Jenson Button has joined the elite group of race drivers to have won the world championship. His fifth position in Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix was enough to clinch the 2009 title from Sebastian Vettel and Rubens Barrichello.

Button is the tenth British champion following in the footsteps of Mike Hawthorn, Graham Hill, Jim Clark, John Surtees, Jackie Stewart, James Hunt, Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill and the out-going 2008 champion Lewis Hamilton.

His string of six wins from the first seven races equaled a record set by Clark and Michael Schumacher and formed the foundation of his championship campaign. While his final win of the season came at Istanbul in June, he was able to score points on a regular basis much to the frustration of his rivals.

Button has had his fair share of critics for his performance in the second half of the championship, but had he started the season with points paying finishes and ended the season with a string of victories, his success would have, arguably, been seen in a differing light.

He may not have the flair of some of his rivals and may not put the car right on the limit week in week out, but with more points than his rivals, he has achieved his career objective of championship success following many years of loyalty to Honda and its new successor, Brawn GP.

In view of his team having taken the constructors’ crown as well, Button’s title caps what has been a fairytale success story for the Brawn team, an outfit which came close to shutting its doors mere weeks before the 2009 championship began. The BGP001 completed its first on-track testing only a month before the season’s first race.

photo credit ©WRI2

For two consecutive Grand Prix both Red Bull Racing drivers have out paced the field, and as a result have steadily closed the gap on Jenson Button, and past Rubens Barrichello in the points standing. It seems for the time being that pure pace of the RBR chassis is superior to that of the Brawn.  So I ask the question, is Jenson’s lead enough for him to hold on to the lead and win the WDC?

Who will win the WDC in 2009?

Please vote in the poll on the right, or comment below.

photo credit ©jalopnik