The Brawn Grand Prix team will go down as the team that won the Championship with both drivers in 1-2, winning four races back-to-back, wining the Monaco GP on a three-race old engine and all of this in their debut season! Ross Brawn will certainly move comfortably into Formula One legend. There can be no definite analysis of this end. They started with the best car but were soon overtaken by others. Their drivers were initially icons of confidence, radiating that winning spirit but towards the end in-fighting amongst themselves and bitterness eroded that shine. The lack of confidence and strain began to show rather visibly and sometimes it was ugly. But they never allowed themselves to fall or falter whatever the situation that is perhaps the biggest lesson they taught F1.
With little money, few prospects and difficult times they motivated themselves, built an extraordinary car, the legendary BG 001, and stormed through the season facing up to all challenges with the same stoic dedication that allowed them to even participate in this season in the first place. Some things cannot be halted and Brawn GP in 2009 proved to be one of those things. Three cheers for the team, for the drivers and for Ross Brawn - Champion among Champions.
What about new apple of Formula One's eye, Jenson Button? There is much talk about whether he truly deserved this championship, about circumstances, about his apparent cracking under the strain, of his desperate struggles with his team-mate and his apparently lack of talent on the tarmac. The problem lies in the fact that the distinct lines between the fortunes of Button and Brawn GP have become blurred. Jenson Button is the World Champion because he was behind the wheel of the BGP01 car but the opposite is not true. Any driver in the top ten rankings would have been Champion behind that car, Button was in the right team at a critically right time and what a team it turned out to be. It may be a slightly bitter pill for Button to swallow but considering the end results, he should have no complaints.
Button, the son of a rallycross driver from London, showed a lot of promise when he debuted in F1 in 2000 and like so many before and after him looked set to fade into obscurity after a number of years in the sport at the back of the grid. He was only a body to drive a car so that the grid can still sport 20 cars. Unlike his famous team-mate Rubens Barrichello, Button had no pedigree, no famous team-mates, no on-track showdowns, and no tears on podiums. He didn't even have a decent scandal to his name.
In 2009, driven by team Honda's abrupt withdrawal from the sport and desperation to stay in the game, with any team or drive, Button made what turned out to be the smartest decision of his life. He accepted a massive pay cut (rumours say his pay was cut from 13 million to less than five) and decided to wear the white and black of the new debutante on the track - Brawn GP. Call it a fortunate stroke of luck, a desperate gamble that paid out in spades or even just the odd workings of Kismat. Whatever it was it went on to make history.
However, whatever the rumours, there is no denying that Button deserved and worked exceptionally hard for this Championship. He is a smooth and aggressive driver whose races are usually error-free and he is a tactical man - thinking, analysing and reacting to events to get an edge over the rest. He pushes himself and the team to greater heights, is unafraid to try unorthodox techniques and takes an active interest in the development of the car. And he is fast - winning six races in the season. Kimi Raikkonen is usually credited with only two of the above traits - speed and error-free driving - and Hamilton only won five races in 2008 but no one disputes their worthiness to be champion. And as an extra, in shallow sense but this is the glamorous world of Formula One after all, he is good looking and reportedly has a saucy and fiery personality. So cheers to the 10th British Champion of Formula One, hearty congratulations Button, jolly good show!
Source: PSC
Article By: Vinayak Hegde
