Free Practice 1: Brawn GP maximizes its chances by leading the session

These are the two Brawn GP drivers with Rubens Barrichello ahead of Jenson Button who were the fastest in this first test session on the Singapore street circuit. As night falls, they lead Mark Webber in the Red Bull and Fernando Alonso with the first R29.

This session was marked by a red flag that remained active for about ten minutes. It was caused by the French driver Romain Grosjean, who hit one of the many walls on the track.

Rubens Barrichello therefore beat his Brawn GP teammate by 177 milliseconds (1:50.179 against 1:50.356). The Brazilian overtook Button only at the end of the session because the Englishman was the dominant force in these first tests. Their closest rivals, Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel for the Red Bull team, took third and fifth places, rather encouraging results as Fernando Alonso’s Renault was placed between the two drivers.

The session was therefore interrupted for ten minutes mid-session for a most comical situation! Indeed, a red flag was waved because Renault’s number 2 driver, Romain Grosjean, crashed at turn 17, where Nelson Piquet did the same last year. An accident that will remain etched in memory…

This incident has much fewer repercussions for the French constructor, as the rookie grazes the wall with the rear end and then, accelerating, veers to the other side of the road into the barriers. As a result, the front is the most affected. He is therefore last in this session with only 9 laps completed.

This stoppage occurred when Button got the better of Webber, and from that point, the championship leader remained in control until the final minutes of the session. Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren) briefly took the number one spot from Button during the practice session. The Finnish driver nearly lost control of his MP4/24 just one lap earlier, which would have resulted in an inevitable crash into the barriers. Nevertheless, he finished in sixth place.

But Button managed to assert his leadership, and it was only in the very last seconds that he lost a position in the standings with Barrichello taking the first place. The British driver even dropped to fifth place before achieving the second-fastest time just before the checkered flag was waved to signal the end of this first session.

Webber is therefore third, despite a small detour on a runoff area ahead of Alonso, Vettel, and the two McLarens, as Lewis Hamilton ranks seventh. Robert Kubica (BMW), Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari), and Kazuki Nakajima (Williams) make it into the top 10. The Japanese driver leaves his teammate, Nico Rosberg, in 11th place.

The Force India drivers are far behind with only the 12th and 18th fastest times in the first session (Adrian Sutil ahead of Vitantonio Liuzzi). The Toyota drivers do not fare any better. Timo Glock and Jarno Trulli are 15th and 16th. Toro Rosso remains in the lower half of the table with Sébastien Buemi in 13th and Jaime Alguersuari in 19th. Nick Heidfeld (BMW) and Giancarlo Fisichella (Ferrari) disappoint in 14th and 17th position.

The few slight adjustments on the track with some tighter turns had a noticeable effect on lap times, with times five seconds slower than in the same session last year.

The crowd was, of course, present to admire the Formula 1 cars being tested under artificial lighting that was still somewhat dim. The testing session began an hour earlier than during the 2008 event, so night had not yet fully descended.

Free Practice 1 Results – Singapore GP – Friday, September 25, 2009: