Brawn GP News

The first on-track action for the inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix got underway today at the impressive new Yas Marina Circuit.

With the final race of the season due to be Formula One’s first day/night race, today’s first practice session began at 1300 with the second session taking place from 1700, the same time as the race will start on Sunday.

Brawn GP’s Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello completed 59 laps and 61 laps respectively of the 5.554km circuit over the course of the two ninety-minute sessions ending the day in third and eighth positions on the timesheets.

RESULTS

Drivers Car No. Chassis No. Free Practice 1 Free Practice 2
Jenson Button 22 BGP 001-02 20 laps 01:44.035 P2 39 laps 01:41.541 P3
Rubens Barrichello 23 BGP 001-03 23 laps 01:44.207 P4 38 laps 01:41.831 P8

Weather Hot and sunny
Temperatures Air: 30-35°C Track: 31-48°C

JENSON BUTTON
“The Yas Marina circuit is certainly an interesting one. When you look at the layout, it doesn’t seem that exciting but when you actually drive it, it’s fantastic. The track has a bit of everything with high and low speed corners, positive and negative camber and the walls are pretty close to you most of the way round. We had a good first day of practice here with just a few balance issues to work on overnight.”

RUBENS BARRICHELLO
“First of all, I’m really pleased with the new track here in Abu Dhabi. The venue looks sensational and it’s quite challenging to drive which makes it a lot more fun for the drivers. The car felt good here over the two sessions and we were able to make several improvements over the course of the day. I’m quite happy with the balance and looking forward to tomorrow.”

ROSS BRAWN
“The Yas Marina Circuit is a stunning facility and a massive credit to Abu Dhabi, Bernie, Philippe Gurdjian and the team behind it. The track layout is very interesting with some good combinations and quite challenging for the drivers. They seem to be enjoying the experience. We are pleased with how our practice programme went today. The track was very dirty at the start of the first session with high track temperatures but it was a good opportunity for the drivers to familiarise themselves with the new track. The temperatures fell dramatically going into the second session which is consistent with what we expect to see in qualifying and into the race so we worked through our usual Friday programme with the tyres and aerodynamic set-up collecting some good data.”

The first of the practice sessions for this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix got underway today with rain showers impacting on the amount of track time for all of the teams around the 5.897km Suzuka circuit.

The morning practice session started on a wet track which began to dry out as the session progressed to allow Jenson and Rubens to run on both the Bridgestone wet and intermediate tyres. Whilst limiting their laps, both drivers concentrated on finding a balance in the wet conditions with Rubens completing 19 laps and Jenson totaling 17 laps.

The afternoon practice session proved to be largely a washout with heavy showers leading to a saturated track and keeping the two Brawn-Mercedes cars in the garage for the duration of the ninety-minutes.

RESULTS

Drivers Car No. Chassis No. Free Practice 1 Free Practice 2
Rubens Barrichello 23 BGP 001-03 19 laps 01:41.821 P9 No time
Jenson Button 22 BGP 001-02 17 laps 01:43.318 P18 No time

Weather Overcast with rain showers
Temperatures Air: 21-22°C Track: 23-22°C

RUBENS BARRICHELLO
“As we expected, the rain came to Suzuka today and it led to an unusually quiet opening day of practice. The morning session wasn’t too bad but the rain this afternoon was heavy enough to create small rivers on parts of the track and there was nothing to be gained by going out. The limited running makes for a much more interesting and challenging day tomorrow however as getting the right set-up quickly will be very important. Whether it proves to be dry or wet tomorrow, we will need to study the data from today and be focused tomorrow morning to ensure we are well prepared for qualifying.”

JENSON BUTTON
“I feel sorry for the fans at Suzuka today but unfortunately we can’t get any useful information in these conditions with so much water on the track. We spent the morning session working on the balance of the car with the wet and intermediate tyres to ensure that we are prepared if the same wet weather does continue over the weekend. It was important to achieve some running and it feels good to be back at Suzuka. This is a great drivers’ track so hopefully we’ll get some dry running tomorrow.”

