The beginning of the Brawn GP Team
The Honda Racing F1 team announced in November 2007 the return of Ross Brawn after his departure from Ferrari and his sabbatical year. As a new team principal he got the task of revitalizing the ailing F1 team.
One of his main work task, apart from hiring new people and reform the structures, was to sacrifice the 2008 season and to focus on the 2009 season.
A year later, on 5 December 2009, Brawn and chief executive officer Nick Fry had a meeting in Heathrow with the senior Honda executive Hirsohi Oshina. The announcement was that Honda had no intention of staying in Formula 1 as of 2009. It was a pure business decision, made in direct response to the debilitating credit crunch that was rocking the world in late 2008.
At the time, the Brackley-based team had a budget of 300 million dollars and employed 700 people, so Brawn and Fry came up with the idea of looking for someone to buy the team from Honda. The Japanese firm agreed to that.
First they organized a FOTA meeting to inform the other teams of Honda’s decision and that they were looking for a buyer and an engine. Martin Whitmarsh of McLaren offered to facilitate a possible engine supply from Mercedes-Benz.
At the factory, Brawn’s men never stopped working on the 2009 car despite all uncertainties. When the Mercedes engine supply deal came just before Christmas, they even started to create their in-house gearbox. Because of the later famous diffuser, the gearbox had to be placed 20 mm higher than normal. A new engine also required a new size of radiators and cooling devices. The V8 Mercedes was supplied without KERS, but that would offer Brawn later more possibilities to experiment with weight distribution and downforce.
By February 13th, Honda CEO Takeo Fukui had not seen a serious buyer (however, the press released several names).It was then that Brawn and Fry saw an opening. With a little financial help from Honda, the 40 million from the television rights thanks to Bernie Ecclestone, some sponsorship and two drivers willing to receive less payment, he persuaded Honda to sell all fixed assets to him. This was the best medium-term solution for the beginning of 2009! And it secured the future careers of Rubens Barichello and Jenson Button, although the team had talks with rookie Bruno Senna (and his money). It was only as late as March 6th that the team logically was called ‘Brawn GP’.
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The 2009 regulations had almost all aerodynamic surfaces refined to reduce downforce levels, while a switch to slick tires was intended to alter the relationship between aerodynamic and mechanical grip.
The Brawn BGP001 was presented at the Barcelona testing days in March. After 82 laps, Jenson Button said to Autosport : “My aim at the moment is to be here on the grid and prove I can win races with Brawn GP.” The car performed very well straight out of the box. It only had a shake-down run at Silverstone three days before Barcelona. The fact that Honda’s 2008 car, the RA 108, was so bad that all development went to the 2009 car early in the year, was now a positive thing. The main changes focused on the distribution of airflow around the car, with the front wing set to match the wingspan of the car, allowing designers a way to push more external airflow. The height of the rear spoiler was increased and the diffuser was reduced in height and length.
The car featured a 2009-specification front wing, that was already tested last November. It had very well detailed front wing endplates and multiple vertical and horizontal turning vanes, a complex situation to optimize airflow around the front tyres. It also featured an adjustable flap to a smaller inner section, allowing the outer part, including the wing endplate, to be used to shape the airflow passing over and around the front face of the tire. The front wing configuration would change during the season (photo 1 and 2)
The front splitter became home to a large chunk of ballast, placing it in a low position facing the ground and forward, improving the balance of the car. In addition to this, the team opted to run with a snow plow like device, which helped collect airflow under the nose and redistribute it to key areas at the leading edge of the floor(photo 3).
The front suspension geometry was constructed as an aerodynamic component (photo 4)The car had relative small radiator intakes, so more airflow could be used to produce downforce. The sidepods were neat and tidy with an exaggerated undercut around the front corner and a small bargeboard in front of it. The leading edge of the underfloor was unique with a forward, curved, horizontal splitter. The bargeboards and turning vanes helped to realign the airflow to enable the use of heavily-undercut sidepods leading to the rear coke-bottle area. There were numerous small details to optimize aerodynamics, like the rear-view mirrors and small turning vanes. A lot of attention had gone into the rear wing.
But the floor and the rear diffuser got the most attention. It was well designed, just within the limits of regulations (photo 5 and 6). It was a double-decker gave a lot of downforce through the variety of heights. The curved details at the trailing edges of the sides of the diffuser and the curvature itself at the splitter connected to the low pressure area behind the rear tyres and helped to the airflow extraction from the diffuser. Williams and Toyota also run double-diffuser designs, without censor from the FIA – but Brawn nailed it best. The car did not use the KERS system, so an advantage of 30 kg was gained by this. This enabled the optimize the car’s weight distribution. With the ballast in the forward floor tray area, meant that the rear tyres had to endure less strain.
