Reproduced with kind permission of the FIA

1st Jenson Button (Brawn GP), 55m30.622s; 2nd Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber), 55m53.344s; 3rd Timo Glock (Toyota), 55m54.135s

Q: Jenson, it is never easy. Very difficult at the start and what calls you had to make with changing weather conditions as your pit stop approached.
Jenson Button: What a crazy race. It really was. My start was pretty bad. I had a lot of oversteer in the car. I don’t think I got heat into the rear tyres and went back to fourth, got up to third and eventually got back to the front and I was pretty happy with that. Our pace was good and then the rain started but choosing the tyres was very difficult. Normally here when it rains it pours but it didn’t to start with. We went for the full wet tyre and it just destroyed itself and we saw Timo flying up behind us on the inter, so we put the inter on. Then just as he came by I saw his tyres were bald and it was raining out the back and he was struggling quite a bit on it and had to pit. I got one lap in on the inter with reasonable pace and I was able to get in and put the wet tyre on and come out in front. A very interesting race and I still haven’t seen the chequered flag without a safety car in front.

Q: Nick, in 2005 from 10th to third and now from 10th to second. Great use of the conditions with a long fuel strategy. You came in on lap 22, a little bit earlier than you needed to, and it worked out perfectly for you.
Nick Heidfeld: Yeah, I think it was a very difficult race obviously in these conditions. I took the right tyre choice, well, not the perfect tyre choice as I went straight to extremes. As Jenson said there is normally heavy rainfall here. Then the team told me there is heavy rain expected and I told them inters would be a lot quicker now. Then just when they told me to pit it started to rain heavier and actually it was just 200 metres from the pit entry and I said ‘no, no I stay out as it starts to rain more heavy.’ I tried to preserve my tyres at the beginning and some other guys were quicker than me on the extreme wets and I knew if the rain starts then hopefully I can stay out. But still my rear tyres were destroyed completely and were slicks basically. When it started to rain I just tried to stay on the circuit.

Q: Timo, a great call to go onto the intermediates as Jenson just said. Talk us through that.
Timo Glock: Yes, it was a tricky race I have to say but in the end I have to say one of the best races I could ever do. We struggled a bit at the start. I don’t know why we lost so many places. I couldn’t believe Fernando and Kimi were in front of me at the first corner. I didn’t know where they came from and I struggled and I was only, I think, P8 after the first lap and the traffic was really tricky and after five or six laps I saw already the clouds were coming and I was asking ‘when is the rain coming, when is the rain coming’ and they said you know it should come in the next couple of minutes and then I thought it takes so long as you saw the big clouds coming definitely. It took just so long and we were so close to the first pit stop, so I said ‘okay I will take the risk and we will go for it and go to inters and then we will see.’ I saw already Felipe Massa was on heavy wets quite early and I knew that will destroy the tyres as well, so I said ‘come on, we go for it and take the risk’ and in the end it paid off. But the last two laps behind the safety car it was so confusing. My engineer told me when I did the pit stop ‘you are leading the race,’ so I said ‘okay, I don’t push because I want to save the tyres.’ Then I saw Jenson coming out just ahead of me, so I was P2. Then I jumped out of the car and now I am here I am P3. So hopefully when I come back down I will still be in P3. That’s what I am hoping for.

Q: Jenson, in those closing laps just before the safety car came out you were racing with Timo in dreadful conditions.
JB: It was really bad conditions and you could not actually see the circuit. I mean it was that bad. We were behind the safety car and my team, who did a fantastic job, said all you have got to do is drive around and that was difficult enough. A few moments I was almost off the circuit. We are going around at running pace, that slow. The safety car was pulling away from us. All I had to do was drive around and stay on the circuit. But how slow it looks. It is embarrassing but that was as quick as we needed to go and if I’d gone any quicker I’d think I would have ended up in the gravel.

Q: Nick, talk us through the atmosphere on the grid when you were just sitting there?
NH: Well, actually I thought I was second if the race was stopped now as I knew that the race is counted not at this lap but one or two laps before that. But there was a lot of confusion and we were told to be in first position if the race resumes because apparently (Mark) Webber would have been at the front. There was a lot of mess and it took a lot of time standing there but in this maybe half an hour there was a lot of conversation and a lot of confusion going on.

Q: What was your feeling and the feeling amongst the drivers in terms of the conditions and a possible restart?
NH: Well, it was very clearly impossible to drive if the rain would have kept as strong as it was when the race was quite rightly stopped. As Jenson and Timo just said it felt like walking speed we were driving and still spinning off, so it was the right decision. And I think now outside it’s dark already, so no chance to carry on.

Q: Timo, how was your start? Talk us through that.
TG: I mean you can see already I had massive wheel spin and I just could not pull away and then suddenly on the left side there is Fernando and Kimi coming and it was unbelievable. I couldn’t believe it that Fernando was on the inside. We struggled quite a lot at the start as it was just really, really tricky, so at the end I was happy to keep my front wing in one piece. But that destroyed a little bit the race as we could not go the speed we should have done as Fernando was holding us up and Mark a little bit. Every time I was close enough I couldn’t just attempt. One time I tried and damaged a bit the front wing. But the biggest problem was just traction. I could not get close enough to overtake.

