Free Practice 1: Button and Brawn GP Lead the Way!

A new race weekend begins and Jenson Button in the Brawn GP is already at the top of the leaderboard. The Brit sets the fastest time in the first free practice session of the Spanish Grand Prix, the first race of the season in Europe. Behind him are Jarno Trulli, still impressive at the wheel of his Toyota TF109, and the two BMW drivers, each benefiting from a new aerodynamic package on their F1.09.

Jenson Button confirms that he will be difficult to beat once again this weekend, despite the progress of some teams. He finishes at the top of this session with a comfortable margin and a time of 1:21.799. He is the only one who managed to go below the minute and 22-second mark.

Jarno Trulli is 0.355 seconds behind while Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld are third and fourth respectively for the BMW-Sauber team.

With the multitude of updates to test on the cars at the back or front of the field, the teams once again made themselves scarce on this rather dusty Barcelona circuit. After their installation lap, each driver returned to the garage. Half an hour later, it was Sébastien Bourdais for Toro Rosso who was the first to go out on track.

The Frenchman quickly lost the lead to the two Toyota drivers, who made the unusual decision to start the morning tests with soft tires. Trulli and Glock exchanged the top spot but were then beaten by Felipe Massa (Ferrari), using his hard tires. It was then halfway through the session.

Button started slowly with only a 17th place at the beginning, before becoming the fifth fastest man and then beating Massa by 0.200 seconds with only 33 minutes remaining.

Massa was not able to match the pace of the Englishman as his revised Ferrari required special attention with a slight front wing problem, quickly resolved.

As the session draws to a close, Trulli, still on soft tires, temporarily restores Toyota’s superiority with a series of fast laps. The best one puts him in first place with a 0.389-second lead over Button. The latter responds at the last minute with new hard tires, clocking a time of 1:21.799, as we know he can.

Trulli delivers a great performance by staying in second place despite the comeback of the two BMW drivers. Kubica and Heidfeld make a good leap in the standings with the soft tires to reach the top 4.

Nico Rosberg from Williams is fifth and his teammate, Kazuki Nakajima, is sixth. The latter went straight into the grass at turn 14 at the beginning of the session.

Nelson Piquet stated yesterday that Renault would give him a lighter fuel load for his tests in order to help him improve his qualifying session. This seems to pay off as he was often in the top 5 during this session but ultimately finishes seventh, ten places ahead of his teammate, Fernando Alonso.

Glock drops to eighth position after a trip through the gravel at turn 4 which spoiled his final lap. Massa and Rubens Barrichello with his BGP001 complete the top ten, Kimi Räikkönen is 11th for Ferrari.

The Red Bull drivers are ranked 12th and 13th, with Webber ahead of Vettel. The Australian went wide on the famous chicane at the Circuit de Catalunya. Sebastian Vettel was the fastest in all sectors but couldn’t maintain his pace on the last lap, going off track earlier at turn 4.

McLaren, Force India, and Toro Rosso are the lowest ranked. Lewis Hamilton is 14th ahead of Bourdais and Giancarlo Fisichella. Behind Alonso, we find Sébastien Buemi, Heikki Kovalainen, who suffered a mechanical problem at the end of the session, and Adrian Sutil.

Free Practice 1 Results – Barcelona – Friday, May 8, 2009: