Barrichello: Brawn has made progress

The Brazilian was fastest in the first free practice session in Valencia, and then ended up third in the afternoon, behind team-mate Jenson Button.

And judging by the team's early form in Spain, Barrichello thinks that Brawn will be strong this weekend.

"I was very, very happy because I put my lap on the first lap with a reasonable amount of fuel on the car," he said. "So the car did improve since the last race.

"The reasons being because the team made a good effort of understanding some of the mechanical issues we had, also because there was a step forward in aero, so we are quite happy with that."

Asked whether he thought Valencia would suit Brawn better than its title rivals Red Bull, Barrichello replied: "That is a tough one because Hungary should have been like that, and we didn't have a very good Hungary weekend.

"This track, we didn't know what to expect and you could see both of us, myself and Jenson, jump out of the car because we had a 15 minute exchange, where we exchanged the set-up between the cars. He took my set-up and I took his.

"We both went fast I did it on the first lap which I was happy with and he did it on the sixth or seventh lap which is okay," he added. "So, we have a little bit to work still, but the car is as a base, it is very, very good here."