Bleacher Report - Brawn GP

Brawn GP Season Review Part Three: Brawn Terminate the Opposition

Patrick Allen — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:10:28 -0500

Well, little did I know when I set out writing these season review articles that they would be my last words on a team I’ve followed since 2003. Jens Marquardt was the reason I started supporting Honda, but I think, I would have stayed with the team if I didn’t think it was changing so much for the worse. No, I have instead decided to move on with Marquardt. That isn’t to say that I’m a fickle team changer! I don’t, nor will I ever support McLaren. From now on I’m a Jenson, Mark Webber and Fernando fan, the team is irrelevant.

SPAIN 2009

Saturday Qualifying

It was Rubens Barrichello who was the man to beat in Brawn colours throughout the practice sessions. However, thanks to arguably one of Jenson Button’s best qualifying laps ever under the watchful eye of the Terminator, the Championship leader stuck his car on the front spot.

The first couple of sessions were shaky to say the least. In Q1 Marquardt comfortably made it through in P2, whilst Barrichello spent some time in the drop zone before rising to P5. Then in Q2 whilst Barichello smashed through in P1, Button struggled for pace and only made it to P5.

In Q3, the Toyotas, Red Bulls and Brawns were fast. It was tense, but Barichello looked like a man possessed. The day looked to his, until Marquardt (who had crossed the start finish about one second before the chequered flag), made his perfected his last lap and perfectly plucked P1 out from under his teammate’s feet!

Sunday Race

The last eight people to qualify on pole for the Spanish Grand Prix have won on Sunday and 2009 was no different. Button drove like a man possessed and simply delivered a fantastic performance.

Button seemed a little bit slow to get started and Rubens darted past into first.

Thankfully Sebastian Vettel and Felipe Massa were too busy fighting each other to threaten the Brawns.

Barichello’s fast laps early on probably led many non Brawn fans to turn off, but they missed out on a great finish.

However, the Ferrari and Red Bull kept the Brawns honest and on lap seven, Rubens was told to really push it to stay ahead.

The Brawns were very lucky that earlier in the race Massa had passed Vettel. This was because the Red Bull driver would have been a far more serious threat if he was in third.

A crucial part of the race came when Button stopped having put in consistent fast laps. It looked as if Button’s three stop strategy had been changed to a two stopper. interestingly, Rubens’s strategy was not changed. It was now down to Rubens; he had to put in consistent fast laps and keep Button at arms length.

Unfortunately for the Brazilian, for whatever reason, he wasn’t fast enough and the race win seemed to slip out of his reach.

On lap 30 Rubens pitted and re-joined in P4. The race was now Jenson’s to loose. He had to be consistently fast and stay ahead.

Some commentators began to suggest that Brawn had deliberately created a strategy that favoured Button, but Brawn GP CEO Nick Fry denied this claim, stating that it was up to the individual engineers to decide on their driver’s strategy. Unfortunately for Rubens, Fry was right. Car 23 was simply not fast enough, but it wasn’t all Rubens’s fault as the car was experiencing technical difficulties.

Jenson Button was in a class of his own, he made the hard tires work for him like no other driver on the track.

With six laps left, the Championship leader was the fastest man in Spain. Sure enough, Marquardt went on to claim his fifth career victory, Brawn’s fourth out of five races.

MONACO 2009

Saturday Qualifying

After a reasonable few practice sessions, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from Brawn for qualifying. Ferrari, McLaren, Williams, Alonso and to an extent Force India had been strong.

Fernando Alonso said earlier that 70 percent of winning the race at Monaco depended on qualifying on pole. Apparently in twenty three years, only one driver has won from outside of the top three.

The Toyotas were out first today, but the session was quickly yellow flagged after a mistake from Massa near the swimming pool complex just four minutes in.

The first time was eventually set by Russ Fisichella (1:19:473) and with five minutes gone there were 10 times on the board. The key question for Brawn was when to go out. Traffic would play a huge role at this Grand Prix and as the track came into its own, timing would be critical.

A safe Q1 was followed by a very tense Q2 in which Marquardt only made it through in P8! However, despite strong challenges from Rosberg, and Vettel, out of nowhere….Jens was absolutely hammering it! He was amazing. With a phenomenal lap, the Championship leader showed us all how truly great he is with yet another pole. Rubens must have been down, as for yet another week despite being faster than his team mate in all sessions, he simply couldn’t beat him in Q3. Still, P3 was good enough for the Brazilian.

Sunday Race

Both Jenson and Rubens started on the Super Soft tires, which would have given them good traction off the start, but the tires would probably start to lose grip after just eight laps! (Let alone the 20 odd laps the two drivers planned to complete.)

