Welcome

This site is built by a fan for fans! I intend to keep as much information here about Brawn GP as I can find.

Keep popping back for more info, and post on any of the blogs.

If you would like to see anything different or leave feedback drop me an email via the KontactR Form.

Tuesday 31 March 2009

Brawn GP - Looking forward and the return to Europe

Barcelona is always seen by the teams as a reboot wherby all advantages are nullified and all new packages are installed on the cars. This year may not see such an advantage taken by the teams to 'catch up' as with limited in season testing, developing parts for the car may be difficult. Brawn however are already reportedly working hard on updates for Barcelona with a radical update to the sidepod area on the cards. Will this also tie in with a shift to KERS? Who knows? I'll inform you on anything I can find.

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Monday 30 March 2009

Melbourne GP – Race Review – Brawn GP

Well to start with I have to say a huge congratulations to the team, Ross, Jenson and Rubens for a fantastic start to the season. I for one had huge anticipation for this season even before Honda decided to withdraw as I'd heard that massive progress was being made at Brackley. When Honda decided to withdraw I was utterly upset and wondered if I would sit a season out not supporting anyone. Ross and the rest of the management however came up trumps as they were obviously aware of the BGP001's potential.

With Jenson and Rubens flying in qualifying it wasn't long before we had the front row of the grid locked out for the Melbourne GP. Our one lap pace on the super softs was awe inspiring and left the others in the shadows. This was only further proved to be super fast when the car weights were announced by the FIA a few hours later. The boys had managed to out qualify the chasing pack with at least 10kg's more fuel on board.

To the race and although a little bleary eyed (think it took about 30 mins of the leadup commentary for me to wake up) I sat up in bed biting my fingernails waiting for all the red lights to go out.

Jenson flew away from the start getting what all Brawn GP fans and the team hoped for. Rubens on the other hand was a little more unlucky and ended up in the pitbox in anti stall, luckily he managed to get it out of neutral and into 1st rather rapidly meaning he only dropped a few places off the grid, this however forced him into the 1st corner melee something he would have wanted to avoid. He reached the 1st corner in around 9th position but a collision with Mark Webber which will have rattled the natives. The incident was compounded by a small shunt from the rear by Heikki which launched Rubens forwards under breaking. Now with Rubens front wing damaged in normal circumstances I would have expected him to have to pit, however it seems that the BGP001 is a little more resilient than some of it's competitors as it only damaged part of the endplate and this didn't seem to cause Rubens too much of a detrimental effect. He didn't change this damaged component until his scheduled fuel and tyres stop. After the 1st corner melee Rubens continued to push hard from 7th position unfazed by his aero issues. Jenson was making great progress and had pulled out a 4.5 second lead over Vettel, they then began trading fastest laps as Vettel tried to make an impact on Jensons race. Rubens whilst trailing the Williams of Nico and Ferrari of Kimi just sat and bid ed his time. Sure enough on lap 9 Nico pushed it up the inside of Kimi on the 1st corner and this destabilised Kimi leaving Rubens to charge for 6th position, he stook it down the inside of Kimi at turn 3 but realised he was entering an ever declining gap. Rubens stood on the brakes but with the bumpier surface on the inside edge of turn 3 he lost the rear end and just touched the side of the Ferrari. The impact took the endplate completely off of the already damaged wing.

Lap 17 saw Nakajima put his Williams into the wall and this called out the safety car, a touchy moment for Jenson as it was just in his pit stop window and although this years rules allow for pit stops under the safety car it could have still made a massive impact if timed wrong. Luckily for Jenson the safety car was deployed after his stop which also gave him a lap to put some temperature into the tyres. Rubens came in just before Jenson and gave Rubens a new nose, both stops went off without a hitch which is a great credit to the team.

We spent 5 laps under the safety car and unfortunately for Jenson he locked his front left tyre just as he exited the last corner onto the pit straight to restart the race. Even with this Jenson carried on pushing hard and extended his lead to Vettel rapidly. With tyres being so cold under a safety car we lost Picquet to the first corner he hadn't measured the braking zone correctly. After the pit stop's Rubens had emerged 7th which was a great result considering he needed a new nose too. With the Ferrari's seemingly out of sink with everyone else's strategies and along with Jarno and Kubica. Kubica put on the main tyre having already run the super softs in a previous stint (which will feature later) this all aiding Rubens, he managed to haul the car back into 3rd.

With 12 laps to go Jenson entered the pits to receive the super soft tyres and the remaining fuel to complete the race. Tyres were all changed without a hitch but the fuel rig didn't fire properly so had to be re installed and compromised Jenson's time. However he had managed to pull out enough of a gap to stay ahead of Vettel. At this point I was shouting at the TV as the commentators kept saying Rubens may have enough fuel to finish the race. That may well have been the case but he hadn't used the supers softs yet so had to pit. When Rubens pitted (7 laps to go) it gave Kubica the free track to mount a challenge, whilst Jenson and Vettel were on the super softs Robert was on the prime tyre (which was performing a hell of a lot better) Coming back into the mix Rubens found himself behind Rosberg, Rosberg found himself useless to counter Rubens charge as his tyres had started to degrade. Kubica was storming and quickly found himself onto the back of Vettel, with 3 laps to go and Roberts charge going strong he made a move on Vettel who had previously made a small error coming in/out of turn 1. In turn 3 Robert stuck it down the outside as Vettel positioned himself well to defend. Robert clearly had the faster car and Vettel out braked himself, in my opinion what happened next was clearly Roberts fault (although the stewards saw it otherwise) he gave Sebastian no room, even though Sebastian had the racing line and left Sebastian with no alternative but to collide with the BMW car. This was catastrophic for the pair and destroyed both their front wings and part of the nose/undertray. Both cars then hit the wall a little further around the lap. This promoted Rubens to 2nd and left Jenson breathing a sigh of relief that the BMW wouldn't be filling his mirrors in the last 2 laps. The safety car was deployed for the last laps and only peeled away to allow Jenson to take the chequered flag under race conditions.

A thoroughly action packed race with a great maiden 1-2 for the team, Jenson and Ross!

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Sunday 29 March 2009

WINNERS! - Brawn GP

Well what a great day for the team it couldn't have been written any better. Maximum points for the team and great results for Jenson and Rubens. I think Rubens was a little disappointed he couldn't take the race to Jenson but one of them were bound to win. Jenson looked comfortable throughout with only Kubica towards the latter stages seeming to have the pace to come through. I'm sure Rubens was frustrated with his start but made steady progress even with his front wing hindering airflow at the start of the GP. I'm always frustrated by the commentators when they don't pick up on something as simple as the fact Rubens needed to stop again and he hadn't run the super softs, they kept questioning whether he would run to the end. All in all a great way for Brawn GP to start the season and lets hope we can carry this momentum through to Malaysia. Thanks to Jenson I have £17 now sitting in my William Hill account and with both drivers scoring maximum points I'm on my way towards my constructors bet too.