ROSS BRAWN
“The weather conditions impacted on our practice plans today as the wet track meant that we opted for a reduced programme. We completed an installation run on the wet weather tyres this morning before Jenson and Rubens switched to intermediates as the track started to dry out over the course of the session. With a heavy downpour between the two sessions, the condition of the track deteriorated further. As the weather forecast shows a dry qualifying and race and with limited wet weather tyres, we felt that there was nothing further to be learnt from running again this afternoon.”

Brawn GP’s Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello took to the track under the floodlights of the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore this evening for the first of the practice sessions ahead of Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix.

The first practice session got underway at 18:00hrs in relative daylight which darkened over the course of the ninety minutes. Running with the Brawn-Mercedes cars in a high downforce configuration suited to the demands of the slow and twisty nature of the 23-turn circuit, Jenson and Rubens worked through a series of set-up evaluations with Rubens topping the timesheets at the end of the session and Jenson in second position.

The second session took place in full darkness at 21:30hrs with the Brawn GP drivers focusing on an evaluation of the soft and super soft Bridgestone Potenza tyre compounds available for this race weekend.

RESULTS

Drivers Car No. Chassis No. Free Practice 1 Free Practice 2
Jenson Button 22 BGP 001-02 22 laps 01:50.356 P2 34 laps 01:49.311 P5
Rubens Barrichello 23 BGP 001-03 19 laps 01:50.179 P1 30 laps 01:49.616 P11

Weather Hot and humid – Max 71.9% humidity
Temperatures Air: 30-31°C Track: 29-34°C

JENSON BUTTON
“It’s great to be back in Singapore this weekend and everyone is really enjoying the challenge of the night race and adjusting to our different working hours. We had a pretty full-on evening with a busy programme of set-up evaluations and tyre testing. This venue is a tough one with the heat and humidity to contend with and the nature of the circuit and the closeness of the barriers demand your total concentration. The key is achieving consistently quick laps and that’s what we’ve been working on today. The car feels reasonable and with some more work later tonight, we should be ready for a good weekend.”

RUBENS BARRICHELLO
“The car is feeling pretty good here after the first practice sessions and we’re pleased with the work that we achieved. It was really busy out there today with traffic affecting our programme a little, particularly in the second session, but that was the same for everyone really. We’ve been focusing on our pace for Sunday and that’s the most important consideration as we need the car well balanced to be quick in the race. I’m feeling positive and we should be able to achieve the right set-up ready for the weekend. It’s so different to the rest of the year to be racing here at night and it’s been a lot of fun so far.”

ROSS BRAWN
“Following on from its successful debut last year, Singapore is once again proving to be a fantastic race venue and the whole team are enjoying the unusual hours that we are working and adjusting our race weekend programme to suit the particular demands of the night race. Looking at the first track activity today, we’re pleased with how the two practice sessions went. Both Jenson and Rubens are feeling comfortable with the car and the reliable running throughout both sessions has provided us with a wealth of data to study into the early hours of the morning. This is a circuit which should suit our car provided we get the balance and set-up right for qualifying tomorrow so we’re looking forward to the challenge of the weekend.”

The infamous Spa weather lived up to expectations today with the first of the practice sessions for Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix taking place in very different conditions as Brawn GP’s Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello took to the race track again just five days after the European Grand Prix in Valencia.

The first practice session this morning began on a dry track but was interrupted after just thirty minutes by a rain shower which sent all the cars back into the pits. As the rain intensified over the remaining hour of the session, Jenson and Rubens went out on the Bridgestone Potenza wet tyres to get some valuable wet weather track time ahead of the weekend.

