The "new" Team Brawn continued to dominate the times in their debut test session, as Rubens Barrichello took over at the wheel of the BGP001 and promptly set the fastest time of the week as the last winter test was wrapped up.
Barrichello became the only driver to have broken the 1:19 barrier all week, with a best time of 1:18.926 after 110 laps of the Barcelona circuit, as the newly bought-out team continued to make Honda angry that they packed up and left so suddenly.As with Jenson Button's pace yesterday, the quickest times were set on qualifying simulations, which blurs the true pace of the team somewhat, but nevertheless the overall performance of the car has impressed and worried people in equal measure.
"I'm very pleased with the mileage that we have achieved today and the completion of another full race distance," Barrichello grinned afterwards, "The qualifying exercises were also very useful in enabling the team and I to get fully up to speed and ready for Melbourne."
Barrichello finished nearly a second ahead of Nico Rosberg, who dragged the Williams to the dizzy heights of second place after trying a qualifying simulation of his own. Timo Glock was third for Toyota, as the Japanese team continued to show good form, while Sebastian Vettel finished fourth for Red Bull, ensuring that the timesheets had a slightly odd look to them.
It was a quiet session for the expected title contenders, with Fernando Alonso's Renault ending fifth, Felipe Massa going sixth for Ferrari, Robert Kubica finishing seventh for BMW Sauber and Lewis Hamilton continuing to struggle in McLaren, ending the day in eighth.
Further back, both Toro Rosso drivers had a go in their RB5, Sebastien Buemi completing more laps and finishing 9th, ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella in the Force India and his team mate Sebastien Bourdais, who managed just 27 laps.
| Today's Times | ||||
| Pos | Driver | Car | Best Time | Laps |
| 1 | Rubens Barrichello | Brawn - Mercedes | 1:18.926 | 110 |
| 2 | Nico Rosberg | Williams - Toyota | 1:19.774 | 120 |
| 3 | Timo Glock | Toyota | 1:20.091 | 128 |
| 4 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull - Renault | 1:20.576 | 83 |
| 5 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 1:20.664 | 64 |
| 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:20.677 | 92 |
| 7 | Robert Kubica | BMW Sauber | 1:20.740 | 134 |
| 8 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren - Mercedes | 1:20.869 | 70 |
| 9 | Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso - Ferrari | 1:21.013 | 62 |
| 10 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Force India - Mercedes | 1:21.045 | 141 |
| 11 | Sebastien Bourdais | Toro Rosso - Ferrari | 1:21.629 | 27 |
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