FORMULA ONE

• Barrichello wins Italian GP in 1-2 finish for Brawn

  
  

  Monza, Italy (Sports Network) - Rubens Barrichello won the Italian Grand Prix for the third time on Sunday, while teammate Jenson Button finished second after Brawn GP capitalized on a one-stop pit only strategy at the Monza circuit.

  Barrichello, the oldest active driver in Formula One at age 37, finished 2.866 seconds ahead of Button and gained ground in the world championship standings with four races remaining in the season.

  "Luckily, I had a good start and I could run my pace," Barrichello said. "The pace was good enough to be in front of them by the first pit stop." Barrichello trimmed Button's lead in the world championship from 16 to 14 points.

  The Brazilian won the Italian GP in 2002 and '04 when he drove for Ferrari.

  "It is a winning year whatever happens," Barrichello added. "The team has done a fantastic job. The strategy was great. The work on Friday was really good, and that all helped us to get this result." The Brawn teammates finished one-two for the fourth time this season, but the first since May in Monaco Grand Prix. Brawn also increased its lead over Red Bull Racing in the constructors' championship, with Sebastian Vettel, last year's winner in the Italian GP, finishing eighth, and Mark Webber ending up 20th after crashing on the first lap.

  "Obviously, I'd rather sit where Rubens is, but I have extended my lead over the Red Bulls," said Button, who claimed his first podium since winning the Turkish Grand Prix in June.

  "The man next to me here [Barrichello] is obviously my big rival for the title now. That's good. We get on great, but obviously we are both super competitive and want to win. It's just nice to be back on the podium." Button, Barrichello, Vettel and Webber are the only drivers remaining in the championship hunt. Despite giving Ferrari a third-place finish, Kimi Raikkonen was mathematically eliminated from title contention.

  "Third place was a little bit of a gift for us here, but we need the points so it is great," said Raikkonen, the 2007 F1 champion. "It's nice to be on the podium. It's much better than finishing fourth." Lewis Hamilton, the pole sitter, was running third until he spun and hit the wall on the final lap. The defending world champion from McLaren wound up finishing 12th and was also knocked out of the title race.

  "Every lap I was pushing like a qualifying lap," Hamilton said. "It's to be expected.

  We didn't have the pace, so we were pushing hard. I did all I could to catch the Brawns and win it." Two weeks ago, Hamilton crashed on the opening lap in the Belgian Grand Prix.

  Adrian Sutil finished fourth for Force India, while Fernando Alonso from Renault came in fifth.

  Sutil's former teammate, Giancarlo Fisichella, finished ninth in his debut with Ferrari.

  Fisichella moved over to the Italian team last week to substitute for the injured Felipe Massa.

  Vitantonio Liuzzi, who replaced Fisichella, had an impressive start for Force India, but his first race with the team was marred with mechanical failure at the halfway point. He ended up finishing 17th.

  09/13 10:49:34 ET