Finally,a win for Barrichello

Hamilton had led from pole,with Barrichello qualifying third on a heavier fuel load,but his hopes of winning for the second race in a row went out of the window when his team bungled the second pitstop.

Ferraris Kimi Raikkonen finished third. Championship leader Jenson Button,Barrichellos team mate,laboured to seventh place after a shocking start but,astonishingly,saw his overall lead trimmed by just half a point to 18 with six races left.

The Briton now has 72 to Barrichellos 54 and 51.5 for Red Bulls Australian Mark Webber.

Double finish for Force India

The maiden Formula One points remained elusive,but the upgraded Force India machines underlined their new-found midfield stature with Adrian Sutil coming 10th and Giancarlo Fisichella finishing 12th. Fisichella had a wheel-to-wheel race with Webber for a while and the Italian did well to finish ahead of both Toyota cars.

Valencia results

1 Rubens Barrichello BRA Brawn GP; 2 Lewis Hamilton GBR McLaren; 3 Kimi Raikkonen FIN Ferrari; 4 Heikki Kovalainen FIN McLaren; 5 Nico Rosberg GER Williams; 6 Fernando Alonso ESP Renault; 7 Jenson Button GBR Brawn GP; 8 Robert Kubica POL BMW Sauber; 9 Mark Webber AUS Red Bull; 10 Adrian Sutil GER Force India; 11 Nick Heidfeld GER BMW Sauber; 12 Giancarlo Fisichella ITA Force India;

13 Jarno Trulli ITA Toyota; 14 Timo Glock GER Toyota; 15 Romain Grosjean SUI Renault; 16 Jaime Alguersuari ESP Toro Rosso; 17 Luca Badoer ITA Ferrari; 18 Kazuki Nakajima JPN Williams