A so-so Friday for Brawn in Bahrain

I must admit, that I was unfortunately unable to physically watch the Friday practice sessions for the for the first time this season.  I would however like to put a short article out there for people who haven’t got the time to search around the F1 web sites.

Friday Practice, April 24

Practice One: 

It sounded as if the first session was rather boring.  For the second race running, McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton topped the time sheets with 1m 33.647s. BMW looked strong with Nick Heidfeld just behind the British World Champion. Both cars ran KERS and both put in strong performances.  

As for the Brawns, well encouraging as always, but as has become tradition on Friday; nothing special. Jenson Button finished fifth (1m 34.434s), and Rubens, seventh (1m 34.531s). Jens was unfortunately hindered by early gearbox problems but drove rather well afterwards. On a positive note, both Brawn cars finished higher than their closest Championship rivals (the Red Bull team).

Pos Driver             Team                         Time/Retired

1 Lewis Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes         1:33.647

2 Nick Heidfeld     BMW Sauber                1:33.907

3 Robert Kubica     BMW Sauber                1:33.938

4 Nico Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       1:34.227

5 Jenson Button      Brawn-Mercedes      1:34.434

6 Heikki Kovalainen     McLaren-Mercedes     1:34.502

7 Rubens Barrichello    Brawn-Mercedes      1:34.531

8 Felipe Massa        Ferrari               1:34.589

9 Mark Webber        RBR-Renault               1:34.827

10 Kimi Räikkönen        Ferrari               1:34.827

11 Kazuki Nakajima         Williams-Toyota        1:34.880

12 Sebastian Vettel         RBR-Renault        1:34.938

13 Nelsinho Piquet         Renault               1:34.974

14 Adrian Sutil          Force India                       1:35.021

15 Jarno Trulli           Toyota                        1:35.036

16 Giancarlo Fisichella      Force India                1:35.042

17 Timo Glock           Toyota                        1:35.333

18 Fernando Alonso           Renault                1:35.348

19 Sebastien Bourdais        STR-Ferrari        1:35.353

20 Sebastien Buemi            STR-Ferrari        1:35.369

Friday Practice Two:  

I bet you can’t guess who finished top of practice two…go on try...that’s right Nico Rosberg! When is Williams' Friday pace going to turn into race gains? As for Brawn;well reserved stuff again. Both drivers finished in the top ten but as usual, maintained a professional outlook and simply carried out solid testing, (as opposed to ‘good PR’ low fuel speedy laps).

This weekend Jens revealed that he felt under the most pressure from Red Bull, Toyota and his teammate. Unfortunately for Button, Friday finished with both Red Bulls and a Toyota ahead of him. However, Jenson’s biggest threat (to his mind), Rubens was behind. Jenson was initially pretty fast, with a 1m 35.935s. However, before long he began to slip down the time sheet. I think I have said this before, but I’ll say it again. The Brawn cars are never outstanding on a Friday, but considering where they were in 2008, to finish P6 and P9 was great news. Roll on Saturday.  

Pos Driver            Team                             Time/Retired

1 Nico Rosberg   Williams-Toyota                     1:33.339

2 Fernando Alonso   Renault                              1:33.530

3 Jarno Trulli           Toyota                             1:33.616

4 Sebastian Vettel   RBR-Renault                     1:33.661

5 Mark Webber   RBR-Renault                     1:33.676

6 Jenson Button   Brawn-Mercedes            1:33.694

7 Adrian Sutil            Force India-Mercedes             1:33.763

8 Timo Glock           Toyota                               1:33.764

9 Rubens Barrichello   Brawn-Mercedes              1:33.885

10 Kazuki Nakajima     Williams-Toyota              1:33.899

11 Lewis Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes              1:33.994

12 Giancarlo Fisichella   Force India-Mercedes      1:34.025

13 Sebastien Buemi       STR-Ferrari                      1:34.127

14 Sebastien Bourdais    STR-Ferrari                    1:34.366

15 Nelsinho Piquet       Renault                     1:34.411

16 Felipe Massa       Ferrari                             1:34.564

17 Robert Kubica      BMW Sauber                 1:34.605

18 Kimi Räikkönen       Ferrari                         1:34.670

19 Heikki Kovalainen     McLaren-Mercedes         1:34.764

20 Nick Heidfeld       BMW Sauber                1:34.790