Spanish GP: Brawn GP Friday practice report

After the first four flyaway races, Formula One returned to Europe this week with Brawn GP commencing the team's on-track preparations for the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona today.

The Brawn-Mercedes cars have a number of aerodynamic upgrades for this weekend's race and today's practice sessions were the first opportunity for drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello to evaluate the new developments on track.

On a warm spring day, Jenson and Rubens completed 45 laps in the first practice session with Jenson topping the timesheets at the end of the ninety minutes. This afternoon, the pair concentrated on longer runs completing 74 laps with Rubens ending the day in fourth position and Jenson in sixth place.

JENSON BUTTON
"The balance of my car hasn't been quite right today with our new aero upgrade fitted. We have been struggling for grip which was a little frustrating but we believe that we have identified the reasons. The good thing is that Rubens has collected some good data today so we can look at that overnight and have a more positive day tomorrow."

RUBENS BARRICHELLO
"We have had a good first day and focused our attentions on evaluating the new aero package that we have for this race. I ran the current package this morning for baseline data before fitting the new developments. My initial feedback is positive and the car felt good and well-balanced. We ran a fairly conservative programme which has given us valuable data to study overnight."

ROSS BRAWN
"It is always good to return to Europe after a hectic start to the season and particularly following the success of our first four races. Throughout that period we have been working hard on our first upgrade package of the season for the BGP 001 and it is very satisfying to see those developments on track today. It has been a mixed day for us with Rubens very happy with the performance however we have experienced some issues with the performance of the package on Jenson's car. We are investigating the cause at the moment and have plenty of data to study overnight to resolve it."

-credit: brawn gp