Red Flag Madness in Suzuka Qualifying but Brawn GP Come Out OK

Trulli finished the final practice session on top today which was good news for the Japanese fans.

Rubens finished up in P7 with Jenson only a couple back in P9. This being the first real chance at dry runs, many drivers were pushing to the max. There were several incidents, but the most crucial involved Webber. The Australian went of at Degner 2 and hurt his car enough to mean he would take no part in qualifying.

In theory it was good news for me as a Brawn man as Red Bull looked strong. Of course with Webber out of the title race he would have been crucial in supporting Vettel if both qualified strongly. However, Webber is a personal favourite driver of mine and when I heard about his troubles, I was anything but pleased.

Jenson was not happy with his car in the final session and made some very last minute changes before taking part in qualifying. The Brit tweeked his front and rear torsion bars in an attempt to control handling issues.

Q1

Buemi came out first for Torro Rosso, closely followed by Jenson who wanted to get an early feel for his car after the last minute changes.

Just three minutes in, Buemi became the session's first off victim. The Swiss driver skated off the track at the exact same place as Webber did in Degner 2. His rear wing was damaged, but his mechanics got him back out again and looking competitive.

Meanwhile, Jenson set his first time of 1:33:198 which put him P3. This wasn’t a great first time from Jens, but he did manage to go faster on his second attempt and raised himself up to P2 (having dropped down the standings).

Rubens’s first time was a P9 1:32:796 which meant the Brazilian would need to find a lot more speed. Vettel was fast from start to finish today and he began his domination early on with a P1 1:30:979.

Rubens got himself up to P2 on his second run but soon after with just 10 minutes left, Rubens was now P4 and Jenson P6. Amongst other fast runners, both Toyotas looked fast and just five minutes later Jens had slipped to P12 with his team mate only two places higher.

Everyone bar Vettel went back out on track to try and survive. The young German had done so well that he would carry over a spare set of unused tyres.

An ace lap from Buemi put him P4 and relegated the two Brawns to P13 and P14! Thankfully the two BGPs lapped fast enough to comfortably survive when Jens stuck his car in P3 and Rubens put his in P7. This would not be the last time I would be caught short of breath as a Brawn fan!

Q1 Results

JB: P3: 1:31:041

RB: P7: 1:31:272

Out

Fisichella, Nakajima, Grosjean, Liuzzi, Webber

Q2

Raikkonen opened this one and again Jens came out early, this time on super softs. The Ferrari driver set a first time of 1:31:195, but we only had four minutes of action as an Alguersuari shunt in Degner 2 caused the day’s first Red flag.

The young Spaniard had checks but was OK. The session re-started at 06:38 British time (14:38, Japanese time). The problem for Jenson was that he had not been able to set a time when he had first been out. The Brit had now unfortunately lost a set of brand new tyres!

It would be a big ask for Jens to get through now and he had even more time to think about his predicament when, with only a few minutes gone, the session was red flagged again!

As Trulli crossed the line to make it two times on the sheet, his team mate shot off into the barriers at the last corner. The German driver was taken to hospital and although he has a potential race ending leg wound, he is otherwise OK.

The session started again at 06:48 British time, (14:58 Japanese time), and was opened by Alonso.

With just five minutes remaining there were only four times up and there was no movement from either Brawn man! BGP were taking a huge gamble and would only take part in one crucial run.

Just over two tantalising minutes remained when the Brawns finally took to the track. Vetel had sped through to P1 with a 1:30:341, but early mistakes from Jens and Rubens left me wobbling to say the least!

The tyres came in though for both drivers as they progressed through their laps, but they had to avoid Buemi (who had shunted near the end of the lap and decided to continue to the pits). Rubens crossed the line first with a P6 time, whilst Jenson made it through in P4…PHEW!!

Q2 Results

JB: P4: 1:30:880

RB: P6: 1:31:055

Out

Rosberg, Alonso, Kubica, Glock, Alguersuari.

Q3

Sutil was out first this time, followed by a snake of cars. Jenson and Rubens exited the pits two minutes in…but just as they did…we got our third red flag of the day!

Can you guess which corner it was? You got it Degner 2!

The unfortunate driver was Kovalainen who was fine, but doing his career no favours. This off may have ruined Sutil’s lap but the exit of the Fin, coupled with the fact that Buemi’s car couldn’t be fixed meant that at least all the cars still running would qualify in the top eight!

The session started again for the final time at 07:24 British time, (15:24 Japanese time). Raikkonen set the first time of 1:33:010 with just four minutes left but the day was Vettel’s.

At this worryingly late stage neither Brawn had surfaced yet again! When they did finally show, neither was particularly fast and Jenson could only manage P7. Rubens fared slightly better in P5, but you have to hope as a Brawn fan that those cars are pretty heavy.

Q3 Results

RB: P5: 1:32:660

JB: P7: 1:32:962

After one and a half hours we finally got our standings. Vettel did exactly what he has to do to stay in the title fight and the Brawns will line up one behind the other (with the KERS of Raikkonen behind to add extra salsa!).

I imagine the Red Bull is simply bloody quick and if all goes to plan should romp to victory pretty convincingly. I think the Brawns probably did quite well today actually, despite their relatively low placing. Let’s hope those fuel levels are high.

One thing is for sure though, it should be a pretty tasty start tomorrow!