Lewis 2nd in Valencia

An extraordinary pit-lane blunder by McLaren cost Lewis Hamilton a second successive victory as Brawn GP’s Rubens Barrichello took the chequered flag at today’s European grand prix in Valencia.

Hamilton, who began in pole, was leading the Brazilian by around four seconds before his second stop on lap 37 but his afternoon came unstuck when McLaren’s mechanics failed to have a new set of tyres ready.

The incident cost Hamilton around six seconds and allowed the hard-charging Barrichello through for his first victory since the 2004 Chinese grand prix.

An excellent day for Brawn was made better by Jenson Button’s damage-limiting drive to seventh, ahead of his nearest rival in the drivers’ standings heading into this weekend, Red Bull’s Mark Webber, who finished outside the points in ninth. Webber’s team-mate Sebastian Vettel suffered an engine failure for the second day in succession to bring a premature end to his afternoon, and Brawn come away from Spain looking in a stronger position than ever to claim both world titles.

Button’s lead in the drivers’ championship is now 18 points over Barrichello, while Webber is now 20.5 points back and Vettel 25. Brawn are 27.5 points clear of Red Bull in the constructors’ championship.

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen produced a solid drive for third place from sixth on the grid while McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen failed to capitalise on his front-row start as he came home fourth.

Nico Rosberg of Williams produced a characteristically consistent drive to finish fifth ahead of Renault’s Fernando Alonso, while Robert Kubica of BMW Sauber took eighth and the final point.

But the day belonged to Barrichello, who celebrated his 10th career win with characteristic emotion on the podium. “It’s been fantastic,” said the veteran of 281 grands prix. “It’s been a weekend that I will never forget, especially because after five years, it’s tough.”

Hamilton, meanwhile, refused to blame his team for the pit-lane error that cost him a shot at victory. “We win and lose together,” he said.

“We had a great team effort to get here, so we cannot at all take second place for grated, or be disappointed that we did not get a win. I still believe it was a tremendous effort, and these things happen