Qualifying for the opening round of the 2009 Formula One championship brought its fair share of highs and lows but it was a sensational day for the new Brawn Mercedes team with Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello claiming the front row in style in the impressive Mercedes-powered BGP 001.As ever in qualifying it came down to the very final hot lap of the ten minute pole shoot-out with Barrichello claiming the provisional pole on a 1:26.505s best before Button flashed across the line seconds later to claim his fourth career pole on a 1:26.202.
The Brawn GP team head into their first race with the possibility of replicating the antics of Walter Wold in the 1970s and recording a debut Grand Prix victory.
While Brawn squad celebrate their qualifying success, there will be big smiles in the Red Bull Renault camp as Sebastian Vettel recovered from a troubled time in practice to claim third position on the grid for the Australian Grand Prix.
While Vettel had a good run, team-mate and home town hero Mark Webber will be disappointed to line up in tenth position in the second RB5 after showing very good pace ahead of the final qualifying shoot-out.
BMW Sauber has opted to split their strategy between Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld this weekend with the former running without the new KERS technology. Kubica lines up an impressive fourth in his F1.09 while Heidfeld will be disappointed to start 11th.
Nico Rosberg dominated ahead of qualifying in the Williams Toyota but will have to be satisfied with fifth position on the grid. Such is the pace of the FW31 package in Melbourne, the fact that fifth is a minor disappointment, shows how much progress the team has made in the off-season. Kazuki Nakajima starts 13th in the second Williams after failing to get in a good lap in the second round of qualifying.
Toyota had been expected to challenge for the pole position with the super-fast TF109 but Timo Glock and Jarno Trulli start sixth and eighth after lapping roughly a second off the pace of Button. Until we know the fuel levels, this may or may not be a significant point.
Felipe Massa ran well in practice in his Ferrari, recording the fourth fastest time, but in qualifying saw the Italian team struggle a little for pace with the Brazilian splitting the Toyota duo to start seventh. Team-mate Kimi Raikkonen recovered well after missing most of the final practice session when his F60 developed a hydraulic problem and starts ninth ahead of Webber’s Red Bull.
Renault showed very little pace in practice and that form continued to a degree into qualifying this afternoon. Former champion Fernando Alonso and team-mate Nelson Piquet do have KERS on board the R29 this weekend but a small error from the Spaniard on his final run left him 12th while Piquet, who has struggled all weekend, could do no better than 17th.
Lewis Hamilton won the Australian Grand Prix last year, but the new KERS equipped McLaren Mercedes MP4-24 has had a difficult start to its life and generally suffers from a lack of downforce. Both Heikki Kovalainen and Hamilton made it into the second round of qualifying but a gearbox issue meant that 2008 champion could take no further part in the session. Kovalainen was 14th fastest and will line-up ahead of Hamilton, potential gearbox penalties aside.
Toro Rosso Ferrari had just one test session ahead of the Australian Grand Prix and it was therefore of little surprise to see new rookie Sebastien Buemi and former Champ Car star Sebastien Bourdais struggle for pace in the new STR4 package. Buemi however did a great job to qualify 16th for his first Grand Prix ahead of Piquet while 20th and slowest was a poor result from his more experienced team-mate.
Force India Mercedes showed solid mid-field pace in practice but their qualifying form was poor today with Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil just 18th and 19th respectively.
The 58-lap Australian Grand Prix gets underway at 08.00 CET, 17.00 local time and it should be a thriller!
Qualifying Result (Click to enlarge)
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