SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX
Venue: Marina Bay street circuit ** Dates:** 25-27 September 2009 Coverage: Live coverage of Friday practice, Saturday qualifying and Sunday’s race - which starts at 1300 BST - across BBC TV, radio and online platforms.Find full listings here
By Chris Whyatt
**Rubens Barrichello topped the first practice session for the Singapore Grand Prix ahead of Brawn team-mate and championship leader Jenson Button.**The session was stopped for 10 minutes half-way through after Frenchman Romain Grosjean lost control of his Renault and crashed at Turn 17.
Red Bull’s Mark Webber was third fastest on the dusty street circuit as the sun dropped and darkness descended.
McLaren’s world champion Lewis Hamilton clocked the seventh quickest time.
Grosjean’s mishap was laden with irony as it was at almost the exact same point where former Renault driver Nelson Piquet Jr was ordered to crash last year, the controversial race-fixing incident which saw Renault recently handed a suspended disqualification from the sport.
“We’re here to do the best job we can as normal, keep our heads down, and put everything that’s happened in the past few weeks behind us”
Acting Renault team boss Bob Bell
Renault’s Fernando Alonso, who won the Singapore race in 2008, was fourth fastest ahead of Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel and McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen, who was just ahead of Hamilton.
Bob Bell, now acting team principal for Renault having replaced disgraced former boss Flavio Briatore, said it was important to move on from the scandal which had engulfed F1 in recent weeks.
“It’s going to be an interesting weekend for the team,” he said. "We’re here to do the best job we can as normal, keep our heads down, and put everything that’s happened in the past few weeks behind us.
"We’ve always tried to structure the team so that if people do disappear for whatever reason we can recover.
“Fernando likes this track, he’s confident and I think he can do a good job here.”
Little is ever read into the order of drivers on the timesheets, but practice is important for teams as they attempt to discover their best set-up for qualifying and the race.
The Marina Bay street circuit, which hosted F1’s first-ever night race last year, has also been slightly realigned so drivers were getting used to the track adjustments.
606: DEBATE
“Button out in front all session only to be pipped by Rubens at the closing stages!! The shape of things to come…”
revvvhead
Along with Grosjean’s incident, Kovalainen and Force India’s Adrian Sutil also spun on the concrete dust as drivers struggled for the type of grip which should be easier to find as their cars rattle over the circuit and rubber goes down over the next three days.
In-form Barrichello - who trails Button by 14 points in the drivers’ championship with 40 available for the remainder of the season - set a best time of one minute 50.179 seconds, almost two tenths of a second ahead of Button.
Like many teams coming into the 14th race of 2009, the Brawn cars were running with a moderately updated package - and it appeared to pay dividends for a team fresh from securing a one-two at the Italian GP.