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Brawn-Mercedes

Full name	Brawn GP Formula One Team
Base	Brackley, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom
Team principal/s	Ross Brawn Nick Fry[1]
2009 Formula One season
Race drivers	22. Jenson Button 23. Rubens Barrichello
Test drivers	Alexander Wurz[2] Anthony Davidson[3]
Chassis	Brawn BGP 001
Engine	Mercedes-Benz FO 108W
Tyres	Bridgestone
Formula One World Championship Career
Debut	2009 Australian Grand Prix
Latest race	2009 Belgian Grand Prix
Races competed	11
Constructors' Championships	0
Drivers' Championships	0
Race victories	7
Pole positions	4
Fastest laps	4

Brawn GP (full name Brawn Grand Prix Ltd.) is a Formula One motor racing team and constructor. It was formed on 6 March 2009 when it was confirmed that Ross Brawn, the ex-technical director of the Honda Racing F1 Team, had bought the team from Honda[4][5] in the wake of the Japanese marque's withdrawal from the sport in December 2008. On 17 March 2009 the FIA officially agreed to the name change from Honda Racing F1 Team to Brawn GP. Although the team can be seen as a continuation of the Honda team, the FIA considered Brawn GP to be an entirely new entry, but agreed to waive the standard entry fee in recognition of the team's circumstances.[6] The new team made its racing debut at the 2009 season-opening Australian Grand Prix on 28 March 2009, where they took pole position and 2nd place in qualifying. The team went on to win the top two positions in their debut Grand Prix race on 29 March 2009, with Jenson Button winning the race and Rubens Barrichello coming in second.

The team uses Mercedes-Benz engines and its cars are driven by the ex-Honda partnership of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, which has lasted for 3 years.[7] In the early part of the season, several other sponsors were signed, including Virgin, M I G Investments, Henri Lloyd and PerkinElmer.

History

[edit] 2009
Further information: 2009 Formula One season
Jenson Button en route to his win at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Although Honda were thought to be the first team to run a KERS in 2008,[8] Ross Brawn stated in an interview that due to the circumstances of the change in ownership the team did not have the time to develop the system yet.[9] On 20 March it was confirmed that Brawn GP would be allocated the final pitlane slot, with Force India moving up one slot. Bernie Ecclestone suggested that this is due to the takeover involving a name change, saying that 'If ... it was called Honda ... [w]hatever was due to Honda, they would have got'.[10] For this reason Brawn GP were initially assigned numbers 20 and 21 after Force India were assigned Honda's old numbers of 18 and 19. This however was changed at the request of Force India because their promotional material had already been printed with numbers 20 and 21. Brawn had no objection and were reassigned numbers 22 and 23, with 18 and 19 not assigned to anyone.[11]

The team started off strongly on the Friday Practice of the Australian Grand Prix finishing in the top five. In qualifying at Australia Jenson Button took pole, with fellow teammate Rubens Barrichello coming 2nd, followed by Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel.[12] This was followed by a race win for Jenson Button, who led from start to finish, with Rubens Barrichello second [13] giving Brawn a 1-2 finish on their debut, which had not happened since Mercedes did it in 1954.[14]

Jenson Button won the rain-shortened Malaysian Grand Prix from pole and picked up the fastest lap.[15] With the win in Malaysia, Brawn GP became the only constructor to win their first two races since Alfa Romeo won the first ever two World Championship Grands Prix at the 1950 British Grand Prix and Monaco Grand Prix.[16]

At the 2009 Chinese Grand Prix Barrichello qualified in front of Button for the first time this season but in the rain Jenson Button finished 3rd with Rubens Barrichello 4th behind the Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.[17]
Rubens Barrichello couldn't beat Button on race day in Monaco.

Button won again at the Bahrain Grand Prix from fourth on the grid with Barrichello in fifth from sixth. Button ran most of the race in clean air and maintained the lead after the Toyotas pitted and fell down the order. This was the first time they were slower, with the fuel corrected qualifying times, in the season and was blamed on the lack of development on the car.[18]

At the 2009 Spanish Grand Prix, Brawn achieved their second 1-2 of the season with Button leading home Barrichello again. Brawn's fourth win saw them overtake Honda on the all-time wins list.[19]
Button at the 2009 Turkish Grand Prix.