Picture courtesy of www.autosport.com

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Saturday 28 March 2009

Brawn GP - Melbourne Race

Hi Brawn GP fans, I won't be online whilst the race is going on so I have added a chat box like I did for the Practice/Qualifying sessions for you all to talk about the racing


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Hello to the mixi.jp crowd

ハローは、 mixi.jpを経由してサイトを探している私の日本の友人に私は私の悪い翻訳のためのコンテンツと謝罪を楽しむ( i ) Googleの翻訳を使用している希望私はそう言うだろうと思っていた私はハイmixi.jpから大量のトラフィックが急増気づいていたという。

For our non Japanese fanbase, I have just noticed a massive surge of interest thats coming from the mixi.jp so thought i'd say hi.

I notice we are having hits from all over the globe and I hope you all find the site of interest. I hope the new translation tools I installed make your viewing of the site easier.

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Car Weights announced by FIA ahead of race

This year the FIA will release the cars weights ahead of the race so that fuel loads are no longer guesswork. Minimum weight of the car is 605kgs.

Pos. Driver Car weight
1. Jenson Button 664.5kg
2. Rubens Barrichello 666.5kg
3. Sebastien Vettel 657kg
4. Robert Kubica 650kg
5. Nico Rosberg 657kg
6. Felipe Massa 654kg
7. Kimi Raikkonen 655.5kg
8. Mark Webber 662kg
9. Nick Heidfeld 691.5kg
10. Fernando Alonso 680.7kg
11. Kazuki Nakajima 680.5kg
12. Heikki Kovalainen 690.6kg
13. Sebastien Buemi 675.5kg
14. Nelson Piquet 694.1kg
15. Giancarlo Fisichella 689kg
16. Adrian Sutil 684.5kg
17. Sebastien Bourdais 662.5kg
18. Lewis Hamilton 655kg
19. Jarno Trulli 660kg
20. Timo Glock 670kg

Analysing the figures it just proves how fast the BGP001 is as they have easily out qualified teams with much lower loads.

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Toyota DQ'd

After qualifying the Toyota cars have been disqualified due to using flexible wing elements. The wings in question were found to flex beyond the regulation limits. This means Timo Glock and Jarno Trulli will now line up at the rear of the field (only if these wings are removed or replaced) Timo was 6th and Jarno 8th.

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BBC Coverage

So what did you think to the beeb's coverage and commentary lineup? I thought a little rough around the edges in places but all in all a great start to what will be viewing pleasure. Eddie Jordan for me though is the best and worst part of the show. He was taking lead during the Sir Richard Branson interview and didn't even allow DC to comment. I find some of his comments un insightful but also very funny as he clearly thinks he is right. DC soon put him in his place over a few issues and rightfully so. I see that Jordan and DC will be a great double act where no quarter is given. Brundle was great as ever and Legard accompanied him very well. I feel Humphrey although a competant presenter lacked control over Jordan at points to the detriment of the show.
All in all its great to have F1 back on the beeb with no annoying ad breaks. A positive start has been made and i'm sure the team will carry on producing some great work. (Just glad that the loss of signal was not during a qually session!)

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Virgin Sponsor, Virgin Pole


That's right Sir Richard Branson has joined the team sponsorship lineup as was once touted. I feel the Virgin brand can bring so much to the world of F1 in terms of money and exposure. However Richard is doing his level best to neither confirm or deny his level of interest in the level of sponsorship being offered. It was a deal that was done at the very last minute (4 hours before his flight out to Melbourne so the reports say) but at what level is he entering the sport? Sponsor, Title Sponsor or Team Owner? It would appear that all the options may be on the table and although I can see the magnitude at what Virgin operates I wonder if owning a team at the moment is the best thing for Sir Richard. Perhaps this year will be the eye opener/toe into water scenario where the livery is where Virgin are involved and things progress further next season. It would be interesting to know if any clauses were put in place by Honda about imminent future ownership.

Photo courtesy of www.autosport.com

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YES YES YES YES YES!! - Brawn GP

What a phenomenal qualifying session by the Team, Jenson and Rubens, it was obvious from the very first sections of qualifying that we were going to be fast. I'm astounded just how fast we are and i'm sure there will be people out there saying we were running low fuel but we will find out soon enough when the car weights are produced.

So a one, two with Jenson in 1st and Rubens in 2nd is a fantastic achievement for Brawn GP

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Friday 27 March 2009

Practice 3 and Qualifying Live Chat

I'm not going to be online for Practice Session 3 and the Qualifying (I'll be watching from the comfort of my bed) So embedded below is a chat box for all your fans that want to talk to one another about the sessions.


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Q&A - Rubens Barrichello

Johnathon Nobels Q&A session with Rubens from http://www.autosport.com/

Q: When we spoke before Christmas you said just coming to Melbourne in the first place would be a dream. Now, with the car as quick as it looks, things are even better than that aren't they?

Rubens Barrichello: "Yes. Those times were tough in a way that although I talked weekly to Ross [Brawn], and was telling me, 'this guy came to buy the team and it should be okay', then it wouldn't be okay. Things were changing so much that it was difficult to just keep breathing steadily.

"They were tough times. I had the holiday of my life, as it was four months at home with my kids. It was great. But after three weeks I was fed up, I wanted to be driving again. So this is a dream come true.

"People think I am relieved, but that is not the right word. I have always had the positive thinking that I would be here, so it wasn't different when I came here with my pass and went through the gates as a driver. But it is better than I ever thought."


Q: Jenson Button said after the first Barcelona test that getting in the car and feeling how good it was made him feel reborn. Is it a similar feeling for you?

Barrichello: "Yes. After three years of some delusions and the car not being fast, it was nice just to drive it out of the garage - feeling the power of the engine plus the whole balance of it. The team did a fantastic job.

"People are talking about Ross all the time, and he has the biggest role, but we cannot forget the aerodynamic guys and the people who created this car because it is a super car. Now, there is going to be polemics because a super car always creates polemics. There has been McLaren in the past, there has been Ferrari in the past and I am sure Brawn GP will cause some people to really think.

"We used the good times at the factory as a laboratory to improve the car - and that is almost as effective as taking to the track. So the four months was very, very good for making improvements."


Q: People are talking about Brawn GP as favourites for this weekend and potential championship contenders. Do you share that same optimism?

Barrichello: "Yes, I believe so. From what I have seen, the car is super-competitive and we just need to see how the year develops. For sure we are with a small budget, no sponsors just yet, so it is going to be a tough year on that side.

"But having said that, I think F1 is more open to the small teams - no testing and other limits. So that is going to be in our favour, and I do believe that this car is super competitive."

Q: And what about you having a point to prove, with some people saying last year that Rubens was finished?

Barrichello: "I consider Jenson to be a super driver, a super fast driver. And like everyone else, people have good and bad days. Michael didn't have many bad days, but Jenson has them and I have them.

"On his day, though, he can be as fast as Michael and I finished in front of him last year. To be honest, I don't think I have too much to prove. I just have to collect the bonus of driving a good car now, and win for myself and win for the team."

Q: It could be that your last years in the sport are your most successful?

Barrichello: "It could be. Last year, if it was my last one and if it was the end, it would be bad. I had a super Silverstone grand prix, but it wasn't what I am here for. I wanted more. So, now I have that. It is almost like I have everything I have asked for. Get out of Ferrari, and have a nice team working for me and my teammate. At Ferrari everything was for Michael.

