Brawn's Jenson Button ended the team's short winter testing programme by posting the fastest lap of the winter for a 2009 chassis around the Jerez circuit.
Button heads to Melbourne with confidence higher than it has been for several years (LAT)
Brawn's Jenson Button re-assumed the team's customary position atop the timesheets on Tuesday at Jerez, as four teams continued their final preparations for the Australian Grand Prix.
Button took half a second off of Fernando Alonso's best time from Monday, stopping the clock in 1m17.844, the first 2009 chassis to lap Jerez in under 78 seconds and means topped four of their last five test days across Jerez and Catalunya, as the team concluded their winter activity.
After completing 114 laps, Button commented "We have had a very useful test in Jerez this week, particularly today where we have been able to fine-tune the set-up of the car to my liking ahead of the first race. Even after such a short testing programme, I feel that we are ready for the challenge ahead in Melbourne, however we will still need every minute of the Friday practice sessions to make the most of our first race weekend."
Team principal Ross Brawn added "Our programme to date has been dominated by the requirement to prove the car's reliability however we are also pleased with the competitive lap times that we have seen from the car over the past two weeks. I would like to thank the team and our drivers for all their hard work over the past few weeks as we look forward to the first race and the opportunity to finally see the car in action in a competitive environment."
Williams were second fastest on Tuesday, with Nico Rosberg completing his final day of preseason activity before handing over to Kazuki Nakajima. Rosberg's running was disrupted by a minor off towards the end of the day, but he still completed 66 laps and was within 0.227s of Button.
“Today, we worked on our race starts process and mechanical set-ups with Nico" said technical director Sam Michael. "We then moved onto long runs in order to evaluate different aero parts. Unfortunately, Nico had an off this afternoon so preparations to turn the car around for Kazuki’s arrival tomorrow started slightly earlier than scheduled.”
Renault's Nelson Piquet was third, as he took over from Fernando Alonso in the R29 for the team's last day. After completing a mammoth 133 laps with a best of 1m18.382, Piquet said "My final day of testing went really well and I'm pleased that we were able to do so many laps. We were looking at the car's aero performance today as well as doing some set-up work in preparation for the first race and overall we found a good balance with the car. It was pretty windy, but the track conditions were good so we were able to get a lot done".
Once again, Mclaren's Lewis Hamilton was at the tail of the four-car field, completing 121 laps but failing to get within 1.277s of Button. The test continues until Thursday, although only Mclaren and Williams will be present.
