As lunch time approached at Barcelona, scene of the final group test of the closed season, paddock talk was all about the simply sensational debut of the Brawn BGP001, the Mercedes-powered chassis that would have been a Honda but for the withdrawal of the company.
If the morning times are anything to go by, Honda may have made an untimely decision, for Jenson Button has the brand new car, with only a brief shakedown to its name, at the top of the timesheets.
Of course, we are unsure of the different programmes or fuel loads that each team is running, but tongues are wagging that this is a very impressive achievement for a car straight out of the box.
Button stand with a best of 1:21.140, albeit with only 30 laps on the board suggesting a low fuel run, with the consistently impressive for shown this winter by Toyota continuing as Jarno Trulli sits in second position, some seven tenths down on the new Brawn GP.
Third comes Nelson Piquet, the Renault R29 looking better here than may have been expected, and fourth an impressive performance from Adrian Sutil in the Mercedes-powered Force India.
Another good performance but Sebastian Bourdais has the brand new STR4 in fifth, just one and a half seconds off the fastest time in its first official run, ahead of the 'sister' Red Bull RB5 of Mark Webber, while Kazuki Nakajima continues to rack up the miles with the Williams FW31 in seventh.
Curiously, the three teams considered most likely to fight for the title are filling the back places. Kimi Raikkonen has had a torrid morning in the Ferrari F60 and has managed only 25 laps and a best time of 1:22.869, with Nick Heidfeld and the BMW F1.09 also suffering maladies and coming home with a best of 1:23.605.
Last of all is the Mclaren MP4-24, today in the hands of Heikki Kovalainen, which languishes more than three seconds off the front running pace.
Talk of sandbagging by the ‘big’ teams is rife, and it remains likely we will have to wait for Melbourne, in little under three week’s time, for a true representation of the order.
Written: Mon, 09 Mar 2009 12:12:50
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