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Saturday press releases - Australia |
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Drivers: 1. Jenson Button (Brawn GP), 1m 26.202s; 2. Rubens Barrichello (Brawn GP), 1m 26.505s; 3. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Racing), 1m 26.830s. Q: Jenson, on pole for the first time since Melbourne in 2006. Everyone was tipping you to be on pole or the front row, I guess it was easy. Jenson Button: I wish. The last five or six months for both of us have been so tough because of going from not having a drive or any future in racing to putting it on pole here is just amazing, it really is and I have got to give all credit to the team and Ross (Brawn) and Nick (Fry) for making this happen. This is where we deserve to be after the tough times we have had. Q: What were your thoughts when you came into qualifying as obviously you had been quick but other cars had been close? JB: This morning the pace seemed to be pretty good on both tyres and I was reasonably happy. We didn’t know what other people’s pace was and you don’t until you get to qualifying. They seemed to be a little bit closer than I thought actually in Q1 and Q2, they were one or two tenths behind but I was struggling on low fuel for some reason. I just could not get the car working right, but when we put fuel in it, it felt a bit more normal and in a way that is a good thing as it should help us out in the race. Q: And as a race driver with the year you have had, you come here with a car this competitive. Talk about that transformation and the lap you drove. JB: It has been a long time since we had a car that has been competitive. It is 2006 since I put it on pole here. It has been very tough and there are a lot of people who stand by you which is fantastic, but there are obviously a few people that don’t and they forget and they don’t believe. The important thing is that the people within team believe and that is all we care about. We have proven it with this car and I think both of us have done a good job this weekend so far considering the amount of mileage we have had in the car so far. You can say it is a very good car but you still need to get the laps in and make it your own. This is a great moment, but obviously not the most important moment of the weekend but it is a good start. Q: Rubens, fastest lap of qualifying in Q2. Talk us through Q3 and that battle with your team-mate? Rubens Barrichello: First of all, I just want to emphasis what Jenson said that it has been a critical three or four months back home waiting for news. I am really happy to be here and I need to congratulate Ross and Nick for doing an outstanding job and everyone who has touched this car needs a credit because it is a really good car, so well done to the boys back in England as well. My car was fantastic on low fuel, it was really, really good and as you could see I put that fastest lap but then in Q3 for some reason I developed some understeer on the car and we tried to move the wings a little bit more to add a little bit more front wing but that car kept going to understeer, so I was very limited but it was difficult although I think the first row for both is a credit and we must be happy. Q: Sebastian, a difficult day yesterday but a great recovery for you? Sebastian Vettel: Difficult two days up until qualifying. Yesterday I only had the pleasure of one lap in first practice and then in the second one I did a mistake and then unfortunately we could not run through our programme and also this morning we had a failure which cost us some track time so anything but ideal but nevertheless I think we put everything together. We were looking very deeply in the data and trying to prepare qualifying. I think we succeeded, so thanks to everyone as it has been a tough winter. We had some more time than you guys on the track but still you see it is not easy, so I am surprised how close actually the feeling in the car is with all the regulation changes coming here and having last year in mind, so it is pretty impressive what all the people have done. It looks very, very tight not just in the front but also throughout the whole of the midfield and at some points we were fearing not to make it to Q2. Now we are in third, second row, so I am looking forward to tomorrow. This is for sure a good starting point but points we will only get tomorrow, so we have to work hard. Q: Jenson, shadows and light are going to be an issue tomorrow. Describe that from a driver’s point of view and being the first team to be on pole since 1970. JB: It is difficult here with the shade and the low sun because it is not a normal circuit, it is in a park, so you have got a lot of trees here and the sun shining through the trees makes it very difficult as Sebastian will tell you from yesterday. Turn three was very difficult. SV: You can put on some lights as you are fast enough. JB: It is tough, but it is obviously easier form the front than it is from the back. Regards to what it is for the team to be here on the front row. It is fantastic and it is very difficult to know the words to use really. The team as a unit have been fantastic, they have really stuck together over the tough winter, better than I have, but they have proven that they have stuck together. They have produced a car that is good at the moment but I am sure we can make it a lot better. As we have both said, we will