Jenson Button drove into the history books in Brazil, winning the Formula One World Championship. It was enough to reduce team boss Ross Brawn to tears, but Button just beamed, a crazed look in his eyes as his achievement sank in. "I AM the world champion!" he kept yelling and, as he drove back to the pits serenaded us with 'We Are The Champions'.
"You don't win the world championship and feel relieved, you feel ecstatic," he told us afterwards. "It was a stressful few months - I can admit that now."
Button suffered in the wet in qualifying and lined up 14th on the grid, while his main championship rival Rubens Barrichello took pole position. Suddenly, Jenson's lead was not looking at all safe. "After quali I sat in my room and saw the worst thing happen - my team mate put it on pole. I felt sick.
"All I'd think about, lying in bed, was the championship, and then I would dream about it too. I dreamt I'd muck up qualifying, but I also dreamt I'd win the title today. Maybe dreams do come true."
Button drove like an animal in Sao Paulo, silencing critics who had questioned his aggression. He might not have won, but it was the race of a champion.
He barged past Kazuki Nakajima and Romain Grosjean in the early laps, had a long fight with debutant Kamui Kobayashi who he described as "crazy", and then passed Sebastien Buemi. He eventually finished fifth, and that was enough as his title rivals failed to score sufficient points; Sebastian Vettel finished fourth and Barrichello eighth, after suffering a puncture.
Mark Webber won the race, pitting later than Barrichello and emerging with an impressive lead. "After that, I was pushing quite hard but not bananas. We knew it was our race to lose. I hoped it would be a boring race and it was, which was good," said Webber.
Behind Webber, though, it was exciting. All eyes were on Button, and there were some carbon crunching distractions too. A huge crash between Adrian Sutil, Jarno Trulli and Fernando Alonso on Lap One saw Trulli roll up his sleeves and go looking for a fist fight. And in the pits Heikki Kovalainen exited with his fuel hose still attached. Kimi Raikkonen was behind him, soaked in petrol, and his Ferrari ignited briefly in a flash fire, which forced engineers on the pit wall to dive for cover.
Lewis Hamilton drove from 18th to third and passed his mantle to Button graciously. It's the first time in 40 years the sport has had back-to-back British champions. And Brawn win the constructors' championship; the first ever team to do so in their debut season.
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