Q: Jenson, you had a bit of a moment on the outside of turn one?
JB: I mean all weekend the circuit has been quite similar but there was such little grip I was really, really surprised and I went a little bit deep into turn one and got a big snap of oversteer and that carried throughout the first lap. I was really, really struggling with the rear end as (Fernando) Alonso was in front of me. I have never seen a car so sideways before. But I eventually got past Alonso coming into the second to last corner and then I had to chase down Jarno (Trulli) and Nico (Rosberg). An exciting race. I would rather have a boring race but we had an exciting one today and I came out on top, so I am happy.
One final thing. Can I just say a massive thank you to my engineer who was on the podium with me today. We have been through a lot of tough times but he has been wicked and today as we saw we came out on top and a lot of it was down to him, so ‘thank you very much.’

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Jenson, this could become a habit.
JB: Finishing behind the safety car you mean. Wow, what a race. We had everything in that race. It was very enjoyable. It was not the easiest start for me and I had a big snap of oversteer, pretty much at every corner on the first lap from the grid. I really struggled with the rear end. But then I closed up to Jarno and Nico and knew I was going longer and when they pitted I could put in a couple of quick laps. It got me in front and it was looking like it was going to be fine until I looked up and saw the clouds come over and it started raining. Unusual for Sepang it just started spitting and we went for the full wets thinking it is going to chuck it down. But it didn’t to start with. A few other people made the correct choice but we had a 16-18 second lead at that point. So I carried on and it started chewing itself up, so I pitted for inters as this guy (Timo) was flying. I came out just behind him but my inter was obviously new and his was very old and I was able to get past him on the wetter part of the circuit just before he pitted. I got one good lap on the inter but then it started chucking it down, so I came in for the full went but then it was the safety car. It was a tough race and it was tough keeping it on the circuit. We were driving around it as if it was walking pace and you are still scared that you are going to chuck it off because you could not see the circuit to start with. It was not like it was rivers, it was a lake.

Q: You were worried about going off the grid anyway because you were on the dirty side of the grid?
JB: Yeah, it was true. Timo also suffered from the grid. I didn’t get a bad start. The start was reasonable but the right hand side just shot past and the KERS cars came up, so I lost time there and turn one was messy really. I got a massive snap of oversteer at the exit and I couldn’t get back from there.

Q: And you have never driven on the wets before?
JB: No, and the balance was definitely not right on the full wet. The circuit was reasonably dry, so it was difficult to get a balance. But I had massive oversteer on the first couple of laps and then the front started graining. There is a lot of work we need to do to sort our pace and balance out on the wet tyres but as I said it is just nice to get to the end of the race and we ended up on the top because, I think, of a good strategy and also looking at what other people were doing on the different types of tyres and we ended up on top. Congratulations to all the guys who work on the car but also the engineers and the strategy guys who got us here really.

Q: As I was saying just now Nick, you’re eighth second place, but I’m sure you’re happy with it today.
NH: Yes, exactly, I’m more than happy with that position. I started tenth and I couldn’t have wished for more, basically.

Q: Amazing that you had one pit stop whereas these guys had three or four.
NH: It started to rain and as Jenson said, it was clear that it would rain heavily, so we went on the extra wets and as it was pretty dry still, I tried to preserve my tyres, especially the rear tyres and therefore at the beginning there were a couple of cars quicker than me. I was even overtaken by one guy, some people were driving away from me, but I knew that they would kill their tyres and if it would start drizzling or raining a bit more, I would then have the tyre and I would be able to stay out. After that, the team told me all the time ‘OK, heavy rain expected in the next two minutes’ but it just didn’t happen, didn’t happen, didn’t happen. Just when they called me in, it started to rain heavily and just 300 metres before the pit entry I said ‘no, no, I will stay out, now it starts raining.’ That was the right call, a bit lucky, obviously, but stopping once they told me to.

Q: And you got away with a spin right at the end as well, a very slow spin…
NH: Yes, it was. The safety car was out already, I had contact with the pits, they told me that I should observe the safety car’s speed which we have on the dash and not go quicker than that. And I was laughing, telling them that I would be happy if I could go that quick. There was already a car which had spun there, so I thought ‘OK, I will go as slow as possible’ but it was aquaplaning not only on the tyres but also on the plank. I spun and I was happy that I didn’t go into the gravel. I don’t think it would have mattered in the end anyway, because the result was taken from a lap earlier but that shows that it was the right thing to stop the race because it was just undriveable.

Q: Timo, that was an extraordinary race. You were basically part of the group bottled up behind Alonso before your first stop.
TG: Yeah, it was a bit disappointing at the start, I have to say. I went from third to eighth after the start, I think. I couldn’t believe that Kimi passed me on the outside in turn one and Fernando on the inside, so I thought again that the KERS cars were in front of me. I struggled behind Mark Webber especially to get close enough to really go for it. One time I tried it and damaged the front wing a bit and that was it really, so I had to stay behind. In the middle of the race I saw the rain was coming, the rain was coming but it took so long that I thought OK, when it takes so long then I go for intermediates because everybody else was already on heavy wets and I saw they struggled really and destroyed them, so I said ‘we go for inters and take the risk’. I was driving around, driving around, overtaking cars, overtaking cars, and found that my tyres were going off as well, but my engineer told me ‘you’re still the quickest on the track, you’re still the quickest.’ I think it was worse in turns seven and eight and that was the direction that the rain was coming from. It came to the point where I had to pit because my tyres were going off completely and I said ‘OK, I have to come in.’ It was just at that moment that Jenson overtook me again. Then we stayed on heavy wets and tried to follow the safety car and that was difficult, I was swimming around. I couldn’t believe it because Jenson was sometimes going quite quickly and I was just swimming around. This morning we were joking around that hopefully everybody knows how to swim in those weather conditions, and I have to say that in the end it was like this, it was just unbelievable and impossible for me to drive at the end. I think it was the right call to stop the race.

