Bad track conditions make Brawn GP practice day shorter in Suzuka

The first of the practice sessions for this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix got

underway today with rain showers impacting on the amount of track time for all

of the teams around the 5.897km Suzuka circuit.

The morning practice session started on a wet track which began to dry out as

the session progressed to allow Jenson and Rubens to run on both the

Bridgestone wet and intermediate tyres. Whilst limiting their laps, both

drivers concentrated on finding a balance in the wet conditions with Rubens

completing 19 laps and Jenson totaling 17 laps.

The afternoon practice session proved to be largely a washout with heavy

showers leading to a saturated track and keeping the two Brawn-Mercedes cars

in the garage for the duration of the ninety-minutes.

RESULTS

Drivers          Car No. Chassis No.   Free Practice 1         Free Practice

2

Rubens Barrichello   23    BGP 001-03   19 laps  01:41.821  P9     No time  

Jenson Button    22    BGP 001-02   17 laps  01:43.318  P18     No time  

Weather        Overcast with rain showers

Temperatures    Air: 21-22°C  Track: 23-22°C  

RUBENS BARRICHELLO

"As we expected, the rain came to Suzuka today and it led to an unusually

quiet opening day of practice. The morning session wasn't too bad but the rain

this afternoon was heavy enough to create small rivers on parts of the track

and there was nothing to be gained by going out. The limited running makes for

a much more interesting and challenging day tomorrow however as getting the

right set-up quickly will be very important. Whether it proves to be dry or

wet tomorrow, we will need to study the data from today and be focused

tomorrow morning to ensure we are well prepared for qualifying."

JENSON BUTTON

"I feel sorry for the fans at Suzuka today but unfortunately we can't get any

useful information in these conditions with so much water on the track. We

spent the morning session working on the balance of the car with the wet and

intermediate tyres to ensure that we are prepared if the same wet weather does

continue over the weekend. It was important to achieve some running and it

feels good to be back at Suzuka. This is a great drivers' track so hopefully

we'll get some dry running tomorrow."

ROSS BRAWN

"The weather conditions impacted on our practice plans today as the wet track

meant that we opted for a reduced programme. We completed an installation run

on the wet weather tyres this morning before Jenson and Rubens switched to

intermediates as the track started to dry out over the course of the session.

With a heavy downpour between the two sessions, the condition of the track

deteriorated further. As the weather forecast shows a dry qualifying and race

and with limited wet weather tyres, we felt that there was nothing further to

be learnt from running again this afternoon."