"So when I got to Honda, it was for me and my teammate, but I never had the car or equipment to do it. And now I do have it. And, I am sure it is going to be a healthy fight between myself and Jenson. We both want to win, but the most important thing is to make the momentum that is going on, all the talk about it, into a proper championship contender."


Q: Have all the politics surrounding the diffuser been a cloud over the build-up?

Barrichello: "To be honest, that is something for Ross to talk about. I understand that it is ourselves, Toyota and Williams that people are talking about, and they are probably the three teams that are going quite fast.

"But it is not the only basis of the car. If you take the whole diffuser out, it will lose some time but it is not going to lose much. The car is competitive for what it is - it is a whole bunch of things."

Q: Do you think it is as competitive as it has appeared from testing?

Barrichello: "It has a great long run pace. We are not as well prepared as we would like to be, because we had six days with the car and that is very, very little.

"But all-in-all we are so happy with the performance of it, and I think we are going to learn a lot more than what people think. There are still set-up jobs to be done, there are still things to learn about the car, so it is a good thing."

Q: How have you found the reaction in the paddock - as most people seem to want you to do well?

Barrichello: "The journalists and the drivers are all thinking about how quick it is, but because there are stories going around saying that maybe the car is illegal, it means there is a back-off from the public.

"The public is now waiting to see the car on the track and seeing if it is fast or not. It is not like everyone already has said it is the car to beat - the guys from the paddock, the ones that understand the speed of the year, yes - but the public has backed off a little bit."


Q: And were you desperate to get out there?

Barrichello: "Oh man, yes. The saddest thing about the last four months was not driving the car. I didn't miss anything else. It was just driving the car."

Q: Is the feeling you have now similar to when you were at Ferrari, when you knew you had a good car beneath you?

Barrichello: "It is better. It is much better, because I know I don't have to divide anything with anyone. Now it is a fair thing with a competitive car

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Q&A - Jenson Button

Johnathon Noble over at Autosport's Q&A session with JB.

Q. Brawn is a small team with big potential - what is the key to your success?

Jenson Button: That's a difficult one. We've had a lot of time to work on this car and we have a group of very talented people. I'd probably put it down to the talented people more than the time we've had to work on this car because with last year's car we were sort of gathering the troops and getting a good line-up of people and a leader. The leadership of Ross has been key in producing this car and positioning people correctly so we can work as one and build a car that we've got today.

Q. Is it strange to be considered favourite?

JB: Well I still think of us as the underdogs really. We've been quick in testing, but we still haven't done as many miles as other people. So we've had a few issues, for example we had a problem this morning where we weren't able to get out for the last 20 minutes of the session. So there's still a few things we need to sort out. The pace is reasonably good and that's on the long runs on the tyres which is good. But there are still a lot of areas we need to improve – we're nowhere near sorted yet.

Q. What's your opinion of the diffuser issue?

JB: It's no more.

Q. Lots of tension and sleepless nights building up to this one – but after today's performance will you sleep well tonight?

JB: But it's still frustrating – it's only three hours but you don't actually spend that much time on the circuit. So I still don't feel that we've got the best out of the car yet, there's still a lot of work to do. But the important thing is if you look at our longer run pace, we're reasonably strong. But it's getting these tyres to work with the car in the temperatures that we saw this afternoon. There's still a lot of work to do, but in some ways it's good, but we're not anyway near happy with the balance of the car at the moment.

Q. Can you say you're a contender for Sunday?

JB: Yeah but I don't know what fuel levels people were running when they were doing their quick times. We're reasonable quick on the new tyres but getting them to work on the first lap is what we are lacking at the moment. But my longer run pace (on the prime) was the most competitive. It's good to be in that position. There are a lot of areas to improve – as you'd expect after only having three days of testing.

Q. Ferrari were a lot slower than expected?

JB: I don't know this morning they weren't. The long run of Massa on the prime wasn't too bad. He was probably one of the quickest on his long run pace. I don't think they're slow and we've seen in the past the Ferraris and McLarens don't give their maximum. We'll see tomorrow morning.

Q. Can we expect Brawn, Williams and Toyota to be the pace setters?

JB: You have to say that Ferrari are looking quick as well. I didn't really look at the times really. I saw one long run time from Toyota and one from Felipe. I don't know who's competitive. The Williams has put in some good lap times – I don't know where that's come from, but we're just getting on with our job at the moment. Overnight we've got to work out why we can't get the tyres to work. I'm sure it's something we'll be able to solve.

Q. How different is the Brawn to last year's Honda in the low and high-speed corners?

JB: It's going to be better in low because you've got more rubber on the circuit and the traction is good. The initial turn-in is better because obviously you've got more rubber on the front compared to the grooves. The car feels nicer to driver, but when you compare it with last year's car it's a big difference...

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Melbourne Practice Session Two - Brawn GP

Yet again the Brawns are towards the front end of the grid. As we all know Testing/Practice aren't really indicative of race pace but the McLarens do look decidingly slow and Red Bull look like they have their work cut out too.

Rosberg 1:26.053
Rubens 1:26.157
Trulli 1:26.350
Webber 1:26.370
Jenson 1:26.374
Glock 1:26.443
Nakajima 1:26.560
Vettel 1:26.740
Sutil 1:27.040
Massa 1:27.064
Räikkönen 1:27.204
Alonso 1:27.232
Fisichella 1:27.282
Heidfeld 1:27.317
Kubica 1:27.398
Bourdais 1:27.479
Kovalainen 1:27.802
Hamilton 1:27.813
Piquet 1:27.828
Buemi 1:28.076

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Melbourne - Practice Session One - Brawn GP

Good Morning Brawn GP fans I apologise to the hardcore that were around on the blog earlier to watch the Practice sessions but I couldnt be up for those then be in early for work this morning :( I notice that a few of you were keeping up in the chat bar.

I do have a method for you all to use for Qually and the Race i'll be implimenting later which will allow you all to chat in a similar way to the chat bar, but if you want to add images etc then the option will be there.

Right to Practice One:

Rosberg 1:26.687
Nakajima 1:26.736
Raikkonen 1:26.750
Rubens 1:27.226
Kovalainen 1:27.453
Jenson 1:27.467
Massa 1:27.642
Glock 1:27.710
Sutil 1:27.993
Alonso 1:28.123
Heidfeld 1:28.137
Trulli 1:28.142
Kubica 1:28.511
Fisichella 1:28.603
Buemi 1:28.785
Hamilton 1:29.042
Webber 1:29.081
Piquet 1:29.461
Bourdais 1:29.499
Vettel 1:32.784

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Thursday 26 March 2009

Virgin to be sponsor of Brawn GP?

The Times are reporting that a deal has been arranged between Brawn GP and Virgin to sponsor the BGP001. They also saying that Virgin will not be the title sponsor for the vehicle. A step in the right direction for Brawn though as the Honda money is what has been running the team thus far and was rumoured to be enough for the entire season. Any sponsorship that Brawn can draw this year can be put into development for next seasons car.

