RUBENS BARRICHELLO

VALENCIA, Spain (AP) — Brawn GP's Rubens Barrichello won the European Grand Prix on Sunday to claim his first Formula One victory in five years.

The 37-year-old Brazilian took advantage of a costly pit-stop error by Lewis Hamilton's McLaren team to record a 10th career win - his first since the 2004 Chinese GP - and boost his championship hopes.

Hamilton finished second ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen after having started the Valencia street race from pole position.

Jenson Button finished seventh to have his championship lead cut to 18 points over teammate Barrichello. Red Bull’s Mark Webber finished ninth and is 20.5 points behind Button.

Hamilton, who also finished second at last year’s race, looked set for a second straight win after having taken the Hungarian GP.

But McLaren’s mechanics fumbled when removing tire warmers during his final pit stop, which lasted 13.4 seconds, and the chance was gone.

“This is very, very rare that this happens,” said Hamilton, who was called in with his fuel load running out before the team reconsidered too late. “The call was a marginal one, the team was pushing the envelope and it came just a little too late for me and the mechanics, who weren't perfectly prepared.”

As Hamilton’s exasperated father Anthony and pop star girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger looked on, Barrichello moved clear in front after his second stop and held on to win by 2.3 seconds.