Saturday: The return to form of Brawn GP becomes clearer
The Brawn GP team continued their momentum from Friday by reassuring themselves of their performance: the car has made good progress and seems to have fixed the issues that have affected it for three Grand Prix. Always on the front lines, in the last practice session as well as in the various phases of qualification, […]
The Brawn GP team continued their momentum from Friday by reassuring themselves of their performance: the car has made good progress and seems to have fixed the issues that have affected it for three Grand Prix.
Always on the front lines, in the last practice session as well as in the various phases of qualification, the Brawn GP drivers were among the favorites for pole position. Unfortunately, the rapidly rising track temperature disrupted their plan. With Rubens Barrichello in third and Jenson Button in fifth position, hopes are high to solidify this return to form with a good result in the race.
Rubens Barrichello – 12th and 3rd:
An excellent qualification today but it was difficult here and of course I am a little disappointed not to be on pole. We started the weekend well with a long Friday session to optimize the setup the guys had prepared at the factory. They did a fantastic job and the car is in good shape with the tires working well in the heat. I used a slightly different strategy from Jenson’s, using just one set of new tires to do two laps in Q3. The second lap might have been a bit too much for the tires, which started to overheat, and unfortunately I lost the car in turn 8. I am very satisfied with the third position and it’s great to have the car back to a competitive pace.
Jenson Button – 7th and 5th:
It was a good qualifying session for the team today and the car seems strong. Unfortunately, I made a mistake at turn 4 on my fast lap which compromised my position, as I only had one flying lap on my last run in Q3. It’s a shame because the potential could have given more but fifth on the grid isn’t bad at all. The car behaves well with fuel so we’ll see what the race brings tomorrow. It’s not an ideal circuit for overtaking but I’ll give everything to achieve a good result.
Ross Brawn – Team Director:
It was a difficult session today with track temperatures rising quickly, which forced us to think and adapt our plans for Q3 during the break. This might have compromised our performance since Rubens’ tires degraded during his second lap while Jenson only had one flying lap in his final run. However, third and fifth on the grid is a solid result for starting tomorrow, and we are generally satisfied with the car’s performance this weekend, so we can hope for a good race. It’s another good day for our engine partner Mercedes-Benz with three cars in the top three positions.