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Jenson Button Interview

A little treat for the Brawn GP fans here is a video I have just come across on www.motorsport-total.com

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Sponsorship, Buttons New Helmet and Racewear

It has been announced that Henri Lloyd are the first people to board the Brawn GP sponsorship bandwagon. Their name will adorn the livery on the car and the team will use their apparel for merchandising and Racewear alike. Below is a picture of Jenson in the new racesuit (I love it's plain ness) and showing off a new helmet design




Founded and based in Manchester, England, Henri Lloyd is extremely proud of its British heritage and delighted to be supporting the Brackley based British team, using the shared values of innovation and performance to continue its product development ambitions in the unique environment of Formula One.



Ross Brawn commented: “We are delighted to welcome Henri Lloyd to Formula One and to the Brawn GP team. We are particularly proud to begin our association with a company which prides itself on innovation and design and we will be working hard with Henri Lloyd to produce clothing which provides the highest levels of fabric technology for our demanding working environment. The Brawn GP team has faced a race against time to complete our preparations for the first race of the season in Melbourne and we would like to thank Henri Lloyd for sharing our vision for the future of the team and their commitment in ensuring that the team’s identity will be so well reflected in our team clothing and merchandise this year.”

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Situation Diffused? No Chance!

Ahead of the season opener at Melbourne it has been announced that Ferrari, Renault and RBR have lodged protests over the diffuser designs being used by Brawn GP, Williams and Toyota. I say swallow that bitter pill fellows and realise you have been out designed for a change.....

UPDATE

At 15:40 (local time) Jo Bauer declared that all the cars are in compliance with the regulations. At 19:10 the FIA confirmed that Ferrari, Renault and Red Bull had lodged a complaint about the diffusors of Brawn GP, Toyota and Williams. Well a complaint, the protesting teams keep calling it a request for clarification of the regulations...

BMW Sauber wanted to protest as well but their complaint was rejected because it was formulated in an imprecise way. The FIA said: ''The complaint was insufficient, there were no specific objections in it.'' Before BMW Sauber was able to try again the two hour deadline was over. McLaren decided not to complain, they feel they first have to solve the problems of their own car.

But they do have an opinion, Whitmarsh: ''At the moment unfortunately I can't tell the aerodynamicists in which direction they should develop. We need regulations that are the same and consistent for everyone.''

''Now the FIA quickly has to make a decision as to who will have to modify the car, the majority or the minority.''

The FIA will make sure that the protesting teams won't figure out how the diffusers work they're complaining against. Whiting: ''In cases like that we always keep an eye on teams not getting to know anything (technical) from other teams.''

Ecclestone declared that with this row the unity of the FOTA is in danger but Theissen denies: ''We continue to act in concert as far as the future of Formula 1 is concerned. The diffuser argument is something very much of today. It's part of the competition.''

If the diffusers are deemed illegal then the teams will be using it in any case. Brawn: ''Even if the appeal goes against us at a later stage, no one will be able to take away our points. We have to be able to rely on what the stewards tell us. At the moment, for us they're the final authority.''

Otherwise (the worst case scenario) Brawn GP, Toyota and Williams will have to be modifying their diffusers overnight. Michael: ''That would certainly have a big influence on our laptimes, because it would only be a provisionary action.''

Horner on the difficulty of copying the concept: ''It's not so easy to copy this diffuser. That costs a pretty penny because big modification measure are necessary for that.''

The above statement is courtesy of AFCA over on the autosport forum.

APPEAL LODGED:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/mot...one/7965056.stm
The protesting teams have appealed and this will be heard after 5 April.The initial verdict was delivered after a six-hour hearing with the stewards presiding over Sunday's Australian Grand Prix rejecting the complaint.An appeal was lodged and this will be heard following next weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix

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All change again - Drivers Numbers - Brawn GP

Force India had already started to produce their merchandise for this season based on their finishing position for last season. When the numbers were reallocated earlier this week it caused the Force India team some problems, with this it has been decided to give Brawn GP 22 & 23 and miss out 13, 18 & 19.

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Tuesday 24 March 2009

Rubens Portuguese Interview

http://www.youtube.com/user/F1Sportv

I saw this over on http://www.f1technical.net/ and also had the link pushed my way by Dom77 over on http://www.autosport.com/ 's forum. Marcosp over on http://www.f1technical.net/ did us all the honour of translating the interesting bits interview from portugese to english.

1)The car started being developed in May 2008, and according to Rubens the aerodynamicists found very good solutions for the new rules quite early. He was glad the car was unveiled so late "so the other teams couldn't copy it".
2)The car is 20% more rigid than last year's version and when they were adapting the mercedes engine to the gearbox there was a 8 mm difference that caused some concern (he said they didnt want to lose chassis rigidity).
3)The new car was developed by the same people but under close supervision by Ross Brawn, he gave an example of aerodynamicists contacting Brawn and asking whether a certain change worth a few aero points was valid and then he would approve it or not).
4)With the honda engine he suffered with understeer at turn exits (he said he'd accelerate and the car would still understeer whereas with the mercedes engine he can correct the understeer with the engine), I don't know if this is useful to anyone, but I'll translate whatever I think is interesting...
5)He said ferrari didnt do quali simulations (he said even when he was there they didnt do it to avoid showing all they had), so the best way to compare all cars was race simulations. As the cars carry 90Kg of gas at most with 0.3 to 0.4 sec per 10Kg per lap time difference it's very easy for a bad car to show good results. Then he said brawn couldn't afford to waste time showing off because they needed the mileage, so the times we saw in barcelona and jerez were for real.In his opinion Toyota, Williams, Ferrari are probably the fastest (he said toyota didnt show all their game, bmw were running light,renault could be a little behind, williams with rosberg seemed fast, mclaren seemed to have problems, even driving behind their car he could sense it).
6)When he was doing this evaluation he said "we never know" but he said that mclaren problems were obvious and they'd have problems for the whole 1st half of the season. He said that in the beginning they were strong and then all other teams improved and they didn't.
7)About KERS, he said there's a rumor that renault only improved after they removed it and re-balanced the car. He said that depending on the results and sponsor money they could get in the first races they could consider using kers (since mercedes already has one
8 He said something that was already pointed out by someone on the forum that every car weighs 605Kg (665Kg with gas at starting line, approximately), so with or without kers all cars weigh the same. He said that when he worked at ferrari (meaning 3 or 4 years ago, not because of the team) weight distribution would take an hour, disassembling the car and moving parts around, but nowadays it takes 5 minutes. He said you can change around 2% of the weight forwards or rearwards, which completely changes the car's behavior.He said the moving front wing will definitely improve overtaking, with 6 degrees of range and 2 presets on the steering wheel he can change for instance from -1.5 degrees to +3 degrees and then to 0 degree if he presses the button again. Kinda confusing but he said if you press the button again during the lap the wing will go to 0 degree (and not return to -1.5 degrees).
9)The reporter asked him if they were bluffing, Rubens said he'd be very ashamed to put on this kind of show and then going to Australia and starting from 10th position. He said he even checked how much fuel was loaded himself when he first raced the car and was so surprised by the speed.
10) He said this year he's very happy to be in a position to do something he couldn't when he was in ferrari or when honda had a slow car, which is to race to win, so he'll be "knife in mouth". This is the first time he said he doesnt have to follow team orders like in Ferrari, so he'll do himself some justice... let's see.
11)His salary and Button's was lowered for this year, his is at least 5 times lower. But he said that they have a bonus system that might give him what he used to earn. I think this at least shows how much the guy loves the sport...

