Brawn GP News

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.”