By contrast, the afternoon practice session proved fine and dry, enabling the team to make good progress with the planned Friday programme. With the focus on aerodynamic, downforce and tyre comparisons, Jenson and Rubens collected some useful data to help refine the set-up of the car overnight ahead of Saturday’s qualifying hour.

RESULTS

Drivers Car No. Chassis No. Free Practice 1 Free Practice 2
Jenson Button 22 BGP 001-02 18 laps 01:50.283 P2 34 laps 01:48.125 P17
Rubens Barrichello 23 BGP 001-03 18 laps 01:52.321 P6 37 laps 01:48.130 P18

Weather Rain in the morning, dry and sunny afternoon
Temperatures Air: 14-18°C Track: 16-34°C

JENSON BUTTON
“It was a tough session this morning as we weren’t able to get much done apart from some wet running at the end. However that experience is good here just in case it rains over the weekend which is always possible at Spa. The second session this afternoon was much more useful. We worked through a few aero and downforce comparisons as well as looking at the tyres. We collected a lot of information but obviously at the moment we’re not as quick as we would like to be. There are a few areas that we do need to improve on with the balance but the potential is there to do that ahead of qualifying.”

RUBENS BARRICHELLO
“We got through a lot of work today which sets the weekend up nicely. There is still some way to go to realise the full potential of the car but as always on a Friday, the lap times don’t tell the whole story. It was pretty useful to get some wet running in this morning just in case the weather plays a part in qualifying or the race. The car doesn’t feel as competitive as it did in Valencia last weekend but we’re going to be in a good position to fight hard in qualifying tomorrow.”

ROSS BRAWN
“A good start to the weekend and we were able to achieve much of our planned testing programme despite the interruptions from the weather this morning. We’re not experiencing any issues with tyre temperatures so far which is positive and it’s good to see our hard work in this area starting to pay dividends. There is still some way to go to maximise the set-up of the car to the requirements of both drivers so it will be a busy hour of practice tomorrow morning to get ready for qualifying.”

Brawn GP began the team’s on-track preparations for the 2009 Monaco Grand Prix around the streets of Monte Carlo today.

With track time at a premium to allow the drivers to get into the rhythm of the 3.340km street circuit, all the cars were quickly out on track in the morning to maximise the available running time. Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button completed 26 laps and 28 laps respectively as they developed the balance of their BGP 001 cars. With the track conditions improving throughout the day, both drivers focused on longer runs and tyre evaluations in the afternoon session, completing a further 77 laps.

Friday is a traditional rest day in Monaco with the track action resuming on Saturday ahead the all-important qualifying hour.

RESULTS

Drivers Car No. Chassis No. Free Practice 1 Free Practice 2
Rubens Barrichello 23 BGP 001-01 26 laps 01:17.189 P1 41 laps 01:15.590 P3
Jenson Button 22 BGP 001-02 28 laps 01:18.080 P8 36 laps 01:15.774 P4

Weather Warm and sunny
Temperatures Air: 23-26°C Track: 31-44°C

RUBENS BARRICHELLO
“We have had a good first day to start our weekend here in Monaco. I love driving the street track although it is lacking grip at the moment but this should improve in time for qualifying on Saturday. We were able to evaluate a lot of different things today with positive outcomes. I had some oversteer in the car but it was controllable and overall I am very satisfied with the balance. So we can be optimistic heading into the weekend although we expect a tough fight from our close competitors. We will need to work hard ahead of qualifying as it is so important to achieve a good grid position here.”

JENSON BUTTON
“We are going in the right direction following this afternoon’s practice session however this morning proved quite challenging for me. I had rear locking in the low speed corners and understeer in the high speed corners and didn’t feel quite comfortable in the car. However we were able to make some good set-up changes this afternoon and my last runs on the softer tyres were much better. Achieving a good balance is very important here so we are going in the right direction. If we can keep making improvements then it should be a good weekend to come.”

