Button begins title party

Button,who belted out an off-tune “We Are The Champions,My Friends” over the team radio on his slowing down lap,was ecstatic after a rain-hit qualifying session had left him starting 14th.

“Oh what a race. I am world champion,I am world champion. It’s been such an interesting season,” he said,embracing his mechanics before a congratulatory hug from Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone.

“It is really amazing. Today was such an awesome race and I am world champion. I never expected to be world champion in Formula One.

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel,the 22-year-old German who had needed to finish in the top two to have a chance of staying in contention for the title,took fourth place. Button,winner of six of the first seven races,now has 89 points to Vettel’s 74 and Barrichello’s 72.

Brawn,who had needed only a point to be sure of the constructors’ championship,become the first team to take the crown in their first full season.

Poland’s Robert Kubica was second for BMW-Sauber with McLaren’s outgoing world champion Lewis Hamilton taking third place from 17th on the grid.

Sutil crashes

The safety car was deployed for four laps after chaos on the opening lap when Force India’s Adrian Sutil,Toyota’s Jarno Trulli and Renault’s Fernando Alonso crashed out. Trulli and Sutil,who had been third on the grid,then had a heated argument on the run off with the Italian clearly feeling more aggrieved.

McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen finished the race with a stewards’ investigation still pending after he left the pits with the fuel hose still attached,spraying fuel over Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari.

Button was by then on a charge and putting it all on the line,overtaking Renault’s Romain Grosjean,Williams’s Kazuki Nakajima and Toyota’s Kamui Kobayashi.