Brawn GP and the incredible surprise of F1 2009

In a world of data to the thousandth, parts adjusted in millimeters and details taken care of with the utmost care, it may seem unlikely that miracles exist. But what Ross Brawn and the Brawn GP team achieved in the 2009 Formula 1 season can be described as such.

On December 5, 2008, just over three months before the start of the following season, Honda announced its decision to close a project that started in 2000 together with BAR and that the Japanese manufacturer had managed as an official team in the previous three seasons. The reason: the great world crisis.

Ross Brawn , after his sabbatical after winning it all with Ferrari, had joined Honda that same season and found himself, along with Pat Fry , with a whole structure that in 2008 had only managed to outperform newcomers Force India and Super Aguri.

But, curiously, the Honda RA109 project, designed by Jörg Zander and Loïc Bigois for the new change in technical regulations, had more potential than the Japanese brand would ever have thought. Thanks to the outstretched hand of Martin Whitmarsh , then McLaren team boss, Mercedes put its V8 engine in the gap left by the Japanese manufacturer. And the controversial double diffuser (which Toyota and Williams had also had since the beginning of the year) did the rest…

Meanwhile, Fry focused on the economic issue, but was unable to find a buyer and, finally, on March 6, 23 days before the season opened in Melbourne, it was confirmed that the team would be named after one of its bosses: Brown GP.

With a car painted white and some phosphor yellow and black lines, hardly a name could be read beyond Brawn GP, that of Bridgestone on the rear wing supports, a project that everyone considered dead at Christmas, gave the chime in Australia.

Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello achieved the first double of the year in Melbourne, something never seen before in Formula 1. From then on, to the raised eyebrows of the rest of the grid, Brawn GP would complete a first half of the year to frame, with six wins and another six podium finishes in the first eight grands prix.

The superiority of Brawn GP was diluted in 2009

The superiority of the team was diluted as the season progressed, given the larger budget of its rivals to update their cars and replicate the double diffuser, in fact, Button would not win a single race in the second half of the year. But the distribution of victories between his teammate Barrichello , Hamilton ‘s McLaren, Vettel’s and Webber ‘s Red Bulls and Raikkonen ‘s Ferrari meant that the penultimate race in Brazil was reached with only three drivers with title options: those of Brawn GP and Vettel.

With 20 points at stake (the old system of 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 was still in place), Vettel needed to take seven points from championship leader Button to reach Abu Dhabi with options, while that Barrichello needed to get five out of his teammate. But in a crazy race at Interlagos, where Sutil and Trulli almost came to blows, Raikkonen’s Ferrari caught fire in the pits and the safety car conditioned the strategies, the Englishman finished 5th, just behind Vettel and three places behind. in front of Barrichello.

Button was proclaimed Formula 1 world champion in the midst of the madness of the entire team and with a result that did not even allow him to get on the podium. But the job was done and the points didn’t lie. Brawn GP had gone from hell to heaven, from being on the verge of disappearing to destroying in the first half of the season and living off the rents in the second.

Miracles do not usually happen in the Great Circus, but a team with hardly any sponsors (several brands joined throughout the year, some sporadically), with a line-up of drivers that was not the best at the moment and with the fair budget to reach the end of the season managed to win the two titles that year is proof that sometimes there is room for surprise between so much technique and thousandths. When regulatory changes leave holes in the regulation…

That November Mercedes bought the team, which served as the basis for one of the greatest domains in the history of the category. But that is another story that continues to be told these days.

Enjoy the best photos of Brawn GP in F1!

