Brawn OK In Friday Practice One

Friday Practice, 5th June 2009

Practice One: 10:00am - 11:30am, local time (08:00am - 09:30am, British time)

For the Turkish Grand Prix, Brawn have brought with them: a new front wing, aerodynamic tweaks, and a new rear suspension system. However, these changes didn’t produce a particularly fantastic first practice for Brawn, who, despite still being strong, seemed to struggle (as everyone did) with track temperatures. The Championship leaders were also hindered by the session being red flagged just as both cars were about to set times.

As the pit lane light went green, BMW’s Nick Heidfeld was the first man out for an installation lap. Four minutes in, Jenson was in his car with his visor down and he was out on track very soon after.

Nine minutes in, Rubens left for his installation period, but with a clear track, he stayed out and completed three or four laps.  Rubens was a busy fella initially which was, perhaps, slightly worrying, but I think the Brazilian just wanted a little longer to get to grips with the car and track.

With an hour left, Kubica was the first man out after the analysis period, but the Pole went straight back into the pits to shake his head and complain about the diabolical car he was attempting to drive!

With fifty seven minutes to go, it was Hamilton that would set the first time of the day (1:33:992). Ten minutes later, there were seven times on the board with Kovalainen now in pole.

Jens’s first time was good enough for P11 (1:31:930), whilst Rubens could only manage P17 (1:32:258). On his second run, however, the Brazilian lifted himself to P11, only to be knocked off by Jens seconds later.

On his third attempt, Jenson became the first Brawn driver to join the top three with a (1:29:984, P3). Rubens had dropped down to sixteenth, but was going very quickly, and sure enough became the first Brawn driver of the day to take pole (1:30:678).

With thirty minutes left, Rubens was now second and Jenson eighth (Hamilton was first with a 1:29:597).  Nothing much changed for Brawn over the next ten minutes, but Jens was out and looking quite good.  However, it all became academic when the session was red flagged with eighteen minutes left due to loose astro turf on the exit of turn one.

The practice was re-started with fifteen minutes to go, but not a lot changed for the Brawn boys who slipped down the grid (Rubens to sixth and Jenson to twelfth).  The slightly odd session ended, of course, with Rosberg on top and Rubens finished up seventh (1:29:525), Jenson, eleventh (1:29:747).

Pos Driver                Team                                      Time

1 Nico Rosberg        Williams-Toyota                      1:28.952

2 Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes               1:29.263

3 Jarno Trulli                Toyota                              1:29.271

4 Sebastian Vettel         RBR-Renault                 1:29.337

5 Felipe Massa          Ferrari                                1:29.342

6 Kazuki Nakajima          Williams-Toyota                  1:29.371

7 Kimi Räikkönen           Ferrari                                 1:29.398

8 Fernando Alonso          Renault                                 1:29.422

9 Rubens Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes                       1:29.525

10 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes                     1:29.590

11 Jenson Button          Brawn-Mercedes                      1:29.747

12 Adrian Sutil                 Force India-Mercedes              1:29.864

13 Timo Glock                 Toyota                              1:29.934

14 Nelsinho Piquet         Renault                         1:30.132

15 Mark Webber         RBR-Renault               1:30.176

16 Robert Kubica         BMW Sauber                1:30.645

17 Nick Heidfeld         BMW Sauber                 1:30.689

18 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Mercedes        1:30.729

19 Sebastien Bourdais STR-Ferrari                      1:30.838

20 Sebastien Buemi         STR-Ferrari                       1:30.944