AUSTRALIAN GP: QUALIFYING

ING AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX 2009 

27-29^th March, 2009

 

SATURDAY QUALIFYING 

28^TH MARCH 2009

 

MEL"BRAWN" BUTTONED

JENSON, RUBENS START IN STYLE

 

MELBOURNE: Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello must be thanking their lucky stars. The two veteran drivers, who until a few weeks ago were uncertain about their Formula One careers, let alone a drive in 2009 season, claimed the top two spots in the season opening Australian Grand Prix qualifying. Driving the brand new Brawn GP, the two drivers clocked best times of 1:26.202 and 1:26.505 respectively, thus making them the first team since 1954 to take pole on Debut. Sebastian Vettel in Red Bull Racing will start third with a fastest lap of 1:26.830

 

Earlier during the qualifying, Button and Barrichello traded flying laps throughout the sessions, eventually lodging themselves at the front of the grid. Vettel will share second row with Robert Kubica in BMW, who came in fourth fastest with a lap time of 1:26.914. Williams driver Nico Rosberg, who topped the charts in Friday Free Practice sessions, could only manage sixth ahead of Timo Glock in Toyota.

The big guns failed to fire with Felipe Massa in Ferrari coming in at seventh. The Brazilian driver managed a time of 1:27.033, almost a second slower than the pole sitting Brawn GP car. Meanwhile, his team mate Kimi Raikkonen came in 9^th fastest and will be starting tomorrow’s race alongside Red Bull’s Mark Webber who clocked in 10^th fastest. Interestingly, the Ferraris are the only two cars in the top ten using KERS. Jarno Trulli’s Toyota splits the two Ferrari in 8^th position on the grid.

 

The biggest disappointment came in the form of reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton. The Briton will be starting from the end of the grid after a gearbox failure in his McLaren prevented him from taking part in the second qualifying session. He barely managed to scrape through the first session coming in at 15^th, but the changed gearbox will cost him five places on the grid.  

The other McLaren of Heikki Kovalainen could not get past the second qualifying and will be starting 14^th alongside Kazuki Nakajima in Williams.

 

Renaults of Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet Jr failed to deliver and they start 12^th and 16^th respectively. The Force India cars showed promise earlier during the first session but failed to make it past the first quarter. Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil will be starting tomorrow’s race in 17^th and 18^th positions respectively. 

 

Debutant Sebastien Buemi in Toro Rosso will start 15^th ahead of team mate Sebastien Bourdais who takes his place on the last row of the grid at 19^th.

 

If the first race is any indicator of the season ahead, die hard Formula One fans can expect plenty of action and drama unfolding as it progresses.

 

1. Jenson Button Britain Brawn-Mercedes 1m 26.202s

2. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Brawn-Mercedes 1m 26.505s

3. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 1m 26.830s

4. Robert Kubica Poland BMW Sauber 1m 26.914s

5. Nico Rosberg Germany Williams-Toyota 1m 26.973s

6. Timo Glock Germany Toyota-Toyota 1m 26.975s

7. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 27.033s

8. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota-Toyota 1m 27.127s

9. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 27.163s

10. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 1m 27.246s

11. Nick Heidfeld Germany BMW Sauber 1m 25.504s

12. Fernando Alonso Spain Renault-Renault 1m 25.605s

13. Kazuki Nakajima Japan Williams-Toyota 1m 25.607s

14. Heikki Kovalainen Finland McLaren-Mercedes 1m 25.726s

15. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes no time Q2

16. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 26.503s

17. Nelson Piquet Jr Brazil Renault-Renault 1m 26.598s

18. Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Force India-Mercedes 1m 26.677s

19. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes 1m 26.742s

20. Sebastien Bourdais France Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 26.964s