Brawn lauds Barrichello's drive

The 37-year-old Brazilian passed both McLarens in consecutive pitstops to deliver a combative tenth career win and move to 18 points behind world championship leader and Brawn team-mate Jenson Button.

"It's just a sensational performance," Brawn told the BBC. "We have had these races where Rubens was very good in qualifying and it hasn't quite come together in the race, but today he was perfect.

"He pushed exactly where he needed to, and kept the gaps exactly what he wanted.

"And then when we got on the radio and said we had to push, then the little red lights came up. So it was just a fantastic performance."

Brawn admitted however that he had been frustrated for Button, who finished seventh having been caught in traffic for much of the race, and added that perhaps the Briton had raced with the wrong strategy.

"In retrospect we should have been more aggressive in the strategy to put our guys at the front because he got bogged down in traffic and had a quick car he couldn't do anything with," he said. "It worked for Rubens and didn't work for Jenson."