Jenson Button, Brawn GP

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Foto de: LAT Images

Jenson Button, Brawn GP BGP001

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Foto de: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images

Podium: the winner Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP

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Photo by: XPB Images

Jenson Button, Brawn GP BGP001, Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP BGP001

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Foto de: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images

Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP BGP001

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Foto de: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP

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Foto de: XPB Images

Rubens Barrichello, Brawn

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Photo by: Mark Capilitan

Felipe Massa, Ferrari and Rubens Barrichello, Brawn

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Photo by: Steve Etherington/Motorsport Images

Lewis Hamilton, McLaren MP4-24, Jenson Button, Brawn GP BGP001

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Foto de: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images

Ruben Barrichello, Brawn GP

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Photo by: Hazrin Yeob Men Shah

Ross Brawn, Team Principal, Brawn GP

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Photo by: Charles Coates/Motorsport Images

Jenson Button, Brawn GP BGP001

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Foto de: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

Jenson Button, Brawn Grand Prix BGP 001 lidera a Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull Racing RB5

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Foto de: Sutton Motorsport Images

Brawn Grand Prix BGP001 rear diffuser

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Photo By: Sutton Motorsport Images

Jenson Button, Brawn GP BGP001

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Foto de: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

Jenson Button, Brawn GP BGP001

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Foto de: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images

Jenson Button, Brawn GP BGP001

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Foto de: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images

Jenson Button, Brawn GP BGP001 Mercedes

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Foto de: LAT Images

Race winner Jenson Button, Brawn Grand Prix at parc ferme

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Photo By: Sutton Motorsport Images

Checkered flag Jenson Button, Brawn Grand Prix BGP 001 and Rubens Barrichello, Brawn Grand Prix BGP 001

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Photo By: Sutton Motorsport Images

Jenson Button, Brawn GP, celebrates with the Brawn GP team

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Photo by: Steve Etherington/Motorsport Images

Jenson Button, Brawn GP BGP001 Mercedes, leader at the start

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Photo by: LAT Images

Jenson Button, Brawn GP BGP001 Mercedes

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Foto de: LAT Images

Jenson Button, Brawn Grand Prix BGP 001 leads at the start of the race

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Photo By: Sutton Motorsport Images

Podium: Second Place Mark Webber, Red Bull Racing, Race Winner Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull

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Photo by: Steve Etherington/Motorsport Images

Jenson Button, Brawn GP BGP 001

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Foto de: Sutton Motorsport Images

Podium: Second Place Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull Racing, Race Winner Jenson Button, Brawn

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Photo By: Sutton Motorsport Images

Jenson Button, Brawn GP

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Foto de: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images

Podium: 2nd Place Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP, Ross Brawn, Brawn GP Director, Race Winner Jenson Button, Brawn GP, 3rd Place Jarno Trulli, Toyota

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Photo By: Sutton Motorsport Images

Podium: Christian Horner, Red Bull Racing Team Principal, 2nd Place Mark Webber, Red Bull Racing, Race Winner Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull Racing, 3rd Place Jenson Button, Brawn GP

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Photo By: Sutton Motorsport Images

Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP y Jenson Button, Brawn GP

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Foto de: XPB Images

Jenson Button, Brawn GP

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Foto de: XPB Images

Jenson Button, Brawn GP and his father John

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Photo by: XPB Images

Jenson Button, Brawn GP and his father John

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Photo by: XPB Images

Jenson Button, Brawn GP and his father John

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Photo by: XPB Images

Jenson Button, Brawn GP, celebrates after winning the world championship

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Photo by: Andrew Ferraro/Motorsport Images

Jenson Button, Brawn GP

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Foto de: XPB Images

Jenson Button, Brawn GP

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Foto de: XPB Images

Felipe Massa, Scuderia Ferrari banderas de Jenson Button, Brawn GP

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Photo by: XPB Images

Kamui Kobayashi, Toyota F1 Team y Jenson Button, Brawn GP

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Foto de: XPB Images

Jenson Button, Brawn GP

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Foto de: XPB Images

Jenson Button, Brawn GP y Kamui Kobayashi, Toyota F1 Team

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Foto de: XPB Images

Jenson Button, BrawnGP celebrates winning the World Championship with Ross Brawn Brawn Team Principal

