On the first lap Trulli and Force India’s Adrian Sutil tangled as the Italian attempted a move on the German. After considering video evidence and telemetry data, the stewards decided not to take any further action, labelling the coming together as a racing incident.

But after ‘failing to leave the track as required by the marshals immediately after the incident and aggressively confronting Sutil’, Trulli was found to have breached Article 151 (c) of the 2009 FIA International Sporting Code, which rules against ‘any act prejudicial to the interests of any competition or to the interests of motor sport generally.’ Consequently he was reprimanded and fined US$10,000.

With the safety car deployed for the Trulli-Sutil incident, there was drama in the pit-lane soon after, when Kovalainen exited his pit too early, leaving with his fuel hose still attached to the car. Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, who was right behind the emerging McLaren, got a face fuel of fuel, which then ignited.

McLaren were fined $50,000 for the unsafe pit stop release, while their Finnish driver was given a drive-through penalty. As this was handed down after the race had finished, 25 seconds were instead added to his race time, dropping him from ninth to 12th in the final results.

An earlier Lap One incident between Kovalainen and Ferrari’s Giancarlo Fisichella, in which the McLaren driver was sent spinning into the Italian after being tagged by Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel, was deemed a racing incident.

It made him Britain’s 10th world champion, and marked the first time England has celebrated back-to-back drivers’ titles. At the same time, his success was more than sufficient to cement the constructors’ title for Brawn, a unique and historic achievement in their first season.

Right from the start Button benefited from carnage to jump up from his 14th grid place to ninth at the end of a dramatic first lap.

It began when Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari brushed wheels with Adrian Sutil’s Force India going into the first corner. Then Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull tagged Heikki Kovalainen’s McLaren on the exit, the Finn spinning and forcing Ferrari’s Giancarlo Fisichella to run on to the grass in avoidance.

Further round the lap Jarno Trulli pulled his Toyota alongside Sutil but lost control as he was squeezed over the outer kerb. He tangled with the Force India, each spinning off in different directions. As Sutil speared back on to the track, he bounced right in front of Renault’s Fernando Alonso, who had nowhere to go and retired with rear suspension damage. Not surprisingly the safety car was deployed as debris all over the place was cleared up.

As if all that wasn’t dramatic enough, there was excitement in the pits as Kovalainen and Raikkonen both stopped at the end of the lap. The Ferrari driver had damaged his front wing against Webber, who had got away second behind Barrichello at the start. Kovalainen pulled away too soon from refuelling, taking his fuel hose with him. Raikkonen, right behind, then ran through a flash fire as fuel spewed from Kovalainen’s trailing fuel hose.

When the racing resumed on the sixth lap Button launched an attack on Franco-Swiss rookie Renault driver Romain Grosjean. They ran side by side and repassed one another a couple of times in some tense wheel-to-wheel racing, but this was the Jenson Button who won six of the first seven races and he wasn’t having any of that and soon settled the issue. Next on the list was Williams’ Kazuki Nakajima, whom he deposed on the seventh lap. Rookie Kamui Kobayashi proved tougher, but after one failed attempt in Turn One Button made is stick.

From the 35th lap he had the championship in his sights, as the pit stops ebbed and flowed. The ones that really mattered came from the 50th lap onwards. Barrichello pitted then from second place. On Lap 55 Button pitted from third. On Lap 56 Vettel pitted from third. When the dust had finally settled on the 59th lap, Webber was leading Kubica by 5.2s, with Barrichello third from Hamilton, Vettel and Button. Thus Button had 88 points; Barrichello 77, Vettel 73. The miracle had happened.

As Webber reeled off the final laps after a superb drive that was inevitably overshadowed by the title drama, and Kubica maintained his surprise second place despite nursing an overheating engine, Hamilton came pushing up behind Barrichello after McLaren cleverly changed his strategy after the first-lap carnage, and overtook him on the 61st lap. The Brazilian, so desperate to win on his home ground, was in trouble. A tyre had punctured, and he needed to make a third pit stop two laps later. It was the final icing on Button’s cake, as he jumped up to fifth place behind Vettel.

Raikkonen brought his Ferrari home sixth after the team also changed his strategy early on when he needed that new front wing. Sebastien Buemi was in the hunt all afternoon for Toro Rosso and deserved his seventh place finish ahead of the deeply disappointed Barrichello, while Heikki Kovalainen could yet be penalised heavily from his ninth place as stewards investigate opening lap contact with Ferrari’s Giancarlo Fisichella and his subsequent pit-lane drama.

