[Mikko Nassi]

The second practice session is starting in a few minutes. Williams-Toyota set the pace in the first session of the year with Kimi close in 3rd.

Hamilton was off the pace but Kovalainen was on it, so McLaren should be ok.

BrawnGP proved so far that the pre-season testing wasn't just a sponsor search tactic, with both drivers in the top 6!

Code: Select all

Pos     No     Driver     Team    Time
1    16    Nico Rosberg    Williams-Toyota    1:26.687
2    17    Kazuki Nakajima    Williams-Toyota    1:26.736
3    4    Kimi Räikkönen    Ferrari    1:26.750
4    23    Rubens Barrichello    Brawn-Mercedes    1:27.226
5    2    Heikki Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes    1:27.453
6    22    Jenson Button    Brawn-Mercedes    1:27.467
7    3    Felipe Massa    Ferrari    1:27.642
8    10    Timo Glock    Toyota    1:27.710
9    20    Adrian Sutil    Force India-Mercedes    1:27.993
10    7    Fernando Alonso    Renault    1:28.123
11    6    Nick Heidfeld    BMW Sauber    1:28.137
12    9    Jarno Trulli    Toyota    1:28.142
13    5    Robert Kubica    BMW Sauber    1:28.511
14    21    Giancarlo Fisichella    Force India-Mercedes    1:28.603
15    12    Sebastien Buemi    STR-Ferrari    1:28.785
16    1    Lewis Hamilton    McLaren-Mercedes    1:29.042
17    14    Mark Webber    RBR-Renault    1:29.081
18    8    Nelsinho Piquet    Renault    1:29.461
19    11    Sebastien Bourdais    STR-Ferrari    1:29.499
20    15    Sebastian Vettel    RBR-Renault    1:32.784

[mlange]

Im thinking its a good possibility that the teams are running different configurations among either driver at this stage.

Qualifying will be interesting.

[kart3r]

funny how all the "diffuser" teams are fast.

i wonder if the other teams will copy or keep protesting?

[RocK]

keep protesting till copy diffuser is ready to use..

[JohnKing6]

Amazing - a team that didn't exist 5 weeks ago crushes the opposition in qualifying. No wonder they fought so hard to save the team - they knew how good the car was going to be. Honda must be sick!!!

[mlange]

Amazing - a team that didn't exist 5 weeks ago crushes the opposition in qualifying. No wonder they fought so hard to save the team - they knew how good the car was going to be. Honda must be sick!!!

a friend joked that after watching Qualifying, the CEO of Honda must have screamed, "who authorised their sale!!!"

[Mikko Nassi]

Having a look at the car weights declared for the race (and for the top 10 in qual what they had during the 3rd session):

Code: Select all

Pos. Driver                  Car weight
1.  Jenson Button           664.5kg
2.  Rubens Barrichello      666.5kg
3.  Sebastien Vettel        657kg
4.  Robert Kubica           650kg
5.  Nico Rosberg            657kg
6.  Felipe Massa            654kg
7.  Kimi Raikkonen          655.5kg
8.  Mark Webber             662kg
9.  Nick Heidfeld           691.5kg
10.  Fernando Alonso         680.7kg
11.  Kazuki Nakajima         685.3kg
12.  Heikki Kovalainen       690.6kg
13.  Sebastien Buemi         675.5kg
14.  Nelson Piquet           694.1kg
15.  Giancarlo Fisichella    689kg
16.  Adrian Sutil            684.5kg
17.  Sebastien Bourdais      662.5kg
18.  Lewis Hamilton          655kg
19.  Jarno Trulli            660kg
20.  Timo Glock              670kg

Honda.. sorry Brawn GP's performance is even more impressive!

Their cars also actually looked stable with some fuel in them. All the other drivers looked like they were really struggling in Q3.

Race pace isn't clear yet, but it would be foolish to put a lot of $$ on a non-BrawnGP 1-2.

Looks like it'll be a real interesting season.

[Jules]

If I was Brawn - I would have cried shamelessly on the pitwall as soon as the car went past the line.

Such race finish are the sort of things that make F1 interesting; on track - not in court!

Well done Toyota too and yes, Honda must be commiting hara-kiri now......

[RocK]

If I was Brawn - I would have cried shamelessly on the pitwall as soon as the car went past the line.

lucky youre not Brawn..