NICO ROSBERG/No.16 Williams was on a roll, figuratively but not literally, as he again topped the charts in the second Friday practice at the 2009 Formula 1 ING Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. His time dropped from the morning, to 1:26.053, faster than last year’s qualifying track record of 1:26.714 set by LEWIS HAMILTON/No.1 McLaren.
Hamilton could only manage to run eighteenth overall.
RUBENS BARRICHELLO/No.23 Brawn GP was second. The all-white color scheme has been enhanced by fluoro green highlights on the body and full-out on the wheels.
Third was JARNO TRULLI/No.9 Toyota. A revitalized MARK WEBBER/No.14 Red Bull ran fourth and JENSON BUTTON/No.10 Toyota was fifth.
All six of the cars running the litigious diffuser were in the top seven, with only Webber without. His Red Bull team filed one of the appeals on the body piece.
Webber’s teammate, SEBASTIAN VETTEL, spun earlier in the session and wasn’t able to restart. He turned the fewest number of laps – 19.
One of the other similarly-named Red Bull drivers, Rookie SEBASTIEN BUEMI, finished last.
FELIPE MASSA/No.3 Ferrari took a ride on the wild side, going in and out of Turn One. He went way wide and wiggled through a correction to the other side of the track and was able to continue on to finish tenth overall.
The new KERS safety equipment was distributed Friday to a number of Teams including Fire, Medical, Recovery, Scrutineering, and Track, as well as the F1 Medical Rescue Coordinator, DR. GARY HARTSTEIN. Most marshals will just wear the three-layer set of gloves. The inner glove is cotton, with long heavy rubber gloves on top, covered by shorter leather gloves.
Seven cars will run KERS this weekend: Ferrari, McLaren, Renault and one BMW Sauber – NICK HEIDFELD.
All 20 cars will have the green cockpit indicator light, but only the cars running KERS will have the small black bolt icon inside a yellow triangle sticker – which are on the near part of the nose cone, just past the windscreen. They are designed to be seen by the first responder, not the driver. When the green light is on, it means the KERS has been discharged and the car is safe. The responder will use a hand signal – both hands straight up in the air – so everyone including Race Control watching on the monitor – knows the car is safe. If not, the signal is arms upstretched and crossed.
The car’s cut-off switch does not affect the KERS.
If a medical responder has to work on the car while KERS is active, he or she will use an rubber insulated blanket which fits over the entire car, with a hole cut for the cockpit. The tarp blanket is in Australia’s colors, yellow on one side and green on the other.
Scrutineers is an unlikely team to have marshals wearing gloves. The marshals who push cars on the weigh bridge – the only Scrutineers allowed to touch a F1 car – will be KERS protected.
Because of KERS, the Scrutineer involvement in Qualifying has changed. One car each will be weighed at the end of the first and second sessions. There will be no random weighing during Qualifying. At the end of the third session, all ten cars will be weighed.
Before the first Friday F1 practice, the first-ever mandatory F1 driver autograph session took place. The plan was for the drivers to be available Friday morning during a 40-minute special pit lane walk by those who had paid extra for the privilege. In actuality, the driver could choose his 15-minute window and come out for an informal meet and greet. I saw several drivers who did it, including the popular McLaren drivers who signed autographs and posed for photos. In at least one case, the driver didn’t show – SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS/Toro Rosso. A team representative said ‘He did it yesterday.”
FRIDAY SECOND PRACTICE
NICO ROSBERG/Williams
RUBENS BARRICHELLO/Brawn GP
JARNO TRULLI/Toyota
MARK WEBBER/Red Bull
JENSON BUTTON/Brawn GP
TIMO GLOCK/Toyota
KAZUKI NAKAJIMA/Williams
SEBASTIAN VETTEL/Red Bull
ADRIAN SUTIL/Force India F1
FELIPE MASSA/Ferrari
KIMI RAIKKONEN/Ferrari
FERNANDO ALONSO/Renault
GIANCARLO FISICHELLA/Force India F1
NICK HEIDFELD/BMW Sauber
ROBERT KUBICA/BMW Sauber
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS/Toro Rosso
HEIKKI KOVALAINEN/McLaren
LEWIS HAMILTON/McLaren
NELSON PIQUET/Renault
SEBASTIEN BUEMI/Toro Rosso