Brawn surprised by Red Bull speed
Brawn GP's Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button qualified in fourth and fifth positions for Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix after a closely-fought qualifying hour at the Shanghai International Circuit today.
The two Brawn GP drivers completed two runs in each of the three qualifying sessions with Jenson topping the timesheets in Q1 and Rubens just behind after using the prime tyre for their first run and the softer option for the second.
Sticking to the option tyre for the final two sessions, Rubens and Jenson both experienced understeer in their BGP 001 cars, finishing in third and fourth positions respectively in Q2.
In Q3, the battle at the front was intense with Rubens finishing just 0.03secs outside of the top three. He will line up on the second row of the grid tomorrow in fourth position with Jenson one place behind and on the third row.
Weather: Warm and sunny Temperatures: Air: 24-25°C / Track: 36-38°C
Jenson Button, BGP 001-1: "Our car feels good around here but there were a few cars quicker than we expected in Qualifying today. You could see in Q2 that the Red Bulls were very strong in the high-speed corners and we knew then that we would have a fight on our hands. It's going to be interesting to see how the different strategies work out in the race. Of course we would rather be on the front row of the grid but we will give it our best shot in the race tomorrow and see what happens."
Rubens Barrichello, BGP 001-2: "I had a good qualifying session today but you can see how F1 can progress so quickly. Whilst we were surprised to see that the Red Bulls were quite so fast, it makes for great competition at the front. They will be tough to beat but we believe we have a good strategy. Both Jenson and I know the way to the podium here so let's hope we can repeat that tomorrow."
Ross Brawn: "A tougher qualifying session in Shanghai today than we have experienced in the first two races. We have always said that our competition would catch up quickly and the evidence of that is clear to see today. Our car is working well around this circuit although both Jenson and Rubens experienced too much understeer on their final runs. We are still well-placed in fourth and fifth positions on the grid and looking forward to a challenge tomorrow. Many congratulations to Red Bull for their first pole position in what is proving to be a very exciting season."
