenson Button clinched his first Formula One title with a fifth-place finish at the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday, taking advantage of mishaps by the other title contenders in a race won by Red Bull's Mark Webber.
Home-crowd favourite Rubens Barrichello, Button's Brawn GP teammate and his closest contender, started from pole but finished only eighth after a puncture, while Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel was fourth.
The fifth-place was good enough to give Button an insurmountable 17-point lead in the drivers' standings ahead of the season-ending race in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 1.
"It's amazing," Button said. "This race for me was the best race I've run all year. I needed it."
Australia's Webber took his second F1 win ahead of Robert Kubica of BMW Sauber and defending champion Lewis Hamilton of McLaren at the 4.3-kilometre Interlagos track.
Barrichello had to win and hope Button finished fourth or worse, but failed in his attempt to clinch victory in front of his home crowd for the first time in his 17-year career.
Button's triumph gives Britain back-to-back F1 titles for the first time since Graham Hill won in 1968 and Jackie Stewart in 1969. Hamilton won last year, also at the Brazilian GP.
Brawn GP also made history on Sunday, becoming the first team to win the constructors' championship in its debut season.
"It hasn't sunk in yet, it hasn't sunk in yet," team principal Ross Brawn said. "It'll take awhile."
Button started only 14th after a poor qualifying under heavy rains on Saturday, but he drove aggressively from the beginning to quickly move up the grid. He also took advantage of an eventful start in which several cars had problems ahead of him and dropped to the back of the pack.
He was up to ninth place after the safety car left the track on the third lap, and then he made bold passes to overtake the Renault of Romain Grosjean and the Williams of Kazuki Nakajima to move to seventh. Vettel also had a good race after starting only 15th, finishing fourth, but it was not enough to keep his title hopes alive.
All three title contenders got away cleanly, but the safety car was brought out before the first lap was over after a crash between Toyota's Jarno Trulli and Force India's Adrian Sutil and Trulli immediately confronted Sutil after the incident.
In the pit lane, McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen drove off before his refuelling hose had been detached, spilling fuel as he drove away with the hose still attached. When Kimi Raikkonen drove into the spilled fuel after changing his front wing, a fireball briefly ignited around his Ferrari, but fortunately he was able to continue.
Barrichello, starting from poll, led for the first part of the race but dropped out of contention after the first round of pit stops. He began the race with a lighter fuel load and the strategy proved costly. Nevertheless, he looked set for a podium finish until a puncture after touching wheels with Hamilton's McLaren forced him into another pit stop, ending his hopes of a home victory.
Webber, who won for the first time at the German Grand Prix earlier this season, took the lead after the first round of stops and dominated from there.
"Fantastic day for the team to win again," Webber said.
Defending champion Hamilton finished third after starting from 18th on the grid.
"Today it's been an extremely tough day," Hamilton said. "To fight all the way up to third from 18th, it's a great job for the whole team."