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Photo by: XPB Images

Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP

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Foto de: XPB Images

Jenson Button, Brawn GP

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Foto de: XPB Images

Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren Mercedes and Jenson Button, Brawn GP

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Photo by: XPB Images

Kamui Kobayashi, Toyota F1 Team y Jenson Button, Brawn GP

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Foto de: XPB Images

Jenson Button, BrawnGP celebrates winning the World Championship with Ross Brawn Brawn Team Principal

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Photo by: XPB Images

Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP

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Foto de: XPB Images

Ross Brawn Team Principal, Brawn GP y Jenson Button, Brawn GP

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Foto de: XPB Images

Kamui Kobayashi, Toyota F1 Team y Jenson Button, Brawn GP

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Foto de: XPB Images

Jenson Button, Brawn GP pitstop

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Foto de: XPB Images

Jenson Button, Brawn GP and an emotional John Button celebrates

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Photo by: Charles Coates/Motorsport Images

Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP during pitstop

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Foto de: XPB Images

Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP, Ross Brawn director de Brawn GP y Jenson Button, Brawn GP

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Foto de: XPB Images

Jenson Button, Brawn GP y Ross Brawn director del equipo Brawn GP

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Foto de: XPB Images

Jenson Button, Brawn GP pitstop

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Foto de: XPB Images

Jenson Button, Brawn GP

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Foto de: XPB Images

Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP

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Foto de: XPB Images

Start: Jenson Button, Brawn GP, leads the pack

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Photo by: XPB Images

FIA Press Conference: Polesitter Lewis Hamilton, McLaren Mercedes and third place

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Photo by: XPB Images

Pole Position Winner Jenson Button, Brawn GP

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Photo by: XPB Images

Jenson Button, Brawn GP, BGP001, BGP 001

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Foto de: XPB Images

Pole Position Winner Jenson Button, Brawn GP

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Photo by: XPB Images

Jenson Button, Brawn GP lidera a Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP

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Foto de: XPB Images

Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP

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Foto de: XPB Images

Jenson Button, Brawn GP

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Foto de: XPB Images

Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP in a pitstop

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Photo by: XPB Images

Jenson Button, Brawn GP en un pitstop

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Foto de: XPB Images

Jenson Button, Brawn GP en un pitstop

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Foto de: XPB Images

Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP

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Foto de: XPB Images

Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP

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Foto de: XPB Images

Podium: third place Jenson Button, Brawn GP

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Photo by: XPB Images

Podium: Race winner Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull Racing, with third place Jenson Button, B

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Photo by: XPB Images

Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP

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Foto de: XPB Images

Jenson Button, Brawn GP

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Foto de: XPB Images

Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP

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Foto de: XPB Images

Jenson Button, Brawn GP

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Foto de: XPB Images

Brawn GP

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Foto de: XPB Images

Jenson Button, Brawn GP

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Foto de: XPB Images

Brawn GP

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Foto de: XPB Images

Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP

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Foto de: XPB Images

Jenson Button, Brawn GP

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Foto de: XPB Images

Jenson Button, Brawn GP

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Foto de: XPB Images

Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP

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Foto de: XPB Images

Jenson Button, Brawn GP

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Foto de: XPB Images

Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP

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Foto de: XPB Images

Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber F1 Team and Jenson Button, Brawn GP

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Photo de: XPB Images

Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP

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Foto de: XPB Images

Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP y Jenson Button, Brawn GP

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Foto de: XPB Images

Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP y Jenson Button, Brawn GP

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Foto de: XPB Images

Jenson Button, Brawn GP

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Foto de: XPB Images

Jenson Button, Brawn GP

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Foto de: XPB Images

Podium: Race winner Jenson Button, Brawn GP; Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber F1 Team the second l

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Photo by: XPB Images

Podium: Race Winner Jenson Button, Brawn GP

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Photo by: XPB Images