Rubens Barrichello secured his first win in five years at the European grand prix in Valencia, leapfrogging both McLarens during the pit-stops.
Lewis Hamilton, who was heavily delayed by the McLaren team in his second stop of the afternoon, brought his short-wheelbase MP4-24 home in second place, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen who took his second consecutive podium.
Heikki Kovalainen, in the older McLaren, did well to keep up with his team-mate, but could only manage fourth at the end of the race ahead of the consistent Nico Rosberg in the Williams.
The European grand prix really marked the beginning of the silly season, with rumours flying around the formula one paddock.
Barrichello was well aware that the next few races are crucial in determining whether he will retain his drive with Brawn GP or even remain in F1 next season and a win from the Brazilian will do no harm to his chances.
Having slip-slided to his fourth in qualifying, Sebastian Vettel retired from the race with another engine failure, following the one he had in Saturday morning practice, and championship leader Jenson Button made a hash of his start and could only manage eighth place for the final point.
Both of the McLarens used their 'special button' to full effect away from the grid and through the acceleration zone at turn one, giving them a good advantage as they hit the heavy braking zone into turn two.
The rest of the field bunched up at the second corner and Button was a big casualty, dropping down to eighth place at turn two when he got alongside Vettel's Red Bull and was forced to back out of the throttle.
Banzai Button
Raikkonen in the KERS-powered Ferrari got away well and found himself in fourth place by the second corner, behind the Brawn of Barrichello.
Button did his trademark banzai first lap to try and climb back up the field, lunging up the inside of Fernando Alonso only to overshoot the corner.
Romain Grosjean and Timo Glock were the first casualties, coming together on the first lap and were forced to return to the pits for quick repairs at the end of the first lap. Both also took on extra fuel.
Hamilton, fuelled lighter than all those behind him, began to stretch out a lead over his McLaren team-mate Kovalainen, setting fastest lap after fastest lap in order to give himself a cushion for his first pit-stop.
Five laps in, Webber made a pass on his championship rival Button for eighth place; the Brawn GP driver being ordered by his team to allow the Aussie through having cut the chicane on lap one.
By the end of lap six, the reigning world champion had built a four-second advantage over Kovalainen, who had backed up into Barrichello in third and Raikkonen in fourth.
Button was clearly struggling with the soft option tyre and was 1.3 seconds off Hamilton's pace down in ninth place, where he was coming under pressure from Robert Kubica on the BMW Sauber.
With track temperatures the hottest since Bahrain, tyre degradation proved to be key. To avoid any issues with tyre wear, the on-track action cooled with everyone settling down into a consistent pace.
'Dismal weekend'
Grosjean on the other hand, continued to have a troublesome afternoon, spinning his Renault on lap nine after having his front-wing dislodged on the opening lap of the race.
Race leader Hamilton continued to pull out quick laps and was half a second quicker than everyone else until he began building up to his first stop, when he began setting more fastest laps.
Barrichello was still on the tail of Kovalainen, struggling in the dirty air but holding on in order maximise his chances of leapfrogging the McLaren in the first round of pit-stops.
Hamilton pitted from the lead on lap 15 as predicted before the race. He took on a used set of super-soft option tyres and took on 9.4 seconds worth of fuel to re-emerge in sixth place ahead of Webber and Button, who had got into the 1m39s on the leaders' pace.
Vettel's dismal weekend continued on Sunday as the German was sent out from his first pit-stop with no extra fuel on-board because of a fuel-rig failure, meaning he had to return to the pit-lane the next time around, destroying any chances of securing a race win or finishing on the podium at the end of the race.
Kovalainen pitted from second on lap 17, releasing Barrichello who immediately put in the fastest lap of the grand prix.
Barrichello continued to lap quickly on his in-laps and was two seconds faster relative to the Finnish McLaren driver, who was now laden with fuel.
Button then pitted his Brawn and he re-emerged in a provisional eighth place behind the Force India of Adrian Sutil.
Webber's stop went more smoothly than that of his team-mate and, crucially, he was able to return to the circuit ahead of Button.
The field started to settle into a rhythm again following the pit-stops but, unfortunately for Vettel, his weekend went from bad to worse when he became the first retirement of the race on lap 23 when he suffered a second engine failure of the European grand prix weekend.
The young German driver was able to pull his stricken Red Bull off the circuit so the safety car would not have to be deployed.
Hamilton was having no such problems, consistently drilling in fastest sector times and pulling out seven tenths over Barrichello on lap 26.
But McLaren were given some cause for concern, when the Brazilian cranked it up and responded to Hamilton's pace.
