No chance against diffuser cars

Motorsports-Magazine.com – On Friday, Jenson Button was obviously holding back, because on Saturday, he once again grabbed pole position. "Brawn is the car to beat," concluded Christian Danner in conversation with Motorsports-Magazine.com. Mario Theissen also sees Button ahead in tomorrow's race: "If we take Melbourne as an indicator, he has to be the clear favorite," said the BMW Motorsport Director in an interview with Motorsports-Magazine.com. "It is still proving difficult to make any headway against the teams running with the new diffusers."

The team closest behind Brawn GP in qualifying were Red Bull Racing. "Having taken P1 and P2 amongst the 'legal' cars, we feel we have won something of a moral victory," revealed Red Bull motorsport consultant Helmut Marko in conversation with Motorsports-Magazine.com. "They are dominating the field, and Kazuki Nakajima is the only contestant who, purely on the basis of his personal level of skill, is unable to keep up with the front-runners."

In order to close the gap, Adrian Newey is now working on his own double diffuser solution which would take the principle one step further even than Brawn GP. "This will cost a king's ransom and take us three to four months," stresses Marko, who fears a return to the days of ground-effect cars if the diffusers are ruled legal. "We have the best basis of all the non-double-diffuser cars. If we then incorporate one of our own, we will be cornering at phenomenal speeds."