Big thanks to Marcosp on http://www.f1technical.net/

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Monday 23 March 2009

FIA publishes new 09 entry list

The FIA today re published the entry list for 2009 with BRAWN GP now listed as the team entry and as prviously mentioned in the last few days on my blog our driver numbers have been announced as:


20
Jenson BUTTON (GB)
BRAWN GP FORMULA ONE TEAM
BRAWN MERCEDES

21
Rubens BARRICHELLO (BR)
BRAWN GP FORMULA ONE TEAM
BRAWN MERCEDES

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New Features for the Brawn GP blogsite

I have added a few extra features to enable you to all interact. On the left hand side of the page you will see a little chat tab, if you press this it will bring out a messenger style chat box for you all to have realtime chat in. I have now also launched the Brawn GP Blogger forum which can be found by following the FORUM tab on the linkbar at the top of the page. Guests will only be able to read the forum and you will need to register to enable you to post.

As requested I have also changed the translation tool and added many more countries, if your Language isn't listed and would like to be let me know and I'll see what I can do.

I'm trying to make this into as much of an interactive experience as I can so please try it out and don't be shy to comment on any of my blog posts too!

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BGP001 Analysis - Brawn GP

The first iteration of a Brawn car will always be thought of as a Honda car, however when you think about it most of the personnel that created the car are still with Brawn GP and it was merely the Honda money that should be associated with the car's evolution. Honda made a decision to start developing the 09 car mid way through the 08 season. A great decision as the design of the 08 car was so flawed it didn't matter how many aero updates come along Honda wouldn't be competitive.

The 09 season meant that the car could be built from the ground up as with all the new technical regulations cars this year will not resemble their 08 counterparts.

So lets have a look at the main components that make up the new rules/BGP001's design. I'll try to use the Ferrari and McLaren cars as reference points.

Front Wing/Nosecone



The first comparisons I must draw from the pictures is the dimensional differences of the nosecone/wing attachments. The McLaren and Ferrari seem to have much lower slung wings taking advantage of the top side aero this will create (pushing air up onto the top area of the car) Also the nosecone tips of the McLaren/Ferrari sit much higher whereas the Brawn's nosecone sits at the very lowest dimension allowed by the regs. This I feel for the Brawn car is all designed to assist more air under the car in direct contrevention of what the McLaren/Ferrari designs do.

See also this informative piece of information on F1.com

Front Wing – Endplates



Looking again in comparison to the Ferrari/McLaren the Brawn design is much more complex with an array of deflecting fins designed to push air around the wheels initially and then onto the the adjustable element on the inner section. The Ferrari/McLaren are much less complex seeming to just divert the air around the wheels.

Adjustable Wing Element

The Brawn design seems quite crude in comparison to the sculpted varients you see on the McLaren/Ferrari. However it appears that the Brawn's adjustable element would have more effect when used on reducing drag, whereas the McLaren/Ferrari counterparts are also designed while in their usual positions to provide the correct airflow for the rearward aero.

Sidepods



The obvious design decision of the BGP001 is to not run KERS, this means that smaller sidepods can be utilsed on the BGP001 than that of it's rivals. Teams have always adjusted the size of the sidepods throughout the season to cater for the particular location they are visiting with warmer climates seing larger sidepods. The battery style KERS system that most of the teams have adopted requires extra cooling due to the energy being stored/transferred with the batteries. As the BGP001 is void of KERS smaller sidepods have been adopted and the bodywork that surrounds them can be sculptured much more effectively to effect the aero than those running KERS/larger sidepods.

Airbox

The BGP001's airbox seems to be much larger than it's rivals and maintains the design of the engine cover rather than almost making them 2 seperate articles.

Engine Cover



The BGP001's engine cover has a much steeper line to it than its counterparts removing itself earlier from the disruption of airflow it could cause to the rear wing.

Rear Wing



The BGP001's rear wing sports a rear corner that has been radius'ed off and a front end profile that has also been shaped. The endplates themselves are shaped in thickness towards the high spoiler aiding airflow.

Rear Diffuser

The rear diffuser is being argued by some of the other teams to be illegal. However according to the technical rules the diffuser is dimensionally fine (See my Diffusing a Bomb post) it is the crash structure above the diffuser that is acting as a 'Downforce Funnel' that the teams should be classing as an issue. Although my understanding of the rules show this to be legal too.

Engine

In early negotiations Ross looked into the Ferrari option but the fit was just not right for the whole car setup. The Mercedes engine was dimensionally a much better fit and fitted the Honda gearbox which Ross was desperate to keep hold of. The Honda gearbox allowed dimensionally for the rear aero (which has caused much debate) to stay in place.

There are many other components on the car that define the BGP001's design against the competition but I feel this has summerised the main area's.

The BGP001's design is simply from front to back different to it's rivals. It uses downforce created from the underside of the car rather than the top end of the car and is perhaps one of the reasons the car is using it's tyres better too.

Certain aspects of F1 cars are defined by the regulations ie wheelbase dimensions, skid blocks and crash structures but with free reign to interpret the rules each team of designers will always come up with designs that differ from the other teams. Without this we would just have another spec series.......

I would like to point out that the original images I used to create the comparisons above can be found here:
http://www.thef1.com/
http://www.onnycar.com/
http://www.f1-live.com/
http://photos.dppi.net/
http://www.autosport.com/

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Sunday 22 March 2009

Diffusing a Bomb - Brawn GP - Diffuser Row

What's all this diffuser nonsense about I hear you say, well I'll try to explain. The regulations for this year are obviously somewhat different to last and so those clever technical guys back at the factories have been busy trying their best to claw back some if not all/more of the previous years aero advantages. Brawn GP, Williams and Toyota are coming under fire now that the other teams have seen their designs in regards to the rear diffusers. Well firstly lets clear up the matter that it's not actually the diffusers that are causing the issue. All 3 teams diffusers are within the regulations dimensions and rules, It's the parts around them that are forming part of the diffuser arrangement that is causing the controversy. The flat floor of the car can no longer meet the diffuser (as this would give a tremendous amount more downforce) instead the floor has been channeled just above the diffuser into a 'downforce funnel' which is giving around a 10% downforce yeild that wouldn't be available without the funnel. The 'downforce funnel' is being produced by a grey area in the rules which allows for the rear crash structure to be designed in such a way that the above teams have manipulated to meet with the diffuser.
In the picture above (Taken from http://www.autosport.com/ and originally illustrated by Craig Scarborough) You can see how the diffuser is designed. The red line is the extremity to which the 'diffuser' can be designed. The blue section which I have added is the 'downforce funnel' I refer to and is formed by the crash structure meeting with the diffuser and being fed by the floor aero.