In Barcelona, the single lap times gabbed the headlines, but the long-run pace was even more impressive. There were questions whether the car was running underweight to gain publicity. Ross Brawn could only deny it. Felipe Massa in his Ferrari was the best behind the Brawn boys; he said they seemed untouchable.
A Brawn car on top at the start of the season
First race, the Australian GP in Melbourne. Never seen in the history of formula1. New team with two cars on the front row of the starting grid. Button got cleanly away but Rubens stalled, because the ant-stall device kicked the car in neutral. He got away with half of the field already passed. Jenson was away and had a 3.9 seconds gap to Sebestian Vettel (Red bull) and Robert Kubica (Williams).Barichello ran into Webber and had a damaged front wing but could continue. Jenson paced himself to keep Vettel four seconds behind. On lap 18 there was a safety car intervention for the Nakajima crash. Vettel had already pitted and fuelled, but Brawn called Button to the pits just before SC appeared. He was able to hold on to the 4 seconds lead. The second round of pitstops didn’t change anything. Rubens ran fourth. But then, Vettel braked too early for turn 3 and took out Kubica. Safety car again, but now Barichello second. That meant a Brawn 1-2 at the finish, a historical result for the new team.
In Malaysia, Button started again from pole-position. He messed up his start, so he ran third after lap 1. When Rosberg and Trulli came into the pits, Button got into the lead. With a few very fast laps, he was still in front after his own stop for fuel and tyres. Then it started to rain, time for wets. They never tested them on the Brawn. Ten laps later, new intermediate tyres. But then it started to rain very heavy, so again a pitstop for fuel and full wets. Button came again in the lead in front of Glock and Heidfeld. Barichello was fifth. But after 32 laps, the race was red-flagged and never started again. This meant: a second victory for the Brawn team and two drivers in the lead of the championship.
The race in China started behind the safety-car for 8 laps with Vettel and Webber in the lead, followed by the two Brawn-drivers in still crazy water conditions. Because of the accident involving Trulli(Toyota), there was a safety car later and pitstops. Vettel leading, with Button second. He was passed soon by Webber and the Red bulls disappeared. When they both pitted, Button came in the lead with Vettel coming fast up to his gearbox. Button, yet to pit, had to settle for third place. It was Red Bull’s first 1-2 finish (many more would follow).
The next race took place at the hot and dusty Bahrein circuit. After both Friday practices, everybody thought Brawn F1 lost it. Both drivers were in the top 10, but off pace with tyre issues. Saturday was even worse as cooling seemed one of the problems. Qualifying went a little better: Button fourth, Barichello sixth.
The start was slow for Jenson and he had to defend hard to retain P04. But at the end of lap 1, Button was third just behind Hamilton; Barichello fifth. Jenson caught Hamilton at the end of the pit lane straight and could now concentrate on Trulli’s Toyota in front. After the first round of pitstops, he got past both Toyota’s and moved up into the lead. He stayed in the lead after the second pitstops; Barichello fourth. The Brazilian would have stop a third time, finishing the race in P05. Button stayed well ahead of Vettel and so again another win. In the parc fermé, he stood on the bodywork and pointed two index fingers in the sky. Strong first place in the championship!
Back in Europe, more Brawn cars in the front
The F1 world was now in Europe, starting with the Spanish GP. Brawn BGP 001 had a new aerodynamic package with a revised double diffuser, which in practice did not pleased Button entirely, but Barichello liked it from the start. But in Saturday’s practice in Q3, Rubens did a good lap up to P03, but Jenson did an unexpected thing: pole-position. On the radio, the only thing he could say was “awesome lap, awesome lap”.
At the start, Barichello reacted quickest and took the lead before Button, Massa and Vettel. The safety car came out after a turn 1 incident and stayed on track for 6 laps. Rubens was so quick that the team opted for a 3 stop strategy for him, and a 2-stop (including a more heavy fuel load) for Jenson. Coming close to the second pitstop for Barichello, Button was ordered to do some flying laps. He did and with 35 laps to go, Button was leading in front of Massa by 4.6 seconds, Vettel 0.5 seconds behind Massa and Barichello, struggling with understeer on new set of tyres was out 11.5 seconds. All three front runners pitted and Rubens got in again the lead, but that fell again in Button’s hands when the Brazilian pitted. The race settled with Brawn GP again on the first and second podium steps !
Monaco was next. Both drivers found immediately a good balance for the car around this low-speed circuit. In qualification, Button got the pole position thanks to a smooth and fast lap in Q3 and Barichello was third, behind Raikkonen’s Ferrari. They both started on super soft tyres (nearly everyone else on harder tyres) and made a powerful copybook start. That got two Brawn cars in front and pulling away from Raikkonen and Vettel in a RB5 not suited for the slow corners. They stayed in the lead after the first round of pitstops. At the second round it was close between Brawn and Ferrari; a delay with the rear tyres at the Ferrari pits gave them a lucky break. With five laps remaining Button was still leading with a gap of 10.7 s to Barichello and 16.5 to the Ferrari’s. Jenson Button drove a perfect race and the Brawn car got the Monaco crown. Fifth win and third Brawn 1-2 finish. In his enthusiasm, Button forgot about protocol to park the car in front of the tribune at the starting line and had to run to the Prince’s tribune. It was clear that the Brit has the opportunity to push his limits further every race. With 51 points, he was leading the championship.
The first sign of actual competition for Button and Barrichello came at the Turkish Grand Prix, where Sebastian Vettel would take pole position on this high-speed circuit. He converted this into the lead at the first turn. But Button managed to pass Vettel in the second lap when the German got wide. With the tyres up to temperature, Button was in his groove. He controlled the race with a grippy car, beautiful in balance going o.3-0.4 s per lap faster than Vettel. He blew everyone away and racked up his sixth win in seven races. This would eventually also prove to be his last win of the year, as other teams found ways to fight for the lead. Barichello had a terrible start and retired after spinning and clipping Sutil’s Force India due to gearbox overheating problems.
No more wins ?
The few races that followed saw both Brawn drivers struggle for pace. The reason was that the Brawn 001 was struggling with tyres at lower track temperatures. At Silverstone, Barichello was third an Button only sixth. But one could ask if Button was not driving to safe. He did not wanted to make mistakes or take risks during the race.
At Hockenheim, Mark Webber got his first pole-position, but he lost that advantage in the first corners; Barichello got the lead after a small collision with the Red Bull. Webber got a drive-through for that, so after the first round of pitstops, Rubens was in the lead followed by Raikkonen. But the second pitstop took too long because of a fuel rig problem and he dropped to sixth, with Button on P05. Rubens was very emotional and upset at the finish; he could have been third!
The Hungaroring was one of Button’s favourite tracks. It should be warm, so the team did not expect tyre issues here. They used the Friday free practice to get the necessary information on the set-up and balance of the car. In the Saturday practice, Barichello’s car shed a spring and Felipe Massa, driving some four seconds behind him, was struck on the head by it. The Ferrari went straight into the tyre wall and Massa had to be rushed to the hospital. Because of that, parts of the Brawn car had to be checked and that compromised their qualifying.
At the start Button got away in P09 and Barichello P18 after a touch with another car. After lap 1, Button was seventh with Webber in the lead. Button felt he was losing his tyres early so he could not follow. After the tyre change in lap 25, he experienced oversteer with the softer tyres. Barichello kept going but had some lack of speed on the straight. The results were poor: Button seventh and Rubens tenth.
It was alle about tyres…
After the four week summer break, it was time for the European GP at Valencia. Ross Brawn and his team thought they had solved the problem with the slow generating of heat in the front Bridgestone tyres on lower temperature days. And they did ! From the race in Valencia at the end of august, until the race in Singapore in September, they did something astonishing with their tactics, determination and common sense: win the constructors title !
First Valencia with Barichello in a rocket form. He started third on the grid, Button fifth. At the start, the McLaren boys, thanks to their KERS system, got the upper hand and went through turn 1 in front of Rubens. Button got squeezed and was only eight after lap 1. At the first pitstops, the order stayed the same. But Barichello, with more fuel and on harder tyres stayed four laps longer on track and was the last to pit. When he came back on track, he was in front of Kovalainen’s Mclaren and second. He was some 3 to 4 seconds behind leader Hamilton. Second round of pitstops was up and it went wrong for Hamilton; the crew had no tyres ready. In the meantime, Barichello had done five fast qualifying laps. After his stop, he was in the lead by four seconds. He drove a a magnificent race and crossed the line with 2 seconds advantage over the McLaren. He was a winner again since his last win in China in 2004. Button scored only two points, but both Vettel and Webber didn’t score!
At Spa, the rain did disturb the practice sessions. In qualifying there was a surprising Fisichella on Pole, Barichello 4th. The race was a struggle. Barichello had clutch problems( jumped into anti-stall modus) at the start and Button was 11th after the start. But then he was hit by Romain Grosjean (Renault) and he was out. Rubens got up to P06, when an oil leak was forcing him to slow down in the last 2 laps. He ended on P7 with Kimi Raikkonen and Ferrari winning the race. The championship standings remained favourable to Button and the Brawn team. But can he manage it ? Why is he inconsistent ?
The answer came in Monza. The team had some concern with the gearbox of Barichello, but decided not to change it in order not to get a grid penalty. Qualification was good with fifth and sixth places.
At the start and the difficult first chicane saw Hamilton in the lead followed by Raikkonen, Sutil (Force India), Barichello, Kovalainen and Button. When Button got passed Kovalainen, both Brawn drivers were instructed to stay close to Hamilton when pitstops were due. Theywere on a one-stop strategy, so it was all about doing serious flying laps. Hamilton was on a two-stopper. When pitstops were over and with 16 laps to go, Barichello was leading by 5.3 seconds of Button and Hamilton. Lewis went on a charge. The gap came down to 1 second in the penultimate lap, but then he lost his McLaren and thundered in the armco at Lesmo in an effort to pass Button. A great portion of luck for Brawn and again a 1-2 thanks to an efficient refuelling strategy from Ross Brawn. The team was clearly very mature and it would be difficult to beat them. Rubens now became a serious title contender.
Next was the heat and humidity and the tight track of Singapore. Qualifying was not optimal; Hamilton got pole. At the start, The McLaren controlled the race. As all attention went to the Hamilton-Red Bull battle, nobody noticed the Brawn cars. They finished fifth and sixth.
In Suzuka, there were two things. Button could become world Champion and there were rumours that Mercedes was buying into the team with neither their drivers with a contract.
Rain troubled practice, so qualifying would be crucial. In Q1 and Q2, there were numerous accidents. In Q 3 Vettel was fastest. Barichello and Button got a five grid penalty and would start on P6 and P10. Button had a bad start and got into damage limitation mode. On lap 6, Vettel was in the lead by 2.6 seconds from Hamilton, 11.4 seconds from Barichello (P 06) and Button at 19.3 seconds (P 10). Safter the first stops, Vettel kept the lead in front of Rosberg and Hamilton with the Brawn drivers 9th and 14th . Second round of stops and a huge accident of Alguersuari. Four laps remained when the safety car entered the pits again. Button (P08) lost only one point to Barichello and only a few to Vettel.
All media turned into maximum coverage of Jenson Button for the last race in Brazil. During first and second practice, the Brawn team concentrated on the set-up of the car with both drivers covering 70 laps without concentrating on times. It was raining in the qualifying session in Q1. In Q2 with still a wet track, Button was P14 and out ( but also was Vettel). In Q3, Barichello got fastest time in his first attempt and he improved in his second, ending on pole position.
At the starting grid, Button told his mechanics he was going for a win!
Rubens got a clean start and held the lead from Webber and Raikkonen. Button stayed 14th. There was a coming together with Button and Raikkonen with the Ferrari having to pit and just after that Sutil and Trulli came together. Safety car for 5 laps. At the restart, Barichello was still in the lead, but Button already P08. He got stuck behind Nakajima. Barichello pitted first. In lap 26, Webber was leading the race in front of Button, who had finally passed Kobayashi. When the Australian went into the pits, Button was leading in front of Kobayashi and Vettel (all had to stop), Kubica and Barichello. In Lap 35, it was Vettel (needed to pits)- Kubica- Barichello -Hamilton- Raikkonen- Button. Vettel pitted, Button came 6th. Lap 44, when the second stop were coming, it was Webber in font of Kubica and both Brawn cars. Lap 59(11 laps to go) Rubens was 3th and Jenson P06. Then Hamilton touched Barichello and that gave him a flat tyre. That put Button in 5th and that was a golden place ! He kept that spot and crossed the line as world Champion. He shouted through his radio: “WE..are..WORLD…CHAMPIONS”. All slotted into place after 10 years trying.
Abu Dhabi was an anti-climax. Button was completely relaxed but had a great battle with Webber during the race and ended third. Barichello ended on P04 and that was enough to remain third in the championship behind Vettel.
So, eight months after being a new constructor, Brawn GP and Jenson button were world champions. Being an underdog with limited resources, they were on top of the game from the first race onwards. The team always looked professional and relaxed. Although Rubens Barichello was not always in the spotlight during the races, he always had a major technical input and prevented the team of making mistakes. in the background the team management had been in discussions with Mercedes about a buyout, reported to be worth £110 million. The Mercedes team of 2010 went on to become the Mercedes team of today.
Brawn GP is the ONLY Formula 1 constructor that has been around for one season only and crowned champion at the end of 17 races. No team before it, and no team since have been able to do that.