Hamilton standstill
Luca Badoer was handed a drive-through penalty on lap 31 for crossing the white line at the exit of the pit-lane.
Button also began to pick up the pace, closing down the gap on his championship rival Webber by two tenths per lap as the field completed 33 laps.
The race leader then made his second stop of the day, but an operational error by the McLaren team meant the engineers weren't ready with Hamilton's tyres and the reigning world champion was at a standstill in his pit-box for over 17 seconds.
Barrichello put in a 1m39.0 in response to Hamilton's problems, sniffing an opportunity to leapfrog the McLaren driver after his first stop.
With 18 laps to go, Kazuki Nakajima suffered a left-rear puncture but the Japanese driver managed to nurse his Williams back to the pits for a change of tyres.
Barrichello then pitted on lap 39 and a succession of qualifying-style laps and swift pit-work from the Brawn mechanics meant the Brazilian was able to jump into the lead ahead of Hamilton with a four-second cushion.
Two laps later the Brawn engineers were out in the pit-lane again for Button's final stop of the afternoon, getting the championship leader out in just six seconds and on to a clear track.
Webber came into the pits two laps later and was motionless for two seconds longer than Button, allowing the Brawn GP driver to cruise past into a provisional eighth place.
Finale
Button now had a four-second advantage over the Aussie, most of which was gained through a slow in-lap for Webber who hit traffic.
During the pit-stops Raikkonen had leapt into third ahead of his fellow Finn Kovalainen and was looking good for his seconc consecutive podium finish for Ferrari.
Having finally cleared Webber's Red Bull, Button was on a charge, chasing down the Renault of Alonso for an extra point by setting the fastest lap of the grand prix with a 1m38.8.
His team-mate continued to hold Hamilton at bay, the McLaren driver unable to eat into the Brazilian's lead with ten laps to go.
With seven laps to go, Hamilton then started setting personal bests but this was not enough to upset Barrichello's pace.
By this time, Button had closed down the gap to Alonso to 3.8 seconds, but he would need more laps to get right up behind the Spaniard.
But an emotional Barrichello ran on rails towards the chequered flag to become a winner for Brawn for the first time ahead of a frustrated Hamilton.
Raikkonen had a comfortable gap in third to Kovalainen who had Rosberg on his gearbox as he crossed the line for fourth.
Lewis Hamilton, who was heavily delayed by the McLaren team in his second stop of the afternoon, brought his short-wheelbase MP4-24 home in second place, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen who took his second consecutive podium.
Heikki Kovalainen, in the older McLaren, did well to keep up with his team-mate, but could only manage fourth at the end of the race ahead of the consistent Nico Rosberg in the Williams.
The European grand prix really marked the beginning of the silly season, with rumours flying around the formula one paddock.
Barrichello was well aware that the next few races are crucial in determining whether he will retain his drive with Brawn GP or even remain in F1 next season and a win from the Brazilian will do no harm to his chances.
Having slip-slided to his fourth in qualifying, Sebastian Vettel retired from the race with another engine failure, following the one he had in Saturday morning practice, and championship leader Jenson Button made a hash of his start and could only manage eighth place for the final point.
Both of the McLarens used their 'special button' to full effect away from the grid and through the acceleration zone at turn one, giving them a good advantage as they hit the heavy braking zone into turn two.
The rest of the field bunched up at the second corner and Button was a big casualty, dropping down to eighth place at turn two when he got alongside Vettel's Red Bull and was forced to back out of the throttle.
Banzai Button
Raikkonen in the KERS-powered Ferrari got away well and found himself in fourth place by the second corner, behind the Brawn of Barrichello.
Button did his trademark banzai first lap to try and climb back up the field, lunging up the inside of Fernando Alonso only to overshoot the corner.
Romain Grosjean and Timo Glock were the first casualties, coming together on the first lap and were forced to return to the pits for quick repairs at the end of the first lap. Both also took on extra fuel.
Hamilton, fuelled lighter than all those behind him, began to stretch out a lead over his McLaren team-mate Kovalainen, setting fastest lap after fastest lap in order to give himself a cushion for his first pit-stop.
Five laps in, Webber made a pass on his championship rival Button for eighth place; the Brawn GP driver being ordered by his team to allow the Aussie through having cut the chicane on lap one.
By the end of lap six, the reigning world champion had built a four-second advantage over Kovalainen, who had backed up into Barrichello in third and Raikkonen in fourth.
Button was clearly struggling with the soft option tyre and was 1.3 seconds off Hamilton's pace down in ninth place, where he was coming under pressure from Robert Kubica on the BMW Sauber.
With track temperatures the hottest since Bahrain, tyre degradation proved to be key. To avoid any issues with tyre wear, the on-track action cooled with everyone settling down into a consistent pace.
'Dismal weekend'
Grosjean on the other hand, continued to have a troublesome afternoon, spinning his Renault on lap nine after having his front-wing dislodged on the opening lap of the race.
Race leader Hamilton continued to pull out quick laps and was half a second quicker than everyone else until he began building up to his first stop, when he began setting more fastest laps.
Barrichello was still on the tail of Kovalainen, struggling in the dirty air but holding on in order maximise his chances of leapfrogging the McLaren in the first round of pit-stops.
Hamilton pitted from the lead on lap 15 as predicted before the race. He took on a used set of super-soft option tyres and took on 9.4 seconds worth of fuel to re-emerge in sixth place ahead of Webber and Button, who had got into the 1m39s on the leaders' pace.
Vettel's dismal weekend continued on Sunday as the German was sent out from his first pit-stop with no extra fuel on-board because of a fuel-rig failure, meaning he had to return to the pit-lane the next time around, destroying any chances of securing a race win or finishing on the podium at the end of the race.
Kovalainen pitted from second on lap 17, releasing Barrichello who immediately put in the fastest lap of the grand prix.
Barrichello continued to lap quickly on his in-laps and was two seconds faster relative to the Finnish McLaren driver, who was now laden with fuel.
Button then pitted his Brawn and he re-emerged in a provisional eighth place behind the Force India of Adrian Sutil.
Webber's stop went more smoothly than that of his team-mate and, crucially, he was able to return to the circuit ahead of Button.
The field started to settle into a rhythm again following the pit-stops but, unfortunately for Vettel, his weekend went from bad to worse when he became the first retirement of the race on lap 23 when he suffered a second engine failure of the European grand prix weekend.
The young German driver was able to pull his stricken Red Bull off the circuit so the safety car would not have to be deployed.
Hamilton was having no such problems, consistently drilling in fastest sector times and pulling out seven tenths over Barrichello on lap 26.
But McLaren were given some cause for concern, when the Brazilian cranked it up and responded to Hamilton's pace.
Hamilton standstill
Luca Badoer was handed a drive-through penalty on lap 31 for crossing the white line at the exit of the pit-lane.
Button also began to pick up the pace, closing down the gap on his championship rival Webber by two tenths per lap as the field completed 33 laps.
The race leader then made his second stop of the day, but an operational error by the McLaren team meant the engineers weren't ready with Hamilton's tyres and the reigning world champion was at a standstill in his pit-box for over 17 seconds.
Barrichello put in a 1m39.0 in response to Hamilton's problems, sniffing an opportunity to leapfrog the McLaren driver after his first stop.
With 18 laps to go, Kazuki Nakajima suffered a left-rear puncture but the Japanese driver managed to nurse his Williams back to the pits for a change of tyres.
Barrichello then pitted on lap 39 and a succession of qualifying-style laps and swift pit-work from the Brawn mechanics meant the Brazilian was able to jump into the lead ahead of Hamilton with a four-second cushion.
Two laps later the Brawn engineers were out in the pit-lane again for Button's final stop of the afternoon, getting the championship leader out in just six seconds and on to a clear track.
Webber came into the pits two laps later and was motionless for two seconds longer than Button, allowing the Brawn GP driver to cruise past into a provisional eighth place.
Finale
Button now had a four-second advantage over the Aussie, most of which was gained through a slow in-lap for Webber who hit traffic.
During the pit-stops Raikkonen had leapt into third ahead of his fellow Finn Kovalainen and was looking good for his seconc consecutive podium finish for Ferrari.
Having finally cleared Webber's Red Bull, Button was on a charge, chasing down the Renault of Alonso for an extra point by setting the fastest lap of the grand prix with a 1m38.8.
His team-mate continued to hold Hamilton at bay, the McLaren driver unable to eat into the Brazilian's lead with ten laps to go.
With seven laps to go, Hamilton then started setting personal bests but this was not enough to upset Barrichello's pace.
By this time, Button had closed down the gap to Alonso to 3.8 seconds, but he would need more laps to get right up behind the Spaniard.
But an emotional Barrichello ran on rails towards the chequered flag to become a winner for Brawn for the first time ahead of a frustrated Hamilton.
Raikkonen had a comfortable gap in third to Kovalainen who had Rosberg on his gearbox as he crossed the line for fourth.
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