Kobayashi finished 10th after a great debut for Toyota, while Fisichella had another unobtrusive race to 11th in the second F60 ahead of Vitantonio Liuzzi in the surviving Force India, Grosjean and Jaime Alguersuari. Neither Williams finished, Kazuki Nakajima crashing heavily after an incident with Kobayashi and Nico Rosberg suffering gearbox problems. Nick Heidfeld also joined the retirement list, for mechanical reasons.

Finally, with 89 points nobody could beat Button whatever happens in Abu Dhabi, and to rub salt into Barrichello’s wounds he dropped to third on 72 behind Vettel’s 74.

All through the slowing down lap, Button sang over the radio to his delighted team: “We are the champions my friends!”

And afterwards he could not stop himself. “It’s great to be sat here as the world champion, and personally I feel that I deserve it. I was the best over 16 races and that’s what world champions are. I am it. I am a world champion! And I’m gonna keep saying it all night!”

Massa, who fractured his skull in a qualifying crash at July’s Hungarian Grand Prix, underwent a medical in Paris on Friday and Saturday, which established that he is fit enough to return to the test track. However, the Italian team don’t want to rush the Brazilian’s return to the Formula One grid.

“At the Fiorano track, Felipe Massa will get back behind the wheel of a Formula One car,” said a statement released by Ferrari. “This is in no way a proper test session and looking at the stopwatch will not be on the agenda. There will be plenty of time for that in 2010, when, alongside Fernando Alonso, he will begin development work of the new single-seater. It is simply an opportunity for Felipe to renew his acquaintance with his natural environment, namely the race track.

“It is significant but in no way does it signify a return to competition in the near future. In fact, based on a previously taken decision and after an informal medical examination in Paris a few days ago, which proved rather positive, but not enough to endorse a return to competition in the next two months, Felipe and the team want to proceed gradually and without any hurry to recover as well as possible from the effects of the accident.

“Therefore talk of a proper return to Formula One can wait until the start of the 2010 season and only at that time will the medical checks be carried out, as required by the FIA in order to allow someone who has been injured to return to racing.”

Massa was replaced by Ferrari test driver Luca Badoer at the European and Belgian Grands Prix, before the team signed Giancarlo Fisichella from Force India for the subsequent races. Fisichella is to be retained as third driver next season, when Massa will partner new team mate Alonso.

“I am very happy I will be joining Renault in the 2010 season,” said the Polish driver. “I feel I have a special connection with this team because in 2005 I won the World Series by Renault. This gave me the chance to test with the team in Barcelona, which led to my debut in Formula One.”

“I share with Renault a strong winning mentality and feel comfortable with their friendly and open attitude. I’m highly motivated and optimistic that together we can be at the front of the grid next year and hopefully fighting for the world title.”

Renault team principal, Bob Bell, added: “We are very excited to have signed Robert with the Renault F1 Team starting next season. Ever since Robert made his Grand Prix debut in 2006, he has been on our radar as one of the most naturally talented drivers of his generation and he has delivered on that promise so it’s great to have secured him in one of our cars next season. Renault has high ambitions and hopes for the future of the team and we feel that Robert can play a big role in fulfilling them.”

After success in Italian Formula Renault, Formula Three and the Renault World Series, Kubica made his Formula One race debut in 2006 replacing former world champion Jacques Villeneuve mid-season. He finished his first complete season in 2007, accumulating 39 points on his way to sixth in the standings, before challenging for the championship in 2008.

This season, however, he has struggled to make much of an impression with BMW Sauber’s F1.09 looking distinctly uncompetitive. He has scored just nine points so far, and after BMW announced plans to withdraw from Formula One racing, he began looking for a new drive for 2010.

“I’m very thankful to those responsible in the BMW Sauber F1 Team for giving me the chance to get a Formula One cockpit,” added Kubica. “I think I justified the belief in me by delivering good results.

“In 2008 I managed to get the first pole position in Bahrain and the first win in Canada. Both will remain unforgettable moments for me. For 2010 I will have a new challenge. I wish everybody I worked with at the BMW Sauber F1 Team all the best for the future. I’m sure in the future our paths will cross in Formula One.”

Paying tribute to Kubica’s contribution, BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen said: “Robert played an important role for us – and certainly we did the same for him. He joined us in 2006 as a test driver with no Formula One experience, and then we promoted him to be one of our team’s drivers during that season.

