EUROPEAN GRAND PRIX: LAP-BY-LAP
FINISH: That's it from Valencia. Please join us again next weekend for the Spa GP
FINISH: Grosjean is 15th ahead of Alguersuari and Badoer
FINISH: Kovalainen is fourth ahead of Rosberg, Alonso, Button and Kubica
FINISH: Hamilton takes second place ahead of Raikkonen but it is Barrichello's day. The Brazilian's victory moves him up into second in the Drivers' Championship
FINISH: And Rubens Barrichello claims his first race win in five years, taking the chequered flag at the 2009 European GP!
Lap 57: Last lap for Barrichello...
Lap 56: Glock sets the fastest lap of the race, a 1:38.683
Lap 56: Hamilton is on track for his second podium of the season while this will be Raikkonen's third
Lap 55: Barrichello is on course to ensure Brazil dominates the Valencia GP as last year it was Felipe Massa who won the race
Lap 54: Kubica is in the final points-paying position having leapfrogged Webber in the final round of stops
SKYBET: "Only mechanics can rob Rubens now - 1/66 to finally put himself back on the top step of the Podium - and who knows - bring himself back into the Championship hunt"
"Button 2/7, Webber 13/2, Barrichello 15/2, Vettel 10/1, Hamilton 10/1"
"Brawn 1/4, RBR 11/4"
Lap 53: Rosberg and Kubica both put in their best laps of the race
Lap 52: Nice race for Sutil who is up to 10th place. He started 12th on the grid
Lap 51: Raikkonen, who is third, is well off Hamilton's pace, over eight seconds adrift and with pretty much no chance of catching the McLaren
Lap 50: Hamilton's father, meanwhile, is still seething in the pits after the botched second stop cost the reigning Champion the lead
Lap 49: Barrichello is pulling away from Hamilton and has the gap up to 6.3s
Lap 48: Button is charging as he attempts to close the gap to Alonso. The Championship leader needs as many points as possible here this afternoon
Lap 47: Not a great race for Red Bull who look as if they may not score a single World Championship point
Lap 46: Webber is outside the points now, back in ninth place
Lap 45: A spinning Toro Rosso, spewing lots of brake dust, brings out the yellow flags for short time
Lap 44: Rosberg and Webber both pit
Lap 43: So Barrichello is leading Rosberg, who has yet to pit, followed by Hamilton, Raikkonen, Kovalainen
Lap 42: Alonso and Button both pit
Lap 41: Raikkonen has stopped as well and came out ahead of Kovalainen as Ferrari leapfrog the McLaren man
Lap 40: Barrichello pits for 6.8s and he comes out P1!
Lap 39: Nakajima is limping back to the pits after his left rear tyre disintegrated, leaving him with just the rim left. He returns to the pits and gets new tyres
SKYBET: "McLaren have conspired to lose this race - from 1/5 favourite, Lewis is now tracking Rubens Barrichello, who is himself now a 1/8 shot to win the race"
Lap 39: Barrichello is flying, he does a 1:38.990, a new fastest lap time
Lap 38: Kovalainen pits from second place and comes out just behind Alonso in sixth place
Lap 37: Hamilton pits from the lead. He stops for 13.4s as it looked as if his mechanics were not ready for him. He comes out behind Rosberg in fifth place
SKYBET: "It's a two horse race at the front, with Lewis at 1/3 and Rubens a 9/4 shot now ahead of the next round of stops. The big changes could be in the World Championship markets, with Button looking unlikely to gain much, Vettel out, and a poor day-out for Webber. Could Hamilton yet fight for the title?"
Lap 36: Badoer is off the track, again. Spin number two. Meanwhile Button is starting to attack Webber and has closed the gap to less than a second
Lap 36: Trulli pits
Lap 35: Back at the front, Hamilton is not pulling away from Barrichello with any great pace. Still less than four seconds between the two
Lap 34: Glock pits and Badoer takes his drive-though. What fun times!
Lap 33: Race control reports there's a drive-through penalty for Luca Badoer for touching the white line. Here's hoping he doesn't get another for speeding in the pits while taking the penalty. The Italian was handed four speeding fines on Friday alone!
Lap 32: Button is up to eighth place as Fisichella finally pits
Lap 31: So now it's just Fisichella and Trulli who need to stop
Lap 30: Nakajima comes in for his first stop of the afternoon
Lap 29: Grosjean comes out ahead of Badoer after the Italian appears to move aside in the pitlane to let him by. Weird. Badoer also touches the white line on his way out
Lap 28: Badoer pits and Grosjean pits as well while Michael Schumacher shakes his head (in disgust?)
Lap 27: Fisichella, Nakajima, Trulli and Badoer are the only four who have yet to stop
Lap 26: Except for Barrichello jumping Kovalainen and Vettel dropping out, the top eight is as it was
Lap 25: Badoer is up to 15th but has yet to pit
Lap 24: Vettel retires after his car slows down and stops out on track. A small puff of smoke is seen. Could this have been his second engine failure of the weekend?