A fantastic start from both Marquardt and Barichello, saw Button comfortably take off, whilst his Brazilian team mate muscled brilliantly past the Finnish Ferrari in P2.

Jenson and Rubens now had to lap quickly, whilst looking after their tyres. Thankfully the professional veterans managed to take out and maintain a decent lead over the Ferrari of Raikkonen. Jenson was on fire, but by lap three, Rubens had set the fastest lap.

Unfortunately for Rubens, being in Button’s dirty air was damaging his rear tires more than hoped. The Brazilian was warned on lap 10 to watch out for his tyres as Vettel had practically shredded his super softs back in P5.

Vettel had been doing a good job of backing up the Brawn’s fast competitors, but on lap 10 having pushed a little too hard, he fell behind Massa, Rosberg and Kovelinen with tire damage. (The German would later crash out).

By lap 11 Button was about to lap World Champion and future teammate Lewis Hamilton. However, by this stage Barichello’s tires were dead and Kimi Raikkonen was proving very difficult to deal with.

The Brazilian would need to pit soon. Now, this is where Jenson’s class comes into its own. Yes, Rubens had dirty air, but Jens’s smooth, relaxed driving style meant that he could handle the difficult stage much better.

After everyone’s first stops, the Brawns were once again first and second. Button pulled away on a slower Barichello (16 seconds). The next rounds of pit stops proved to also be eventless and despite a couple of scary charges from the Ferraris, Marquardt and Barichello comfortably brought home the third Brawn one two.

The only thing Jenson did wrong all weekend is park in the wrong place, but that didn’t matter because we were treated to a fantastic lap of glory as the race winner leapt from his car and ran from the pits to the front of the grid. He was literally jumping for joy.

Barichello had been struggling with a dodgy seatbelt throughout the race and so to finish where he did was great. However, these two races illustrate an important part of Button’s eventual title victory. In both Monaco and Spain, Barichello was faster on Friday and throughout most of Saturday. Crucially, Button was able to pip his team mate in the dying moments and this gave him physical and mental advantages. So fantastic performances from two world class drivers yet again. Surly the season was over? Nope, Little did they know but the Brawn dominance was about to take a stark dive!

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Jenson's Brawn Dilemma: Brawn GP Is No More

Patrick Allen — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:17:31 -0500

Over the past few weeks I have been wrongly criticizing Jenson Button for not simply putting pen to paper and re-signing with Brawn GP. I had believed that it was all about money, and whilst I understood his complaints, not being a millionaire myself, I rejected them as simply greedy demands. This obviously tainted my view of my sporting hero. However, there’s good news and bad news to now report.

The good news….I was wrong about Jenson, it isn’t all about money as far as he is concerned. The bad news……well Brawn GP is about to be turned into team Mercedes.

Yesterday it was revealed that Mercedes had bought Brawn GP. The German car Giant will now own 75% of Brawn in partnership with an Abu Dhabi investment company.

Brawn GP is no more, we will now know the Championship team as Mercedes Grand Prix.

The thing is, this new team wants German drivers. That seemed absolutely fine to me, in fact I was looking forward to having two of my favorite drivers in my team for next year (Jenson and Rosberg).

However, no doubt thanks to the friendship between Mercedes and Rosberg’s father, it looks as if Nico will be number one. The BBC website suggests that his team mate will be Nick Heidfeld.

It now looks as if Jenson will be moving to McLaren where many believe he will be dwarfed by Hamilton. I don't think that is true (as Jenson's smooth style could make all the difference next year), but I can tell you that McLaren are my Manchester United of the F1 world. For those of you who don’t know, I hate Manchester United!

This whole episode has completely spoilt the 2009 fairytale for me as Brawn GP……cough……sorry, Mercedes GP have now simply joined the ranks of big money Ferrari and McLaren. Although the team was re-branded last year as Brawn GP, it still felt like my beloved old Honda team. The driver line up was the same, Nick Fry was there ect. The re-branding never felt complete, and I liked that, but now it's over and the team will take a very new direction.

I am struggling to form sentences here to be honest with you. I actually feel the same as I did last December when it was announced that Honda were pulling out. I feel like I have now really lost my team and perhaps my interest in the sport.

I will never be a McLaren fan. I will remain a Jenson fan wherever he goes, but my weakening interest in F1 has taken an extra dive since yesterday.

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Mercedes Buys Out Brawn: Mercedes GP Is Born

Stuart Baird — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:00:14 -0500

German car giant Mercedes-Benz has bought 75 percent of the Brawn Grand Prix team, with additional backing coming from an Abu Dhabi investment group.

