Spanish GP - Button quickest in morning
Eurosport - Fri, 08 May 16:55:00 2009
Briton Jenson Button, chasing his fourth win in five races, made a dream start to his Spanish Grand Prix weekend with the fastest lap in first practice in Barcelona.
Button, one of the smoothest of drivers, lapped the Circuit de Catalunya in one minute 21.799 seconds in his Mercedes-powered Brawn GP after switching to soft tyres late in the session.
His was the only time inside the 1:22 mark and was also faster than Kimi Raikkonen's 2008 pole position for Ferrari of 1:21.813.
The race, at a circuit familiar to all teams from pre-season testing, has been won by the driver on pole position for the past eight years.
Toyota's Italian Jarno Trulli was second on the timesheets, 0.355 slower, with Poland's Robert Kubica third quickest in a revamped BMW-Sauber.
Kubica and his team mate Nick Heidfeld, fourth fastest, had languished near the bottom of the times before banging in quick laps near the end.
Champions Ferrari made little impact on the opening session, on a hazy morning in the hills north of Barcelona, with Brazilian Felipe Massa ninth quickest.
The Italian team have made significant changes to their car, including a new rear diffuser and aerodynamic package, after suffering their most disappointing start to a season since the championship started in 1950.
Massa, overall runner-up last year, has yet to score a point this season.
His team mate Raikkonen, the 2007 champion whose last victory was in Barcelona a year ago, has an altogether new chassis for Sunday's race but was only 11th on the timesheets behind Brawn's Brazilian Rubens Barrichello.
Williams made a good start to the weekend with Japan's Kazuki Nakajima fifth and Germany's Nico Rosberg sixth after spinning.
The session got off to a slow start, with drivers staying in their garages for the first half hour.
TIMES
1. Jenson Button Britain Brawn-Mercedes 1m 21.799s
2. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota-Toyota 1m 22.154s
3. Robert Kubica Poland BMW Sauber 1m 22.221s
4. Nick Heidfeld Germany BMW Sauber 1m 22.658s
5. Kazuki Nakajima Japan Williams-Toyota 1m 22.659s
6. Nico Rosberg Germany Williams-Toyota 1m 22.667s
7. Nelson Piquet Jr Brazil Renault-Renault 1m 22.753s
8. Timo Glock Germany Toyota-Toyota 1m 22.828s
9. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 22.855s
10. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Brawn-Mercedes 1m 22.859s
11. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 22.873s
12. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 1m 22.934s
13. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 1m 22.959s
14. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1m 23.077s
15. Sebastien Bourdais France Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 23.088s
16. Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Force India-Mercedes 1m 23.089s
17. Fernando Alonso Spain Renault-Renault 1m 23.157s
18. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 23.185s
19. Heikki Kovalainen Finland McLaren-Mercedes 1m 23.522s
20. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes 1m 23.536s
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Comment 49 - 68 of 68
Vladimir, seems Jense can't win whatever he does. when he didn't have a decent car he got a raw deal and now his car is good and hes proving the critics wrong they still give him a raw deal...because it is only the car that is making him win. they seem to think LH would still of won in last years Honda.
I for one hope Brawn keep this up!!!
Peter you muppet is that the best you can try and come back with??? I have supported Jenson from the start, I defended him the last two seasons when the Honda was poor and I said give him a good car and we will see what he can do and we have!!!
It's silly how bitter some people become when a driver does well and I am sure if you put them all in the same car Jenson would be fighting with and in the top 3. In fact people who know far more about the sport then you or I rate him up there...so I guess they must all be wrong and just jumping on the winner’s band wagon?
Also I think you will find that he had a lot of supporters last season...not really sure why you think you have the know to state otherwise?? Oh hang on because we weren't there talking on yahoo sport threads about Jenson last season? No wait that was because the threads were about the winning teams last season!!!
Just like this season they are about the winning teams and for once we are all glad its Button because even if you are too dumb to see it most of us did support JB last season.
So again I ask what your problem is. Your team not doing so well this season so the best thing you can do is drag the guy at the top down? or do you just know very little about F1? Whatever it is I think you can see no one here agrees with you hence why your comments are hidden so stop wasting your time and ours and go away!!!
Peter your posts are all highly confrontational and many consider them to be insulting to JB. I dont think you are really qualified to put him down in the fashion you are doing. You are also calling all of his fans (less 3) a bunch of turncoats, ie LH last year JB this year. Again a number of people find this offensive.
And just one quote from your posts that I consider to be personal abuse:
"Unfortunately the obsession seems to be held by other deluded fools."
;
Please don't bother to reply, I have the choice of crapping on with you or watching Jules Holland. Not much of a choice is it, catch up with you some other time.
Rasputin. After rereading my posts I can affirm that I have directed personal abuse at no one and certainly not you. My point throughout though has been to try and point out that last season Button had about three supporters because he was in an average car. This year he is somehoe elevated to almost god-like proportions because he is now in a BETTER car, and NOT because he is a brilliant driver. No one could call Jenson Button a brilliant driver. Indeed there were some people in F1 that publicly stated during commentary that he under performed! I think that was generous. How can any one be described as under-performing when they have nevr "oerformed" in the first place.
Peter. I think you have just backed up my point completely, thankyou.
;
Peter reread your posts and see how much personal abuse they contain, so by your reckoning you lost the argument ages ago muppet.
;
mga I think he might well have norks.
Rasputin. You can always tell who is losing the discussion by the amount of personal abuse they spout. If you cant keep a civil tongue in your head then spout off in someone elses face. Nobody needs it.
Lewis Hamilton is the driver, that i support in good/bad times..anytime!
Choose urs, little Peter!
..cheers
Adam. I think you have just backed up my point completely, thankyou.
Are we the Jenson Button appreciation society? No Peter we just think you are an absolute berk. You spout stuff that you have no hope of ever proving.
One thing we do know about JB is that he is infintely more talented than your sad self, muppet.
How many different posts do you need to say that, though?
Perhaps the Button supporters just didn't have very much to talk about last year, considering he was in the second worst car on the grid.
Unfortunately the obsession seems to be held by other deluded fools. They were probably Lewis supporters last year. Who will they support next year? All depends on which car is performing I suppose.
Peter - you seem to have a bit of an unhealthy obsession with Jenson.
Seems to be somewhat better than Rubens though.
If you had 20 identical cars I guaruntee Jenson Button wouldnt be in the top six.
Ahhhh, the Jenson Button appreciation society. Never heard of you last year, or the year before that. Come to think of it , Ive NEVER heard of you before. Strange that considering how youve ALWAYS thought Jenson Button was/is a GREAT driver. Great car, average driver. Last year-average car+average driver=very average season.
And he has no Norks:-)
Peter u r a berk!
Si B well said me old @#$% spanner, Jenson has had a raw deal over the years and it is great to see him doing well now.
Peter, maybe you should come back when you know what your talking about, even B4 the team was saved and became Brawn Button had offers from other teams, he decided to stand by the team which turned out to be the right choice to make.
As for if he is a good driver or not, well of course the car has something to do with it...hence it being a motorsport but JB is and always has been a great driver and now he has the car under him to prove that.
So really what is your problem? do you think Lewis would now be classed as a great driver if he'd of been driving the Honda the last two season or any other driver?
So the improvement in Buttons position is down to what? Increased concentration, bigger wage packet. Maturity? Or maybe, just maybe it has something to do with the car. Great driver? You wish.
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