So why the big who har? Well Flavio and company are annoyed as their engineers obviously didn't spot this little area in the regulations and have designed their car around their non funnel designs. Brawn, Williams and Toyota seem to have based the car from the front to the back with the diffuser/funnel becoming a key element to the cars setup. The size and shape of this funnel will also change from circuit to circuit i'd imagine to utilise each circuits downforce requirements.
Not only does the funnel create downforce but Flavio and co's argument is that it will detrimentally affect the cars wake eliminating the overtaking advantage of the car behind.

At the end of the day this is what defines F1, people/engineers pushing the design boundaries to make faster cars. Otherwise we would just end up with a spec series and I certainly don't want to see F1 go that way.

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Friday 20 March 2009

Brawn GP to occupy the final pitlane slot

As Sergio pointed out to me in the Williams Quicker.... blog the team has been given the last pitlane garage slot. When the FIA announced that Brawn GP had officially taken over from Honda they also announced that they were classified as a new team and with this lose their rights from Honda's 08 season. So what does this all mean? Well for starters it means we will have the last pit garage (as per McLaren last season) which as we saw wasn't really too much of a handicap. We will be classified below Force India and so will recieve less Constructors Championship money and it looks like we will be given the last numbers 19 & 20. Being in the last pit garage has it's plus's at some circuits (better in and out access while not being interupted by the opposition) but at some curcuits that will mean a much smaller garage to work from.

Do you feel it will affect the teams performance?

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FOTA forces FIA to back down over points rule change


Thats right only days after the announcement that the driver with the most wins in the season would win the Driver's Championship FOTA have forced the FIA into submission. The FIA broke one of their own sporting regulations by being too late to amend the rules for this season. The sporting code stipulates the rules for points cannot be changed with 20 or less days to the start of the Championship unless the teams are unaminous in it's decision, thus making the rule change null and valid. Don't think this debarcle is over though as the FIA will still attempt to undermine FOTA for the 2010 regulations. FOTA has considered the fans opinions and hinted that a 12-9-7-5-4-3-2-1 points paying system in their favoured change.

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Thursday 19 March 2009

Williams Quicker?.... Brawn GP

Well Nakajima has today lowered the time set by Jenson even further with a 1:17.494 (.350 quicker) however it seems to have been achieved by a very low fuelled car in a a bare minimum of laps (Qually trim) this seems to have took its toll on the Williams car though as shortly afterwards Nakajima stopped out on circuit and the session was red flagged while the car was recovered.

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New Drivers Championship Rules vs The old since 2000

Lets have a quick look on how the new scoring system would have affected the last few years based on the actual champion and that of the one with most wins:

2000
Actual Champion: Michael Schumacher - 108 Points
New Rules Champion: Michael Shucmacher - 9 Wins

2001
Actual Champion: Michael Schumacher - 123 Points
New Rules Champion: Michael Shucmacher - 9 Wins

2002
Actual Champion: Michael Schumacher - 144 Points
New Rules Champion: Michael Shucmacher -11 Wins

2003
Actual Champion: Michael Schumacher - 93 Points
New Rules Champion: Michael Shucmacher - 6 Wins

2004
Actual Champion: Michael Schumacher - 148 Points
New Rules Champion: Michael Shucmacher - 13 Wins

2005
Actual Champion: Fernando Alonso - 133 Points
New Rules Champion: Fernando Alonso - 7 Wins but only won on points with Kimi scoring 7 wins too

2006
Actual Champion: Fernando Alonso - 134 Points
New Rules Champion: Fernando Alonso - 7 Wins but only won on points with Shumacher scoring 7 wins too

2007
Actual Champion: Kimi Raikkonen - 110 Points
New Rules Champion: Kimi Raikkonen - 6 Wins

2008
Actual Champion: Lewis Hamilton - 98 Points
New Rules Champion: Filipe Massa - 6 Wins against Lewis Hamilton's 5

Based on the new rules last year would have been the only season in the last 8 to have changed the outcome of the Championship. So why i ask is this rule being implemented when it has no real valid requirement.

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All Change - Rules, Budget Caps, Media

With Melbourne so close I was staggered to see the rule change in regards to the Drivers Championship. Rightly so it has caused anger across the board and no more so than with the fans. Certain aspects of the sport I appreciate need working on but this is crazy it's a case of it aint broken so don't fix it surely? If you didn't already know the driver's championship will be decided by most race wins, should it be a tie it will still come down to points.
The FIA also announced the introduction of Budget caps for the 2010 season, just like KERS it's not compulsary but will give the teams involved more artistic license on some technical aspects. So what's the cap I hear you say. $30 Million yes thats right a meagre $30 million.
With this year being the last for us to see refueling it has been decided that the media will be allowed access to the vehicle weights after qualification giving us a good indicator as to what fuel is being run by each team.

So what are your thoughts to the recent announcments?

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Tuesday 17 March 2009

FIA, Brawn GP, Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren, Force India and Torro Rosso.....

Bit more than a love/hate triangle.

It has been bought to my attention by one of our rather astute fans (John Phillips) regarding a comment made by our friend Max Moseley.

"The current rule limiting manufactures to supplying engines to one additional team will remain in place."

Now this obviously brings in a problem for Brawn as we are the 3rd team to be supplied by Mercedes. I have since gone to the regulations to check and this is indeed the case:

"A major car manufacturer may not directly or indirectly supply engines for more than 2 teams with 2 cars each without consent of the FIA."

Before you all pipe up, I had already thought about this situation and think back to last season when Ferrari supplied theirselves, Force India and Torro Rosso. Now behind the scenes this must be why Vijay made the switch to Mercedes this year as Ferrari decided to back Torro Rosso. With Mercedes already supplying McLaren and Force India I assume that Ross has cleared the Merc engines with the FIA for this year. I assume that this is a 1 year thing whereby the next year only 2 teams are allowed the supply. So that means Brawn either need to secure new engines for 2010 or out perform Force India to continue with Mercedes. Make of it what you will.....

What are your thoughts?

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A Hello from Rubens - Brawn GP

From Jerez testing, Rubens obviously wanted to show his appreciation to the crowd.


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17th March - Jerez Testing - Brawn GP


Good Morning Brawn GP fans, sorry for the lack of coverage yesterday, but we all need a day off eh? This is the last opportunity for us to put some mileage on the car before Melbourne. We had our first low of the season yesterday when a gearbox let go on Jenson only 12 laps into his test time. Lets remember though that this is our first issue with the car and everyone else has had issues too. At least it happened now and not at Melbourne.

17.00 - Thats it now until Melbourne, we covered a total of 114 laps today with a staggering 1:17.844 lap included. Please keep checking back on the blog for more news throughout the week.

16.43 - Jenson has returned to the pits after doing another 8 consecutive laps all of which were around 1:19.3

15.50 - Looks like Jenson might go out for a longer stint this time and put in some mileage, he's running in the 1.19's

15.13 - Jenson has been practising pit stops with the team over the last few laps

15.02 - Jenson returns to the circuit after the incident with Rosberg has cleared.

13.42 - Jenson has continued to post laps times, nothing over 1,21's he has now completed 75 laps.

