2009 German GP: Lewis Hamilton Best Again, Rubens Barrichelo Still Struggling!

Practice Three

Yesterday was certainly strange for Brawn GP. In a reverse of fortunes, Jenson excelled, whilst Rubens really, really struggled!

I said yesterday that the Saturday session might provide an important picture of Brawn’s situation, as the team vastly improved as Friday developed. I hoped, as a Brawn fanatic, that the positive development would continue into today. Read on to see what happened…..

As the green light started the session, Vettel led a large pack of drivers onto the track. After three minutes the only driver that hadn’t left the pits was Rubens. For this race weekend both Rubens and Jenson have new engines, however, car 23 seemed to have an issue with its motor. Eleven minutes passed and Rubens’s car was up on jacks whilst the team hurried to fix his engine.

We didn’t have to wait too long for the first time of the session to be set as Massa crossed the line with a 1:35:232. Massa’s lone name quickly grew to ten, when the other drivers began to join the action.

Jenson was out with 41 minutes to go and was driving pretty quickly. He was fastest in sector one, but like everyone else, he was struggling with heat…or rather a lack of heat in his tyres. His BGP001 looked very ragged as he cornered the turns of Germany.

After a rather hairy lap, the Brit put in a 1:33:730 (P2). Soon after, he really found the groove and elevated himself to P1 (1:33:421).

It didn’t take long though for the Friday specialist (Rosberg) to steal Jenson’s pole. However just seconds later yesterdays man Hamilton was the man on top (1:32:331).

25 minutes in, Jens was P3, Rubens…….was nowhere! At this stage the Red Bulls were out and strong, but neither were faster than Jenson.

We finally saw Rubens in his helmet at the halfway point. He was still out of his car, at least he was about to be! It had taken 32 minutes, but the Brazilian finally left the pits to start his days work.

Rubens’s first time was a 1:35:260, which put him dead last…..but at least he now had a time! Poor old Rubes was really struggling with front locking, but at least most of the other drivers were too.

Jenson meanwhile, was up to P5 after a bit of a fall down the rankings. Rubens managed to break off the bottom with a half decent 1:33:706 with 20 minutes left, but he still looked far from comfortable.

By this time the likes of Rosberg and Hamilton had fitted the super soft tyres. The two drivers went very quickly and Hamilton made sure that he would finish the second session in a row on top. Rubens, on the harder tyre got up to P13, but Jens was really complaining about temperatures now.

With 15 minutes left, Jens was P8, Rubens P16. Both fitted the super softs and rejoined the action. On the faster tyre, Rubnes got up to P9 (1:32:333) and Jenson pushed his way from P8 to P5 (1:32:009).

I think it is important to state that both Brawn and Red Bull were running very different tests to McLaren, and so it was not too concerning to see where Jens and Rubens were. Jenson finished in P11 and Rubens P14.

I can’t really tell you what I think will happen in qualifying. If you pushed me, I would say Vettel or Webber on pole, Jenson probably no lower than fifth, and Rubens? Well I just don’t know, he has really, really, really struggled today, but hey! He might do a Jens and surprise us all after a terrible practice session!

We’ll find out later……

1 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:31.121

2 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:31.340

3 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:31.351

4 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 1:31.542

5 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 1:31.610

6 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:31.615

7 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:31.620

8 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:31.690

9 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:31.731

10 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:31.928

11 Jenson Button Brawn-Mercedes 1:32.009

12 Timo Glock Toyota 1:32.022

13 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:32.104

14 Rubens Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 1:32.124

15 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Mercedes 1:32.135

16 Nelsinho Piquet Renault 1:32.223

17 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 1:32.239

18 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 1:32.269

19 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:32.742

20 Sebastien Bourdais STR-Ferrari 1:32.883