2009 British GP: Brawn GP's Flying Start

I would like to begin this article by stating that I will not even think of addressing the issues that have arisen overnight. I don’t think there is enough story to run with, I’m pretty sure it will be resolved one way or another and I still believe that all Bernie Eccolstone is interested in is headlines and lining his own pocket. The only thing I will say is…Wherever  Jenson and Brawn are next year, that is what I will be watching.

Enough of all that stupid business now and on to what should have been a fantastic, unspoiled weekend. OK, here we go…This weekend Jenson will be sporting a special helmet design which was created by a competition winner through the British number one’s website. The winner was the ‘Push the Button’ design (hang on that was one of my article titles!!) of Austrian Bernie Zobl. We’ll hopefully be able to judge whether the fluorescent helmet is the thing that is giving Jens his speed then after this weekend!

As the green light signalled the beginning of the weekend, the cars took to the track for their evaluation runs. After about three minutes, Jenson was out and performing his first of two practice starts. Red bull have brought a lot of new bits to this race (including a new front wing and nose, plus various aero tweaks), and perhaps Jens anticipates a very close grid come Sunday! It was therefore very sensible to make sure he is 100 percent happy with his starts!

Eight minutes in and Rubens went out for his first sighter lap. I thought I would have to wait longer than I did to see any more action for a while as the teams returned to perform their lengthy evaluations. However, after about fifteen minutes or so, Jenson was back out again, practising his starts and completing one extra evaluation run.

Buemi, who put in a 1:32:168, after about twenty minutes, set the actual first time of the day. The Torro Rosso driver then went on to steadily knock time of his first attempt as his tyres warmed up nicely.  After a few attempts he had taken his time down considerably. 

With an hour to go, there were only three times on the screen (Buemi and the two Toyotas). However, before long, more drivers entered the fray, amongst them, was Rubens.

The Brazilian Brawn man’s first time only put him in nineteenth (but remember the tyres would need a good four laps to come into play). His second attempt raised him to sixteenth and by his third he was in seventh (1:22:050).

Rather strangely,  with just forty two minutes left, Jenson was the only driver not to set a time. With thirty seven minutes left, the Championship leader finally got in his car and back out on track.  Meanwhile, Rubens had gone from tenth to fourth (1:21:165). Minutes later, the Brazilian veteran became the first of the Brawns to top the sheets with a 1:20:749, unfortunately quickly relegated down one place by Trulli).

Jenson’s first time, saw him down in nineteenth (1:24:132), but as his tyres warmed up, he rose to twelfth, then seventh, then third (1:20:803). Great stuff from Jens, and with thirty minutes left, the Brawns were second and third.

Before long, Jenson found his rhythm and lapped extremely quickly, until he became the front runner with a great 1:20:487, after eleven laps. However, it was at this stage that the Red Bulls came out to play and before long the fantastic, focussed performance from Webber knocked Jens off top spot (watch out for Webber this weekend).

When Jenson re-entered his garage, he was second, with Rubens fourth (twenty two minutes left).  When Rubens went back out he lapped around P5 for a few laps before going up to third. With just fifteen minutes to go, the Red Bulls were (worryingly for a Brawn mentalist) the team to beat. 

Five minutes later, Jens was back out and stuck his car up on the third spot from sixth, after only three laps (1:20:227). This meant that the morning session finished with a Red Bull, Brawn top four lock out.

A great start to an interesting weekend then for Brawn. Perhaps more will have developed on the political side of things by my next article in an hour or two, but I don’t suppose I’ll waste time writing about it.

1    Sebastian Vettel              RBR-Renault    1:19.400       
2    Mark Webber             RBR-Renault          1:19.682   
3    Jenson Button             Brawn-Mercedes    1:20.227   
4    Rubens Barrichello       Brawn-Mercedes    1:20.242   
5    Fernando Alonso              Renault            1:20.458   
6    Felipe Massa              Ferrari                   1:20.471   
7    Jarno Trulli               Toyota                   1:20.585   
8    Lewis Hamilton             McLaren-Mercedes 1:20.650   
9    Nico Rosberg              Williams-Toyota      1:20.815   
10    Giancarlo Fisichella      Force India             1:20.838   
11    Adrian Sutil              Force India                1:20.913   
12    Heikki Kovalainen        McLaren-Mercedes       1:21.029   
13    Nick Heidfeld             BMW Sauber               1:21.103   
14    Kimi Räikkönen              Ferrari                   1:21.179   
15    Sebastien Bourdais       STR-Ferrari             1:21.384   
16    Timo Glock                   Toyota                 1:21.386   
17    Kazuki Nakajima             Williams-Toyota       1:21.489   
18    Nelsinho Piquet             Renault                    1:21.525   
19    Sebastien Buemi            STR-Ferrari                1:21.590   
20    Robert Kubica               BMW Sauber                1:21.801