“He never let us down and, with our first pole position in 2008 in Bahrain and first victory the same year in Canada, he set milestones in the history of our team. We are grateful for his strong and constant performances and wish him all the best for his future.”

Kubica has competed in 55 Grands Prix for BMW Sauber, during which he has achieved eight podium finishes and collected 129 championship points.

1 Jenson Alexander Lyons BUTTON
2 Kimi Matias RÄIKKÖNEN

Daimler (Mercedes) buys a stake in Brawn GP and uses the team as a vehicle to promote their Mercedes-AMG brand, which will compete with McLaren and other manufacturers in the supercar market from 2011. Emirates joins as title sponsor, along with other new commercial partners, changing the Day-Glo yellow with black to Emirates’ red with black, but retaining the (pre-1930s German national racing colour) white. Along with these (monetary) changes comes the opportunity to take on Räikkönen in place of Barrichello, who may stay on as development driver, along with Davidson.

Red Bull Racing
Red Bull RB6 – Renault RS27

3 Mark Alan WEBBER
4 Sebastian VETTEL

Red Bull opt to stick with Renault, since McLaren and Brawn are now partly owned by Daimler (Mercedes). This would reduce Red Bull to mere Mercedes customers, and having their engines is no (longer a) distinguishing facet of the package. Coulthard and Hartley stay on as test drivers.

Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
Ferrari F2010 – Ferrari 056

5 Felipe MASSA
6 Fernando ALONSO DÍAZ

The deal with Alonso is confirmed at Monza, this weekend, as well as sponsorship by Banco Santander, which will take over the Philip Morris (Marlboro) deal from 2012, become title sponsor as well as owner of the space on the car, selling it on to current and new partners, e.g. Shell and Etihad Airways. Fisichella and Gené are test drivers.

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
McLaren MP4-25 – Mercedes FO108X

7 Lewis Carl HAMILTON
8 Nico ROSBERG

Santander leaves to join Ferrari. Kovalainen gets the boot in favour of Rosberg. Paffett stays on as test driver.

Panasonic Toyota Racing
Toyota TF110 – Toyota RVX-10

9 Timo GLOCK
10 Kamui KOBAYASHI

Trulli’s contract is not renewed, while Glock’s option is taken up, and long-time Toyota development programme driver and tester Kobayashi gets the 2nd car. Nakajima may become test driver.

AT&T Williams
Williams FW23 – Mercedes FO108X

11 Heikki Johannes KOVALAINEN
12 Nicolas ‘Nico’ HÜLKENBERG

A new engine and a new line-up for Formula One’s 3rd most successful outfit. Williams quit their Toyota deal a year early, and decide on Mercedes power, because Red Bull stays with Renault. Kovalainen brings much-needed experience, while a long-term deal with Hülkenberg provides the team with a stable factor for the future.

Renault F1 Team
Renault R30 – Renault R27

14 Robert KUBICA
15 Romain GROSJEAN

With no sign yet of a new title sponsor, Renault continue in F1 without one. Kubica returns to the French fold from BMW Sauber, providing an experienced pair of hands, while Grosjean is the junior 2nd driver. Di Grassi may stay on as test driver, although after 3 seasons in GP2 he may want an F1 drive.

Force India F1 Team
Force India VJM03 – Mercedes FO108X

16 Adrian SUTIL
17 Vitantonio ‘Tonio’ LIUZZI

Profiting from the McLaren partnership and Mercedes power, Force India will try to build on their late-2009 performance for the new season. Sutil stays on for another year, while Liuzzi gets his chance after 2 seasons as test driver, and stepping into Fisichella’s car.

Scuderia Toro Rosso
Toro Rosso STR5 – Ferrari 056

18 Sébastien BUEMI
19 Jaime ALGUERSUARI, jr.

The Red Bull junior team stays with Ferrari power, and keeps their line-up of the 2nd half of 2009, the youngest pair on the grid. Formally, Coulthard and Hartley are testers, but Toro Rosso may get an other Red Bull junior driver to join them.

Repsol Campos Meta Team
Campos CM10 – Cosworth CA2010

20 Pedro MARTÍNEZ DE LA ROSA
21 Vitaly Alexandrovich PETROV

Adrián Campos Suñer takes his F3 and GP2 outfit to the top echelon, with money from Telefónica, Repsol, BBVA and El Corte Ingles, opting for experienced tester and racer De la Rosa and GP2 hot shoe Petrov, who also brings plus sponsorship from Russia (MegaFon?).

