Robert Kubica jumped Rubens Barrichello in the first round of pit-stops to finish second, while a one-stop strategy from Lewis Hamilton took him to third, ahead of Sebastien Vettel.
After a dramatic and unpredictable qualifying session where we saw two of the championship contenders Button and Vettel fail to make it into the top-ten shootout in the treacherous weather conditions, there was an air of anxiety ahead of the Brazilian grand prix.
Barrichello and Webber got a good start from the front row of the grid and Kimi Raikkonen used his KERS button to full effect to have a go at passing the Aussie, however he was squeezed out wide and had to settle for third.
The carnage started at turn two when Heikki Kovalainen put his left wheels on the grass, spinning his McLaren into the path of Giancarlo Fisichella.
Later on in the lap, Jarno Trulli lost ground after starting in third, as he found himself behind Adrian Sutil in the Force India.
As the pair reached the middle of the first lap, Trulli put his nose up the outside of Sutil but was run onto the grass by the German and subsequently tapped Sutil into a spin, taking Fernando Alonso out of the race in the process.
These incidents brought out the safety car for three laps while the debris was cleared up.
At the restart Barrichello held onto the lead, however Kubica slipped up to third ahead of Rosberg at the first turn.
Button, still outside of the points, started making a move up the order, passing Romain Grosjean for eighth place at turn five.
Grosjean continued to fall down the order at a rate of knots and was passed by Vettel, Hamilton and Kovalainen in quick succession.
Button on the other hand was flying and, as soon as he got on the tail of Kazuki Nakajima, he managed to outbrake the Williams at turn one, bringing himself up to seventh place for two championship points.
His title challenger Vettel tried to follow Button through, but he had a heart-in-the-mouth moment while alongside Nakajima when he was pushed onto the grass.
The Red Bull driver held his car well, but Button continued on and was soon on the rear end of Kamui Kobayashi's Toyota.
Unfortunately for Button, tyre wear prevented him from mounting an attack on the Japanese driver and he was forced to settle down in seventh with Nakajima as a cushion between himself and Vettel.
Barrichello had good pace right up until the first round of stops, pulling out a gap of 2.7 seconds over Webber by the time he pitted.
Unfortunately the Brazilian emerged from the pits in heavy traffic and he was passed by Vettel on his out-lap, falling into the clutches of Hamilton.
Kubica was the next to pit and a smooth stop from the BMW Sauber team meant he capitalised on Barrichello's misfortune to grab second.
Webber, however, short-stopped in order to get himself out into the lead and ahead of Button, who had cleared Kobayashi.
Button’s stop came shortly after and he re-emerged in 11th place, between the two Toro Rosso’s, although he managed to pass Buemi with an opportunistic late-braking maneuver at turn one on lap 33.
The main threat for Button at this stage was Hamilton, as the outgoing world champion was in ninth on a one-stop strategy with an opportunity of jumping the Brawn driver for some valuable points.
Hamilton comfortably cleared Button when the Brawn driver made his final stop and the championship leader then lost a further position to Vettel, despite the Red Bull driver having to switch onto the super-soft tyres before the end of the race.
This put Button in sixth place and with Barrichello third, Hamilton fourth and Vettel in fifth he was on for the championship win.
On lap 61 however, Hamilton had closed onto the tail of Barrichello and he used the extra horsepower from his KERS unit to slip past the Brazilian at turn one to snatch the final podium position.
Barrichello’s luck then went from bad to worse as he suffered a puncture and was forced to pit for one last time, which pushed him down to eighth.
Webber went on to win the race, ahead of Kubica and Hamilton, while Button brought his Brawn home in fifth to clinch the title over Barrichello and Vettel who finished in eighth and fourth respectively.
This result also means that Brawn GP were crowned constructor’s champions in only their first year of F1 racing after Honda’s departure.
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