11.21 - Jenson completes another 7 laps all in the 1.18's

10.50 - Another quick one: 1:17.844 and into the pits next time around

10.38 - Well Jenson beats Nico to that one entering back to back laps in the 1.17's with a 1:17:979 & 1:17:937

10.23 - Jenson returns to the garage after 5 laps

10.22 - Jenson improves with a 1:18.578 looks like a dogfight between Jens and Nico to get into the 1.17's

10.16 - Not Brawn GP news but Rosberg has just beaten the lap record (I think) with a 1:18.071!

10.18 - Jenson into the 1.18's with a 1:18.709

9.41 - After running a few more 1:19's button returns to the pits

9.36 - He then continues to stamp his authority with a 1:19:611 and 1:19:265.

9.33 - Followed by a 1:19.747

9.30 - Into 1st with a 1:20.905

9.28 - Jenson returns to the circuit after a short absence.

9.10 - Jensons first time of the day - 1:31.1.97

9.04 - Jenson starts his installation laps along with Lewis, The Mclaren is today sporting a rear diffuser painted in green slime (to indicate airflow presumably) Another team for Flavio to moan about at Melbourne then.

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Monday 16 March 2009

Testing Analysis - Brawn GP

It appears that we may come across the wrath of Flavio and the others teams come Melbourne, Sour grapes? Pretty much in my opinion. Unfortunately for the Renault etc Ross and the team have found a loophole in the regulations to allow a rear diffuser. It is not only the diffuser that is giving us the pace, that is just part of the complex design behind the car diverting the air to the diffuser. The last few test days have been insightful in such a way that we are consistantly quicker than the opposition even if they are running a diffuser too. Against Hulkenberg yesterday we were still nearly 800's of a second quicker. In my opinion it's not only the diffuser making this huge time difference. All we can really say is that at Melbourne the flag drops and the bullshit stops. Today was our first problem encountered during the tests with a gearbox problem encountered by Jenson.

Can't wait for tomorrow's test. Should be interesting.

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16th March - Testing Jerez - BrawnGP

Hi Brawn GP fans, sorry I haven't been around this morning to keep it live but it's my day off and I needed a lie in......

This mornings session kicked off with Rubens posting a phenomenal time of 1:18.398 which he is yet to beat, having now covered 62 laps.

Jenson has taken to the seat for this afternoons session his best run has been a 1:18.892 completing 12 laps

Quickest time of the day came from Fernando in the form of 1:18.343

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Sunday 15 March 2009

15th March - Jerez Testing - Brawn GP

Good morning Brawn GP Fans, today the team is at Jerez focusing on the last few days of testing before all the teams converge on Melbourne.

New livery has appeared on the rear section of the car, not sponsorship but the logo.


Rumour around the paddock is that Fernando's Renault had a suspension failure

Don't be scared to let us know what your thinking and post on the blog!


17.00 - And that concludes the session, thank you for visiting the site today and please keep checking back for updates. I'll do an analysis post later too. Rubens completed 121 laps today and his best time was 1:21.235 posted in the latter laps of the session

16.37 - Rubens returns to the pits putting in a time of 1:20.019 on his last round

16.34 - Rubens is now the only one on the circuit and is back down in the 1.19's

16.02 - Rubens has now completed 89 laps for the day and is lapping mid 1:20's to early 1.21's

15.25 - He follows that with 1:22:100, 1:19:827 & 1:19.236 fastest of the day again.

15.17 - Rubens heads back out and continues where he left off, posting 1:21:030 & 1:19:996

15.03 - Engines are being fired up in the pit lane again. We will be able to draw some comparisons at the end of the day as Renault have got Fernando under way again.

13.20 - Return to the pits for what I can imagine will be a break having covered a substantial quanitity of laps

13.15 - Running in the low 1.20's

12.58 - Rubens now consistantly high 1.19's to low 1.20's

12.50 - Rubens busts into the 1.19's with a 1:19.808

12.44 - Rubens returns to the track

12.35 - Rubens posts 1:20:703, 1:20:700 and 1:20:598 and returns to the garage.

12.18 - Rubens is out again to put some more mileage on the BGP001 and posts 1:22:378, 1:20:516 and 1:20:114 the latter being the best time of the day again

12.10 - Rubens returns to the pits after 10 successful laps posting in the low to mid 1.21's

12.02 - Round again for the fastest time of the day 1:20.124

12.01 - 1:20:703 & 1:20:418 posted

11.55 - Rubens posts a 1:23:698 & 1:22:825

11.51 - Rubens comes to the pit exit again for a mock start

11.45 - Hulkenberg the only driver out there

11.27 - Rubens now has 30 laps under his belt.

11.17 - After putting in a 1:20.812 Rubens returns to the pits after 8 completed laps in that stint (20 in total)

11.13 - Rubens is getting used to Jerez 1:20:507, 1:20:905 & 1:20:396

10.59 - Rubens is posting some fast times and goes fastest again with a 1:21.734 he is now consistantly in the 1:21's - Nico Hulkenberg isn't far behind in the Williams though.

10.55 - Rubens completes in 1:28:493, 1:22:532 and 1:21:988.

10.51 - Rubens is back on the pace with 1:23:462 and 1:22:823.

10.50 - Rubens places himself at the pit exit to mock a standing start

10.48 - The session resumes with Fernando's stricken car heading back to the pits.

10.32 - It was a nose cone that came off of Fernando's car so we should be back in the action soon

10.13 - Red Flag - Alonso has been involved in an incident we must now wait for the track to be cleared.

10.08 - Rubens beats his previous time marginally 1:21.846

10.05 - Into his fourth lap he posts a 1:21.876

10.01 - First time of the day coming through from Rubens 1:24.487

9.40 - We out, but don't complete a lap and come back to the pits

9.00 - Start time

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Saturday 14 March 2009

Just why is the BrawnGp car looking so fast?

Since day one of the Barcelona tests speculation has mounted over just why the Brawn GP car appears to be so quick. With the Jerez test coming up tomorrow I thought I'd make a few comments about why I believe the car has such raw pace. (As i don't believe the speculation in regards to the car being deliberately made under weight or over revving)

Obviously everyone knows that we aren't running KERS so thats 35KG's that can be utilised across the entire spectrum of the car. Remember everyone is having problems with their rear tyres. Have your heard BrawnGp complaining of this? Using most of that 35kg ballast at the front end of the car would relieve pressure from the rear eliminating graining issues. This would also give the car better maneuverability as the extra weight at the front would only result in understeer at worst which is much easier to control than oversteer.

Without KERS we also have no need for large sidepods, so smaller ones have been employed to meet the needs of just the engine.

Without KERS we have no design limitations on the size of the fuel tank, where as others are having to compromise their tank sizes/shapes to accommodate their KERS systems. This in turn means we could actually use fuel as ballast (Remember the controversy of 2006 anyone) this time much within the rules I would imagine if this is possible.

Design: There are many features to the BGP001 that are different to other cars, namely the design of the front wing. We also have a rear diffuser to aid in airflow from front to back. The steering rack has also been positioned lower inline with the wishbones in yet another attempt to disrupt the airflow less.