ROSS BRAWN
“The Monaco Grand Prix always throws up a number of unique challenges and we worked hard today to familiarise ourselves with the conditions and prepare for the weekend ahead. The biggest challenge this afternoon was finding sufficient free air to allow the cars to have clean runs and achieve a clear read on our set-up evaluations. Jenson had a little unscheduled work in the garage this afternoon after brushing a wall, a frequent hazard here in Monaco, and we made some precautionary changes to the steering components. Overall it has been a very good start to the weekend which has allowed Rubens and Jenson to acclimatise themselves with the car and the circuit and has put us in a good position ahead of Saturday.”

The Spanish GP practice sessions have again yielded an interesting set of results as teams still get to grips with the updates to their aerodynamics packages. The first session ended well for BrawnGP with Button quickest.  Williams also put in a solid performance with 5th and 6th position.

Spanish Grand Prix free practice session one

1. BUTTON Brawn 1m21.799s

2. TRULLI Toyota 1m22.154s

3. KUBICA BMW 1m22.221s

4. HEIDFELD BMW 1m22.658s

5. NAKAJIMA Williams 1m22.659s

6. ROSBERG Williams 1m22.667s

7. PIQUET Renault 1m22.753s

8. GLOCK Toyota 1m22.828s

9. MASSA Ferrari 1m22.855s

10. BARRICHELLO Brawn 1m22.859s

11. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m22.873s

12. WEBBER Red Bull 1m22.934s

13. VETTEL Red Bull 1m22.959s

14. HAMILTON McLaren 1m23.077s

15. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso 1m23.088s

16. FISICHELLA Force India 1m23.089s

17. ALONSO Renault 1m23.157s

18. BUEMI Toro Rosso 1m23.185s

19. KOVALAINEN McLaren 1m23.522s

20. SUTIL Force India 1m23.536s

Session two showed that Williams may be the team to watch, coming in with 1st and second fastest, whilst BrawnGP also kept up a consistent pace.  BMW and Toyota both suffered a fall down the table as Glock admitted problems with the handling of his Toyota.  Overall it should make for a fascinating qualifying session tomorrow.

Spanish Grand Prix free practice session two

1. ROSBERG Williams 1m21.588s

2. NAKAJIMA Williams 1m21.740s

3.  ALONSO Renault 1m21.781s

4.  BARRICHELLO Brawn 1m21.843s

5.  WEBBER Red Bull 1m22.027s

6. BUTTON Brawn 1m22.052s

7.  VETTEL Red Bull 1m22.082s

8. PIQUET Renault 1m22.349s

9.  BUEMI Toro Rosso 1m22.571s

10. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m22.499s

11. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso 1m22.615s

12. FISICHELLA Force India 1m22.670s

13. HAMILTON McLaren 1m22.809s

14. KOVALAINEN McLaren 1m22.876s

15. MASSA Ferrari 1m22.878s

16. KUBICA BMW 1m22.948s

17. HEIDFELD BMW 1m23.173s

18. GLOCK Toyota 1m23.360s

19. TRULLI Toyota 1m23.623s

20. SUTIL Force India  no time

The teams have completed Friday’s Bahrain GP practice sessions which has given us a topsy turvy set of practice times which is sure to produce an exciting race.  In practice session one Lewis Hamilton produced the best time for McLaren.  McLaren have been one of the first teams to put the new diffuser onto their car and have shown the quickest form improvement as everyone strives to catch the Brawn GP cars.