Q: Sorry about the second place…
TG: Yeah, it was a bit tricky. My engineer told me ‘you’re P2, P2’. Then I came up here and now I’m P3.
JB: You’re behind me.
NH: I’m fine with second.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Paulo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Do you think the decision to stop the race came a little bit too late? Do you think that a five o’ clock start is still a good idea?
JB: We thought it was a fantastic idea before. The reason for it in Melbourne was because of the light and the poor light and the reflection you get on the visor, I found it very difficult to see the corner exits. But here, it obviously gets dark very quickly and as we all know, there’s normally rain storms here at five or six o’ clock in the evening and that proved to be correct. The race was way too wet and I think that the call was correct. It rained so hard so quickly that I think they did the right thing. It was very difficult for them to judge how wet the circuit is and in Fuji, for me, two years ago it was too wet but this year I think they made the right call to stop it at the right time.
NH: I think it was roughly at the right time. It was also not easy for me to judge because my tyres were worn down completely, so for me it was obviously difficult to drive. Maybe other drivers on fresh tyres would say we could have driven half a lap more but I think it was a good call. The safety car was just out for 20 seconds, that’s when I saw the board, and then they put out the red flag, so I thought it was very well done.
JB: When the safety car is pulling away at 20 seconds a lap, you know that it’s too wet for an F1 car.

Q: (Paulo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Two wins in a row, is it more than you expected?
JB: For me I think it’s more amazing that we’ve done it in these conditions, because Australia wasn’t easy with the safety cars and here with the changing weather conditions it made it a lot more difficult. These two here were not the guys that were fighting me at the start of the race, so the great thing is that we could see what was going on behind us and we could react to it and react to it quickly and that’s why we’re sat here at the moment. I’m very happy and it would be nice going to Shanghai leading by a few points, I think five points, and hopefully we can have a straightforward race and we can see where we stand.

Q: Nick, how was the KERS during the race, did you use it in the wet?
NH: You can use it, just a bit later than in the dry and I have to say that I was happy that it did work because it was the very first time that we had it on the car in the wet conditions, because it has to pass some tests first obviously in the wet and we were not ready in testing, so it was the very first time on the car and it worked OK.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) To all of you, when you stopped the cars on the straight after the red flag, did they listen to you regarding the possibility of continuing the race? JB: Yes, that was always a possibility and as far as I knew we were always planning for a restart, that’s why all the cars were moved around, but the problem was that so many cars span off on the last lap that I think it was very difficult understanding who was in what position. So that was why we were all moving around a lot on the grid, but we were all planning to start the race again. I am happy it didn’t start again because we would have spent ten laps behind a safety car and every lap, every corner you got to you would be scared that you were going to throw it off the road, it’s out of your control, it matters what position the river is in on the apex, you can’t see it. So I think it was the right thing to do for sure. But we were planning for a restart.

Q: (Paulo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) If it was up to you, would you want to start again?
JB: No, I would obviously love to have the ten points, but this is the best we could have done, I think, and realistically it was the right thing to do. I’m sure some people will say ‘we didn’t see the whole race and it’s disappointing’ but you have to think about the safety sometimes. I am here to race, as we all are but there are limits to what we can do with the cars that we have.
NH: I used the time to change my visor because it was getting dark and I put on a lighter visor because I thought I would not see anything otherwise. And I was on the radio telling our team manager and Charlie (Whiting) and the guys who normally listen anyway that I think it was undriveable in these conditions and I’m sure they listened to all the conversations that were going on.
TG: For me it was the same. I said to the engineers there was no way to drive anymore and then I was ready to jump out of the car but they said we had to prepare (for a restart) again and we would go behind the safety car, so I just put my helmet on and got ready and then they said ‘no, that’s it, it’s over.’ At the end, you have to understand what Jenson said, it gets dark quite quickly and I think running around behind the safety car is not the best show and we have to stop at the right moment, I think.

Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriere della Sera) Jenson, if I’m not wrong, I think it’s the first time you drove the Brawn in wet conditions. How was the behaviour of the car and can we say that the Brawn is suitable for every situation?
JB: Yeah, I’m sure it is but the conditions that we were running in today was a very unusual situation to have: full wets, or the extremes as they were, in slightly greasy conditions. We had to go for that option because we thought it was going to rain. There was no use taking a gamble being in the lead, so we took that tyre and obviously it felt pretty terrible. At high speed, you were slowing the car down to third gear because you just couldn’t carry any speed because the rear was always trying to break away. So the balance felt pretty awful but I think that’s more down to the conditions we ran the tyres in, it was not the correct conditions. When we put the intermediates on for one lap, the car felt reasonably good. I had a good balance, because that was the correct conditions for that tyre until it started raining hard and then obviously no tyre was useable.

Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Timo, you said it was a risk to go onto the inters. Was it a long conversation with the race engineer, did you have to convince them that you wanted to take them or did they want to convince you that it was better to go onto wets?
TG: No, no, they just said ‘Timo, it’s up to you, just take a look at the conditions’ and I said ‘let’s take the risk, we’ll go for inters,’ so at the end it was my call and it was the right one, I have to say, because like I said, it took a long time before the rain came down really hard. It was just the right call. Sometimes you have to have some luck and this time it was the right decision at the right moment. Unfortunately at the end, we had the late pit stop, we lost a little bit of position but in the end we have to be happy about this.

MotorSport Vision (MSV) has won the tender to supply chassis and engines for the new FIA Formula Two Championship, following a fax vote of the FIA World Motor Sport Council. As part of the winning tender it has been agreed that MSV will be the promoter of the Championship as well as the operating entity for all of the cars.

MSV has commissioned WilliamsF1 to design the car, which will incorporate a turbocharged 1.8 litre Audi engine and be built to Formula One-level safety standards. The first prototype car is on schedule for its testing debut in November 2008, with the Championship due to start in May 2009 and comprising 16 races over eight events. Performance levels will be between Formula Three and Formula One and the cost per competing driver will be less than €250,000.

Max Mosley, FIA President said,

“The objective is to make top-level international single-seater racing available to drivers who at present have difficulty in raising enough money to demonstrate their talent. Formula One and other major championships will benefit by being able to draw on a far larger pool of drivers, while competitors from countries which do not yet have an established motor racing structure will find it easier to make progress.

“We hope to reveal talent that might otherwise never have emerged and we look forward to seeing drivers coming into Formula One with Super Licences gained in Formula Two.”

MSV, which is run by Jonathan Palmer, who won the penultimate FIA Formula Two Championship in 1983, has extensive experience in supplying race cars and promoting motor racing events. MSV owns and operates five circuits in the UK and has run the Formula Palmer Audi racing championship for the last 11 years. MSV is also the commercial and organisational rights holder for the British Superbike Championship.

2009 AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX
POST-RACE PRESS CONFERENCE – March 29, 2009

Q: Jenson, mayhem in front of you perhaps and certainly the mayhem behind you showed how much things could have gone wrong for you today. But from where we sat it looked like a beautiful day at the races.
Jenson BUTTON: I think it always looks easier than it is. The first few laps of the race were great for me and I could settle into a pace, but then when the safety car came out I struggled massively to get heat into the tyres. The car was hitting the ground and just before the safety car pulled in I flat-spotted the tyre pretty severely. I was struggling quite a bit with vibration and with the poor light as well. Being in the front it should be easy, but it was not easy at all.  I tell you that. But an amazing day. Some people might say it is a pity it finished under the safety car, but I don’t care. I won the race today and that is all I care about. I have got to say a massive thank you to everyone for this. It has been a traumatic few months for all of us, as I have said already, but I can’t put it out there how tough it has been, so I have got to say thank you to the whole team. But also to my family for being so strong as it has been difficult.

Q: Rubens, backing up the team performance with a brilliant second place proving the car is not only quick but also incredibly strong.
Rubens BARRICHELLO: It is strong, very strong. I was hit from behind and I hit someone in front. It was a tough race and as Jenson just said, it wasn’t an easy race, but for me I never thought I could finish on the podium after the start. I hit anti-stall, so the car went into neutral. I recovered quite quickly but then I lost a lot of pace compared to people and I was hit from behind from a McLaren and that put me sideways and I hit someone really hard. I thought the car was done from that crash but I survived quite well, but on my first stint my nose was falling apart and I lost the braking stability when I hit Kimi as well. He closed the door and I couldn’t avoid him. I had a lot of mixed emotions during the race, but it was fantastic. I started second but could only hope for one better but after the start I am delighted to be here with the second place.

Q: Jarno, in some respects starting from the pit lane was the best place to start, given what happened at the first corner.
Jarno TRULLI: Well, after yesterday’s disappointment this was a great day, especially for my team. I started from the pit and I was lucky enough to get away from the first corner accident. From that time on I was just pushing, pushing, pushing really hard because the car was good. This is a great result and especially I would like to thank my Panasonic Toyota team because they have made a lot of effort and this result is entirely down to them as they have done a god job over the winter time to give me a fantastic car, so after yesterday we bounced back today to show that we are doing things the right way.

Q: Jenson, you said the light was getting bad and the temperature was dropping and after your second pit stop you are emerging on the softer of the two Bridgestone tyres and the pressure is on with Robert Kubica on the hard tyre.
JB: You know, I really made a mistake in my pit stop and it was frustrating. I was in second gear when I came into the box and the neutral didn’t work. It only works in first gear but I was just confused with Massa in front and that lost us a hell of a lot of time, so they just about got the nozzle on after they had done the tyres. That cost me five or six seconds which was a mistake but the good thing was we came out on top anyway with that. There is something to come from me and something to come from the team as well. I made it difficult for us today but we got there.

Q: What were the conditions like right at the end with the shade and the drop in temperatures?
JB: It was really difficult. It is strange for such an open circuit, you could not see the exit of the corners at all. I used a visor that was slightly tinted and that was the correct thing to do. But with the glare from the sun and the change in light from the trees it was so difficult. It was so easy to put a wheel wrong and the problem was the bad light was always on the most difficult corners, so it made it tough and on the prime tyre also we were struggling for heat. I just couldn’t get any heat in the tyres in the second stint.

Q: Rubens, you said that you started second. Explain what happened at the start.
RB: Well, revs are on and my car moved and stopped and that’s when I hit anti-stall. Anti-stall is a protection from the engine that you have. You jump into neutral if you don’t have the right revs. I went on the inside but the McLaren, I don’t know who, I hit it really fast on my back and then I hit the other car which was a Red Bull or Toro Rosso. It was a fairly big hit and I thought my race was over, but one thing we can say is that with the crash if people think that our car is only good because of the diffuser, well, that big hit from behind broke the diffuser completely. The car was very strong after that. It didn’t have a fantastic pace as the temperature dropped but it had a pace, so still a good car after all.

Q: Jarno, a brilliant race from the pit lane but your race really came alive in those closing stages when on lap 56 Robert Kubica attacked Sebastian Vettel with Vettel on the soft tyre and Robert on the harder tyre and I think you going through the debris after this.
JT: Well, there have been a lot of things going on during this race. Mainly I was trying to push as hard as possible in order to catch up. I made a lot of overtaking during the whole race, at the beginning of the session as well as in the middle and in the end. I didn’t know what was going on as my only target was to push as hard as possible to finish as high as possible and somehow I was lucky but once again I have to thank the team as we had a fantastic car, so I could do it.

Q: Jenson, at the 1954 French Grand Prix Juan Manuel Fangio led a one-two for Mercedes. That was the last time a team making its debut had a one-two finish. You did that today with a Mercedes engine behind you. Your emotions and your thoughts at the end of this momentous occasion?
JB: It is not just for me, but for the whole team. This is a fairy tale ending really to the first race of our career together and I hope that we can continue this way and I know we are going to fight to keep this car competitive and with the limited resources we have to keep it at the front. The whole team has done a good job and this has got to continue as this is where I think we deserve to be and we have worked very hard for this. So thank you very much to the team and bring on Malaysia.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Jenson, someone is going to pinch you in a moment and you are going to wake up.
JB: I said on the radio to my engineer ‘can you please pinch me next time round.’ It was at the start of the race after five laps when I had a five second lead or something, but yes, a special moment.

Q: Can you believe being on pole in a brand new car and now winning as well?
JB: Yeah, I mean Rubens made it sort of easy for me on the first timed lap when I was able to pull out four or five seconds in the first couple of laps. That was nice and I just settled into a nice rhythm.  I was keeping Vettel’s times in check, just knowing what he was doing and just trying to pace myself. It was all looking reasonably good and then we got the first safety car and I massively struggled to get heat into the tyres. That is something we have not had an issue with before, but I was really struggling with the car bottoming and when I braked to start again when the safety car came in I locked the front left up and had a massive flat spot. It made the next stint very difficult, especially with the poor light, as I couldn’t see any of the corner exits and we were able to plough on and still put reasonably good lap times in. On my last stop I overshot the box a little bit and they couldn’t get the hose on for about four or five seconds, so that lost us more time. It wasn’t my best race I must say but I still won, so I am chuffed to bits. I know there is more room for improvement from myself and from team which is the exciting thing. I think it is just being out of practice for so long and not doing that much testing over the winter.

Q: What about that final stint and especially with Robert Kubica on the harder tyres?
JB: I actually wasn’t worried. I knew when I came out in front of Vettel that I would be fine as I knew that we could look after the tyre. The thing with the last stint was not to push and try and see what was the best time I could do. I was purposely driving very slowly for what pace I think we could do to look after the tyres. I wasn’t turning in aggressively to any corners. I think I could have been in the mid 1.28‘s but we were taking an easy route to stop the graining because as soon as that graining starts you see what happens as Vettel lost a massive amount of time behind me and I was able to just plough on doing my mid 1.29’s when he was in the 1.30’s, so I wasn’t worried once I was out in front of Vettel and I knew we could bring it home from there.

Q: And your thoughts about Ross Brawn and everything he has done?
JB: You don’t find Ross speechless very often but the last 15 minutes I would be surprised if he said a word. When we saw him when we went up to the podium he had nothing to say. The big bear was just there speechless. It was good to see as it was a very emotional day for him as it is for us as well.

Q: And in one week’s time Malaysia?
JB: I’m all for it. I cannot wait. It is a circuit I really enjoy and hopefully we can iron out some of the problems we had here. It is going to be a good race I think. It is never as easy as you think it is going to be and today was reasonably tough and the pace of Vettel was pretty strong. And with the safety cars it does mix up everything. Fair play to Rubens and Jarno, they did a great job to finish second and third. Some of it I am sure was the safety car and it makes it tough. Even though I am on pole, in first position, it is still not an easy place to be.

Q: Rubens, well done to you too. Again, I’m sure you couldn’t have imagined this result.
RB: Well, after putting the car into second place yesterday I was hoping that we could finish first and second but right after the start, like a milli-second after the start, I never really thought we could have imagined to finish first and second. It was a tough afternoon but I had a lot of adventure there. There was a lot of overtaking. I think I kept some of the guys awake in Brazil. It was three o’ clock in the morning, so I think they had reasons to keep awake. I’m pleased. My afternoon was great in a difficult car, let’s put it that way, because some of the bits were broken. We could see a drop in performance in terms of aerodynamics, when I was hit from behind by the McLaren, and then I hit someone on the side because of that. I had to change the nose, I had a difficult pit stop as well. There was no one to blame. We had 1500 kilometers (testing) each, one day for the mechanics to get used to things. They didn’t have a lot of sleep before they came here, so it’s all a dream really, to say that we finished first and second for a new team. It was funny to see Ross that way, not even at Ferrari did I see him like that. It looked like it was his first win, so it was really amazing.

Q: What about that very late second stop? It really was right at the end.
RB: Yeah, I think the team was trying to capitalise on the problems that we went through and made it as long as possible. We knew that the softer of the two tyres could have some graining issues, so with the small problems that I had driving the car, I was very happy to keep the pace with the guys in front on three stops. And then I had a fantastic car when I put on the softer tyres, even though there were some bits missing it was a good car to drive. But I was looking after it and all of a sudden I heard on the radio ‘crash, crash, crash. Be careful.’ And then I saw the two cars going off the track and it gave me second position which was great.

Q: Jarno, I get the feeling that you’re just a little frustrated. Maybe there’s the thought of what could have been if you hadn’t started from the pit lane?
JT: Well, many things happened this weekend, plenty of emotion, some highs, some lows, so it’s difficult to say if you’re happy or not. At the moment, I’m not completely happy with myself because I could have done well, but on the other hand if you look at the result we have all done a great job after the big disappointment of yesterday, we proved that our car has nothing to do in terms of competitiveness regarding the little details which we have been disqualified for. On the other hand, qualifying yesterday went pretty badly. It was the only time when the car felt pretty bad and I don’t know why. On top of that I’ve been struggling all weekend with brakes, so all I had to do today was completely change the brakes to a different material, different things, something I never ran with this weekend. With all the experience I have, I didn’t think about it, I just went flat out, out of the pit lane. It was lacking at some stages of the race, at the beginning, because I gained a couple of positions because of crashes. On the other hand, I don’t know if the TV showed them but I did some great moves and overtaking at the beginning of the race, in the middle of the race as well as at the end of the race. So I was a little bit unlucky because at one stage I fell behind Fisichella who was massively slower than me, something like one and a half seconds and I spent a lot of time, a lot of laps behind him which cost me so much track time. So I don’t know if I could have finished higher but anyway, all I want to say is thanks to the team, because the Panasonic Toyota team has done a great job over the winter and especially after yesterday’s disappointment, it’s a great way to hit back.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Mark Fogarty – Auto Action) Jenson, two things. Firstly, now that you’ve finally got that second win, any chance of shaving off the beard?
JB: I quite like it and my girlfriend likes it and that’s what matters to me, Fogarty!

Q: (Mark Fogarty – Auto Action) On the strength of today’s performance, is it now a realistic prospect that the World Championship could be a two horse race between you and Rubens? Is this a modern version of Senna versus Prost in ’88?
JB: I hope it is. I hope that we are quick all season and I hope that we have an advantage all season, but I don’t think that’s going to be the case. I think that you’re right, that we’re both going to be very competitive and pushing each other very hard if you look at the last few years that we’ve been team-mates. But I have a feeling that other teams are going to be on us very quickly, and when we get to a different type of circuit, maybe in Malaysia, some other cars which weren’t so competitive here will be. Vettel’s pace surprised me a little bit. I didn’t think they were quite as quick as they were today when we watched them in practice but their pace seemed to be good. So it’s not a walkaway victory for sure, and it’s never going to be easy for us over the next few races, but you’re right that we will be competitive together and we’re both in the same position here with a good car, so there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be fighting at the front.

Q: (Michael Schmidt – Sport Auto) Rubens, what happened at the start?
RB: I hit the anti-stall. I don’t know why. I have to go through the data-logging to see what happened but basically when the car first moved, it hit anti-stall and then it was into neutral and so I had to recover and get the clutch back on and go. When you do that, you use a lot of throttle and there was a lot of wheelspin, so I lost a lot. And then you saw that I got to the first corner and I went on the inside of someone – I could definitely manage to stop, I wasn’t going to hit anyone – and the McLaren came up far too fast behind me and threw me into the side of a Red Bull, and as I said before, I thought that that was it for the race. Fortunately the car is very strong and kept me going.

Q: (Ian Parkes – The Press Association) Jenson, you’ve scored more points in one race today than you have in the past two years. Does that pretty much sum up how bad the past two years have been?
JB: The past two years put together? Yes, it does really. It’s quite true. That’s pretty rubbish isn’t it? Wow! Yeah, it does. The last two years have been very tough, for both of us. To drive that car we had last season, it was a handful. Every corner we got to we didn’t know what was going to really happen. So it was a beast, but that’s what we had to deal with. We knew that there were some very talented people in the team. We just haven’t produced the car that I think we expected to last season, but we’ve put all our work into this car and you can see that we can produce a good car as we have in the past, and now the important thing is to just keep improving it and our updates throughout the season I hope are going to be enough to keep us strong.

Q: (Ron Reed – Herald Sun) Jenson, what, if any, conversations have you had with Richard Branson in the last 24 hours or so?
JB: I haven’t spoken to him really. We’ve obviously been doing our own thing, getting on with work, so we haven’t spoken.

Q: Jarno, sure it’s very early, but did today’s performance show you that Toyota can fight for the championship?
JT: It’s difficult to say because obviously I haven’t been close enough to these guys who at the moment look like they are the men to beat. All I can say is that since this winter time we were feeling pretty good, since the first time I tested the car I gave a positive comment straight away. This result is a lot down to the team but I’m proud of what is happening, because I think I’ve been giving a lot in terms of experience, in terms of direction and straight away the first time I tested the car we were on our own, so we didn’t have any reference point, but straight away I said that for me it was a very good baseline. Now we’ve proved that the first time I can tell when something is right or wrong and the direction to take and naturally this makes me feel very happy because it means that I’m not only good at driving but I’m also good at giving the direction and leading the team in one way. So I’m getting what I want and the team is doing a good job with both Timo and me, the atmosphere is great, so it’s a big thanks to everyone because we have seen that the machine has a major impact on the results, no matter who is driving it, but it’s important to have a good car. Today’s result is just a great way, a great day to thank everyone and to show that Toyota is on the right direction, on the right path. Now, from being third to saying that we can fight for the championship is a bit too early to say.

Q: (Bob McKenzie – The Daily Express) Jenson, two things: first of all, what was your feeling when the safety car came out, just at the end? Did you think that’s ruined the spectacular blaze over the line or did you know then that you’re going to win it? And secondly, is this a sort of poke in the eye for people who doubted your talent over the years? You always said you needed the right car?
JB: First of all, when the safety car came out I wasn’t thinking ‘I’m going to cross the finish line with the safety car out.’ It was ‘oh dear, another safety car.’ But when I crossed the line I’d won the race, I crossed the line first, it doesn’t matter how it’s done. The safety car wasn’t on the track then anyway, it had already come in, but it’s the same emotion, exactly the same emotion because you’ve won the race and in spectacular fashion, I think even though we had the safety car out.
What was the second question? This win is for me and for the team and that’s what I care about. I don’t need to poke anyone in the eye about what they’ve said about me in the past. There have been a lot of positive comments in the past and those are the ones that you obviously enjoy. If there are going to be negative comments, I have no reason to poke anyone in the eye for any reason. I’m just happy to be here and I’ve worked bloody hard to be here.

Q: (Livio Orrichio – O Estado do Sao Paulo) To all of you, do you think the FIA can change the result of this race; what do you think about that?
JB: That’s nothing that we can change as drivers. We’re here to put on a show and also to get the best out of the equipment on offer and that’s exactly what we’ve done this weekend, and we will continue to do so over the next few races or for the whole of the season, and we have to see what happens. At the moment, I’m enjoying this victory because it is a victory and I think it should stand for sure.
RB: Obviously it’s in the hands of the FIA to decide what to do but the FIA already checked the cars and already said that the cars were legal, so I’m not expecting anything different.

Q: (Paulo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) For Rubens and Jarno: do you think that now you’ve driven in a race, that the new rules are helping overtaking or does it not change much?
RB: I don’t know if I can answer this question right now. I would like to wait for Malaysia to answer that a little bit more, because this race was a bit strange. We’ve raced at five o’ clock, difficult visibility and the tyre temperatures were dropping. Because of that, people had different sorts of balance in the race. At one point, I thought I could overtake, it didn’t matter if I had the wings to play with or anything, so it didn’t seem to be easier but I think people did have problems, some more than others, with tyres temperatures, so I would like to wait until Malaysia to fully answer the question.
JT: Well, it helped make the race a little bit more fun, a bit more show and overtaking. The fact is that anyway, being late in the afternoon was really due to the shadows, so we had to be very careful where we were putting our wheels and on the other hand I don’t want to be pessimistic but I spent many laps behind Fisichella who was a second or a second and a half slower than me and I couldn’t overtake, and I really needed to overtake him, so I was really pushing and attacking but I couldn’t make it. Maybe it’s slightly better but definitely at the moment it didn’t change my race at all, but let’s wait and see. I would be more than happy if we had more chance to overtake, not just for us but the show for everyone.

Q: (Richard Williams – The Guardian) Jenson, did you know at the first test that this kind of thing was going to be possible, and if you did, what are the qualities of the car that make it different and make you feel so comfortable?
JB: When I drove it at Barcelona, after four laps I felt that the car was competitive, and also when I got out of the car and looked at the timing board, I realised that we were competitive. For me some of it is to do with the tyres which I think suit this car well. When I drove last year’s car with the slick tyres the car seemed to be reasonably good. We have made some massive steps forward with the car for sure. I would say that mechanically we have improved a lot since last season, so it’s better in the low speed corners, some of it again is helped by the slicks. Aerodynamically I think we are strong, I’m sure there is still room for improvement there and I think Mercedes have done a great job with the engine, the driveability of the engine has been good from the word go. There have obviously been some points which we needed to improve with the engine and the driveability but to be able to do that in six or seven days is impressive. So it’s not just one thing, it is the whole package which is good, but I still don’t think we’re getting the best out of it yet.

Now who ever would have thought that we would be reading the qualifying list of the first race of the F1 championship with Brawn GP at the top of the pyramid? This recent craze is something new and refreshing to open wheel fans everywhere as Brawn GP has come from the grave to flat out over night stardom.
A skeptical myself, I believe the new rules would ruin the sport but now, I am a believer, as you should be too.
With the qualifying sessions now over, Brawn GP has placed Jensen Button and Rubens Barrichello in first and second places respectively in what some call the most exciting beginning to a season since the turbo era.
Tuned brings you the official Saturday qualifying results:

2009 Australian Grand Prix Formula One Qualifying Results

1 22 J. Button – Brawn GP Formula One Team
2 23 R. Barrichello – Brawn GP Formula One Team
3 15 S. Vettel – Red Bull Racing
4 5 R. Kubica – BMW Sauber F1 Team
5 16 N. Rosberg – AT&T Williams
6 10 T. Glock – Panasonic Toyota Racing
7 3 F. Massa – Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
8 9 J. Trulli – Panasonic Toyota Racing
9 4 K. Raikkonen – Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
10 14 M. Webber – Red Bull Racing
11 6 N. Heidfeld – BMW Sauber F1 Team
12 7 F. Alonso – ING Renault F1 Team
13 17 K. Nakajima – AT&T Williams
14 2 H. Kovalainen – Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
15 1 L. Hamilton – Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
16 12 S. Buemi – Scuderia Toro Rosso
17 8 N. Piquet Jr. – ING Renault F1 Team
18 21 G. Fisichella – Force India F1 Team
19 20 A. Sutil Force – India F1 Team
20 11 S. Bourdais – Scuderia Toro Rosso

Now that the Formula One off season has ended, the trashtalk begins. After hours upon hours of testing in Spain, the F1 paddock is well under way for this weekend’s race in Australia as driver’s and manufacturers alike get ready for the launch of a new era. Fernando Alonso also took part in commenting on his feelings on the outcome of the 2009 World Driver’s Championship as he states that:”I’m aiming for the title this year”. He continued :”in years past Ferrari and McLaren were dominating the sport and it was becoming quite predictable, we want a closer grid where action is the centerpiece of the race”. As we all agree with the Spaniard, the grid will be much more exciting this year and should be good for some electrifying action. Alonso also mentioned that “us drivers will be working much harder in the cockpit to keep the car on track as much of our aides are gone, a thing of the past”.
We hope that the season really does become the best in years and that many drivers climb the success ladder, even with midpack cars…

After much storied drama on the winner take all format, the FIA has sided with Max Mosley in changing the winner take all format publicized by F1 principal Bernie Ecclestone. According to reports from the Daily Telegraph, Ecclestone told the FIA that the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) was supportive of the rule change from points to win numbers, actually lying about the general opinion on the topic. As a matter of fact, the FOTA never even heard of these plans until the media released news concerning the change. After this week’s firestorm, Max Mosley decided to overturn the decision that Ecclestone made, thus returning to the very simple yet effective points system.
This is only one of few instances in recent F1 history that has caused controversy and much speculation as to what direction the open wheel sport is going. We think Ecclestone is a thing of the past, move one Bernie, move on.

In a surprise move, Bernie Ecclestone has decided to change the rules on the World Drivers Championship outcome by rewarding the highest number of wins, over the outgoing points system which rewards driver total points. The rule change comes as a delayed package deal to be coinciding with the aerodynamic and tire change that happened after the 2008 season. This year should show a 30% drop in aerodynamic grip to be recovered more so by mechanical grip, hoping to ground these cars a little more from their stereotype of “fighter jets on wheels”. With the new rules comes a lot of controversy of course.
Let’s discuss.
Had the World Championship been decided by wins number in years past we would so happen to have found many differences in World Champions. For example, Nigel Mansell would have won three championships instead of a single, and Nelson Piquet would have suffered the opposite faith as he would have won none of his three!
Let’s reiterate.
If applied to the 2008 Championship, Lewis Hamilton would have surrendered his title to Felipe Massa and things would have been vary different as Ferrari would have won both constructors and driver’s Championships.
Racing kicks off in ten days from Australia, stay Tuned.

After year with the Italian manufacturer and motorsports division, Jean Todt finally hung up his shoes and stepped down from the Ferrari Board of Directors during a meeting on Tuesday. Company CEO Luca di Montezemolo said that Jean Todt’s involvement was nothing short of a  “huge contribution to the success of Ferrari over the last few years.”
Todt used to hold positions as sporting director, team principal and eventually even CEO across the years, making him one of Ferrari’s most storied men. Todt is said to completely retire from motorsport but Tuned would like to wish him the best of luck on his future endeavors.

Tuned would like to extend to our readers an interview with one of Ferrari’s main executives, Stefano Domenicali.

“We are satisfied of the level of our machine from the performance point of view while it is clear that we must still work with greater attention on the aspect of reliability. We have seen this past year how fundamental it is to be reliable, how determining the details are: we must multiply the efforts in this direction”.

What are your expectations?

“Never like this year have I awaited the most difficult championship to date. Many rule changes have been introduced: in order to plan the vehicle, we practically started from scratch. In these cases, the time factor assumes a role that is still more determining: those, like ourselves and our main adversaries in last the two years, have pushed until the end in the development of the 2008 car are at a disadvantage compared to those who chose to dedicate every resource to the development of the new vehicle”.

Where would you place your team compared to the competition?

“I don’t want you to think that I am eluding the question, but never like today has it been so difficult to see how the competition stacks up. Until the other day, there was a huge balance between different teams and with the revival of the Honda team through Brawn GP, we see that performance sometimes over passes expectations. We believe we are part of the group of more competitive teams but there a lot of unturned rocks to explore: we will have to wait for Melbourne to have some more answers”.

In the last few days, word has said that the new rules have been interpreted differently by teams: what is Ferrari’s position on the situation?

“On our side of things, we retain to have applied the rules to the letter and thanks to the OWG (Overtaking Working Group) we are on course. Its possible that other teams have taken other routes, but it remains to the FIA to react quickly and effectively for interpret these decisions”.

Source: Corriere dello Sport

With a new team under his name, Ross Brawn has brought many new additions to the now defunct Honda F1 team. What no one expected was that his medium budget team would be lapping a full second ahead of the grid, Ferrari being the next quickest!
Normally we don’t report much of the off season testing, but this session truly reinforces the idea that Formula One is reaching a turning point, where $400 million plus budgets are meaningless.
Times like what Jensen Button has accomplished this week aren’t out of the norm for the back of the pack simply by running on low fuel and a hot lap setup, but this whole session was accomplished under race trim with a full tank of gas.
For the time being, Brawn GP is ahead of heavy hitters McLaren, meaning that some people have yet to do their homework on how to take advantage of the new rules change for 2009.