Brawn GP endured a disappointing race at the German Grand Prix today despiteJenson Button and Rubens Barrichello bringing their Brawn-Mercedes cars homein points-scoring fifth and sixth positions respectively. Both drivers were on a three-stop strategy and started the race on thesofter option tyre. Rubens had a great start to be leading coming out ofturn one whilst Jenson dropped to fifth position before overtaking Massainto turn one on the second lap. Jenson stopped first on lap 13, followed by Rubens one lap later with bothdrivers staying on the option tyre.
They switched to the primes at theirsecond stop on lap 30 for Jenson and lap 31 for Rubens. A problem with thefuel rig at Rubens' stop forced the team to switch rigs, costing valuableseconds which dropped Rubens behind Nico Rosberg. The pair pitted for the final time on lap 49 for Rubens who stayed on theprime tyre and one lap later on lap 50 for Jenson who switched to optionsand came out just ahead of his team-mate.
JENSON BUTTON"All points are valuable but my race started badly and didn't get muchbetter today. I had a poor start to drop back to fifth after the first turnand was able to get ahead of Massa at the start of the second lap but justcouldn't get past Kovalainen. His pace was way off what we could haveachieved at that point of the race but there was just no way through. Westruggled with graining and tyre degradation throughout with both tyres notworking well for us. The problem with the fuel rig at Rubens' second stopalso affected my race as we were so close on the track and he was strugglingwith the prime tyre. So overall it has been a tough and disappointing dayfor the team. Congratulations to Mark on his first win and I'm reallypleased for him as I know how good that feels. I just can't wait to get toHungary in two weeks where we will have new parts and hopefully warmerweather to take the fight to the Red Bulls."
RUBENS BARRICHELLO"I had a great start today and was really pleased to have got ahead of Mark down into the first corner despite our collision. After leading on the firstlap, it is of course hugely disappointing to have finished in sixth position. It was a combination of things really which are now very clear to me having spoken to the team. We didn't have enough pace compared to the Red Bulls to win but the fuel rig problem at my second stop where we had to switch rigs probably cost me a place on the podium. That dropped me outbehind Rosberg and the extra lap which Jenson had at our final stops wasenough for him to get ahead of me. We'll put this race behind and work really hard ahead to Hungary to try and catch up to the Red Bulls.Congratulations to Mark for his first win."
ROSS BRAWN"Without doubt it was a very disappointing race for the team today although we were able to score some points to minimise the damage to our championship challenge. Quite simply, we didn't have the pace to match the Red Bulls. We opted for a three-stop strategy for both cars to give ourselves the best possible chance of achieving a podium position.
Both drivers were battling with the tyres throughout the race and trying very hard to keep them in the operating window whilst managing their graining issues. The problem with the fuel rig at Rubens' second stop dropped him out behind Rosberg which compromised his race strategy and possibly prevented him for achieving third position. Jenson had a difficult start which dropped him down to fifth and he was also affected by Rubens' problems at the second stop which resulted in the two cars being so close on the track. We will take a close look at the lessons to be learned from this weekend before Hungary and hope to comeback fighting there with some performance developments which should help us close the gap to Red Bull. Finally our congratulations to Mark Webber on avery well-deserved first win today."