Virgin F1 Team
Virgin VF1-1 – Cosworth CA2010

22 Takuma SATO
23 Bruno SENNA LALLI

After a minor deal with Brawn in 2009, Virgin finally take the plunge into the F1 pool with Manor Grand Prix, naming the team after themselves. Sato, already sponsored by Virgin Atlantic, brings experience and a large Japanese following, while Senna brings his talent and, perhaps more importantly, his last name.

Best Buy Toyota Team US F1
Team US F1 2010 – Toyota RVX-10

24 Ryan HUNTER-REAY
25 Alexander ‘Alex’ WURZ

The Americans take the Toyota engines that Williams don’t want anymore, creating a branding opportunity for the Japanese, while Best Buy and other US sponsors bring in the money. Wurz is the experienced hand, while Hunter-Reay is the compulsory American driver.

Petronas Team LOTUS
Lotus 110- Petronas 10A

26 Nick Lars HEIDFELD
27 Christian KLIEN

This is somewhat a wild guess, although not without logic: Malaysian companies Petronas and Proton want to take their Lotus Cars/Lotus Group brand into F1, and team up with Litespeed, who wanted to enter F1 in their own right under the Team Lotus banner. Petronas/Proton take-over BMW’s share in the team and supply sponsorship, expertise and lubricants, Litespeed bring the name as well as Mike Gascoyne as technical director, and Sauber Petronas Engineering is re-established (as Lotus Petronas Engineering?) to develop and tune the Petronas-badged Ferrari engines, just like the old days. Heidfeld stays on, while test driver Klien gets a 2nd chance at F1.

Seventh place for Rubens Barrichello, just ahead of Brawn team mate Jenson Button, leaves the championship points table as Button 85, Barrichello 71, Vettel 69 with two races remaining.

Ahead of the duelling Brazilian and the Englishman, Kimi Raikkonen brought his Ferrari home fourth after a fighting drive, while Nico Rosberg made some amends for his Singapore error by taking fifth for Williams. Nick Heidfeld was sixth for BMW Sauber.

It was not a classic race by any means, as Vettel went straight into the lead from Hamilton and Trulli. Heidfeld and Raikkonen soon settled into a fight which saw the Ferrari driver move ahead after the second stops, while Button benefited from a clash between Force India’s Adrian Sutil and McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen at the chicane on the 13th lap to move to 10th after a slow start. That put him into contention for points.

It all seemed a foregone conclusion until Jaime Alguersuari spun his Toro Rosso exiting 130R on the 44th lap. That brought out the safety car from Lap 45 until Lap 49, closing the field and apparently giving Trulli and Hamilton a another shot at Vettel. However, Romain Grosjean’s lapped Renault lay between the Red Bull and the Toyota, so that fight never materialised. Raikkonen had a brief look at Hamilton but soon dropped back to keep just ahead of Rosberg and Heidfeld. Further back, however, Button had a brief look at Barrichello at the chicane before having to defend his solitary point from hard-charging Robert Kubica in the second BMW Sauber.

Fernando Alonso’s single-stop strategy for Renault earned him 10th place ahead of Kovalainen, who lost a place to Giancarlo Fisichella in their second pit stop but regained it by diving down the inside of the startled Italian as they left the pits. By the flag Fisichella had his former Force India team mates Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi right on his gearbox. Williams’ Kazuki Nakajima was 15th ahead of Grosjean, while Mark Webber’s sole consolation from a day on which he started from the pits and went back there five times with various problems was fastest lap, set on the penultimate tour.

As if Toro Rosso’s day wasn’t bad enough with Alguersuari’s crash, Sebastian Buemi almost stalled on the grid and later retired with mechanical problems.

As the drivers’ world championship heats up, Brawn have all but settled the constructors’ with 156 points to Red Bull’s 120.5, placing the latter within half a point of clinching that crown.

Buemi got the same for getting in the way as he limped back to the pits after his second incident of the session, and Kovalainen gets a five-place penalty as his gearbox needed changing. With much confusion surrounding the starting order due to so many penalties, the FIA will issue the final grid on Sunday.

