Very Disappointing Afternoon for Brawn GP

For this Grand Prix as well as having a new helmet design, Jenson has a new front wing, front endplates and a new rear wing.  However, while these additions proved handy in Practice One, Practice Two was a different story all together….

As the green light started the session Bourdais was the first man out on track.  After his performance last weekend in that beast of a Peugeot around Le Mans (his team finished second) he must be a total mix of tired...and upset to be back in a mediocre car!

Kovalainen set the first time I was physically able to record (1:24:011).  I say this because Piquet technically set the first time but Kovalainen crossed the line so quickly after the Renault that I couldn’t get the time down fast enough! (Sorry people).

Ten minutes in and no sign of the Brawns yet.  Meanwhile Red Bull’s Friday dominance continued when Webber shot up to first with a 1:20:402.

Jenson’s first time was only good enough for P17 (1:23:838). His second time was no better! 

This meant that after fifteen minutes, Jens was in eighteenth and Rubens, dead last.  Things got a little better when Jenson raised himself to twelfth (1:22:649), but Rubens could only get as high as nineteenth and then sixteenth (1:22:532).

Ermm after twenty minutes...Red Bull (Brawn’s biggest threat remember) were in first and second…Jens was fourteenth and Rubens, seventeenth!  But fear not Brawn fans, for our team always struggles on a Friday…just not this badly…

Anyway, Webber was flying, it was great to see such a nice and talented guy in his element as he put in a 1:20:402 and proceeded to go faster still!

With sixty two minutes left, Jenson managed to haul himself up to sixth (1:21:426), but it was far from impressive and after just one time, he returned to his garage.  When Jenson went back out again he complained of understeer in the high speed corners and severe grinding tyres on an increasingly cold track. 

Meanwhile, Rubens put in a time of 1:22:113…which saw him in eighteenth!  Thankfully soon after the Brazilian raised himself to P7 (1:21:131), but the Brawns seemed unable to break into the top five. 

Jenson was now having a really bad time with an extremely twitchy car.  He decided to change back to his morning set up which would probably waste twenty minutes!  With only forty eight minutes left I was beginning to get worried.

However, after just fifteen minutes, and fantastic performances from the Brawn lads, Jen’s BGP001 was ready to get back out on track.  His first try kept him in sixteenth (1:21:366)…and so did his second run.  In fact Jenson was still struggling so much that he returned to the pits again!

Now at this stage I began to think that Bleacherreport’s very own Saraswathi Siriginia had somehow sabotaged the Brawn team to make the race more interesting! You wouldn’t do that would you Sara?

Back to the racing now, and both Brawns elected to change their rear wings.  With ten minutes left, the Red Bulls locked out the first two spots, whilst Rubens was ninth and Jens, eighteenth.  Rubens car was now in bits in the garage as Jenson went back out on track…to achieve…not a lot.

With six minutes left an unfortunate mistake from Webber, finished his day early, but I think the Australian has showed us what he is capable of!  Right at the end, Jens got up to P15, whilst Rubens, out on the soft compound got up to sixth (1:20:244).  Jenson got one more run in before it all finished and only put in a 1:20:767 (P13).

Ok, lets re-evaluate here; what happened?  Brawn started today well and finished P1 in third and fourth. 

However, by the end of P2 they looked, frankly awful.  Yes, we are used to seeing weaker performances on a Friday from Brawn, but not quite this bad. 

Having said that, I have every confidence that the BGP team will work tirelessly tonight to sort the problems out.  Tomorrow's practice should be a very interesting one...

P.S. at least Brawn were able to beat both Ferraris!

1    Sebastian Vettel       RBR-Renault                     1:19.456       
2    Mark Webber       RBR-Renault                      1:19.597   
3    Adrian Sutil        Force India-Mercedes         1:20.141   
4    Kazuki Nakajima        Williams-Toyota          1:20.209   
5    Fernando Alonso        Renault                          1:20.237   
6    Rubens Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes            1:20.244   
7    Lewis Hamilton         McLaren-Mercedes            1:20.417   
8    Jarno Trulli         Toyota                           1:20.458   
9    Nico Rosberg          Williams-Toyota             1:20.468   
10    Nelsinho Piquet           Renault                           1:20.608   
11    Robert Kubica           BMW Sauber             1:20.622   
12    Heikki Kovalainen       McLaren-Mercedes             1:20.733   
13    Timo Glock             Toyota                            1:20.762   
14    Jenson Button             Brawn-Mercedes              1:20.767   
15    Nick Heidfeld               BMW Sauber               1:20.932   
16    Sebastien Bourdais    STR-Ferrari               1:20.945   
17    Felipe Massa                  Ferrari                             1:21.005   
18    Kimi Räikkönen                   Ferrari                               1:21.132   
19    Giancarlo Fisichella    Force India-Mercedes    1:21.413   
20    Sebastien Buemi                   STR-Ferrari                   1:21.668