BRAWN MERCEDES
--- TEAM INFO ---
TEAM OWNER - Ross Brawn
TEAM COLOURS - White, Yellow & Black
CAR - Brawn BGP-01
ENGINE SUPPLIER - Mercedes
TYRES - Bridgestone
TECHINCAL DIRECTOR(S) - Jorg Zander
MAJOR SPONSORS - TBA
--- STATS ---
FIRST SEASON - 2009
GRANDS PRIX - 0
WORLD DRIVERS TITLES - 0
WORLD CONSTRUCTORS TITLES - 0
WINS - 0
POLE POSITIONS - 0
POINTS SCORED - 0
--- DRIVERS ---
18 - Jenson Button (Great Britain)
19 - Rubens Barrichello (Brazil)
TEST DRIVER - Alexander Wurz (Austria)
Until a week ago, this team had no future after Honda's decision to quit the sport back in December due to the ongoing credit crunch, but after reported interest from the likes of F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, Aston Martin owner David Richards and the entreprenur Sir Richard Branson, instead Honda approved a management buyout of the team giving the team a stay of execution for 12 months so they can take their time to find a buyer. More importantly however, it will also allow the team to continue racing (now under the Brawn GP banner) which keeps the grid size at 20 cars.
The team is now owned and run by the former Ferrari tacical chief Ross Brawn and former Honda team boss Nick Fry with the same driver lineup as the previous season (when they were known as Honda) of both Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, the 4t season running they have been paired together, also its worth noting that Button agreeing to a substantial pay cut helped Brawn to secure the deal to buy the team and put together a budget for the season. After a disastrous 2007, last season showed some slight improvement depsite another wretched car, Barrichello managed a superb podium finish at Silverstone and the team managed to score a healthy 14 points.
One big plus for the team is that despite the uncertainty at boardroom level, the team were still developing a car for the new season, while Honda desperately looked for potential buyers, the car itself was launched on the day the deal was announced, another plus is an engine supply deal with Mercedes after an agreement with the other teams for the German engine manufacturer to supply 3 teams (the other 2 being McLaren and Force India) the car was quickly re-designed to accomodate the powerplant before the first test. And it seems to have worked.
To the shock and amazement of every team in the paddock during the pre-season tests at Jerez in Spain, Button comfortably topped the timesheets. It is a good sign for the team but despite the use of the hi-tech facilities avaiable to the team at the former BAR/Honda base in Brackley, i can see the team jsut beign happy to see out the season, and i dont blame them for thinking that. Early season promise i think will be weighted down with and end of season slump as i think the car wont go through as much redevelopment as most teasm on the grid, still though they're happy to jsut be there on the grid, and i would'nt be lying if i said that all F1 fans are happy about that too.
2009 PREDICTION FOR BRAWN GP
DRIVERS
Jenson Button - 12th
Rubens Barrichello - 13th
CONSTRUCTORS
7th
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