keep going on about, it is well deserved and all credit to the team. There will be a lot of happy faces but not just in the team, I think. A lot of people have travelled this journey with us, so it is good to be here. PRESS CONFERENCE Q: Jenson, did you ever imagine this could be possible and think after testing we are actually quite good? JB: I mean testing was good and only having three days in the car and feeling that comfortable with it is quite unusual. But you don’t want to get too excited, people always tell you maybe you shouldn’t be thinking about going out for the pole or for the win, but why shouldn’t you, it doesn’t change anything. I think it is good to go into the weekend positive. You don’t need to let anyone else know what you are thinking. I came into this weekend positive and I am sure Rubens was the same because we have got a good car and we have got a team that can help us put it on the front row. It has been a good weekend so far. Other teams have been more competitive than I thought they were, so it has been a little bit harder than I expected but you need the competition and it is great to be here on pole position. The last time was three years ago. Q: This must be a favourite circuit for you? JB: It isn’t really. Qualifying has gone reasonably well for me before, I have just got to hope that it is better than back in 2006. I am expecting it will be. But it is great to be back here and going past the garage just after we weighed and seeing all the guys’ faces and the smiles on their faces. I didn’t think it still existed because you know it has been two years since we have been in a position where we have come out of the race and thought ‘wow that was fantastic.’ All credit to them and I need to thank them for all the hard work over the difficult months and roll on the season. I am so excited about this year. It is amazing what you can achieve when you have the package and a team you can believe in. Q: What is going to be the big issue tomorrow - the tyres or the brakes even? JB: I have been struggling a little bit with both. The brakes are a little bit of an issue here as it is quite bumpy. I have had a few issues with the pedal going long, but it will be fine, I can cope with it. The tyres are obviously pretty tough, especially in the cooler conditions and it is difficult to get the prime - I call them prime, the harder tyre working - and it is difficult to stop the softer tyre from graining. It is going to be very tough tomorrow and I think tyre management is going to be a big part of the race and that is something we have worked on with this car overnight to manage the tyres a bit better. Q: Rubens, you just must be so delighted especially as we might call you the veteran of the field? RB: Well, I feel younger than most of them. I think I have shown there is nothing that is veteran on myself. I speed up, I am always very excited and grateful to have a good car. It has been tough the last few seasons and so it is good to be back in a great car. Q: And confidence for the race? RB: Very. I was very confident I could get pole position. On the first two qualifiers it was very, very nice but for some reason I got this odd understeer that slowed me down in Q3. Beside that if anybody a month ago asked me ‘would you give $1,000 to be second in Melbourne’ I would have given a little bit more. I have got to be happy for sure. Q: And again your feelings about the difference in tyres? RB: Same. We experienced the same feelings during the Friday practice and during this morning, so it is going to be a good first few laps tomorrow plus it is going to be hard to judge when to push hard on the softer tyres as the grain is going to come and everyone is experiencing that and that is a little bit because the track is still not gripping up as much and 5 o’clock is not helping that much either as the temperature of the track is dropping, so everyone is sliding around that much, so there is a problem for everyone in that matter. Q: The track temperature at 5.45 pm according to the monitors was 30 degrees. What is the ideal temperature for those softer tyres? RB: Hotter. We needed some hotter temperatures. The tyres seemed to perform better in the 2 o’clock practice this afternoon, better than the evening one. Plus I think it is difficult. The visibility is incredibly difficult at 5 o’clock. It is such a change from the early testing from when you hit the track at 5 o’clock. The first lap feels odd because the shades, the tress and the sun is right in your face, so I think it is going to be a difficult race on that side to. Q: Sebastian, was that a factor yesterday when you went off? SV: No, it was my mistake. Yes, it was tricky as Rubens explained. For instance you go down the main straight and the sun is very low and you cannot see the white line when you exit the pits, so you just keep right and hope you are far enough right and the same when you go through turn three with the trees. It is quite tricky as you have a lot of shadows there. You try to get as close to the outside and to get a good run into turn three. Obviously I was a little bit too optimistic and went on the grass spun and unfortunately the engine switched off, so I could not continue yesterday. Overall I am a bit surprised by now that we managed to do so well in qualifying. We have been struggling yesterday, so we had anything but a good day. In the P1 session the failure and in the second practice I went off and also this morning we were trying to get some mileage as obviously here it is important to set up the car but also for a driver you need to get the rhythm and you need to feel the track and therefore we didn’t know what to expect. I was looking at more laps than the computer and looking at laps there than on the circuit. Obviously it seemed to help, so I think we can be very happy. It has been a tough winter but I think we have put a good car on the track and it seems to work. Q: Were you surprised how close the times were, particularly in Q2? SV: Yes, I was, but we expected it. Coming from the winter, we all came here and two days ago I sat here and we all said ‘we don’t know who is going to be in front.’ Probably Brawn will be there but other than that, it’s difficult to predict anything. It’s obviously good that we are the power after Brawn right now but we have to keep our feet on the ground, it’s a long, long season and there’s still a long way to go here. Of course, starting in P3 on the second row is good for us but we get the points tomorrow, so the most important day is tomorrow. Q: Is reliability a worry? SV: Shouldn’t be. I think we came here and (thought) we had sorted everything out and then we were surprised by two or three minor things and we were a bit unlucky. In the first session we had to stop the car as a precaution and unfortunately I stopped some 200 metres too late otherwise they could have brought the car back but that’s the problem when you have a lake in between the two sides of the circuit but I think we should be fine. QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR Q: (Paulo Ianieri - La Gazzetta dello Sport) Jenson, you said that you were surprised by how close the others were which means that you were pretty sure it was going to be between you and Rubens. JB: You always hope that but just looking at testing, I expected the pace to be reasonably good and it was. I don’t think I expected it to be bigger but always when there’s a car which is only two tenths behind you think that’s close. But no, I don’t think I really expected us to be much quicker. Yeah, it seemed like there were a lot of cars which were setting the same sort of pace and that’s what surprised me more than anything else. There were four or five cars sitting on the same lap time and that was only two tenths behind me. Q: (James Allen - Financial Times) Rubens, last time we had a car as dominant as this was the 2004 Ferrari which you also drove. How would you compare this situation to that one in terms of how you think you will be able to keep your nose in front as the year goes on? And also, do you think that Malaysia will be an even better circuit for this car? RB: It’s a good question. I think that the dominant time that we had at Ferrari, we probably had 20,000 kilometres before coming into the first race. This is very, very different. I had three tests. I have been in the gym every day but even saying that, I don’t think we are physically prepared to go flat out from the beginning of the race, just because (driving) the car gives you what you need, neck muscles and things and like that. So three days were very, very good and they prepared us very well, but I’m just saying that compared to those times, it’s very, very different. This car is a wonderful car to drive, well balanced and looking after its tyres, so we have everything that we need to carry on. I was very glad to see Virgin signing with us this morning because it means that we have the attitude in the team to carry on, because that could have been a problem during the year and right now I hope that we have the good guys at home and we just need some more money to develop the car. I think this car will be very, very good for the first four races but we definitely need to have things coming through to keep on going. Q: (Dan Knutson - National Speed Sport News) I have already asked Jenson this question in Thursday’s press conference, so this is to Rubens and Sebastian. With all the rule changes this year, do you think we will see more overtaking, not only in tomorrow’s race but throughout the season? RB: I think so, I think that there are some teams with KERS and some others without it, so you’re going to see some overtaking because of that. You might see more overtaking on a proper track, you will see overtaking on this road circuit but it’s because of people making mistakes. You always do see overtaking here in Melbourne anyway, with the visibility being a problem and so on, I think the race is going to be quite a good one. Plus, the wings help. They don’t fix the problem but the moveable wings help, so that could help overtaking too. SV: I know I’m small but I was also in Thursday’s press conference, next to Jenson! RB: That was the best answer so far! SV: You’d better be quiet, you’re even smaller! RB: No, no, your answer was the best answer so far. - I gave him a compliment - f***g German! (laughter) SV: But to come to Australia, I think it’s a very difficult circuit to overtake on, so it will be interesting tomorrow, but I think it still remains difficult. Q: (Mark Fogarty - Auto Action) Jenson and Rubens, you’re both veterans of Formula One, so on the evidence so far, how extraordinary is the performance of this car and the team, and in the circumstances, does it almost defy belief? JB: I don’t know about belief, but I think you’d have to say that the positive for us was that when we drove the car out in Barcelona for the first time, we had a good idea of where we needed to be with the car mechanically, aero-wise, and we needed that because we’ve only had six or seven days in the car – whatever it is. The good thing about this team is, when they have a car and they produce the car, the first day in the car you are almost finding the limits of the car and that’s great and that’s what you need when you go testing. Obviously we’ve had to work with cars that have not been so competitive in the past but I think we’ve proved with this car that it’s good out of the box. Also I think that having had two very difficult seasons you start to think about the little things and you need to work on every single area to make that difference to the cars in front, whereas I think that when you’re at the front, you might forget about some of those little details and concentrate on the bigger picture. So for us, I think that coming here with a competitive car is hopefully the start of a good season but we also know that there are some areas in which we need to improve the car still, but the good thing is that we will put time and effort into improving the car in the areas that are maybe smaller than others. RB: As far as I’m concerned, I’ve had the holidays of my life since ’93. I never have had any holidays at all, it was a month at home and then back to work. It was horrible to just sit there and wait for the news, so basically to be here and to drive a wonderful car as it is, is fantastic, but having said that, as a human being you just want more. After I drove the car for the first time and I said it’s good, you just want more. Basically, you want to get qualifying done and you want to win races and so on, so I think we have a good package, especially for the first four races where we have the pace and people are talking about ourselves and they see that we are fast. It’s just good to conquer, it’s really good to go there and score points and possible wins plus I think the last two seasons have taught us a lot, myself and Jenson. It’s been horrible driving a bad car but it’s the horrible times that teach you to be better and I think we need to use this as the right time right now. Q: (Juha Paatalo - Financial Times Germany) The best car running KERS is in P7 now. Are you surprised by that or do you have an explanation why it is like that here in Melbourne? JB: The question is where would they be without KERS? We don’t know the answer to that one. Who is seventh? I don’t know. We haven’t got KERS for the obvious reasons. You can say that we can’t afford it, that we can’t afford to develop it at the moment, so we don’t have the system which works well for us, but from what I’ve heard, people who are running KERS think that there is an advantage of two to three tenths on the circuits that have long straights. This circuit doesn’t have long straights and maybe when we get to a circuit like Malaysia we will see that they have a little bit more of an advantage than the cars not running KERS but we obviously have to wait and see for that. RB: I don’t know what to expect. I don’t think it’s as simple as pushing a button and seeing three tenths everywhere with the same balance that we have. I think it has implications and that there’s a good and a bad side. |
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The Force India and Toro Rosso line-ups on failing to make it through to Q2; McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton on starting his first race as reigning world champion from 15th on the grid; and Jenson Button on toppling the titans to take pole. All ten teams and 20 drivers report back on Saturday’s action&ldots; Brawn GP-Mercedes Jenson Button (1st, 1:26.202): "To put the car on pole at our debut race is a fantastic achievement and I have to give so much credit to Ross, Nick and everyone at the factory in Brackley. The last four months have been incredibly tough for the team and to go from a situation where you don't even know if you are going to be racing to achieving pole at the first race of the season is just incredible. Tomorrow is obviously the most important day of the weekend and there is a lot of work to be achieved to come away with a successful result however we have to remember where we have been and really enjoy this moment." Rubens Barrichello (2nd, 1:26.505): "It has been a great day and I want to congratulate the team for an outstanding job. I was hoping that I could put the car on pole and it was looking good in the first two sessions but in Q3 I developed some understeer in the car which comprised my final runs. However the first row for both cars is a real credit to the team and gives us a great chance in the race tomorrow. We have a really good car which everyone deserves credit for and I am just so happy to be racing at the front again." Ross Brawn, Team Principal: "Watching our two cars top the timesheets throughout qualifying capped an excellent day for the team which began with the announcement of our new partnership with Virgin this afternoon. The track conditions were more favourable than we experienced yesterday and we found that the tyres worked in a more conventional way. In addition, the changes that we had made following yesterday's practice sessions proved positive and both drivers had a well-balanced car which allowed them to concentrate on maximising the lap times. Whilst this is a great achievement and gives both drivers an excellent opportunity in the race tomorrow, the job is only half done and our full focus is now on getting the best result possible in the race. I would like to pay credit to Jenson, Rubens and the whole team, both here and at our factory, for their achievement today and to Mercedes-Benz for their invaluable support over the past few months." Ferrari Felipe Massa (7th, 1:27.033): "We reckoned it would be possible but very difficult to get into the top five and this turned out to be the case: we ended up seventh, which is definitely not very satisfying but it represents the best we could do this afternoon. Now we must concentrate on tomorrow's race, which will be extremely tough. The first round of the season here in Australia is always a step into the unknown, especially as the track is slippery and accidents are a strong possibility. We will try to get to the finish and to pick up as many points as possible." Kimi Raikkonen (9th, 1:27.163): "This morning, a hydraulic problem meant I pretty much missed out on the third free practice session: a shame, but better that this should happen on Saturday than Sunday. The car was far from ideal for qualifying but I think we are in pretty good shape for the race. A points finish is possible even if we could have been further up the grid. From what we have seen today, clearly we lack a bit of performance compared to the quickest guys, but the race will be very long and we will see what we can manage to do." Stefano Domenicali, Team Principal: "We cannot be happy with this result. We knew that, apart from one team that today seems to be out of reach of the rest, in terms of pure performance, there were various teams that could aspire to being near the front of the grid. Today, we had confirmation of what was said in the winter, that the performance difference between a large group of cars is minimal and the slightest drop off and you will finish down the order. That's what happened today, particularly in Q3, where we did not live up to our potential. We have to work out why that happened and at the same time, prepare as well as possible for a race that is bound to be very difficult and uncertain." Luca Baldisserri, Head of Trackside Operations: "We need to work out why, in Q3, we didn't manage to go as well as in Q2, while allowing for the amount of fuel we had on board. Tomorrow the race will definitely be very difficult. We will have to make the most of any opportunities, beginning with the start. Actually, on the grid, we are the highest placed cars running KERS, an element that might allow us to make up some places. Then we have to bear in mind that, on this track, the Safety Car usually plays a part and so anything could happen. Reliability will be key. This morning, we had a hydraulic problem on Kimi's car which saw him stop out on track at the start of FP3 and clearly that was not the best way to prepare for qualifying. We must pay close attention to every detail and try and get the cars to the finish line, with the aim of picking up points." Red Bull Sebastian Vettel (3rd, Q3 - 1m 26.830s): "It’s been a difficult two days leading up to qualifying. I only had the pleasure of completing one lap in the first practice, then I made a mistake in the second, which meant we couldn’t run through our programme. Then we had a failure this morning, which cost us some track time, so it’s been anything but ideal! "Nevertheless, I think we pulled everything together; we’ve been looking deeply at the data and trying to prepare well for qualifying. I think we succeeded, so thanks to everyone. We had a tough winter and I’ve been surprised how close the feeling in the car is to last year. With all the regulation changes it’s impressive what all the people have done - it’s very tight at the front of the grid and all through the midfield. At times we have even wondered if we would make it to Q2, so now we are third on the second row of the grid, I’m looking forward to tomorrow. This is for sure a good starting point.” Mark Webber (10th, Q3 - 1m 27.246s): “I’m not rapped with my last lap. My previous flying laps had gone well, so I would have liked a better result, but that’s where we are so we’ll try to make something from the race. The bumps were quite bad in Turn Nine on the final run. The team’s done a good job and we’ve worked well through our programme over the winter. It’s a shame I didn’t get the best time in qualifying, but we’ll see how we go from there tomorrow.” Christian Horner, team principal "It was a great team effort today and we have two cars in the top ten. After losing some track time this morning, Sebastian has done a great job. Third is a fantastic place to start the first Grand Prix and he’s the nearest car to the super-quick Brawns. I think we can enjoy a good race tomorrow. After all that Mark has been through in the last few months, recovering from a broken leg, I think he put in an excellent performance today. A small mistake on his final lap in such a tight grid cost him several positions, but I’m sure he will have a strong race tomorrow.” Toyota Timo Glock (6th, Q3 - 1m 26.975s): "We struggled a bit in second and third practice to find the right balance but we worked hard to find a solution and we did some set-up work which got the car into the right set-up window. I think with a bit more fine-tuning maybe we could have been further up the grid - we were only