Bahrain Grand Prix free practice session one

1. HAMILTON McLaren 1m33.647s

2. HEIDFELD BMW 1m33.907s

3. KUBICA BMW 1m33.938s

4.  ROSBERG Williams 1m34.227s

5. BUTTON Brawn 1m34.434s

6. KOVALAINEN McLaren 1m34.502s

7. BARRICHELLO Brawn 1m34.531s

8. MASSA Ferrari 1m34.589s

9.  WEBBER Red Bull 1m34.827s

10. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m34.827s

11. NAKAJIMA Williams 1m34.880s

12. VETTEL Red Bull 1m34.938s

13  PIQUET Renault 1m34.974s

14. SUTIL Force India 1m35.021s

15. TRULLI Toyota 1m35.036s

16. FISICHELLA Force India 1m35.042s

17  GLOCK Toyota 1m35.333s

18. ALONSO Renault 1m35.348s

19. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso 1m35.353s

20. BUEMI Toro Rosso 1m35.369s

The second session saw Nico Rosberg at the top of the times for Williams F1.  In both sessions the Brawns were out of the top 3.  Set up is everything so it is likely that the team are preparing for the race simulating heavier fuel loads than their rivals and also not wanting to reveal true speed.  Tomorrow in qualifying we will know the truth.  The biggest surprise of practice in our minds is the performance to the Force India team.  They performed well in both sessions with Sutil finishing 7th in the second session.

Bahrain Grand Prix free practice session two

1. ROSBERG Williams 1m33.339s

2. ALONSO Renault 1m33.530s

3. TRULLI Toyota 1m33.616s

4. VETTEL Red Bull 1m33.661s

5. WEBBER Red Bull 1m33.676s

6. BUTTON Brawn 1m33.694s

7. SUTIL Force India 1m33.763s

8. GLOCK Toyota 1m33.764s

9. BARRICHELLO Brawn 1m33.885s

10. NAKAJIMA Williams 1m33.899s

11. HAMILTON McLaren 1m33.994s

12. FISICHELLA Force India 1m34.025s

13. BUEMI Toro Rosso 1m34.127s

14. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso 1m34.366s

15. PIQUET Renault 1m34.411s

16. MASSA Ferrari 1m34.564s

17. KUBICA BMW 1m34.605s

18. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m34.670s

19. KOVALAINEN McLaren 1m34.764s

20. HEIDFELD BMW 1m34.790s

In the Friday practice for the Chinese Grand Prix Brawn finished second to McLaren in the first practice and then in second practice Nico Rosberg split them.  With the diffuser issue sorted out McLaren have made changes to the diffuser on the car but is this enough to improve their performance.

Jenson Button said “The balance of the car really improved over the last couple of runs today after we had been struggling a little to find the right set-up early on.” This was also clear in the practice times with practice two several seconds faster than practice one.

Here is the full post practice statement from Brawn GP

Brawn GP’s Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello were in action at the Shanghai International Circuit today in the first of the practice sessions ahead of Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix.

After completing early installation laps, the first practice session really got underway for the team after thirty minutes with Jenson and Rubens beginning their respective Friday programmes. For the remaining hour of the session, the pair worked on the balance of their BGP 001 cars and fine-tuning the set-up to the demands of the 5.451km track.

In second practice this afternoon, the team concentrated on evaluating the super soft and medium Bridgestone Potenza tyre compounds available for this weekend. Jenson and Rubens each completed 35 laps over longer runs to end the day with Jenson at the top of the timesheets and Rubens in third position just two-tenths behind.

RESULTS

Drivers Car No. Chassis No. Free Practice 1 Free Practice 2
Jenson Button 22 BGP 001-02 18 laps 01:37.450 P2 35 laps 01:35.679 P1
Rubens Barrichello 23 BGP 001-01 19 laps 01:37.566 P3 35 laps 01:35.881 P3

Weather Sunny
Temperatures Air: 16-20°C Track: 26-34°C

JENSON BUTTON
“The balance of the car really improved over the last couple of runs today after we had been struggling a little to find the right set-up early on. We completed a great deal of work with the two very different tyre compounds to establish what condition they would be in after longer runs. There seemed to be a lot of traffic on track today so my main concern was finding some clear air. It was a useful first day of running but we still have some work to do tomorrow to be happy with the balance for qualifying.”

RUBENS BARRICHELLO
“Another positive Friday and we achieved some good work today which will set us up well going into the weekend. Our main focus was on the tyres and evaluating the best way of looking after the softer option tyre and it was very useful to find out what the tyres are capable of. We tried various things but I did struggle for grip with my last set of tyres this afternoon. There are a lot of marbles on the track at the moment but it should clean up going into the weekend.”

ROSS BRAWN
“We have had a productive day which has enabled us to complete a thorough evaluation of the prime and option tyres ahead of the weekend. Our main focus was on the softer option tyre and establishing the best way to work with this compound in qualifying and the race. Although we are not quite satisfied with the balance yet, the car worked well in the cooler temperatures that we are experiencing this weekend with the race taking place six months earlier than usual.”

After the back to back races in Australia and Malaysia the teams have had a weekend off before the 2009 Chinese Grand Prix qualifying.  Though what a busy two weeks it has been.  On Wednesday 15th April the FIA ruled that the Brawn, Williams and Toyota’s “Double Decker” diffusers were legal.  Now all the other teams have basically admitted that they will have to integrate this into their designs to be competitive.  For some teams such as Ferrari this will entail a major design change to the car as a new diffuser cannot be simply added as the suspension prevents this.

McLaren however arrived at China and in Friday practice revealed a new diffuser and quickly took to the top of the time sheets.  The McLaren diffuser design isn’t as radical as the Brawn’s but has certainly benefited Hamilton and given the McLaren team a much needed boost.  However one must ask, how much of this is true speed, this is only Friday practise so cars aren’t really competing and interestingly Kovalainen brought his McLaren in 4th despite not having the new diffuser design on the car.

Chinese Grand Prix free practice session one

1. HAMILTON McLaren 1m37.334s

2. BUTTON Brawn 1m37.450s

3. BARRICHELLO Brawn 1m37.566s

4. KOVALAINEN McLaren 1m37.672s

5. WEBBER Red Bull 1m37.752s

6. TRULLI Toyota 1m37.764s

7. ROSBERG Williams 1m37.860s

8. GLOCK Toyota 1m37.894s

9. ALONSO Renault 1m38.089s

10. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso 1m38.195s

11. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m38.223s

12. VETTEL Red Bull 1m38.274s

13. BUEMI Toro Rosso 1m38.307s

14. SUTIL Force India 1m38.319s

15. MASSA Ferrari 1m38.418s

16. HEIDFELD BMW 1m38.456s

17. FISICHELLA Force India 1m38.460s

18. KUBICA BMW 1m38.463s

19. NAKAJIMA Williams 1m38.730s

20. PIQUET Renault 1m38.825s

In practice two Jenson Button was back on 1st place with a time significantly faster than practice 1.  Nico Rosberg who we picked as an man to watch in an early article is up in 2nd place.  The Ferarris have really suffered finishing 2nd practice in 12th and 14th.  They are not running the KER’s system in China which in previous races they were almost using to keep up!  They have had several KER’s related reliability problems and chose not to run it in China.

Chinese Grand Prix free practice session two

1. BUTTON Brawn 1m35.679s

2. ROSBERG Williams 1m35.704s

3. BARRICHELLO Brawn 1m35.881s

4. WEBBER Red Bull 1m36.105s

5. VETTEL Red Bull 1m36.167s

6. TRULLI Toyota 1m36.217s

7. NAKAJIMA Williams 1m36.377s

8. GLOCK Toyota 1m36.548s

9. KOVALAINEN McLaren 1m36.674s

10. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso 1m36.800s

11. SUTIL Force India 1m36.829s

12. MASSA Ferrari 1m36.847s

13. HAMILTON McLaren 1m36.941s

14. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m37.054s

15. BUEMI Toro Rosso 1m37.219s

16. PIQUET Renault 1m37.273s

17. KUBICA BMW 1m37.491s

18. HEIDFELD BMW 1m37.544s

19. ALONSO Renault 1m37.638s

20. FISICHELLA Force India 1m37.750s