Monaco GP: Brawn GP Thursday practice report

Brawn GP began the team's on-track preparations for the 2009 Monaco Grand Prix around the streets of Monte Carlo today.

With track time at a premium to allow the drivers to get into the rhythm of the 3.340km street circuit, all the cars were quickly out on track in the morning to maximise the available running time. Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button completed 26 laps and 28 laps respectively as they developed the balance of their BGP 001 cars. With the track conditions improving throughout the day, both drivers focused on longer runs and tyre evaluations in the afternoon session, completing a further 77 laps.

Friday is a traditional rest day in Monaco with the track action resuming on Saturday ahead the all-important qualifying hour.

Rubens Barrichello:

"We have had a good first day to start our weekend here in Monaco. I love driving the street track although it is lacking grip at the moment but this should improve in time for qualifying on Saturday. We were able to evaluate a lot of different things today with positive outcomes. I had some oversteer in the car but it was controllable and overall I am very satisfied with the balance. So we can be optimistic heading into the weekend although we expect a tough fight from our close competitors. We will need to work hard ahead of qualifying as it is so important to achieve a good grid position here."

Jenson Button:

"We are going in the right direction following this afternoon's practice session however this morning proved quite challenging for me. I had rear locking in the low speed corners and understeer in the high speed corners and didn't feel quite comfortable in the car. However we were able to make some good set-up changes this afternoon and my last runs on the softer tyres were much better. Achieving a good balance is very important here so we are going in the right direction. If we can keep making improvements then it should be a good weekend to come."

Ross Brawn, team principal:

"The Monaco Grand Prix always throws up a number of unique challenges and we worked hard today to familiarise ourselves with the conditions and prepare for the weekend ahead. The biggest challenge this afternoon was finding sufficient free air to allow the cars to have clean runs and achieve a clear read on our set-up evaluations. Jenson had a little unscheduled work in the garage this afternoon after brushing a wall, a frequent hazard here in Monaco, and we made some precautionary changes to the steering components. Overall it has been a very good start to the weekend which has allowed Rubens and Jenson to acclimatise themselves with the car and the circuit and has put us in a good position ahead of Saturday."

-credit: brawn