Barrichello to take 5-place grid drop
Rubens Barrichello’s chances of scoring his first grand prix victory for over four years in Malaysia this weekend have been hit by a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change following Friday practice.
With Brawn GP tipped by its rivals to lead the way again at Sepang following its 1-2 result in Australia, Barrichello and team-mate Jenson Button are the favourites to fight for pole position and race victory.
But Barrichello’s race will start from no higher than sixth on the grid after his team changed his gearbox late on Friday.
It means the Brazilian veteran picks up the mandatory five-place drop as the units are meant to last for four race weekends.
In the team’s press release following the opening practice sessions, Barrichello didn’t give any indication that his gearbox was causing concern.
"We achieved a good day's work today on a challenging track where it is always difficult to find the right balance with the car and tyres," he said after finishing the day in seventh place.
"Although we still have some work to do on the balance, overall it was a positive day."
Barrichello overcame a poor start to last weekend's Melbourne race to finish second behind Button and comes to Sepang aiming to score his 10th Formula 1 victory, but his first since China 2004 when he was still at Ferrari.
Source: itv.com/f1
Rubens Barrichello’s chances of scoring his first grand prix victory for over four years in Malaysia this weekend have been hit by a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change following Friday practice.
With Brawn GP tipped by its rivals to lead the way again at Sepang following its 1-2 result in Australia, Barrichello and team-mate Jenson Button are the favourites to fight for pole position and race victory.
But Barrichello’s race will start from no higher than sixth on the grid after his team changed his gearbox late on Friday.
It means the Brazilian veteran picks up the mandatory five-place drop as the units are meant to last for four race weekends.
In the team’s press release following the opening practice sessions, Barrichello didn’t give any indication that his gearbox was causing concern.
"We achieved a good day's work today on a challenging track where it is always difficult to find the right balance with the car and tyres," he said after finishing the day in seventh place.
"Although we still have some work to do on the balance, overall it was a positive day."
Barrichello overcame a poor start to last weekend's Melbourne race to finish second behind Button and comes to Sepang aiming to score his 10th Formula 1 victory, but his first since China 2004 when he was still at Ferrari.
Source: itv.com/f1
