Red Bull Racing review Day 1 at Interlagos

17 October, 2009

Sao Paulo is the fourth largest city in the world, which means everything and everyone is crammed together and that was definitely the case at the Interlagos race track this afternoon, when you look at the FP2 final timesheet.

Because Interlagos is a very short lap, the difference in times between the drivers is always very close. Factor in that this season, lap times have been close at pretty much every track and you get an explanation for the fact that all 20 drivers set times within the same second, from 1:12.314 for Alonso to 1:13’275 for last man Giancarlo Fisichella.

Our two ended up fourth and seventh, with Mark and Sebastian respectively. Friday times always have to be taken with a pinch of salt, or more accurately a drop of petrol, as one can never be sure what fuel loads everyone is running. But if the picture approximates to the real pecking order, then the Championship title fight at this penultimate round, looks like being a cracker, as the two Brawns are hovering around us, with home town hero, Rubens Barrichello third and Jenson Button fifth. The Englishman ‘only’ needs to finish third to clinch the Drivers’ crown, whatever anyone else does.

Topping today’s second timesheet was Fernando Alonso in the Renault, while a surprising second and first for much of FP2 is S?bastien Buemi in the Toro Rosso and everyone at Red Bull Racing is really rooting for our sister team’s Swiss driver because, if he can show that sort of form in qualifying, he might be just the ticket to put some breathing space between our boys and the Brawns. Rounding off the top six is Jarno Trulli in the Toyota.

The weather is something of a mystery, as it was supposed to rain heavily today, but all we got was a few feeble drops, although enough to make the track greasy in the morning, so who knows what might happen. The prospect of a wet qualifying is scarily exciting.

Car 15 Sebastian Vettel
Practice P3, 2nd Practice P7
?All in all, a good Friday. We had another practice day without any engine trouble, even though we did a lot of laps ? so thanks to Renault for that. Other than that, we were fast throughout the whole of practice today. We?ll look into the data now and I?m sure we can improve further ? we should have enough time before tomorrow to make another step forward. Weather-wise, I think today was the day they predicted rain and it didn?t rain much, so maybe that means rain for Sunday?… We will see.?
First Practice Session
Position: 3, Best Time: 1:12.932, Laps: 27, Chassis No. 1
Second Practice Session???
Position: 7, Best Time 1:12.611, Laps: 45, Chassis No. 1

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