Button, Brawn GP take Pole in Qualifying

The 2009 Formula One season began in Melbourne on Saturday, 28 March with Qualifying throwing up some strange results.

The lack of tyre warmers and the new slicks seemed to put everyone off their marks with almost every team taking almost three laps to get the tyres up to temperature and still going wide in turns and looking shaky in straights.

The KERS technology made its debut but it didn’t seem to make much of a difference. The controversial Diffusers did not play as large a part as it was suggested before the session.

Here is a team-by-team analysis of the Australian GP Qualifying Session.

Brawn GP confirmed all pre-race predictions by taking the Australian GP Qualifying Session by storm with a P1 for Jensen Button (1:26.202) and Rubens Barrichello (1:25.505) in P2.

An exhilarated Barrichello later declared that he felt a thank you was in order for everyone who ever touched or worked on the new car, since it was “fantastic!” The sentiments were echoed by Jensen Button.

The new car, which was actually developed by Honda in 2008, the addition of a Mercedes engine and Ross Brawn's takeover has only increased the ‘muscle’ in Brawn GP.

Wunderkind Sebastian Vettel’s transfer to Red Bull Racing paid dividends as he grabbed P3 with a time of 1:26.830, dispelling the bad memories of Friday testing. But his team-mate Mark Webber finished in P10 with 1:27.246.

BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica (1:26.914) grabbed P4 for the race. He seemed poised to take P3 but lost it to Vettel in the last second. Ironically, Kubica did not use the new KERS technology because he was too tall and too heavy for the unit to be fitted in his car while his team-mate Nick Heidfeld (1:25.504) did use KERS and did not even break into Q3, finishing his session in Q2 and in P11 for the race.

Team Williams’ Nico Rosberg (1:26.973) began the session on a positive note, occasionally being in P1 and P3 but was eventually edged out to P5 for the race. This was the only light for the team, since team-mate Kazuki Nakijima (1:25.607) dropped out in Q1 itself, being placed P13.

Toyota's Timo Glock (1:26.975) came in at P6 and his team-mate Jarno Trulli (1:27.127) is placed at P8. Toyota was perhaps the only car on the track today to perform consistently. They held roughly the same scoring positions as the 2008 season.

P7 saw the first Ferrari on the grid with Felipe Massa (1:27.033) continuing to outperform team-mate Kimi Raikkonen (1:27.127) who ended up in P9. The signs are worrying for Ferrari and much work needs to be done on the F60.

Fernando Alonso (1:25.605) in his Renault got P12 for the race and his team-mate Nelsinho Piquet Jr had been placed at P17. The car can be blamed for Alonso’s flat performance as Red Bulls, who use a Renault engine but have fielded a better car, placed been higher on the grid.

In the dark mirror of Brawn GP, the worst fears and predictions regarding the new McLaren car became starkly evident when both drivers – defending Champion Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen - struggled to even cross Q1. Kovalainen pulled through to Q2 with a margin to be placed P14 but Hamilton barely scraped through at P15.

Hamilton did not appear on the track again. The car was later seen bereft of driver and wheels leading to speculation about if McLaren had simply decided to spare unnecessary wear-and-tear on the engine by attempting a better time. A mechanical problem was later cited as the reason and Hamilton will begin the race in P15 with a time of 1:26.454. Kovalainen, with a time of 1:25.726, had to drop out from Q3.

Toro Rosso’s debutant driver Sebastian Buemi (1:26.503) made an even start to his season with a quiet P16. The team must be rethinking their decision to retain Sebastien Bourdais (1:26.964) who was out in Q1 at P20.

Team Force India has declared that their aim this season is to score points. To do so, they will have to do better than today. Giancarlo Fisichella (1:26.677) led the team with a P18 and was followed by Adrian Sutil (1:26.742) in P19.