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After months of
speculation and build up, the 2009 Formula 1 season got
underway today in Albert Park, Melbourne: a season that
promises to produce many surprises with all the changes to
the regulations. With the ban on in-season testing, pundits
had expected a lot of running on Fridays at the races, but
in today's first session, this did not seem to be the case.
As usual on this very "green" track, apart from an
installation lap, most drivers were reluctant to start
lapping during the first half hour. However, over the
remaining time in the two 90 minute sessions, it was action
all the way and the Scuderia duo completed a total of 115
laps and encouragingly, the F60 ran reliably throughout.
Felipe Massa was seventh fastest in the morning and tenth in
the afternoon, while Kimi Raikkonen's positions were third
and eleventh. The cars certainly look very different to the
past, with taller narrower wings at the rear and a wide
front wing, but the biggest difference is possibly an unseen
one, in that Bridgestone is obliged to provide two types of
tyre with significantly different compounds. This, along
with so many new 2009 rules is meant to increase the
possibility of overtaking scenarios as drivers must use both
types of tyre again during the race. One more factor that is
specific to this race and possibly the next round in
Malaysia, is down to the late start time, as the race gets
underway at five in the afternoon local time on Sunday.
Towards the end of free practice around six o'clock, the sun
was sinking fast and causing potential dazzling for the
drivers.
At the end of the day, the time sheet had some very
different names to those usually seen at the top over the
past few years, with the cars using the controversial new
rear splitter dominating proceedings: Nico Rosberg was
quickest in the Williams-Toyota, ahead of Rubens Barrichello
in the "new" Brawn GP car, powered by a Mercedes engine.
Jarno Trulli was third for Toyota, with the only Australian
driver, Mark Webber, fourth quickest in the Red Bull
Renault. Jenson Button made sure that both Brawn cars were
in the top six on their debut, with a fifth place, while
Timo Glock was sixth in the second Toyota.
What does this new order mean? It is too early to say, but
at least in the first two parts of tomorrow evening's
qualifying session, all the cars will be running a minimum
fuel load to set their best times, so a clearer picture will
begin to emerge.
The first two sessions of free practice for the Australian
Grand Prix confirmed that the rule changes introduced this
year have jumbled up the pack. "One cannot really draw hasty
conclusions after just three hours of free practice, but the
first signs seem to support what we saw during winter
testing," commented Scuderia Ferrari Team Principal, Stefano
Domenicali. "The pecking order that had established itself
in recent years seems to have been overturned and we now
find ourselves up against different and more numerous
rivals. We did a lot of kilometres, pretty much completing
the planned programme and now we have to carefully study all
the data gathered. The most important data that catches the
eye today concerns tyre management, which this year as never
before, seems rather delicate: the softer tyres seem to
degrade considerably over a distance, while the harder ones
suffer from a lack of grip. We knew this to be the case and
we have to concentrate on this problem and on how to improve
the overall performance of the F60."
Felipe Massa: "We are more or less okay with the set
up, although there is still room to improve the performance.
I was not able to do a time on the soft tyres in the second
session as I made a mistake because of oversteer: in this
phase we had a different balance on the car compared to when
we had used the hard tyres, which proved not to be the ideal
choice. On top of that, towards the end of the session, the
wind got up a bit, which definitely did not help. Tomorrow,
with everyone on the same fuel load, we will see what the
situation is."
Kimi Raikkonen: "This morning, the car went well,
while in the afternoon, we didn't manage to find a
satisfactory set up, even though we tried various solutions.
I think there is every chance we can improve our
performance, but I can't say by how much compared to the
others. Today, it's difficult to say where we are compared
to them and we will see after tomorrow's qualifying."
Luca Baldisserri: "The first Friday of the season
always throws up some surprises and that is even more than
usual the case this year, given the numerous rule changes.
Today, we did a lot of running and had no technical
problems: reliability will be one of the dominant themes of
the championship and it will be vital to try and pick up
points every time. In these three hours of free practice, we
saw that our performance over a long run seems to be very
consistent but we have to see how to improve outright
performance for tomorrow's qualifying."
Free practice - First Session
F. Massa: 7th 1.27.642 24 laps 275 chassis
K. Raikkonen: 3rd 1.26.750 24 laps 276 chassis
Free practice - Second Session
F. Massa: 10th 1.27.064 35 laps 275 chassis
K. Raikkonen: 11th 1.27.204 32 laps 276 chassis
Weather
First session: air 17/18 °C, track 21/28 °C, partially
cloudy.
Second session: air 19/18 °C, track 28/26 °C, sunny.
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