Brawn GP News

Brawn GP’s Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button qualified in fourth and fifth positions respectively today for the inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix which takes place at the Yas Marina Circuit on Sunday.

The action began in daylight with darkness rapidly falling over the course of the qualifying hour and the floodlights coming on to illuminate the track. Rubens and Jenson ran consistently in the top ten for the first two sessions, favouring the harder prime tyre, and progressing easily through to the final qualifying session.

A close battle at the front in Q3 saw Rubens put his Brawn-Mercedes car on the second row of the grid in fourth position, with team-mate Jenson, who was struggling with understeer, on the third row in fifth place ahead of tomorrow’s 55-lap race.

RESULTS

Drivers Car No. Chassis No. Free Practice Qualifying 1 Qualifying 2 Qualifying 3
Rubens Barrichello 23 BGP 001-03 P3 P6 01:40.574 P6 01:40.421 P4 01:41.786
Jenson Button 22 BGP 001-02 P1 P2 01:40.378 P3 01:40.148 P5 01:41.892

Weather Very hot
Temperatures Air: 29-30°C Track: 31-33°C

RUBENS BARRICHELLO
“It was a good qualifying session for us today and I’m quite happy with fourth position and what we have achieved. The car is still very competitive but the Red Bulls and McLarens seem to be ahead of us here. It’s been challenging to get the right set-up throughout the weekend as the sessions are taking place in very different track and ambient conditions. The car seems to improve towards the end of the day with the cooler temperatures so we can hope that the track comes towards us tomorrow. It’s very close with Sebastian for second position in the Championship and I’ll be going to be flat out for the best result.”

JENSON BUTTON
“The car has felt good here all weekend and the first two sessions went well in qualifying today. Unfortunately in Q3 when we were running with high fuel and new tyres, I started to get massive vibrations every time that I hit the brakes which made the steering wheel shudder. With such a smooth circuit any kind of vibration just leads to understeer which made the car quite a handful to drive. It’s frustrating as we had the potential for a better performance today and should have been challenging for the first row behind Lewis. Hopefully we can solve the issue before the race and I’m looking forward to a good fight tomorrow.”

ROSS BRAWN
“We went into qualifying in pretty good shape this evening having confirmed some of our conclusions on the tyres during the practice session this afternoon. The qualifying hour went to plan in Q1 and Q2 although we struggled, like many others, with traffic and achieving clear laps when the tyres were at their best. Unfortunately in Q3, Jenson suffered with a significant vibration on his last set of tyres which we are now investigating and this compromised his performance. However fourth position on the grid for Rubens and fifth place for Jenson is a good result. We should be in reasonable shape for the race tomorrow and are looking forward to the challenge of finishing the season on a high.”

Brawn GP’s Rubens Barrichello took pole position in the rain delayed qualifying session at the Interlagos circuit in Sao Paulo today ahead of his home race, the Brazilian Grand Prix, with team-mate Jenson Button qualifying in 14th position on the grid.

Heavy rain showers left the track deluged with water and qualifying was subject to several lengthy delays. Running on the Bridgestone Potenza wet tyres, Rubens and Jenson progressed easily through Q1 in fifth and six positions respectively.

A delayed Q2 saw a slightly drier track and after some set-up changes to his car, Jenson suffered with understeer and a lack of rear grip which left him without the pace necessary to progress to the next session, with Rubens going through in 10th place.

A great drive in Q3 saw Rubens put his Brawn-Mercedes car at the top of the timesheets for his first pole position of the year.

RESULTS

Drivers Car No. Chassis No. Free Practice Qualifying 1 Qualifying 2 Qualifying 3
Rubens Barrichello 23 BGP 001-03 P14 P5 01:24.100 P10 01:21.659 P1 01:19.576
Jenson Button 22 BGP 001-02 P3 P6 01:24.297 P14 01:22.504 DNQ

Weather Heavy rain showers
Temperatures Air: 17°C Track: 16-18°C

RUBENS BARRICHELLO
“I’m so happy to have qualified on pole for my home Grand Prix today particularly after such an unusual qualifying session. It’s the first time in seventeen years that I’ve got out of the car twice during qualifying! I’m very proud of what we achieved today. We were lucky to make it through Q2 when we should have gone for intermediates but it was a great drive in Q3. It’s a good situation to be starting from the front and have your own race pace rather than be in the pack. However the job is only half done and I’m keeping my feet firmly on the ground and just focusing on having a good race tomorrow. It’s great for all the fans at Interlagos who sat through all the rain delays and kept supporting me to have a Brazilian starting from the front tomorrow.”

