Force India Mercedes - Australian GP - Qualifying

The Force India team will start the Australian Grand Prix with Giancarlo Fisichella 18th and Adrian Sutil 19th as the field proved even closer than last year, with 1.5 seconds covering tenth to 20th.

Following strong performances throughout the weekend, Fisichella and Sutil were just two tenths from putting the VJM02 into the second round of qualifying.

Giancarlo Fisichella
"We knew that it would be difficult today, but considering what we have done so far this year, with the limited pre-season testing, being just two tenths slower than the 2008 world champion is a good result."

"Being so close shows it's already a very challenging season. I had a good lap and I am happy as I have been struggling a bit with the brakes and locking all weekend and I'm not driving as I want. But all this considered, there is really good potential in this car so we are looking forward to working it through. For tomorrow, first of all we need to get to the end of the race - that's the main goal and then we'll see."

Adrian Sutil
"For sure we were hoping after yesterday's performance to be able to make it into Q2 but in the end it was not possible. Things looked better in practice but perhaps the others were not showing all their potential."

"We know we have plenty to work on, our main problem is that we need a lot more downforce. My main goal now will be to make it to the end of the race tomorrow and then let's see where we are. It's even tighter than last year."

Dominic Harlow, Chief Race Engineer
"That was a very tight session - it seems the field is even closer than last year. Unfortunately it was not the outcome we'd hoped for as both drivers narrowly missed out on Q2. The drivers and engineers got close to getting the best they could from the car this weekend."

"We need a bit more development to really challenge, but given how our programme started late, we've made enormous progress already and we know that there is plenty in the pipeline. The race is going to be a good one, and it will be interesting to see the strategies that are adopted now that all the teams must commit to a race start fuel load just two hours after confirming their grid position."

Toro Rosso Ferrari - Australian GP - Qualifying

With very little in the way of pre-season testing under their belts, Sebastien Buemi and Sebastien Bourdais qualified 16th and 20th respectively for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

For Buemi, 16th position was a solid result, especially as the Swiss rookie was four-tenths up on his more experienced team-mate.
Sebastien Buemi
“I have to say I found the pace at which qualifying happens rather quick! You go out, you come back, you change tyres, you go out again. You need to stay relaxed. I think we did quite a good job with what we had and missed out on Q2 by half a tenth."

"I am quite happy, as these days have been something of a test session for us and we improved the car quite a lot from yesterday morning through to now. I have taken confidence from what I have done so far and feel I am going to be capable of doing this job, even if I am quite young."

"The visibility in the sunshine was a bit better than yesterday, but we have to get used to it.”
Sebastien Bourdais
“It was closer than expected to getting to Q2 from a team point of view as Seb just missed out on 15th place to the McLaren by a fraction. My car wasn’t too bad: on my second run I made a slight mistake and on my third, unfortunately my out lap was too slow and I did not get the tyres up to temperature. But it’s encouraging, as the Red Bull car is going well and we are not as far off the pace as I had expected."

"We have made good progress in terms of understanding the car. Starting last, it will be a tough race, but I will attack as much as I can and hope the race is as eventful as last year.”

Toyota - Australian GP - Qualifying

Toyota will have two cars in the top ten when the Australian Grand Prix kicks off the season but were still left feeling a little disappointed.

On another clear, sunny day at Albert Park in Melbourne, Timo Glock claimed sixth place on the grid with Jarno Trulli two places further back in eighth.

With medium and super soft compounds on offer, both drivers used the softer option to progress through Q1 and Q2 as the whole grid was able to compare outright performance for the first time with the 2009-specification cars.

Q3, with all cars carrying the amount of fuel they will start the race with, was predictably tense and the two Toyotas used the super soft tyres in the final seconds to set their fastest times.
Timo Glock
"We struggled a bit in second and third practice to find the right balance but we worked hard to find a solution and we did some set-up work which got the car into the right set-up window. I think with a bit more fine-tuning maybe we could have been further up the grid - we were only a tenth behind the top three so it could have been better but I am quite positive about the result. The car feels pretty good now and we are clearly not far away so let's see how it goes tomorrow in terms of strategy. I am pretty happy and reasonably confident."
Jarno Trulli
"That was a really hard qualifying for me.
I expected a lot more from today so I am disappointed. Of course I will fight as hard as I can in the race but I don't know what to expect because the car felt different in qualifying compared to final practice. I don't know why but the tyres just would not warm up as expected and I was sliding around quite a bit. On top of that I had some issues with the brakes so it was really difficult for me."
Pascal Vasselon - Senior General Manager Chassis
"Overall the result is quite disappointing because we were hoping for more from qualifying today. We expected to be further up the grid but of course strategy plays a part in Q3 so we cannot forget that factor. It was easy to predict which tyres to use in qualifying because the super soft compound was clearly preferable but for the race it is a different matter. Tyre choice is a bigger challenge for the race and we have time now to look at the situation."

Brawn GP claim front row on debut - Australian GP - Qualifying

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)

Head -" We looking forward to return on top"

Nico Rosberg on Saturday completed a clean-sweep of heading the practice timesheets at Albert Park, but Williams' Patrick Head remains cautious as Melbourne braces for the decisive qualifying session.

Rosberg was three thousandths quicker than Toyota's Jarno Trulli in third and final practice in Australia, having also headed Friday's two 90 minute sessions.

