Brawn GP - Australian GP - Free Practice

Exactly three weeks after the Brawn GP team ran the BGP 001 for the first time, the car made its competitive debut today at the Albert Park circuit in Melbourne on the opening day of the Australian Grand Prix weekend.

Drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello took to the track with their helmets liveried in the team's distinctive yellow, black and white colour scheme to mark the occasion.

Grip levels on the public roads which make up the Albert Park circuit were very low for the first practice session as the team began working through their Friday programme.

The drivers concentrated on refining the balance of the BGP 001 to their liking and putting further valuable mileage on the new car. As the track conditions improved in the second session, the team completed a thorough evaluation of the Bridgestone tyre compounds available for this race.

The team's two BGP 001 cars covered 109 laps of the 5.3km (3.3) mile track today, finishing the second practice session with Rubens in second place on the timesheets and Jenson in fifth position.

Rubens Barrichello
"To be here in Melbourne is a real achievement for the team and it feels good to be back in the car and working towards a race weekend strategy again. Despite the limited testing time that we were able to do before this race, we have proved that we have a competitive car and were achieved some good work today. We evaluated both tyres and are happy with the overall performance so I think we have a good chance of a strong qualifying performance tomorrow."

Jenson Button
"It was great to finally get the season underway today. We had a good first day of practice and the long run performance looks competitive, particularly on the harder tyre. We still have some work to do on the softer tyre so that will be a priority for tomorrow's practice session. I had traffic on both of my new tyres runs at the end of the day which was a shame so we don't know how quick we are over one lap yet but there is plenty of time to find that out tomorrow."

Ross Brawn
"The circuit at Albert Park is very different to the tracks that we used for our limited pre-season testing programme so our focus today has been on setting the car up to suit the conditions that we have here and the preferences of our drivers. Track conditions improved considerably in the second session however we are clearly not alone in finding the experience of running slightly later in the day less favourable than anticipated."

"It is a useful indication of what we may find when the race runs at a similar time on Sunday. The car performed well and we are pleased with the day's work experiencing only minor issues which are to be expected with our limited testing mileage. A good start to the weekend."

Nico Rosberg is flying

Nico Rosberg set the Friday pace for the Williams Toyota team topping both the lunchtime and evening sessions. While the diffuser dispute has not gone away, it is notable that the three teams under the spotlight, ended the second practice session of the Australian Grand Prix at the head of the timesheets.

The 90 minute session was largely uneventful as cooler evening conditions made it difficult for the 20 runners to make late gains, despite opting to run the super-soft Bridgestone Potenza ‘option’ tyre.

Rosberg set the pace with a best lap of 1:26.053s, a tenth clear of Brawn Mercedes' Rubens Barrichello, who was one of the few to find time just ahead of the chequered flag. Rosberg’s time was less than a second off the fastest time in qualifying last year. Jarno Trulli was third fastest for Toyota and put in the most laps in this session. Team-mate Timo Glock was sixth fastest with Mark Webber and Jenson Button splitting the duo for Red Bull Renault and Brawn GP.

Webber lost much of the first session due to a mechanical problem, but had no such problems in the second as he lapped just three-tenths off the ultimate pace in his RB5.

Kazuki Nakajima, second fastest in first practice, was again showing well in the second Williams as he posted the seventh fastest time ahead of Sebastian Vettel who looked very ragged and ultimately spun his Red Bull out of the session with 30 minutes remaining.

Adrian Sutil continued to show well for the Mercedes-powered Force India team with the ninth fastest time while Giancarlo Fisichella was two-tenths adrift in 13th position.

There wasn't much for Ferrari to smile about on the opening day of the new season. Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen were just tenth and 11th fastest respectively. Renault will also be disappointed to see Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet 12th and 18th, but they are in good company as both BMW Sauber and McLaren Mercedes also struggled mightily.

Nick Heidfeld was 14th ahead of Robert Kubica, Sebastien Bourdais in the leading Toro Rosso Ferrari, Heikki Kovalainen and Piquet. Rookie Sebastien Buemi brought up the rear in the second Toro Rosso, two seconds off the pace.

There is a very different look to not just the cars, but also the timesheets in 2009...

Australian GP - First practice

After a long winter Formula One burst back into life this afternoon at Albert Park. While the teams have put in many thousands of kilometres in pre-season testing, the first practice session of the first Grand Prix of the season is always a little special.

While the diffuser issue dominated the headlines on Thursday, today the teams got down to their Grand Prix weekend programmes and it was Nico Rosberg who set the pace for the Williams Toyota team with a best lap of 1:26.687s, five-hundredths of a second ahead of team-mate Kazuki Nakajima.

Williams, along with Brawn Mercedes and Toyota, remain embroiled in the rear diffuser controversy, but the final laps of the session saw the team move to the top of the timesheets ahead of Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari who recorded his best lap on the softer option Bridgestone Potenza.

Rubens Barrichello underlined the pre-season testing form of the new Brawn Mercedes with the fourth fastest time, half a second adrift of Rosberg, while team-mate Jenson Button was sixth best in the second BGP 001.

Heikki Kovalainen ran well for McLaren Mercedes to split the Brawn duo in fifth position while team-mate Lewis Hamilton had a much tougher time of things in the second MP4-24. Hamilton, the defending race winner and world champion, suffered numerous off-track moments and ended the session just 16th fastest.

Felipe Massa was seventh fastest in the second Ferrari ahead of Timo Glock who led the way for the Toyota team.
Adrian Sutil impressed in the Mercedes-powered Force India with the ninth fastest time, but may have opted for the option tyre for his quick run.

Fernando Alonso sat out the first out of the session in his Renault before posting the tenths best time. The R29 appeared especially twitchy and the Spaniard seemed keen to give the kerbs a wide berth. Team-mate Nelson Piquet survived a spin and was a lowly 18th.

Nick Heidfeld led the BMW Sauber charge with the 11th best time ahead of Trulli in the second Toyota and team-mate Robert Kubica. Giancarlo Fisichella was 14th ahead of rookie Sebastien Buemi who made a late gain to record the 15th best time.

It was a poor first session of the season from the Red Bull Renault team with Mark Webber completing just seven laps before a drive-shaft issue sidelines his RB5. Team-mate Sebastian Vettel fared even worse as a hydraulic problem saw him out of the session almost before it really began, Webber was 17th best ahead of Piquet, Sebastien Bourdais in the second Toro Rosso and Vettel.