JENSON BUTTON
“It was a crazy qualifying session today and it’s obviously very disappointing to have only qualified in 14th position. The first session went well and our pace was reasonably good in the wet which was encouraging. The track had dried out a little for Q2 so we made some small set-up changes but the balance of the car just felt transformed. I had massive understeer for the first few laps and tried everything that I could to set a time but the pace just wasn’t there. By the third lap, the rear tyres started to go away, leaving me with no rear grip, and I just couldn’t improve my time. It’s going to make the race very tough tomorrow as I will be right in the middle of the pack but I’ll make the most of it and any opportunities to make progress.”

ROSS BRAWN
“It was a day of mixed fortunes with Rubens achieving a quite superb pole position at his home race and Jenson unfortunately not progressing from Q2. It was a chaotic and delayed qualifying with the heavy rain causing havoc and requiring the team and drivers to stay focused through the long delays. We were lucky in Q2 with Rubens who just scraped through but Jenson missed out. The lack of balance which Jenson experienced on his set of wet tyres was unexpected and proved costly as we believed it was possible to get through without using intermediates which proved with hindsight to be the wrong strategy. Jenson went for the lap right at the end but unfortunately the pace was just not there. Rubens did a fantastic job today to get the pole position. The car has been working well all weekend and the potential was evident from the result that he achieved in Q3.”

Qualifying in Brazil was heavily disrupted.  A rain soaked track with running rivers lead to many drivers aquaplaning off the circuit.  Early into the first session Fisichella spun and stalled.  This brought the session to a red flag, when it restarted several big names failed to get out of qualifying 1, including title contender Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton.

In the second session Liuzzi had a big crash at the end of the pit straight.  This brought the session to a red flag for over an hour.  When it restarted conditions had improved and the rest of the sessions were able to continue without disruption.

At the end of the sessions it came down to whether the drivers had the right set up (Hamilton and Vettel had compromised their qualifying as they set their cars up for a dry track for tomorrows race) and the right tyres, several drivers including Jenson Button were still on full wets when Intermediates would have been faster.

Rubens Barrichello had an outstanding qualifying and finished 1st!

Due to a gearbox change Liuzzi will drop 5 places to 20th position.

Pole position shootout

1. BARRICHELLO Brawn 1m19.576s
2. WEBBER Red Bull 1m19.668s
3. SUTIL Force India 1m19.912s
4. TRULLI Toyota 1m20.097s
5. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m20.168s
6. BUEMI Toro Rosso 1m20.250s
7. ROSBERG Williams 1m20.326s
8. KUBICA BMW 1m20.631s
9. NAKAJIMA Williams 1m20.674s
10. ALONSO Renault 1m21.422s

Qualifying 2

1. ROSBERG Williams 1m20.368s
2. NAKAJIMA Williams 1m20.427s
3. TRULLI Toyota 1m20.635s
4. BUEMI Toro Rosso 1m20.701s
5. SUTIL Force India 1m20.753s
6. WEBBER Red Bull 1m20.803s
7. KUBICA BMW 1m21.147s
8. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m21.378s
9. ALONSO Renault 1m21.657s
10. BARRICHELLO Brawn 1m21.659s

Knocked out:

11. KOBAYASHI Toyota 1m21.960s
12. ALGUERSUARI Toro Rosso 1m22.231s
13. GROSJEAN Renault 1m22.477s
14. BUTTON Brawn 1m22.504s
15. LIUZZI Force India no time

Qualifying 1

1. ROSBERG Williams 1m22.828s
2. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m23.047s
3. KUBICA BMW 1m23.072s
4. NAKAJIMA Williams 1m23.161s
5. BARRICHELLO Brawn 1m24.100s
6. BUTTON Brawn 1m24.297s
7. KOBAYASHI Toyota 1m24.335s
8. GROSJEAN Renault 1m24.394s
9. SUTIL Force India 1m24.447s
10. BUEMI Toro Rosso 1m24.591s
11. TRULLI Toyota 1m24.621s
12. LIUZZI Force India 1m24.645s
13. WEBBER Red Bull 1m24.722s
14. ALGUERSUARI Toro Rosso 1m24.773s
15. ALONSO Renault 1m24.842s

Knocked out:

16. VETTEL Red Bull 1m25.009s
17. KOVALAINEN McLaren 1m25.052s
18. HAMILTON McLaren 1m25.192s
19. HEIDFELD BMW 1m25.515s
20. FISICHELLA Ferrari 1m40.703s

Brawn GP’s Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button came through a chaotic and delayed qualifying session at the Suzuka circuit today to qualify their Brawn-Mercedes cars in fifth and seventh positions respectively for tomorrow’s Japanese Grand Prix.*

Both drivers progressed easily through Q1 before taking part in a heavily disrupted Q2. Red flags following big crashes by Jaime Alguesuari and Timo Glock left Jenson and Rubens with just one flying lap at the end of the session which saw them progress to Q3 with Jenson in fourth position and Rubens in sixth position.

Q3 also saw a red flag interruption, this time for Heikki Kovalainen’s crash, and the team decided to send Rubens and Jenson out for just one quick lap on new option tyres which saw them qualify in fifth and seventh places.

RESULTS

Drivers Car No. Chassis No. Free Practice Qualifying 1 Qualifying 2 Qualifying 3
Rubens Barrichello 23 BGP 001-03 P7 P7 01:31.272 P6 01:31.055 P5 01:32.660
Jenson Button 22 BGP 001-02 P9 P3 01:31.041 P4 01:30.880 P7 01:32.962

Weather Warm and sunny
Temperatures Air: 26-27°C Track: 34-40°C

RUBENS BARRICHELLO
“I’m happy with my qualifying today considering the pace that we have here in Suzuka. We didn’t have particularly competitive sessions in Q1 and Q2 and it was difficult to predict where we might end up. However my car worked well on race fuel loads and in terms of the championship, I’m pleased to be ahead of Jenson on comparable fuel loads in the final session. It was tough today and you had to maintain your concentration despite all the incidents and delays. Suzuka is a fantastic track, one of the best that we race on, but today shows just how tricky it is to drive.”

JENSON BUTTON
“It wasn’t the easiest of qualifying sessions with so little practice yesterday and all of the interruptions. Three red flags during qualifying is very unusual and I hope that everyone involved is ok. It wasn’t too stressful as we had all the information that we needed and just had to keep calm and focus on our next run. The car was working well in the first two sessions and definitely felt better on low fuel. With fuel onboard in Q3 I struggled with rear grip through the first sector and that’s where I lost the time on my quick lap as the car was working well through the rest of the lap. We expected this and knew that we would have to make the best of the situation.”

ROSS BRAWN
“Today’s qualifying was quite chaotic with long delays in the final two sessions and I’m pleased with how the team reacted to the changing circumstances and kept calm throughout. We were realistic on our expectations prior to qualifying and it is evident that our major area of concern comes in the first sector where our car seems to struggle with the change of direction required through the S Curves. Both drivers did a good job to combat this issue where possible.

* “We have learnt this evening that Rubens and Jenson have been penalised with five-place grid penalties for failing to reduce their speed under the yellow flag in Q2. We acknowledge and respect the decision of the stewards and will do our best to have a good race tomorrow.”

After an eventful qualifying session which saw several drivers crash off the track, both Brawn drivers have been issued with a 5 place grid penalty for ignoring yellow flags (which mean slow down incident on the track) and continuing to set faster times.  Other drivers to be penalised were Adrian Sutil, Fernando Alonso and Vitantonio Liuzzi, Sebastien Buemi.

Sebastien Buemi was penalised for returning his heavily damaged car to the pits while other drivers were completing their flying laps.

Both Jaime Alguersuari and Timo Glock were taken to the medical centre after crashing in separate incidents.  Jaime Alguersuari returned to the pit lane before the end of the qualifying sessions and told the media that he was fine.  Timo Glock suffered a minor cut to his left leg and had some back pain but there were no significant injuries in the impact his team stated.  It is still unclear whether Glock will race tomorrow.

The original qualifying times were

Pole position shootout

1. VETTEL Red Bull 1m32.160s
2. TRULLI Toyota 1m32.220s
3. HAMILTON McLaren 1m32.395s
4. SUTIL Force India 1m32.466s***
5. BARRICHELLO Brawn 1m32.660s***
6. HEIDFELD BMW 1m32.945s
7. BUTTON Brawn 1m32.962s***
8. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m32.980s
9. KOVALAINEN McLaren no time
10. BUEMI Toro Rosso no time***

Qualifying 2

1. VETTEL Red Bull 1m30.341s
2. HAMILTON McLaren 1m30.627s
3. TRULLI Toyota 1m30.737s
4. BUTTON Brawn 1m30.880s
5. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m31.052s
6. BARRICHELLO Brawn 1m31.055s
7. BUEMI Toro Rosso 1m31.103s
8. SUTIL Force India 1m31.222s
9. KOVALAINEN McLaren 1m31.223s
10. HEIDFELD BMW 1m31.260s

Knocked out:
11. ROSBERG Williams 1m31.482s
12. ALONSO Renault 1m31.638s***
13. KUBICA BMW 1m32.341s
14. GLOCK Toyota no time
15. ALGUERSUARI Toro Rosso no time

Qualifying 1

1. VETTEL Red Bull 1m30.883s
2. HAMILTON McLaren 1m30.917s
3. BUTTON Brawn 1m31.041s
4. TRULLI Toyota 1m31.063s
5. BUEMI Toro Rosso 1m31.196s
6. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m31.228s
7. BARRICHELLO Brawn 1m31.272s
8. ROSBERG Williams 1m31.286s
9. SUTIL Force India 1m31.386s
10. ALONSO Renault 1m31.401s
11. KUBICA BMW 1m31.417s
12. KOVALAINEN McLaren 1m31.499s
13. HEIDFELD BMW 1m31.501s
14. GLOCK Toyota 1m31.550s
15. ALGUERSUARI Toro Rosso 1m31.571s

Knocked out:

16. FISICHELLA Ferrari 1m31.704s
17. NAKAJIMA Williams 1m31.718s
18. GROSJEAN Renault 1m32.073s
19. LIUZZI Force India 1m32.087s*
20. WEBBER Red Bull no time**

* Liuzzi receives a 5 place penalty for a gear box change

**Webber was unable to participate in qualifying because of damage sustained during practice and will start from the pits.

***five-place penalties

Pole position shootout

1. HAMILTON McLaren 1m47.891s
2. VETTEL Red Bull 1m48.204s
3. ROSBERG Williams 1m48.348s
4. WEBBER Red Bull 1m48.722s
5. BARRICHELLO Brawn 1m48.828s
6. ALONSO Renault 1m49.054s
7. GLOCK Toyota 1m49.180s
8. HEIDFELD BMW 1m49.307s
9. KUBICA BMW 1m49.514s
10. KOVALAINEN McLaren 1m49.778s

Qualifying 2

1. ROSBERG Williams 1m46.197s
2. WEBBER Red Bull 1m46.328s
3. VETTEL Red Bull 1m46.362s
4. HAMILTON McLaren 1m46.657s
5. GLOCK Toyota 1m46.707s
6. ALONSO Renault 1m46.767s
7. BARRICHELLO Brawn 1m46.787s
8. KUBICA BMW 1m46.813s
9. HEIDFELD BMW 1m46.832s
10. KOVALAINEN McLaren 1m46.842s

Knocked out:

11. NAKAJIMA Williams 1m47.013s
12. BUTTON Brawn 1m47.141s
13. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m47.177s
14. BUEMI Toro Rosso 1m47.369s
15. TRULLI Toyota 1m47.413s

Qualifying 1

1. HAMILTON McLaren 1m46.977s
2. BUTTON Brawn 1m47.180s
3. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m47.293s
4. HEIDFELD BMW 1m47.347s
5. ROSBERG Williams 1m47.390s
6. BARRICHELLO Brawn 1m47.397s
7. VETTEL Red Bull 1m47.541s
8. KOVALAINEN McLaren 1m47.542s
9. KUBICA BMW 1m47.615s
10. NAKAJIMA Williams 1m47.637s
11. WEBBER Red Bull 1m47.646s
12. BUEMI Toro Rosso 1m47.677s
13. TRULLI Toyota 1m47.690s
14. ALONSO Renault 1m47.757s
15. GLOCK Toyota 1m47.770s

Knocked out:

16. SUTIL Force India 1m48.231s
17. ALGUERSUARI Toro Rosso 1m48.340s
18. FISICHELLA Ferrari 1m48.350s
19. GROSJEAN Renault 1m48.544s
20. LIUZZI Force India 1m48.792s

Final Qualifying

1.  HAMILTON      McLaren       1m24.066s

2.  SUTIL         Force India   1m24.261s

3.  RAIKKONEN     Ferrari       1m24.523s

4.  KOVALAINEN    McLaren       1m24.845s

5.  BARRICHELLO   Brawn         1m25.015s

6.  BUTTON        Brawn         1m25.030s

7.  LIUZZI        Force India   1m25.043s

8.  ALONSO        Renault       1m25.072s

9.  VETTEL        Red Bull      1m25.180s

10. WEBBER        Red Bull      1m25.314s

Qualifying 2

1.  BUTTON        Brawn         1m22.955s

2.  HAMILTON      McLaren       1m22.973s

3.  BARRICHELLO   Brawn         1m22.976s

4.  SUTIL         Force India   1m23.070s

5.  LIUZZI        Force India   1m23.207s

6.  WEBBER        Red Bull      1m23.273s

7.  RAIKKONEN     Ferrari       1m23.426s

8.  ALONSO        Renault       1m23.497s

9.  KOVALAINEN    McLaren       1m23.528s

10. VETTEL        Red Bull      1m23.545s

Knocked out:

11. TRULLI        Toyota        1m23.611s

12. GROSJEAN      Renault       1m23.728s

13. KUBICA        BMW           1m23.866s

14. FISICHELLA    Ferrari       1m23.901s

15. HEIDFELD      BMW           1m24.275s

Qualifying 1

1.  RAIKKONEN     Ferrari       1m23.349s

2.  HAMILTON      McLaren       1m23.375s

3.  BUTTON        Brawn         1m23.403s

4.  BARRICHELLO   Brawn         1m23.483s

5.  KOVALAINEN    McLaren       1m23.515s

6.  VETTEL        Red Bull      1m23.558s

7.  SUTIL         Force India   1m23.576s

8.  LIUZZI        Force India   1m23.578s

9.  HEIDFELD      BMW           1m23.584s

10. ALONSO        Renault       1m23.708s

11. WEBBER        Red Bull      1m23.755s

12. FISICHELLA    Ferrari       1m23.828s

13. GROSJEAN      Renault       1m23.975s

14. KUBICA        BMW           1m24.001s

15. TRULLI        Toyota        1m24.014s

Knocked out:

16. GLOCK         Toyota        1m24.036s

17. NAKAJIMA      Williams      1m24.074s

18. ROSBERG       Williams      1m24.121s

19. BUEMI         Toro Rosso    1m24.220s

20. ALGUERSUARI   Toro Rosso    1m24.951s

Brawn GP’s Rubens Barrichello will start the Belgian Grand Prix from the second row of the grid tomorrow having qualified his Brawn-Mercedes car in fourth position at the end of a thrilling qualifying hour in Spa. Team-mate Jenson Button had a more challenging session and will start the race from 14th position.

Rubens ran close to the front of the field as he worked on getting the best from his car on the softer option tyre. He progressed comfortably through Q1 and Q2 before taking part in a very competitive final session where his fastest lap was good enough for fourth position as the quickest of the drivers involved in the championship battle.

Jenson struggled with the balance of his car throughout with a lack of rear grip on the option tyre proving crucial in the middle sector. With some quick lap times being set, he was not able to make it out of Q2 and will start from 14th place on the grid.

RESULTS

Drivers Car No. Chassis No. Free Practice Qualifying 1 Qualifying 2 Qualifying 3
Rubens Barrichello 23 BGP 001-03 P16 P3 01:45.237 P6 01:44.834 P4 01:46.513
Jenson Button 22 BGP 001-02 P10 P14 01:45.761 P14 01:45.251

Weather Fine and dry
Temperatures Air: 14-16°C Track: 24-32°C

RUBENS BARRICHELLO
“I’m extremely happy with our qualifying performance today and the second row of the grid is a great starting position for the race. The results today have to be one of the biggest surprises of the year and it’s great for Giancarlo Fisichella to be up there on pole. It’s good to see that the ‘old-timers’ still have it! I took the best out of my car today, particularly in Q2 which was one of my best laps around Spa, but that was only enough for sixth position in that session. We’ve been quite aggressive on the strategy and the race is wide open tomorrow so I’ll push as much as I can and we can get a good result from here.”

JENSON BUTTON
“I didn’t expect to qualify in 14th position today but we really struggled with grip levels, particularly on the softer tyre. The car hasn’t felt quite right all weekend and unfortunately I wasn’t able to get any more out of it today. Rubens and I are usually very closely matched but he was quick on the option and I wasn’t so we need to look into the reasons for that. I just couldn’t find any grip on the softer rubber so the rear end felt unstable and I had no confidence under braking, particularly in the middle sector. It’s strange as our set-ups are different but not by much. It’s going to be very tough in the race from here but at least we have more time to choose our strategy. We need to get it right and see if we can score some points tomorrow.”

ROSS BRAWN
“It was a challenging qualifying hour today and the end result has seen one of the most mixed-up grids of the season which is great for the sport and will probably make for a very interesting race tomorrow. Rubens put in another very strong performance today and fourth place on the grid, with an aggressive strategy, puts him in a good position for the race tomorrow. It’s fair to say that qualifying got away from us a little bit today with Jenson. We have been struggling with the car balance on his side this weekend and although some changes were made overnight, we were not able to get the car to a position which he felt comfortable with. Looking on the positive side, our main championship rivals are behind one of our cars and only a few places ahead of the other. We have focused on our race performance during the practice sessions here and believe we will have the pace to take the fight to them tomorrow.”