The team won eight of the season's seventeen races, took both the Drivers' and Constructors' Championships, and as it competed in only a single season it holds a 100% championship success rate — the only constructor in Formula One history to do so. In 2010, Brawn GP received the Laureus World Sports Award for Team of the Year. On 16 November 2009 the team was purchased by Mercedes-Benz and Aabar Investments and rebranded as Mercedes GP for the 2010 season.
Brawn GP's lineage traces to the Tyrrell Racing Organisation, founded by Ken Tyrrell in 1958, which entered Formula One in 1968 and won the Constructors' Championship and three Drivers' Championships during the 1970s with Jackie Stewart. In 1998 declining results led Tyrrell to sell the team to British American Tobacco, which established British American Racing (BAR) in a new factory in Brackley. BAR competed for six years, finishing second in the championship in 2004. Honda, BAR's engine partner, acquired full control of the team at the end of 2005 and renamed it Honda Racing F1.
After Honda's withdrawal, Ross Brawn — the former technical director for Honda, Ferrari, and Benetton — confirmed the purchase of the team for £1. On 17 March 2009 the FIA officially approved the name change from Honda Racing F1 Team to Brawn GP, treating it as an entirely new entry and waiving the standard entry fee through FIA vice-president Keith Hayes. The name "Pure Racing" was considered but blocked by engine supplier Mercedes, as "Pure Racing-Mercedes" could have implied it was the works Mercedes team (which was in fact McLaren at the time); a revival of the Tyrrell name was also considered. Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, Honda drivers since 2003 and 2006 respectively, were retained for the season.
Due to the late nature of the takeover, Brawn GP was allocated the final pit-lane slot. Initially assigned car numbers 20 and 21, the team accepted numbers 22 and 23 at the request of Force India, whose promotional material had already been printed with those numbers. Honda had explored KERS in 2008, but Brawn stated the circumstances of the changeover left no time to implement the system.
The BGP 001 was originally designed as the Honda RA109. Honda's poor 2008 performance prompted an early start on the 2009 car, and development continued after Honda's withdrawal in the hope the team would be rescued. The car was modified to accept a Mercedes-Benz engine in place of the intended Honda unit; according to team CEO Nick Fry the Mercedes engine accounted for 50 per cent of the team's performance upturn.
A key technical feature was the double diffuser, a controversial aerodynamic device providing a significant downforce advantage. It was protested by Ferrari, Red Bull Racing, and Renault F1 Team. After the first race stewards ruled the cars legal, an appeal was heard and motorsport's governing body the FIA declared the design legal in April 2009. BMW Sauber also joined the appeal before the final ruling.
The car's first test was at Circuit de Catalunya on 9 March 2009, where it topped the timesheets. Testing also took place at Circuito de Jerez. Button performed the shakedown; the car featured white, fluorescent chartreuse yellow, and black colours. Ross Brawn described it as "the result of 15 months of intensive development work."
Three chassis were used during the season. BGP 001-02 was driven by Button for the entire season; Ross Brawn retained it, restored it to its championship-winning livery, and ran it at the 2016 Goodwood Festival of Speed. BGP 001-01 was driven by Barrichello until it was damaged in a qualifying accident at the Singapore Grand Prix; Button later acquired it as a contract condition tied to winning the championship, after a legal dispute with Mercedes. BGP 001-03 was used by Barrichello for the remainder of the season and retained by Mercedes after the acquisition.
Pre-season testing quickly revealed the car was highly competitive. On its racing debut at the 2009 Australian Grand Prix, Button took pole with Barrichello second; they finished first and second — the first 1–2 debut since Mercedes at the 1954 French Grand Prix. Button won the rain-shortened Malaysian Grand Prix from pole and set the fastest lap. Brawn GP thereby became the only new constructor to win its first two races since Alfa Romeo won the first two World Championship Grands Prix at the 1950 British and Monaco Grands Prix. At the Chinese Grand Prix, Barrichello qualified ahead of Button for the first time; in wet conditions Button finished third and Barrichello fourth, behind the Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.
Button won again at Bahrain from fourth on the grid, with Barrichello fifth. The team achieved their second 1–2 at the Spanish Grand Prix, with the win moving them past Honda on the all-time wins list. At Monaco, Button took pole, led Barrichello — who had passed Kimi Räikkönen off the line — and secured Brawn's third 1–2 and Button's first hat-trick of wins. At the Turkish Grand Prix, Vettel took pole; Barrichello's anti-stall cut in at the start, dropping him to the back, while Button inherited the lead when Vettel ran wide. Barrichello retired after losing seventh gear.
The team's pace faded mid-season. At the British Grand Prix and German Grand Prix, both cars struggled with tyre temperatures. At the Hungarian Grand Prix, the team had its worst qualifying of the season; Barrichello's rear suspension failed, a spring fell off and struck Ferrari's Felipe Massa on the helmet causing serious head injuries. Button qualified with excess fuel after his car was held in the pits during Q3.
Rubens Barrichello won the European Grand Prix for the first time in five years, one of the longest gaps between Grand Prix victories in Formula One history; Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen had started ahead of him. At Belgium, Button was eliminated by Romain Grosjean on the first lap; Barrichello had a clutch issue and his engine caught fire entering the pits. At the Italian Grand Prix, both cars qualified heavily fuelled and completed a final 1–2, with Barrichello first and Button second. At Singapore both drivers struggled in qualifying; they finished fifth and sixth. At Japan they finished seventh and eighth, leaving the team half a point short of the Constructors' Championship. The race stewards investigated Nico Rosberg for excessive speed under safety car conditions — a 25-second penalty would have promoted both Brawn drivers one place and clinched the title — but Rosberg was cleared.
At the Brazilian Grand Prix, Button clinched the Drivers' Championship by finishing fifth after starting 14th; with Barrichello finishing eighth, Brawn also secured the Constructors' Championship. At the final round in Abu Dhabi they finished third and fourth. Barrichello won twice during the season and finished third in the Drivers' Championship. The team totalled 172 points, an average of 10.12 per Grand Prix, and fifteen podiums, five pole positions, and four fastest laps.
On 16 November 2009, Daimler AG (45.1%) and Aabar Investments (30%) purchased a 75.1% stake in Brawn GP, with reports suggesting a combined payment of £110 million. In its single year the team made a profit of £98.5 million; its directors, including Ross Brawn and Nick Fry, shared £20 million in dividends for a total £150 million payout after the sale. The team was rebranded as Mercedes GP for the 2010 season, operating from the Brackley base, with Ross Brawn remaining as team principal until the end of the 2013 season.
The team's 2009 season was described as "Formula One's last great fairy-tale story." A four-part documentary starring Keanu Reeves and key Brawn GP personnel was released on 15 November 2023 on Disney+ and Hulu. The team that succeeded Brawn GP — eventually known as the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team — subsequently won eight consecutive Constructors' Championships and seven consecutive Drivers' Championships from 2014 to 2021 and 2014 to 2020 respectively.
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