Lap 23: Hamilton is once again leading the grand prix, 3.4s up on Barrichello who was able to jump the other McLaren in the first round of pit stops
Lap 22: Heidfeld and Sutil pit, Alguersuari also comes in for his first stop
Lap 21: Barrichello pits from the lead for 9 seconds. He comes out in second place behind Hamilton. Rosberg and Webber pit
Lap 20: Raikkonen pits from second and Button from sixth. The Ferrari driver comes out in eighth place
Lap 19: Hamilton is under huge pressure from Webber and Button on the track, however, he is one pit stop ahead of them
Lap 18: Barrichello, who is leading, does a new fastest lap time: 1:39.427
Lap 18: Vettel is all the way down in 16th place after his fuel rig problem. Not the sort of situation the Championship hopeful would've wanted
Lap 17: Kovalainen pits from the lead, Alonso also pits and Vettel is in again as well
Lap 17: Hamilton comes out in sixth place. Problems for Vettel as his fuel rig didn't work and he'll have to pit again almost immediately
Lap 16: Vettel and Kubica also come in
Lap 16: Hamilton pits from the lead. The Brit stops for 9.4s and puts on the super soft tyres
Lap 16: McLaren mechanics are out
Lap 16: Hamilton's lead is up to 7.5s
Lap 15: Barrichello's race engineer, Jock Clear, reckons the Brazilian should be able to start pushing harder once he's out of the dirty air from the McLarens
Lap 14: Hamilton does a new fastest lap, a 1:39.455
Lap 13: Buemi is lapped by Hamilton as the Toro Rosso driver struggles to come back from his lap 1 ding-dong
Lap 12: We have had ONE genuine pass so far this race which was Kubica on Heidfeld. ONE!!!
Lap 11: His new team-mate Badoer remains 17th, 10s behind Alguersuari and 9.8s ahead of Grosjean
Lap 10: Raikkonen is falling back off Barrichello, 2.8s now separate the duo
Lap 9: Grosjean slides wide, going off the track and momentarily brings out the yellow flags before resuming business as per usual. Nice slide!
Lap 8: Hamilton is leading by more than five seconds as the Brit aims for his second race win of the season
Lap 7: Solid start for Force India with Adrian Sutil 12th and Giancarlo Fisichella 13th. The team is hoping for their first points of the season here this afternoon but still have quite a few places to make up
Lap 6: Kubica has taken 10th place off team-mate Heidfeld while Webber has managed to get by Button. It appears as if Button let Webber through in order to avoid a stewards inquiry
Lap 5: Webber is complaining that Button is only ahead of him because he cut the chicane on the opening lap. Nothing from the stewards just yet
Lap 4: Badoer has already had one spin this afternoon, not a great start for the Italian
SKYBET: "Lewis Hamilton is into 1/6 favourite with Skybet now after reaching the first corner at the front, but he has to build his lead now, and his chances depend on getting away quickly. Kimi Raikkonen is into 11/1 after an equally quick start"
Lap 3: Badoer is up to 17th place after the first lap ongoings between the three who pitted. Alguersuari is just ahead of him on the track
Lap 3: Hamilton already has a 1.8s lead over Kovalainen while Raikkonen is harassing Barrichello for third place. But remember, it's not easy passing on this track
Lap 2: Grosjean and Timo Glock are both in the pits for repairs as is Sebastien Buemi. It's a new nose for Grosjean and Buemi
Lap 1: Button tries to take Alonso but runs wide onto the run off and Alonso stays P7. Button is now coming under attack from Webber
Lap 1: Great start from the two McLarens and Barrichello while Raikkonen is up to fourth place with Vettel and Rosberg behind him. Button has dropped down the order, losing three places while Alonso is also on a charge, moving up to seventh place
START: And it's go in Valencia!
13H03: And they're back on the grid, ready for the start of the race
13H00: The formation lap gets underway
SKYBET: "Lewis Hamilton has been all the rage after his scorching Pole Lap on Saturday - hes Skybet's 4/9 favourite to win today"
"Elsewhere, there is plenty of good e/w value - not least team-mate Kovalianen, who looks a terrific e/w shot at 7/1."
12H58: The grid is being cleared and we are almost ready for the start of the 2009 European GP
12H55: Five minutes from the start of the race
12H52: The drivers are out their cars, chatting to those on the grid
12H48: Blue skies are overhead with a track temperature of 46'C and ambient of 31
12H45: Pit lane is closed
12H37: Badoer makes his way to the grid to start his first race as a Ferrari driver
12H32: Nico Rosberg leads the way out of the pits and onto the grid. The Williams man is starting P7 today in what could be the countdown to his Williams career. Rosberg is eager to move to a team that can win races with McLaren being touted as a possibility
12H30: The pit lane is open
12H26: F1's other new boy, Jaime Alguersuari, is 19th on the grid
12H23: Another new face on the grid is Romain Grosjean, who has called up to replace the sacked Nelson Piquet Jr. Grosjean is starting 14th on the grid after an impressive showing in qualifying
12H17: That car is being driven by regular test driver, Luca Badoer, who has stepped in to replace the injured Felipe Massa. Badoer, though, is not having a great weekend, slowest in two of the three practice sessions and also in qualifying
12H14: Kimi Raikkonen is sixth on the grid after what he termed to be his best qualifying performance of the season. However, the other Ferrari is right at the very back.
12H11: His team-mate Heikki Kovalainen is alongside him followed by atrio of Championship hopefuls in Rubens Barrichello, Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button. The other driver in the Championship hunt, Mark Webber, is starting P9 after a disappointing qualifying session for the Red Bull racer
12H08: Lewis Hamilton won't be fazed by any lack of overtaking as the McLaren driver, the lightest of the top ten, is starting from pole position. It was the reigning World Champ's first pole of the season
12H03: Last year's European GP wasn't the most exciting on the calendar as while this is a street circuit, the barriers are far removed from the racing line, meaning drivers can make mistakes and drive off. The design of the track also hampers overtaking so, well, one can only hope for a better race this weekend
12H00: Welcome to coverage of the 2009 European Grand Prix, which takes place over 57 laps around the port city of Valencia, Spain