Formula 1 has just completed its pre-season testing in Bahrain, with all the sages telling us that it was no real indicator of what’s to come. Which rather begs the question, ‘why report it then?’
That was not the case with testing in 2009, as Autosport drew conclusions on what testing meant for the season ahead.
“Brawn GP drivers Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button have emerged as the winners of the pre-season testing war, according to Autosport’s exclusive analysis of the winter lap times. The 36-year-old Brazilian edged out his team-mate to take the top spot on our ‘Supergrid’, which is based on lap times from the group test at Barcelona.”
With Barrichello and Button on the imaginary front row – and the two did romp finish first and third in the championship, Autosport could be fairly pleased with their findings, especially when those two claimed the real front row, in reverse order, at the Australian Grand Prix the following week.
There’s more on how Brawn took to the front in 2009 here.
