Free Practice 1: Webber asserts his superiority, ahead of Barrichello

Mark Webber proved that the pace of Red Bull’s RB5 was still strong as the Australian topped the timesheets in the first free practice session of the Brazilian Grand Prix. He posted a series of fast laps at the very end of the session, making him the fastest driver at lunchtime in Sao Paulo.

Furthermore, the 90 minutes of testing were marked by a red flag. It was the Frenchman Romain Grosjean (Renault) who caused it after going off the track at turn 11. As for Kamui Kobayashi, he started his first race weekend driving the Toyota TF109.

Webber, who ultimately completed his best lap in 1:12.463, was very effective as he holds a four-tenths lead over Rubens Barrichello (Brawn GP). Sebastian Vettel takes third place ahead of Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton, both at McLaren-Mercedes. Kazuki Nakajima with his FW31 is in sixth place. The current championship leader, Jenson Button, is starting a weekend that could crown him world champion in two days in a calm manner. He is seventh and suffered from understeer on the Interlagos track.

The weather was threatening, but the rain wasn’t torrential, so the teams took the opportunity to rotate their drivers as much as possible. Once again, it was the Toro Rosso duo of Sébastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari who were the first to head out onto the track, setting the initial pace.

It didn’t take long for Kimi Räikkönen’s Ferrari to outperform both STR4s with an initial time of 1:14.021, five hundredths faster than Buemi. But it didn’t last because the track quickly gained rubber. Webber quickly asserted his superiority despite a big scare with Nakajima. The Australian narrowly avoided the Japanese driver.

The Red Bull driver was displaced from first place by Barrichello, but the light drizzle at the beginning of the session then turned into a somewhat heavier rain about 30 minutes after the start of the event. Fernando Alonso’s small detour onto the grass at the hairpin is proof that the track was truly slippery. Thus, the leading cars eased off while Vettel set a great time of 1:12.932. This was followed by a quiet period where teams and drivers patiently waited for the end of the shower.

Kovalainen was the first to go back on the attack of the clock as an hour of testing elapsed and the track dried quickly. Moments later, the session was interrupted by a red flag. Romain Grosjean went wide at turn 11 and destroyed an advertising board. The session was reopened with 22 minutes left, but it took some time for the drivers to find a decent rhythm. At T-15 minutes, Webber was the fastest with a time of 1:12.805, and a Red Bull one-two seemed possible.

But once again, the rain started to fall, making the track wet. Behind Nico Rosberg and Adrian Sutil, Räikkönen ultimately 10th, Alonso only 16th, and Barrichello got surprised and went straight on at Cotovelo. With his 13th time of the morning, Buemi narrowly avoids Vitantonio Liuzzi 17th for Force India.

Jarno Trulli (Toyota) and Nick Heidfeld (BMW) are 11th and 12th. The German’s teammate, Robert Kubica, is in 14th position ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella with the second F60. Kobayashi is 18th and Alguersuari 19th. Romain Grosjean ultimately finished 20th with his accident that had no impact on the R29.

Webber has improved again, as mentioned above, and Barrichello slots in between the two Red Bull drivers. Threatening clouds are accumulating more and more above Sao Paulo a few hours before the second practice session.

Free Practice 1 Results – Brazilian GP – Friday, October 16, 2009: