Sunday 26 April 2009

Review So Far: Brawn GP

Team:
Well can there be a better sporting story than that of Brawn GP so far this year??

Born from the ashes of the Honda F1 team when the Japanese manufacturer pulled out of the sport suddenly before Christmas. Seemingly the team and staff were going to fold with no buyer coming forward. Until at the last moment a management buyout fronted by former Ferrari Technical Director Ross Brawn took over ownership of the team at the 11th hour.

Inheriting all the facilities and designs that Honda had worked on so far the work was far from done for Brawn having to crowbar in a Mercedes engine at the last minute.

Surely the team was going to be happy just to survive? But no, lo and behold at both tests they attended pre-season Brawn were the pacesetters and this continued for the first 2 races of the season.

Recently things have become more difficult with the renewed pace of Toyota and Red Bull in particular proving a challenge. Qualifying pace is the Brawns achilles heal at the moment, but so far so good for the new boys.

A dominant one-two in Melbourne, followed by a fantastic win for Button in Sepang in a shortened race. A difficult Chinese weekend with a car that lacked grip in the wet conditions. All followed by a truly marvelous Button victory in Bahrain when it looked like the honeymoon was finally over on Saturday afternoon, but brilliant Brawn strategy and faultless driving (combined with a little good fortune) made it 3 wins out of 4, top of both championships and a stunning start.

Jenson Button:
Without a drive and career seemingly over one minute, to 3 out of 4 race wins, championship leader and favourite the next. And they say football is a funny old game!

Jenson struggled a bit the last 2 years in comparison to his experienced teammate, but given a car worthy of his talents this year and Jenson is showing just how good he is.

Winning 3 very different kinds of races, a dominant from the front win in Melbourne, A fighting, brilliant wet weather drive in Sepang with some Schumacher esque laps in the dry and a fightback against the odds in Sakhir. Combined with a strong drive to third in the Chinese downpour.

If Ross and the team can give Jenson the machinery he will deliver a title, I am sure of that, this season we have seen the very best of Jenson, getting the maximum out of a good package with his silky smooth driving style.

Rubens Barrichello:
Finally a chance for Rubens to have a crack at the title in a car that is the class of the field with parity with his team mate?

Well you would have thought so, but after strong a 2008 and 2007 (compared to his team mate at least) Rubens has struggled to get the most out of the package this year. From a combination of bad luck and some scrappy races Rubens has had a lot more work to do on a Sunday afternoon than his team mate this year.

Undoubtedly the uncertainty of the team and his future didn't help, all the rumours of Bruno Senna waiting in the wings at the start of the season definitely have unsettled Rubens. 

I think it may already be getting to the stage of the game where Rubens gets asked to play that familiar role he did for so many years for Michael Schumacher.

I think this will be Rubens swansong from F1 this year and I'm certain he still has the pace to add a few final wins to his career total, but for Rubens it his job, one last time to be the excellent number 2 he has been so many times.

Rest of the Season:
Brawn haven't developed in the first few races as their rivals have... but they haven't to.

However the pack are closing in and arguably could already be ahead. The competitiveness of Brawns new package come Barcelona will be crucial to whether Jenson and Brawn can sustain title challenges.

Expect wins and podiums aplenty for the class act of 2009 so far.

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