a tenth behind the top three so it could have been better but I am quite positive about the result. The car feels pretty good now and we are clearly not far away so let's see how it goes tomorrow in terms of strategy. I am pretty happy and reasonably confident." Jarno Trulli (8th, Q3 - 1m 27.127s): "That was a really hard qualifying for me. I expected a lot more from today so I am disappointed. Of course I will fight as hard as I can in the race but I don't know what to expect because the car felt different in qualifying compared to final practice. I don't know why but the tyres just would not warm up as expected and I was sliding around quite a bit. On top of that I had some issues with the brakes so it was really difficult for me." Pascal Vasselon, senior general manager chassis: "Overall the result is quite disappointing because we were hoping for more from qualifying today. We expected to be further up the grid but of course strategy plays a part in Q3 so we cannot forget that factor. It was easy to predict which tyres to use in qualifying because the super soft compound was clearly preferable but for the race it is a different matter. Tyre choice is a bigger challenge for the race and we have time now to look at the situation." BMW Sauber Robert Kubica (4th, Q3 - 1m 26.914s): “I'm quite happy with fourth on the grid. Looking at the first practice sessions of the weekend, this was more than we expected. We made progress with the car, and I was able to put in some really good laps. In particular, my lap in Q2 was very good. Unfortunately on my second run in Q3 Nico Rosberg went wide in front of me in corner 14 and put some dust on the track. As a consequence my tyres lost massive grip in the final corners of that lap. Most probably I could have finished third, but still I'm satisfied with my performance." Nick Heidfeld (11th, Q2 - 1m 25.504s): "We have been improving the car in every session and in qualifying it was okay. Also my final lap in Q2 was okay until the last sector where I just didn't get it right, and especially in the last corner I had too much oversteer. Eleventh is certainly not what I was aiming for after the winter tests were quite promising, but at least it is an advantage compared to tenth because I am now free to choose my fuel load. I am hoping for a good race and some points. Using the KERS might be a small advantage just after the start, although here the straight before the first corner isn't really long." Mario Theissen, BMW Motorsport director): "Robert had a fantastic qualifying and was up with the front-runners with both low and heavy fuel loads on his car. His fourth on the grid is more than we could have expected after the free practice sessions. Unfortunately Nick missed Q3 by a small margin. However, this gives us more opportunities for the race strategy, because from eleventh on the grid you are free to choose the amount of fuel for the race. Both cars ran without any technical problems. On top of this, our new pit crew did a great job." Willy Rampf, head of engineering "Finally the first qualifying of 2009 is behind us and we have got an idea where everybody stands. In Q2, when everybody runs with a very low fuel level, Robert was among the fastest. This is very pleasing after the free practice results weren't that promising. Nick on the other hand didn't really get it right in Q2, and just missed the top ten qualifying. For tomorrow we expect similar track conditions and are looking forward to a very exciting race." McLaren Heikki Kovalainen (14th, Q2 - 1m 25.726s): “The car’s overall balance was good, we just don’t have enough grip at the moment to make the best use of it. The team has worked so hard, and we have made progress over the past few weeks so it gives us all a lot of hope that we will get back to the front before too long.” Lewis Hamilton (15th, Q2 - no time): “I just lost all drive in the gearbox and couldn’t continue. The team will look at the problem tonight and I’m determined to drive an attacking race - we’ll have some fun from 15th tomorrow. My congratulations to Jenson (Button) and everyone at Brawn GP - they have done a fantastic job all weekend and have a lot to look forward to tomorrow.” Martin Whitmarsh, team principal: “A gearbox problem for Lewis in Q1 - probably a broken dog ring but we'll have to investigate it to know for sure - prevented him from setting as quick a time as he might otherwise have been able to, but at least he got through to Q2 even if he was unable to take part in it. Heikki's first quick lap in Q2 was solid - but his next fast lap was quicker in sectors one and two but unfortunately not quicker in sector three. He therefore missed out on getting through to Q3 - by less than half a second. “Both drivers did a good job, though, in circumstances that were difficult for us all. The reality is that we’ve made progress in the past couple of weeks, but clearly not enough. There’s more to come, though, and everyone at Woking, Brixworth and Stuttgart is working as hard as they can to turn things around in the shortest time possible.” Norbert Haug, vice-president Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: “Heikki did a solid job and made best use of the pace offered by the car. It’s a shame that Lewis suffered a gearbox problem, which should not happen when he was on his best lap so far - there was not such a problem during more than 7000 km of testing. Our speed was obviously not great, however Kimi (Raikkonen) and Nick (Heidfeld) - who were also both running KERS - were respectively 0.35s and 0.25s ahead of us, and Fernando (Alonso) is not more than 0.15s away. But of course, we have to continue to improve dramatically. Congratulations to Brawn GP for a superb debut. We are especially happy that our Mercedes-Benz engine powers the whole front row.” Toro Rosso Sebastien Buemi (16th, Q1 - 1m 26.503s): “I have to say I found the pace at which qualifying happens rather quick! You go out, you come back, you change tyres, you go out again. You need to stay relaxed. I think we did quite a good job with what we had and missed out on Q2 by half a tenth. I am quite happy, as these days have been something of a test session for us and we improved the car quite a lot from yesterday morning through to now. I have taken confidence from what I have done so far and feel I am going to be capable of doing this job, even if I am quite young. The visibility in the sunshine was a bit better than yesterday, but we have to get used to it.” Sebastien Bourdais (20th, Q1 - 1m 26.964s): “It was closer than expected to getting to Q2 from a team point of view as Seb just missed out on 15th place to the McLaren by a fraction. My car wasn’t too bad: on my second run I made a slight mistake and on my third, unfortunately my out lap was too slow and I did not get the tyres up to temperature. But it’s encouraging, as the Red Bull car is going well and we are not as far off the pace as I had expected. We have made good progress in terms of understanding the car. Starting last, it will be a tough race, but I will attack as much as I can and hope the race is as eventful as last year.” Force India Giancarlo Fisichella (18th, Q1 - 1m 26.677s): “We knew that it would be difficult today, but considering what we have done so far this year, with the limited pre-season testing, being just two tenths slower than the 2008 world champion is a good result. Being so close shows it's already a very challenging season. I had a good lap and I am happy as I have been struggling a bit with the brakes and locking all weekend and I'm not driving as I want. But all this considered, there is really good potential in this car so we are looking forward to working it through. For tomorrow, first of all we need to get to the end of the race - that's the main goal and then we'll see.” Adrian Sutil (19th, Q1 - 1m 26.742s): “For sure we were hoping after yesterday's performance to be able to make it into Q2 but in the end it was not possible. Things looked better in practice but perhaps the others were not showing all their potential. We know we have plenty to work on, our main problem is that we need a lot more downforce. My main goal now will be to make it to the end of the race tomorrow and then let's see where we are. It's even tighter than last year.” Dominic Harlow, chief race engineer: “That was a very tight session - it seems the field is even closer than last year. Unfortunately it was not the outcome we'd hoped for as both drivers narrowly missed out on Q2. The drivers and engineers got close to getting the best they could from the car this weekend. We need a bit more development to really challenge, but given how our programme started late, we've made enormous progress already and we know that there is plenty in the pipeline. The race is going to be a good one, and it will be interesting to see the strategies that are adopted now that all the teams must commit to a race start fuel load just two hours after confirming their grid position.” Renault Fernando Alonso (12th, 1:25.605): "We arrived here to fight for the podium, but this might not be the case tomorrow. We were very close to Q3 times, only two or three tenths of a second off, but I made a mistake as I tried to make up some time in the final corner. I'm disappointed as I thought I could be 5th or 6th on the grid. However, last year I started in 12th and got up to 4th in the race so I'm still confident that tomorrow, if we have an eventful race, I can get a good result." Nelson Piquet (17th, 1:26.598): "I knew it was going to be a bit tough today, after a difficult weekend for us. At the start of qualifying the car seemed okay, but then I started to struggle. This track is not one I enjoy particularly. I was pushing a little too hard and made a mistake in the last sector." Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering: "They were quite good today with reasonably high temperatures despite the fact that qualifying took place late in the day. That did not give us any problems. We are obviously disappointed, but the performance of all the cars is very close and ourposition in qualifying doesn't necessarily reflect where we will finish in the race. Our positions on the grid will certainly require us to use quite a conventional strategy as will be shown tomorrow by the fuel loads that we choose. I think that we're not too far from the teams that we should be fighting and we hope that our KERS system will bring us a genuine advantage during race conditions tomorrow." Williams-Toyota Nico Rosberg (5th, 1:26.973): "I think it is a good thing to be a bit disappointed with fifth place! Our qualifying session itself was consistent with everything else I have experienced so far and the car has been nice to drive all weekend. From the work we have done today, we are in a good position to start the race, perhaps better than