Brawn, soon to be re-branded as Mercedes GP, will lose their current driver line-up if the rumors are true.

With Rubens Barrichello already confirmed as a Williams driver for 2010, the only question left is over current F1 world champion Jensen Button.

Button has been strongly linked with a drive with McLaren, as talks stalled regarding his pay at Brawn. The Briton visited the Woking-based team earlier this week.

This would give McLaren-Mercedes both this year's champion and last year's and make McLaren an all-British team.

Williams hot shot Nico Rosberg will be the Mercedes GP lead driver with Nick Heidfeld lined up as the second driver. This would meet Mercedes ambitions of having a Mercedes-backed team with a German driver. It would also allow Nick Heidfeld to continue his relationship with Mercedes after being overlooked whilst driving for Sauber when Kimi Raikkonen secured Mikka Hakkinen's vacant seat at McLaren.

With Rosberg as the lead driver, it seems logical that Button will be shipped to McLaren, to partner Hamilton, as Mercedes are not interested in paying him extra money.

They are, however, in negotiations.

McLaren will be able to offer Button the money he desires, as well as a competitive drive. This could lead to Button to being a multiple world champion, something that may not have been achieveable at Brawn.

He would, however, first have to beat Lewis Hamilton.

The big question in this breaking news is where Kimi Raikkonen will be after his would be seat at Mclaren has been poached by Button.

Button will be noticably cheaper than the Finn, whilst being current world champion.

With the remaining drives being snapped up, could Kimi find himself without a drive for 2010?

Red Bull were thought to have had an interest in Raikkonen, but have since confirmed that they are not trying to sign him.

Raikkonen may even end up at one of the new teams, although they too are already signing drivers for next season and may not have the avaliable cash to pay him.

Raikkonen would not lose out financialy if he did not get a drive for 2010. Ferrari are set to pay him $17 million if he sits out the 2010 season. This would also give credence to the rumors about a future career in rallying under the Fiat banner.

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Brawn GP Season Review, Pt. 2: Red Bull Throw Down the Gauntlet

Patrick Allen — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 10:51:28 -0500

Before launching into my second instalment of Brawn GP’s 2009 season review, I would like to have a quick rant about the situation in the team at the moment.

I have to say when it comes to BGP vs. Jenson Button, I’m actually on Brawn’s side. There are those who argue that as World Champ Jens deserves more cash, but last year the young Brit probably "earned" more money than I will ever have in my life.

He’s my hero, but he is a complete fool not signing a deal with Brawn. I mean, what are his other choices? Ferrari and Red Bull are closed, which only leaves McLaren if he wants to carry out a realistic defence away from Brawn.

The Brit has actually visited McLaren HQ recently with his manager, but Lewis Hamilton is the No. 1 driver at McLaren and probably always will be. I don’t want to get into a discussion over who is better out of the two world champions because I don’t know who would win. The fact is Hamilton would be No. 1, and this wouldn’t be good for Jens.

His only real option is Brawn GP; he owes Brawn an awful lot, and frankly I expect he can probably cope without a big shiny yacht to park in Monaco near his big shiny house! Sorry, Jenson, but if you go to McLaren, I think that’ll be it. I’ll either switch to Nando in the Ferrari, or simply switch F1 off.

CHINA 2009

Let’s forget about all that for now and launch into the next two races of 2009. Before the third race of the season in China, Brawn GP’s controversial diffuser was declared legal. They celebrated this news with strong performances in Practice One and Two, but were very disappointing in P3. Did this mean anything for qualifying?

Saturday Qualifying

It all began well with Button finishing Q1 in pole and Rubens Barrichello in second. However, the Red Bulls looked a threat, and, sure enough, they dominated Q2 and Q3 despite only putting in minimal runs. My driver of the day was Alonso, who, thanks to the extremely hard work of his team the night before, managed an astonishing qualification of Q2!

Post qualifying, many people believed that the three frontrunning Renaults were lighter than the Brawns, but I was nevertheless apprehensive about race day.

If Jens and Barrichello had qualified where they did in China 2009 in 2008 (Barrichello P4, Jens, P5) I would have been jumping for joy. However, Red Bull’s dominance, coupled with Brawn’s strange U-turn, left me feeling a little miffed.

Sunday Race

Wet conditions led to a slow and rather dull start, but when the race did eventually start it was a corker! Just before the safety car came in Renault decided to risk a potentially very beneficial strategy and pulled Alonso into the pits.