For the record, these were the top 10 fuel weights: Sebastian Vettel 658.5 kg, Jarno Trulli 655.5, Lewis Hamilton 656, Sutil 650, Barrichello 660.5, Nick Heidfeld 660, Button 658.5, Kimi Raikkonen 661, Kovalainen 675 and Buemi 665.4.

In a scrappy final session the German took his Red Bull round in 1m 32.160s to hold off Jarno Trulli who did 1m 32.220s for Toyota. Lewis Hamilton secured the inside slot on the second row with 1m 32.395s for McLaren, displacing his friend Adrian Sutil in the Force India, who had recorded 1m 32.466s.

Behind them, Rubens Barrichello aced team mate Jenson Button, putting his Brawn fifth on 1m 32.660s, The Englishman was seventh on 1m 32.962s. They were split by Nick Heidfeld’s BMW Sauber, which the German lapped in 1m 32.945s, and Kimi Raikkonen completed the top eight for Ferrari with 1m 32.980s.

After all the delays in Q2, the red flag flew again soon after the start of Q3 when Heikki Kovalainen dropped his McLaren at the slippery Degner Two on his first flier. With Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Buemi having been in the wars in Q2 and damaging his car too badly to participate in Q3, the fifth row of the grid was quickly decided. After a five-minute delay the session resumed.

Qualifying took place in near perfect conditions, with bright sunshine and a track temperature that reached 37 degrees Celsius.

Q2 was red flagged almost immediately, after Kovalainen had set the only time of 1m 31.195s, when Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari went off on the exit to Degner One and crashed heavily head-on into the tyre barrier at Degner Two. The Spaniard was unhurt and soon out of the wreckage, but the session was delayed by eight minutes.

The session resumed long enough for Trulli to go fastest with 1m 30.737s before team mate Timo Glock went wide exiting the final corner and augered into the tyre wall on the outside, bringing out another red flag. This time the ambulance was needed, but Glock was seen to be waving and giving a thumbs up as he was taken to the circuit’s medical centre.

Official reports say his general condition is good, but he was taken to hospital complaining of back and leg pains.

There was still one final act to be played out in this session, when Buemi, having already survived a rear-end brush with the Degner Two wall in Q1, dropped his Toro Rosso on the run to 130R and spent most of it wiping the STR4 down the outer barrier and shedding debris, including his front wing. Button was lucky to weave through this before the yellows came out, and vault up to fourth at the last gasp, as was Barrichello who took sixth. Vettel set the fastest time of 1m 30.341s.

Besides Alguersuari and Glock, those who failed to get through were Williams’ Nico Rosberg on 1m 31.482s, Renault’s Fernando Alonso on 1m 31.638s and BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica on 1m 32.341s.

As Vettel dominated with 1m 30.883 to Hamilton’s 1m 30.917s, Q1 weeded out Giancarlo Fisichella who wound his Ferrari round in 1m 31.704s and Williams’ Kazuki Nakajima whose final effort came up 1m 31.718s. Then came Renault’s Romain Grosjean on 1m 32.073s and Vitantonio Liuzzi on 1m 32.087s from his first run.

Mark Webber did not take part in the session after damaging three mounting points for his Red Bull RB5’s steering rack in his off at Degner Two in practice on Saturday morning. The car is being rebuilt around a new chassis, and he will subsequently start from the pit lane on Sunday.

Raikkonen has been with Ferrari since joining from McLaren in 2007. That season he clinched the drivers’ title and over his three years at the team has taken nine race victories, five pole positions and 225 world championship points.

“With common consent, we have agreed to terminate the contract binding me to Ferrari to the end of 2010, one year ahead of schedule,” said the Finn. “I am very sad to be leaving a team with which I have spent three fantastic years, during which time I won plenty of races.

“Together, we have won 50 percent of the world titles in that period and I managed to take the drivers’ title in 2007, thus achieving the target I had set myself at the start of my career. I have always felt at home with everyone here and I will have many happy memories of my time with the team.”

Paying tribute to Raikkonen, Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali commented: “Of course, we wish to thank Kimi for everything he has done during his time with Ferrari: in his first year with us, he managed to win the drivers’ title, thus making his contribution to Ferrari’s history and he played a vital role in our taking of the constructors’ title in 2007 and 2008.

“Even during a difficult season like this one, he has demonstrated his great talent, with several good results, including a great win in Spa and we are sure that we can share more good times together in the final three races of this season.”

Raikkonen, 29, has yet to reveal his plans for 2010.