F1 2009: Australia and Malaysia Results Put Brawn GP In Dreamland

The opening nine days of the 2009 Formula One season have produced two thoroughly exciting and memorable races, and two emphatic and surprising victories for a team making its debut this season.

Brawn GP was hastily and rapidly put together from the shocked remains of the former Honda F1 team, after the Japanese company pulled out of motorsport for economic reasons. Using their team's staff and notably drivers Button and Barrichello, Brawn's expertise and a brilliant Mercedes engine put them straight into contention in the last testing sessions in Barcelona.

This new start for familiar F1 favourites Button, Barrichello and Brawn has coincided with the start of a new era in the sport. Shortly before the curtains opened on the new season, MacLaren (without the scheming Ron Dennis) declared their worries of a lack of pace, and other teams emerged as potential front runners in the last winter tests.

MacLaren's fears have been proved to have foundation, as Heiki Kovaleinen has retired from both races so far, and Lewis Hamilton has been in trouble with the stewards again for some serious underhand and unsporting conduct, despite claiming seventh place in Malaysia.

Ferrari seem complacent and at times look in total disarray, with risky strategies, a lack of pace and conviction and in Kimi Raikkonen they have a driver who doesn't so much look out-of-sorts but more like a sulking child who cannot be bothered to race for the title he fought so hard for in 2007.

Political and personal troubles are less apparent in the other teams, who have concentrated on making their cars faster. Brawn GP have won both races in Australia and Malaysia (the latter grand prix ending in somewhat farcical circumstances) and lead the standings with Jenson Button ahead in the drivers' title.

Half points were awarded in Button's second race victory out of two in Kuala Lumpur, as torrential rain brought out the red flag just after the halfway point. Barrichello has shown consistency and may prove to be Button's main championship contender as the season progresses.

Timo Glock and Iarno Trulli have demonstrated their class and Toyota's progress by collecting points and podiums, and seem like Brawn's main title rivals. We have also seen some wonderful speed and performances from the Red Bulls and Williams, while Renault and BMW look almost as off-the-boil as Ferrari and MacLaren.

After two races Ferrari are yet to get off the mark and MacLaren have suffered from Hamilton's punishment and failure to get into the top three. Brawn GP lead the way from Toyota, while the rest of the small points have been spread across last season's midfield teams.

Obviously, it is still early days , and the vast financial reserves of MacLaren and Ferrari means you cannot count them out. Melbourne is usually a strange race and it's hard to determine who will go on and have a good season. The favourites had a bad qualifying and ultimately came away from Australia without any points.

It was a one-two for Brawn and a three-four for Toyota in Melbourne, followed by Alonso (Renault), Rosberg (Williams), Buemi and Bourdais (Toro Rosso). Malaysia saw more great difficulty for Ferrari and MacLaren in qualifying, and the race was just as unkind to them. After the red flags due to rain, Button was declared the winner with teammate Barrichello 5th.

Nick Heidfeld claimed 2nd, putting him 5th in the championship with Toyota's Glock and Trulli 3rd and 4th respectively. Webber, Hamilton and Rosberg made up the top eight, with them all being awarded half-points because the race hadn't reached 75% distance.

In two weeks' time we go to Shanghai, China. The season will start to get much harder from here and the European races in the summer provide good tests for the teams and drivers to keep their good form and maintain their title challenges.