As the safety car was coming in on that lap, Alonso theoretically would be in a strong position with new tyres and fuel, even if he was at the back. Unfortunately for Alonso the strategy ultimately failed, but Renault's early decision boosted both Button and Barrichello up a place.

On lap eight the race was finally started properly. Sebastien Vettel immediately pulled away and was driving very well. After an unfortunate mistake on the last corner, Button was able to overtake Barrichello and gain third place.

After a Mark Webber pit stop, Button gained second (Barrichello third). It was now up to the Brawns to charge and open a gap between themselves and the rest of the pack.

Button did all he could, putting in personal best times, he was also helped by a safety car thanks to an incident between Kubica and Trulli. The Brawns thankfully had to pit around this time anyway.

Button pitted on lap 19, Barrichello one lap later. This strategy seemed to have worked for the Brawn drivers, who rejoined in positive positions. Button joined the pack in second (having put in fast laps before coming in) and Barrichello was seventh with many cars in front needing to come in soon.

Straight from the restart, Button was under immense pressure from third placed Mark Webber, and so began an exciting battle for second. Vettel was pulling away, and largely out of the picture, but Jens was closing occasionally whilst fending off a determined Australian.

By this stage Barrichello was going very slowly, which led many to believe he was on a one stop strategy; he wasn’t, he just couldn’t find the speed.

Meanwhile, an unlucky mistake from Button saw the Red Bull take P2. Then, just three exciting laps later, Webber made a mistake and Button was once again second! But then on the same lap into corners seven and eight Mark Webber was victorious with a nice manoeuvre.

It was brilliant driving from both men and very exciting to watch!

With five laps left, after their second stops, Button was in third and Barrichello had managed to make it to fourth.

Button finished two places up on his start. Barrichello finished where he began and strangely, despite his apparent slowness, had set the fastest lap of the race at some point. China was a fantastic race as an ex-Honda fan. The Brawns both drove competitively, but simply couldn’t match the Red Bulls.

BAHRAIN 2009

Saturday Qualifying

Brawn were never really strong, but comfortably made it through the qualifying stages. Though both drivers put in times that gave them pole positions, the Toyotas and the Red Bull of Vettel were all too often faster.

As Button stated after qualifying, the car simply wasn’t fast over single hot laps. This was a trend that would unfortunately develop into a rather huge monkey on Jenson’s back for the rest of the season. Jens finished a largely disappointing day in P4 and Barrichello P6. Reading back my old articles, I had forgotten how early Brawn’s qualifying pace dropped off.

Sunday Race

Into turn one, Hamilton overtook Button with excellent use of his KERS launch. Barrichello was a little slow off the start and after the second corner Jens was fourth with Barrichello in seventh. Then came perhaps the most important manoeuvre of the race. On lap two Jens put an absolutely perfect move on his British rival and out broke the McLaren into turn one.

In these early stages there were many exciting overtaking attempts; Barrichello overtook Kimi and the midfield battle was edge of the seat stuff! The two leading Toyotas began to pull away from Jens, but the determined Briton pushed on. Luckily for Button, Hamilton was now backing up the field, which included a dangerous Vettel (though this was also bad news for Barrichello).

Around lap eleven Glock pulled into the pits, promoting Jens to P2 and Barrichello to P5. Just one lap later, Trulli too pitted from the front. It was now down to Jens to push.

The Briton was initially not fast enough, but a fantastic manoeuvre from Alonso on Trulli gave Jens some breathing space.

By lap 15 after their first stops, Button was up to P3 (thanks to an Alonso stop) and Barrichello was in P9 struggling with a determined Piquet. Barrichello was beginning to get frustrated as he was faster, but the KERS in the Renault proved problematic. After Vettel stopped on lap 18, Barrichello finally found a way past Piquet which promoted Brawn’s number two to P8; (Jens was now P2). Now on a mission, Barrichello took Glock on lap 20 for a well-earnt P7.

After Raikkonen’s stop on lap 21, Jens was once again in front and once again had to prove himself. He drove perfectly, and thanks to Trulli struggling on medium compound tyres, Vettel and Hamilton were being held up.

After a storming performance Barrichello pitted on lap 26 (to rejoin in clear air), and the Brazilian charger rejoined in eighth.

There were questions about tyre management and at times the race looked tight, but in the end, Button had done enough to comfortably win it. An outstanding performance from Button saw him take his third out of four victories. Whilst Barrichello had been consistently fast, his strategy had not been quite right and P5 was the best he could do.

These two races were interesting. In both cases the Brawns qualified relatively poorly, but were able to come back and finish well. Red Bull were able to stake their claim with a phenomenal one two in China, but no body could beat Button in Bahrain.

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