|
|
Post by blacktulip on Jun 5, 2009 15:25:53 GMT
Jenson Button believes it may take his championship-leading Brawn team longer than normal to get the best out of its car at Istanbul Park after struggling with a lack of grip throughout practice.
While a low-key Friday is not unusual for the all-conquering Brackley squad, Button admits it nevertheless experienced a “difficult” opening day in Turkey after he failed to make the top 10 in either session.
The Briton, chasing a record-equalling sixth win in the season’s opening seven races this weekend, says he couldn’t find a satisfactory balance on his BGP 001 and now has to find big improvements overnight.
“It has been a difficult Friday,” he told reporters.
|
|
|
|
Post by blacktulip on Jun 5, 2009 15:26:46 GMT
Turkish Grand Prix free practice session two
1. KOVALAINEN McLaren 1m28.841s
2. ALONSO Renault 1m28.847s
3. KUBICA BMW 1m29.056s
4. NAKAJIMA Williams 1m29.091s
5. VETTEL Red Bull 1m29.202s
6. TRULLI Toyota 1m29.207s
7. ROSBERG Williams 1m29.257s
8. BARRICHELLO Brawn 1m29.305s
9. WEBBER Red Bull 1m29.383s
10. PIQUET Renault 1m29.401s
11. MASSA Ferrari 1m29.416s
12. BUTTON Brawn 1m29.430s
13. HAMILTON McLaren 1m29.435s
14. GLOCK Toyota 1m29.518s
15. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m29.520s
16. HEIDFELD BMW 1m29.550s
17. SUTIL Force India 1m30.081s
18. FISICHELLA Force India 1m30.091s
19. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso 1m30.295s
20. BUEMI Toro Rosso 1m30.629s
|
|
|
|
Post by gizzy on Jun 6, 2009 4:53:35 GMT
Brawn sucked today during practice. But, so did the rest of the teams on softs. Ferrarri and Mac were both struggling in rear grip. A huge front wing and a little rear wing does not help.
There is too big of a difference between soft tires and hards. F1 must create a smaller difference between the 2 compounds.
They must also either give more rear wing, or reduce front wing. Mac has a new rear wing package, maybe it will help in Turkey. If you look closely, you can see the difference.
|
|
|
|
Post by gizzy on Jun 6, 2009 5:02:59 GMT
Speed TV showed the difference between the Mac and the Toyota strakes behind the front wings.
Did European TV show that too? These are the trailing edges behind the front wing....kinda cool interesting aero bits.
-giz
|
|
|
|
Post by blacktulip on Jun 6, 2009 6:11:58 GMT
Looks like this could be an interesting weekend on the tech front.
|
|
|
|
Post by blacktulip on Jun 6, 2009 9:41:56 GMT
Istanbul Park master Felipe Massa served notice of his ambitions for qualifying by setting the final practice pace on Saturday morning.
Massa, who has won the past three Turkish Grands Prix from pole position, underscored Ferrari’s resurgence and his own expertise around the demanding 3.3-mile circuit by dominating the hour-long session.
Intriguingly, however, Massa set his best time on the harder of the two tyre compounds, while his closest rivals extracted more pace fro the softer rubber.
Toyota duo Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock vaulted to second and third places respectively on their late soft tyre runs, and Trulli got within 0.039s of Massa’s target.
Kazuki Nakajima also used the soft rubber to finish an excellent fourth fastest for Williams, and BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica did likewise to take fifth.
Massa was the first man to complete a timed lap (a 1m30.238s) after 13 minutes, and as he continued his first run he got inside Heikki Kovalainen’s Friday benchmark with a 1m28.592s.
With more rubber laid down, lower winds and slightly cooler temperatures, the track was clearly in better shape than yesterday, and the times steadily came down as the session evolved.
Rubens Barrichello knocked Massa off the top of the timing charts after 26 minutes, only to be usurped himself moments later by Nico Rosberg, who went round in 1m28.364s.
Shortly after the half-hour mark Massa responded with a 1m28.253s and then a 1m27.983s, which would stand as the fastest time of the morning.
When he re-emerged on soft tyres near the end of the session, the Brazilian couldn’t quite match his earlier time, while his rivals made substantial improvements – in contrast to yesterday, when most drivers found the option rubber slower than the prime.
|
|
|
|
Post by blacktulip on Jun 6, 2009 9:43:04 GMT
McLaren's drivers declared themselves "pleasantly surprised" by McLaren's pace following practice in Turkey after Heikki Kovalainen unexpectedly set the day's benchmark time.
The Woking squad had been expecting to struggle at Istanbul Park – a track that shares some characteristics with Barcelona, which proved to be its lowest ebb this year.
But after Lewis Hamilton went a promising second in morning practice, his team-mate Heikki Kovalainen went one better in the afternoon to give the team a big boost going into the weekend.
Kovalainen admits he hadn't been expecting the MP4-24 to handle so well around the undulating circuit and believes the performance does indicate another step forward has been made.
|
|
