Rubens Barrichello Dominates Monaco Practice One
As we head from the fantastic Spanish grand Prix to the beautiful Monaco event I feel on top of the world as a Brawn fan. Spain had been dubbed ‘the beginning of the new season’ and whilst teams like Ferrari made great leaps forward, Brawn managed to cling on to the top of the pecking order.
Monaco is a strange one as first, there are next to no overtaking places and secondly, to win here has less to do with raw pace and more to do with downforce and grid position.
As we headed into the 24 degrees heat of practice one, I felt that the ones to watch would be Red Bull and Ferrari; but could either team challenge the Brawn Supremacy near the shimmering waters of Monaco?
Thursday Practice, 21st May 2009
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Practice One: 10:00am - 11:30am, local time (09:00am - 10:30am, British time)
Practice has traditionally always taken place on a Thursday in Monaco as Friday is a national bank holiday. I don’t really mind, as for me it simply means I get to watch some racing one day earlier.
However, for the drivers it is a little bit odd as, having reached their zone on Thursday, they then face a semi day off on Friday. However, they are multimillionaire highly skilled athletes so it shouldn’t really matter that much!
On to the practice now. With the green light signifying the start of the morning's session the cars took to the track for their first sighters. Jenson was out two minutes into the session and seemed to be like a small boy visiting Monaco for the first time!
He flew around the track in total excitement and practically pushed the slower Fernando Alonso back into the pits! I think this is great news as it looks as if Jens’s passion is at new levels, which is only good news for his title bid.
On a more negative side, we heard that Red Bull were trying a new double decker diffuser on Vettel for this race.
Whilst we will not see the true benefits of this addition until Turkey, it is a little worrying for we Brawn fans…but hey, great news for those critics who think F1 is still boring (when I say critics I do of course mean…crazy people!).
After the first 10 minutes both Brawn drivers had completed their sighter laps and were now out of their cars giving and receiving feedback. I must admit the twenty or thirty minutes that follow these first sighter laps are rather boring to watch as nothing really happens.
Fear not though, as an interview with Ross Brawn cheered us all up. Speaking to BBC TV, Ross stated that for this weekend the BGP 001 had a new rear wing, new rear suspension and new canards around the cockpit. These modifications all help to modify the chassis for the gruelling street circuit.
When asked who he felt were his main competitors at this race, the 'Special One' replied that he still saw Red Bull and Ferrari as the main threats. Brawn was also questioned on the issue of team favouritism again (yawn).
Yet again he stated what we all know, that there is no team favouritism yet at BGP and that in a perfect world there wouldn’t be all season.
Twenty minutes into the session, the first time was set by Buemi (1:25:201). With just under an hour remaining there were seven cars on track and the fastest time was now Glock’s (1:19:983). Jenson’s first time saw him take P7 (1:21:727).
Considering his rocket start, he was probably told to calm down a bit! His second time lifted him to P4 (1:20:068) but at this stage Massa was the man to beat (1:18:953). On his third attempt, Jens went higher still (P2, just 0.716s behind the Ferrari).
Rubens Barrichello's first time was only good enough for P15 (1:21:380), but his second attempt shot him up to seventh, and just one lap later the Brazilian was second (1:18:390). With 35 minutes remaining it was Hamilton’s turn to be on top.
Jens was one of only three drivers out on track at this stage and was taking advantage of the limited traffic and clear air. He was slightly slower than hoped due to a lockup into turn one, but he managed to put in a decent effort for P4 (1:18:354).
With half an hour left Jens was out again, but his lap was compromised by a Vettel engine failure. Whilst this was not good news for poor old Seb, it was great for we Brawn fans as it was the first time Red Bull have experienced difficulties. Or so I thought!
As the smoke poured out from the back of the Red Bull, none of the drivers behind could see where they were going. Perhaps this was a new cunning ploy on the part of Red Bull? Is smoke screen technology legal in F1?
On a more serious note, Rubens managed to become the first Brawn man to top the Monaco time sheets with an excellent 1:17:505. The Brazilian went even faster on his second attempt (1:17:189). Just after this happened, Webber too was experiencing troubles and returned to the pits for data checks (good omens for Brawn?).
With twenty minutes left Rubens was first and Jenson seventh. The Brazilian was fastest in sectors two and three with only Hamilton faster in sector one. Jenson managed to raise himself to P6 near the end of the session, but eventually finished P8.
A great start then for Brawn in Monaco. It was great for Rubens to finish first, but I feel we didn’t see enough of Jenson as usual. Perhaps Jens will test more this afternoon.
Thursday's second practice to follow.
1 Rubens Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 1:17.189
2 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:17.499
3 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:17.578
4 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:17.686
5 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:17.839
6 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:18.000
7 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:18.024
8 Jenson Button Brawn-Mercedes 1:18.080
9Fernando Alonso Renault 1:18.283
10 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 1:18.348
11 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 1:18.695
12 Nelsinho Piquet Renault 1:19.204
13 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 1:19.233
14 Sebastien Bourdais STR-Ferrari 1:19.255
15 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Mercedes 1:19.534
16 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 1:19.560
17 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:19.579
18 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:19.600
19 Timo Glock Toyota 1:19.698
20 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:19.831
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