At the Monaco Grand Prix the same qualifying results as in Spain were achieved with Button on pole. Button led Barrichello, who'd overtaken Kimi Räikkönen off the line, into the first corner with Button leading Barrichello, Räikkönen and Felipe Massa for the majority of the race. Button took Brawn's third 1-2 and his first hat trick of wins.[20]

At the 2009 Turkish Grand Prix the Brawns were beaten to pole by Vettel after struggling with pace throughout Friday and Saturday, for Button especially. At the start, Barrichello's anti-stall cut in and he fell to the back of the grid; Button meanwhile, after pointing the car at Vettel got off cleanly and inherited the lead at turn 10 when Vettel ran wide. Button lead the race calmly for the rest of the race with his team mate having many incidents before giving Brawn their first retirement after losing seventh gear.[21]

At the British Grand Prix both drivers struggled for the team’s home race. The car couldn't heat up the tyres enough and both drivers struggled with balance issues. Button had his worst qualifying of the season in sixth with Barrichello achieving second. In the race neither of the drivers shone and both had rather quiet races to third and sixth with Button having a late surge.[22]

At the German Grand Prix the team suffered the same fate as in Britain as both drivers suffered with tyre temperatures. [23]The team qualified light as to get onto the front row and qualified behind Webber in second and third, respectively.[24] Despite leading in the first stint, Barrichello finished sixth after a faulty fuel rig ruined his race. Button ran in the low points after getting stuck behind Kovalainen and managed to overtake Barrichello to finish fifth.[25]

At the Hungarian Grand Prix Brawn suffered the same uncompetitiveness after experiencing their worst qualifying of the season with Button in eighth and Barrichello in thirteenth, respectively. Although the reason for Barrichello's underperformance is of a spring falling off the back of his engine a subsequently hit Massa on the head hospitalizing him. In the race neither driver showed much pace although when the temperatures hit 40oC Button was the fastest man on the track at that point. Button managed to repass Trulli through the final pit stops and pick up seventh with his teammate in tenth closely behind Nakajima and Trulli.[26]



[edit] BGP 001
Main article: Brawn BGP 001
The Brawn BGP 001 during testing.

Following Honda's withdrawal, development of the BGP 001 never stopped and on the day of its debut, Jenson Button performed its shakedown – the car featuring white, fluorescent chartreuse yellow and black colours.[27] The team gave the BGP 001 its first test at Circuit de Catalunya on 9 March 2009, topping the timesheets many times.[28] With the testing moving to Circuito de Jerez, Brawn GP continued to set the pace, finishing the test leading two of the three tests.[29] During an interview Brawn said there was more speed to come after he explained that '...The BGP 001 car is the result of 15 months of intensive development work and the team have been nothing less than fantastic in their commitment to producing two cars in time for the first race'.[30] At the first race an official complaint was launched by four teams against the rear diffusers of the Williams FW31, Toyota TF109 and the Brawn BGP 001 on the grounds that they did not fall within the dimensions set out in the regulations,[31] but after analysing the cars the race stewards reported that the cars were legal. This ruling has been appealed, the appeal was heard after the second race of the season.[32] However motorsport's governing body ruled that the car was legal.[33] There was another complaint at Malaysia after which BMW Sauber joined the appeal after they were deemed legal, again.[34] After the appeal the diffuser was deemed legal by the FIA. [35] In Spain, the car received its first improvements since Australia[citation needed] and gave Brawn a 1-2, just as in Melbourne.

[edit] Sponsorship
The Brawn BGP 001 with the Terminator livery.
The Brawn GP motor home hosts all the team's sponsors.

The sponsors that were still with the Honda team stayed on as sponsors, including Bridgestone.

Through the early stages of the 2009 season Brawn obtained various sponsor deals. On 26 March 2009, Brawn GP announced a partnership with British clothing manufacturer Henri Lloyd. The company will supply the team with clothing and footwear and their brand will appear on the BGP 001.[36] On 28 March 2009 Sir Richard Branson announced Virgin as a major sponsor for the team.[37] On April 17 Brawn announced an agreement with MIG Investments. They would sport the logo on the front of the car.[38] It was also confirmed on April 19 that Ray-Ban, a sunglasses manufacturer, would carry on sponsoring the team - their logo appears on the drivers' helmets.[39] At the 2009 Bahrain Grand Prix Virgin sported their Virgin Galactic logo instead of Virgin.[40] They re-signed Endless Advance[41] and NCE[42] and signed a new supplier deal with safety harness supplier Willans before the Spanish Grand Prix.[43] Only for the Spanish Grand Prix, Sony Pictures joined the team with the cars featuring promotional imagery from the upcoming film Terminator Salvation.[44]. However, Virgin look set to end their deal from next season citing cost as a hurdle.[45] At the 2009 Monaco Grand Prix, Google co-founder Larry Page was rumoured to be in talks with Brawn to sponsor the team in 2010. Although a guest of McLaren-Mercedes, Page is believed to want the Google name to appear on a race-winning team.[46] The team took up sponsorship from Graham-London before the British Grand Prix. Their logo was shown on the BGP 001s' wing mirrors.

Complete Formula One results

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Chassis	Engine	Tyres	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Points	WCC
2009	Brawn BGP 001	Mercedes-Benz FO 108W	B		AUS	MAL‡	CHN	BHR	ESP	MON	TUR	GBR	GER	HUN	EUR	BEL	ITA	SIN	JPN	BRA	ABU	133*	1st*
				Jenson Button	1	1	3	1	1	1	1	6	5	7	7	Ret
				Rubens Barrichello	2	5	4	5	2	2	Ret	3	6	10	1	7

* Season still in progress.
^‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed