F1: Brawn GP Leads First Singapore Practice

Formula 1

F1: Brawn GP Leads First Singapore Practice

Rubens Barrichello isn’t giving up on the title fight and proved that Friday by leading the first practice session for the Singapore Grand Prix...

SPEED Staff | Posted September 25, 2009 Singapore (SGP)

For the third time this season, Rubens Barrichello led a first practice session. Barrichello set the fastest lap at Singapore Friday, followed closely by his teammate Jensen Button. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Rubens Barrichello isn’t giving up on the title fight and proved that Friday by leading the first practice session for the Singapore Grand Prix.

Barrichello in his Brawn GP Mercedes put down a fast lap of 1:50.179 late in the session. It was the third time this year that Barrichello, currently second in the point’s, has led a first practice session. He was followed by his teammate and championship point’s leader Jensen Button who went to second on the charts in the final laps of the session.

Mark Webber for the Red Bull Team was close behind in third with a time of 1:50.416, with Fernando Alonso fourth, with Sebastian Vettel rounding out the top five.

The only major incident of the session came about midway through when Romain Grosjean brought out the red flag. Grosjean, who replaced driver Nelson Piquet Jr. spun the car coming out of Turn 17, which happens to be the same corner where Piquet Jr. crashed during last year’s event.

McLaren teammates of Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton were sixth and seventh, Robert Kubica, Heikki Kovalainen and Kazuki Nakajima filled out the top ten.

Less then a second separated the top ten on the charts.

PRACTICE ONE

Pos Driver Team Time Gap

1 Rubens Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 1:50.179
2 Jenson Button Brawn-Mercedes 1:50.356 0.177
3 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 1:50.416 0.237
4 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:50.567 0.388
5 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 1:50.614 0.435
6 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:50.699 0.520
7 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:50.715 0.536
8 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 1:50.815 0.636
9 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:50.865 0.686
10 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:51.089 0.910
11 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:51.427 1.248
12 Adrian Sutil Force India-Merc. 1:51.544 1.365
13 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 1:51.643 1.464
14 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:51.656 1.477
15 Timo Glock Toyota 1:52.083 1.904
16 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:52.135 1.956
17 Giancarlo Fisichella Ferrari 1:52.390 2.211
18 Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Merc. 1:52.905 2.726
19 Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari 1:53.232 3.053
20 Romain Grosjean Renault 1:53.458 3.279

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