"No complaints," engineering boss Head said, "it's better to be at the sharp end than the blunt end, but it's going to be very tight in qualifying.”

"Very tight," he emphasised, with the other FW31 driven by Kazuki Nakajima fifth.

Like Toyota, the other 'clever diffuser' team Brawn has also been consistently quick this weekend, and early on Saturday Jenson Button was also close to the pace.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa was also up there, although team-mate Kimi Raikkonen brought up the rear following a hydraulic failure.

Like Head, Brawn boss Ross Brawn was keeping his expectations for qualifying in check.

"You never know what fuel loads everyone is running, so the reality check is still to come later this afternoon.”

"I'm holding back until we see what happens," he added.

Australian GP - Free Practice 3

Nico Rosberg continued to impress in the third and final practice session ahead of qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix, setting the pace with a best lap of 1:25.808s in the Williams Toyota.

Rosberg, who topped both of the Friday practice sessions, used the super-soft Bridgestone tyre for his hot lap and just managed to shade Toyota's Jarno Trulli by three-thousandths of a second.

Jenson Button led the way for the Brawn Mercedes team with the third fastest time, again underlining the performance advantage the 'diffuser three' are enjoying around the Albert Park circuit.

As ever with a practice session ahead of qualifying, it is difficult to know who is running on almost empty fuel tanks to simulate the first or second round of qualifying and who is running with race fuel to simulate the final round of qualifying.

Felipe Massa languished down the timesheets for much of the session before making late gains in his Ferrari. The Brazilian ended the session fourth fastest but it remains to be seen if that kind of performance can be replicated should he make it into the final round of qualifying.

Team-mate Kimi Raikkonen had a very short session as he was forced to pull off and retire the second F60 following a hydraulic failure. With just five laps completed, Raikkonen heads into qualifying somewhat blind.

Kazuki Nakajima continued to shine in the second Williams with the fifth fastest time ahead of Rubens Barrichello in the second BGP 001.
The Brazilian veteran was on a very hot lap late in the session before running wide and losing time.

Mark Webber again ran well for the Red Bull Renault team with the seventh fastest time ahead of Timo Glock in the second Toyota. BMW Sauber meanwhile have shown no speed all weekend but at least in this session Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld were able to scrape into the top ten.

Reflecting their pace from yesterday, Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton were 11th and 12th fastest for McLaren Mercedes ahead of Sebastian Vettel who had a wild ride across the gravel and grass at turn one before retiring the second RB5.

Adrian Sutil continued to lead the way at Force India with the 14th best time ahead of the Toro Rosso duo of Sebastien Bourdais and Sebastien Buemi.

With what is visibly the worst handling car on the circuit, Fernando Alonso continued his Melbourne struggle in 17th ahead of former team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella and current team-mate Nelson Piquet.

Next up is the all-important qualifying hour and as we have seen so far this weekend in Melbourne, nothing this year is predictable...

Free Practice 3 Result (Click to enlarge).

Brawn GP agreement with Virgin Group

Brawn GP today confirmed that the team has agreed a partnership agreement with Sir Richard Branson and the Virgin Group on the team's debut race weekend at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

The partnership brings together the world championship winning experience of Ross Brawn and the technical expertise of the Brawn GP team with the marketing and business skills of Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group.

This is Virgin's first major foray into the world of Formula One and the first step in what is anticipated to be a broader relationship between the two.

The Brawn GP team's BGP 001 car will take to the track at Albert Park later this afternoon in qualifying for tomorrow's Australian Grand Prix featuring Virgin branding.

Ross Brawn, Team Principal
"On behalf of the Brawn GP team, we are delighted to have signed a partnership agreement with Sir Richard and Virgin in Melbourne today. An exciting debut race weekend for our team has become even more important as we have secured our second commercial agreement of the season. We look forward to working closely with the Virgin Group and sharing our on-track successes."

Sir Richard Branson
"I have always said I would love for Virgin to be involved in Formula One and I am thrilled that we will be entering this fantastic sport with people as skilled as Ross Brawn and the Brawn GP team."

"Over the years Virgin has had the great honour of partnering with technical geniuses and I truly believe that Ross Brawn is to F1 what Burt Ratan is to space travel with Virgin Galactic."

"We are confident that the Virgin BGP 001 car driven by Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello will go from strength to strength this season and we look forward to a great future working with the Brawn GP team."

Button respond to Surtees comments

Jenson Button was this week reluctant to weigh into suggestions by a British racing legend that he should have been sacked by Brawn.

The 29-year-old Englishman, the bookies' favourite to win the 2009 season opener this weekend, was asked to respond to 1964 world champion John Surtees' claim that his efforts in the last two years should have led to his departure.

"Look at Button - frankly, I wouldn't have confirmed him with the team," said 75-year-old Surtees.

"If you don't give 100 percent even when the car is not so good, you have to be sacked. You can't be good just when you have a good car, but even when you don't."

Speaking to the press at Albert Park, Button accused the winner of six Grand Prix as being out of touch.

"If they are making those comments they obviously don't know the situation within F1 these days," he said.

"More importantly to me, I just hope that the fans see the situation and they don't read everything and every comment that someone says," said Button.

Australian GP - Free Practice 2 - Result (Click to Enlarge)

Australian GP - Free Practice 1 - Result (Click to Enlarge)