Bridgestone’s super soft tyre allowed Panasonic Toyota Racing driver Jarno Trulli to qualify on pole and head up the first ever all-Toyota front row for tomorrow’s Bahrain Grand Prix.

Trulli set a time of 1min 33.431secs, almost three tenths ahead of team-mate Timo Glock. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Racing) went third fastest. Track conditions were improved from Friday, with more rubber laid and the temperatures were even hotter. Glock used the super soft tyre to go fastest in the morning practice session with a time of 1min 32.605secs.

Q&A with Hirohide Hamashima - Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development

What was significant about today’s running? 
“Today was very good for Toyota as both of their cars qualified on the front row, so congratulations to them and Jarno Trulli for his fourth pole position. We saw further progress from Friday’s running with the circuit grip level improved, particularly in the practice session, due to the track being cleared of sand, and more rubber being laid. Qualifying was very exciting through every session, with even the faster cars using the super soft tyre to get through the first qualifying session.”

How are the two compounds working here in Bahrain? 
“We are seeing an interesting weekend in terms of tyre performance. The super soft tyre has worked very well so far this weekend. It delivers a good fast lap time on average 0.7 seconds faster than the medium tyre. In terms of degradation the super soft presents an interesting challenge. Some teams can use the super soft for a long stint, however some teams will have to work hard to maintain the super soft from degradation. This means that usage of the super soft tyre will be the key point to the race. The medium tyre takes longer to warm up than the super soft, even in these hot conditions. In the race medium tyre will be very durable, however with a slower ultimate lap time than the super soft.”

Pos Driver       Team                      Q1        Q2        Q3      

 1. Trulli       Toyota                (B) 1:32.779  1:32.671  1:33.431  

 2. Glock        Toyota                (B) 1:33.165  1:32.613  1:33.712  

 3. Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B) 1:32.680  1:32.474  1:34.015  

 4. Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B) 1:32.978  1:32.842  1:34.044  

 5. Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B) 1:32.851  1:32.877  1:34.196  

 6. Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B) 1:33.116  1:32.842  1:34.239  

 7. Alonso       Renault               (B) 1:33.627  1:32.860  1:34.578  

 8. Massa        Ferrari               (B) 1:33.297  1:33.014  1:34.818  

 9. Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B) 1:33.672  1:33.166  1:35.134 

10. Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B) 1:33.117  1:32.827  1:35.380 

11. Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B) 1:33.479 

12. Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B) 1:33.221 

13. Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B) 1:33.495 

14. Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B) 1:33.377 

15. Piquet       Renault               (B) 1:33.608

16. Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B) 1:33.722 

17. Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B) 1:33.753 

18. Fisichella   Force India-Mercedes  (B) 1:33.910 

19. Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B) 1:34.038 

20. Bourdais     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B) 1:34.159

All Timing Unofficial

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Press Release

Stewards Decision - Australian GP 

02/04/2009 

PENALTY IMPOSED ON DRIVER NO 1 LEWIS HAMILTON AND COMPETITOR VODAFONE MCLAREN MERCEDES

SUMMARY OF KEY CONSIDERATIONS

At the first hearing following the Australian Grand Prix the Stewards did not have the benefit of the radio exchanges between driver No 1 Lewis Hamilton and his Team Vodafone McLaren Mercedes nor did they have access to the comments to the Media given by Lewis Hamilton immediately after the end of the race.

From the video recordings available to the Stewards during the hearing it appeared that Jarno Trulli’s car left the track and car No 1 moved into third place. It then appeared that Trulli overtook Hamilton to regain third place, which at the time was prohibited as it was during the Safety Car period.

During the hearing, held approximately one hour after the end of the race, the Stewards and the Race Director questioned Lewis Hamilton and his Team Manager David Ryan specifically about whether there had been an instruction given to Hamilton to allow Trulli to overtake. Both the driver and the Team Manager stated that no such instruction had been given. The Race Director specifically asked Hamilton whether he had consciously allowed Trulli to overtake. Hamilton insisted that he had not done so. 

The new elements presented to the Stewards several days after the 2009 Australian Grand Prix which led to the reconvened Stewards Meeting clearly show that:

a.    Immediately after the race and before Lewis Hamilton attended the Stewards Meeting he gave an interview to the Media where he clearly stated that the Team had told him to let Trulli pass.

b.    Furthermore, the radio exchanges between the driver and the Team contain two explicit orders from the Team to let the Toyota pass.

The Stewards, having learned about the radio exchanges and the Media interview, felt strongly that they had been misled by the driver and his Team Manager which led to Jarno Trulli being unfairly penalised and Lewis Hamilton gaining third place.

Source & audio available at FIA

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