Saturday: Brawn GP is not shining with its lap times for the moment

Saturday was a difficult day for the Brawn GP team. Rubens Barrichello is the better positioned of the two men on the starting grid but will receive a 5-place penalty for changing his gearbox. Button, on the other hand, did not find the right pace due to an unresolvable understeer. This means that both Brawn GP cars will start outside the top 10 in Singapore. A difficult situation when both men are fighting for the drivers’ championship.

Barrichello is 5th but with his penalty will start 10th. He made a big mistake at the end of qualifying causing a red flag and canceling his good performances, leaving the pole to Hamilton. Button, for his part, did not pass Q2 and is in 12th place. Both men risk losing big against the Red Bull drivers today. The only ones still capable of overtaking them for the driver’s title…

Rubens Barrichello – 7th and 5th (10th):

« The qualifying session was full of twists and turns, but I still feel good, even though I’m starting from 10th place. Considering the events in qualifying, I think it’s a good result. I had a problem with the car after Q2 when I hit a kerb too hard. It probably damaged the car, and since then, I haven’t had enough grip. I still managed to get into Q3, and I knew I had to push while being careful with any potential damage. I was really going fast on my last lap, but unfortunately, the car spun at the rear and I hit the wall, then the front… It’s very unfortunate, but the car will be okay for the race! »

Jenson Button – 14th and 12th:

« It was a very frustrating qualifying session today. The car seemed really good in Q1 and was the second fastest, which is positive. We had a bit of understeering, so we made some changes for Q2. Unfortunately, the car was hard to drive afterward, and I lost time in several places, especially turn 7 where my left tire touched. I touched again further and that was it, my qualifying was over. We will try to do our best, but the race looks challenging… »

Ross Brawn – Director:

« It was a tough qualifying session for the team today in Singapore. Before qualifying, we decided to change Rubens Barrichello’s gearbox. The track puts a lot of strain on them, and it was better to change it; otherwise, it risked breaking as shown by the simulations… »

The two drivers managed to easily make it into Q2, but then we had problems with the balance of the car. Rubens was able to put in a good lap while Jenson was suffering from understeer, and despite some changes, we got him into Q3. Then there was Rubens’ accident in Q3 when we thought we would be more competitive. It’s definitely a bad day. We need to turn things around in the race!