05/06/2009
NEWS STORY
The opening day of practice for Sunday's Turkish Grand Prix at the Istanbul Park Circuit got underway today with Brawn GP's Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button taking to the track two weeks after the team's one-two finish in Monaco.
The team faced a number of challenges over the course of the two ninety minute sessions today with both drivers having to work hard on the balance of their BGP 001 cars around the 5.338km circuit. With the track conditions changing constantly, the team worked through a series of set-up options and tyre evaluations to improve the performance of the car.
Rubens covered 60 laps today, ending the second session in eighth place, with Jenson completing 53 laps in 12th position.
Rubens Barrichello: "It's been a slightly different Friday today from our recent experiences. We don't look that competitive at the moment however it is still early in the weekend and depends on the programmes and fuel levels that our competitors are running. There is a lot of work for us to achieve, particularly in the first sector where we seem to be suffering the most, but we believe that we understand the issues. We know that we can work with this car to improve its performance quickly and that puts us in a strong position to make the changes needed ahead of qualifying."
Jenson Button: "We've had a tough first day of practice trying to find a good balance with the car. We tried many different set-up options over the course of the two sessions but unfortunately could not get the car to where I want it to be and struggled with a lack of grip. However we now have a great deal of information to review after trying a few evaluations and believe that we have some understanding of what is causing the problems. We need to have a good look at everything tonight and I'm hopeful that we can resolve today's issues and have a better day tomorrow."
Ross Brawn: "We've had a challenging opening day to the Turkish Grand Prix weekend as we faced issues on both sides of the garage. The team worked very hard in both sessions on a number of set-up changes and whilst we made some progress, we were not able to find a good enough balance on either car. We also experienced a lack of grip on both the prime and option tyre. I'm confident that we will get to the bottom of this overnight and should be in a much better position ready for qualifying tomorrow."