we would have imagined when we arrived here. We are among the fastest cars but it will be interesting to see what fuel load everybody is running. The start tomorrow of course will be important, but thankfully we will don't have too many cars running KERS close by us and possibly challenging us off the line. The big factor tomorrow will be tyres, but I think we have a good strategy and positive reliability, so we have all the tools to do a good job in the race." Kazuki Nakajima (13th, 1:25.607): "The car was good enough to make it into Q3 today, but I made a small mistake and it cost me quite a few places. There is however plenty to consider tomorrow and I think I still have a good opportunity, so it will be important to concentrate and get absolutely everything right. As it the first race I think there will be plenty going on, which will make it exciting, but challenging." Sam Michael, Technical Director: "We have had a solid start to our preparations for tomorrow's race. Both cars have performed reliably and we have managed to find a reasonable pace. Nico used this to best advantage today, but an error in Q2 meant that Kazuki was not able to progress into the top ten." |
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Brawn GP is delighted to confirm that the team has agreed a partnership agreement with Sir Richard Branson and the Virgin Group on the team’s debut race weekend at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. The partnership brings together the world championship winning experience of Ross Brawn and the technical expertise of the Brawn GP team with the marketing and business skills of Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group. This is Virgin’s first foray into the world of Formula One and the first step in what is anticipated to be a broader relationship between the two. The Brawn GP team’s BGP 001 car will take to the track at Albert Park later this afternoon in qualifying for tomorrow’s Australian Grand Prix featuring Virgin branding. Ross Brawn, Team Principal of Brawn GP commented; “On behalf of the Brawn GP team, we are delighted to have signed a partnership agreement with Sir Richard and Virgin in Melbourne today. An exciting debut race weekend for our team has become even more important as we have secured our second commercial agreement of the season. We look forward to working closely with the Virgin Group and sharing our on-track successes.” Sir Richard Branson said; “I have always said I would love for Virgin to be involved in Formula One and I am thrilled that we will be entering this fantastic sport with people as skilled as Ross Brawn and the Brawn GP team. Over the years Virgin has had the great honour of partnering with technical geniuses and I truly believe that Ross Brawn is to F1 what Burt Ratan is to space travel with Virgin Galactic. We are confident that the Virgin BGP 001 car driven by Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello will go from strength to strength this season and we look forward to a great future working with the Brawn GP team.”
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Brawn GP is pleased to confirm its first new commercial partnership of the 2009 Formula One season with the announcement of an agreement with British clothing manufacturer Henri Lloyd as Official Supplier of Clothing and Footwear Technology. Henri Lloyd is widely regarded as one of the market leaders in technical sailing and lifestyle apparel, and has pioneered the development of fabrics, garment design and product development for over 45 years. The company’s extensive knowledge and experience of innovative fabric technology has been applied to Brawn GP’s team clothing for the 2009 season to create a uniform able to adapt to the various climatic environments which the team will encounter at the seventeen races on the Grand Prix calendar. Founded and based in Manchester, England, Henri Lloyd is extremely proud of its British heritage and delighted to be supporting the Brackley based British team, using the shared values of innovation and performance to continue its product development ambitions in the unique environment of Formula One. In addition to providing Brawn GP’s team and travel clothing plus the team’s official merchandise range, the Henri Lloyd brand will appear on the BGP 001 car throughout the 2009 Formula One season. Ross Brawn, Team Principal of Brawn GP commented: “We are delighted to welcome Henri Lloyd to Formula One and to the Brawn GP team. We are particularly proud to begin our association with a company which prides itself on innovation and design and we will be working hard with Henri Lloyd to produce clothing which provides the highest levels of fabric technology for our demanding working environment. The Brawn GP team has faced a race against time to complete our preparations for the first race of the season in Melbourne and we would like to thank Henri Lloyd for sharing our vision for the future of the team and their commitment in ensuring that the team’s identity will be so well reflected in our team clothing and merchandise this year.” Paul Strzelecki, Joint Chief Executive of Henri Lloyd said; “We are thrilled to announce our official partnership with Brawn GP, a team that reflects our proud British heritage and development of product innovation and technology. We are very excited about our future together and wish the team every success for the 2009 season.” |