Only three points for Brawn GP at Suzuka
Brawn GP moved a step closer to securing the 2009 Constructors’ Championship at the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka today. Points-scoring finishes for Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button in seventh and eighth positions sees the team requiring half a point from the remaining two races to take the title.
Starting from sixth and tenth positions on the grid, Rubens and Jenson followed two-stop strategies as they achieved the team’s objective of scoring points following a difficult qualifying on Saturday where a number of penalties resulted in a mixed-up grid.
After a good start from sixth place, Rubens maintained his position for the majority of the race before losing a place under the safety car and bringing his Brawn-Mercedes car home in seventh position for two points.
Jenson had a more eventful race as he overtook Robert Kubica on lap three and then took advantage of a clash between Heikki Kovalainen and Adrian Sutil to move into the points in eighth position. Quick laps set him up to jump Nico Rosberg at the final pit stop for seventh position before the safety car intervened and Jenson finished in eighth place for one point.
Rubens Barrichello: “Qualifying proved crucial for my weekend as it put me ahead of Jenson for the race and I was able to make up a point on him. I struggled with the set-up today and wasn’t able to get the best from the car which is a shame. I was able to follow Kimi when we were both running on primes in the first stint but once he switched to options, he gained a lot of time on me. We would have finished in sixth place without the safety car and that’s the best that I could have hoped for today. It’s frustrating but that’s the way racing goes and the most important thing is that I gained a point on Jenson this weekend. I’m looking forward to my home race in Sao Paulo in two weeks. The Brazilian Grand Prix is always a very special occasion for me and I’ll be giving it my all there to do as well as possible for the championship.”
Jenson Button: “Today was about picking up points after our eventful qualifying session yesterday and that’s exactly what I did. Starting from tenth on the grid was always going to make for a tough race but my pace was really good in the race and I was very happy with the performance of the car. I was pulling massive amounts of time out of the guys in front me but they were on heavier fuel loads which held me up as it’s difficult to overtake here. I did the best that I could in the car that we had this weekend and we got the maximum performance out of it with a points-scoring finish. I only lost one point to Rubens today which is my main priority. Obviously we lost a few points to Sebastian but we were expecting them to be strong here. We go to two circuits now which should suit our car so I’m excited about the end of the season and already looking forward to the next race in Brazil.”
Ross Brawn/ “We recovered well in the race today from a problematic qualifying session and both drivers brought home valuable points in the fight for the Constructors’ Championship. Whilst we were aware that this track would favour our competitors, I am pleased with the performance of the team and drivers over the weekend to extract the maximum from the car and add to our championship points tally, leaving us with half a point required to take the Constructors’ title. The next two races at Interlagos and Abu Dhabi should suit the characteristics of our car much better so we can look forward to a very exciting conclusion to the season.”