Mercedes engine: The least an engine can weigh defined by the regulations is 95kg, imagine if the Honda power unit weighed 105kg (Even at 1kg it would be 1kg of extra ballast). That means the car would have been designed around that initial tolerance giving the additional saving now to move around the car as ballast.

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YouTube clips of the Brawn GP car in testing







I have re added this post as for some reason the commenting had been turned off on the last post.

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A few YouTube clips of the Brawn GP Car for you

I've reposted this as for some reason comments have been disabled in this blog post

See here instead:

http://brawngp.blogspot.com/2009/03/youtube-clips-of-brawn-gp-car-in.html

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Friday 13 March 2009

BrawnGp.com Updated

This afternoon some updates have gone live on the teams official site http://www.brawngp.com/ with sections now for:

Team Information
&
Test Reports

I'm sure the team will be eager to keep it's fans plugged into what's going on with constant updates.

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Roll on Sunday - Brawn GP - Jerez Testing

While some teams have wrapped up their testing and will converge at Melbourne, Brawn GP, McLaren, Renault and Williams are all heading for Jerez for a few more days testing.


How will the guys fair at Jerez? Will we see more of that blistering pace? More Race Simulations? Whatever it is i'm sure the media will have their beady eyes glued to the Brawn GP car.
As usual I'll be keeping you as upto date as I can so keep checking in.....

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Bookies Odd's Cut for BRAWN GP

Looks like I made a good decision yesterday when I took my bets up with William Hill on the forthcoming season.

I took Brawn GP to take the constructors championship @ 50/1 the stakes now lie at 9/1 a massive drop overnight.

I can't locate the odds on their site for Melbourne but I took the following:

Jenson to win 16/1
Rubens to win 40/1

Looks like not only the other teams are running scared but the bookies are too. Wish i'd have bet more now LOL

UPDATE - 14.03.09

William Hill have now relaunched the betting for Melbourne and put Jenson as favourite 9/2 and Rubens on 10/1. Looks like the odds I got were great, pity I only had a £1 on each bet now :(
They have also dropped the constructors further to 5/1

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Testing Round Up - Barcelona - 9th to 12th March

With the first set of tests under our belts we have now had chance to see the BRAWNGP car in action. Jenson and Rubens have put it through it's paces with both of them doing Race simulations too. There are several things to take away from the test:

The car has proved to be fast and from Rubens and Jensons comments it also drives precisely too, unlike the other dogs they have been dragging around since 2005.

9th March - Jenson - Fastest Lap = 1:21.140 - 82 laps completed
10th March - Rubens - Fastest Lap = 1:20.966 - 111 laps completed
11th March - Jenson - Fastest Lap = 1:19.127 - 124 laps completed (Race Simulation completed)
12th March - Rubens - Fastest Lap = 1:18.926 - 110 laps completed (Race Simulation completed)

So what does this data tell us about the car?

  • We can safely assume we aren't sandbagging and a simply just getting on with the job in hand.
  • We aren't running KERS (A fair choice I would say as with limited testing time before Melbourne KERS is one more thing to worry about)
  • Jenson & Rubens still have it, they are pushing the BGP001 to it's limits
  • Perhaps we have a better front wing setup than the others? This with it's twice a lap adjustability could save us masses of time over the others IF it is better.
  • Consistency - Look at the Race Simulation times and we are in the late 1.21's, early 1.22's which is obviously indicative of a race fueled car.
  • Reliability - While other cars have fell off the circuit the BGP001 has kept pounding on
So what does this all mean for the team and us the fans?

Well for starters, it looks like finally a year back towards the front of the pack. A great battle between Jenson and Rubens should emerge, both worthy in my opinion of winning races and inevitably winning the Championship.

How does this effect the other teams/rest of the world?

Well Honda for starters look vindicated in their abandonment of the 08 season and although they decided to sell to please their shareholders they have to take some credit for the development of the current car. McLaren will probably be looking worriedly over their shoulder, if the BGP001 can out perform their car perhaps Mercedes may have some questions for them. However it wouldn't be the 1st time a customer powered car had out performed it's own branded car. Looking at the cars raw pace and it's glittering media presence anybody wishing to enter the world of F1 via sponsorship would be silly to overlook the team.



So what are your thoughts on what we have seen so far? And our prospects for the Season?


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Thursday 12 March 2009

12th March - Brawn GP - Testing - Barcelona

Right and now to the final day of testing at Barcelona ahead of this years F1 Season opener at Melbourne.
17.00 - That concludes the test at Barcelona the standings for today are as follows:

Barrichello (BrawnGP BGP001)-1:18.926-110 laps
Rosberg (Williams FW31)-1:19.774-120 laps
Glock (Toyota TF109)-1:20.091-127 laps
Vettel (Red Bull RB5)-1:20.576 -82 laps
Alonso (Renault R29)-1:20.664-62 laps
Massa (Ferrari F60)-1:20.677-92 laps
Kubica (BMW-Sauber F1.09)-1:20.740-133 laps
Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes MP4-24)-1:20.869-70 laps
Buemi (Toro Rosso STR04)-1:21.013-62 laps
Fisicella (Force India VJM02)-1:21.045-138 laps
Bourdais (Toro Rosso STR04)-1:21.629)-27 laps
16.32 - Rubens has now pushed through the 1.18's with a 1:18.926 surely it proves at least the BGP001 isn't being sandbagged. Is this difference between a well setup car and a KERS enabled car?
16.15 - He is really putting the BGP001 through it's paces now with a 1:19.103
16.04 - Rubens improves again 1:19.196
15.43 - Rubens has now comlpleted 78 laps and takes the top spot with a 1:19.626 & next lap betters it with a 1:19.266

Rosberg (Williams FW31) -1:19.774 -54 laps
Barrichello (BrawnGP BGP001)-1:19.971-74 laps
Vettel (Red Bull RB5)-1:20.678 -48 laps
Massa (Ferrari F60)-1:20.702-50 laps
Kubica (BMW-Sauber F1.09)-1:20.740-70 laps
Glock (Toyota TF109)-1:20.928-68 laps
Buemi (Toro Rosso STR04)-1:21.013-62 laps
Alonso(Renault R29)-1:21.045-63 laps
Fisicella (Force India VJM02)-1:21.276-42 laps
Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes MP4-24)-1:21.717-29 laps
13.00 - Morning session expires

12.42 - Rubens pits to end his race simulation

12.00 - It appears Rubens is now in race simulation as Jenson did yesterday and is running in the high 21's to early 22's.

11.48 - Rubens betters it again with a 1:19.971 after 32 laps

11.35 - Rubens goes 2nd with a 120.415

11.07 - Rubens rejoins the track.

10.36 - The fog lifted around 10.15 but still no signs of Rubens

Everyone's being a bit cautious until the fog lifts


9.26 - Rubens has done a few in and outs, maybe just adjusting his setup.

9.14 - Everyone on circuit except for Rubens

9.00 - Session Commences

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KERS or not to KERS? That is the question.....

Are Brawn GP getting their engine/gearbox and KERS package all as one solution from Mercedes? Early indications appear not, meaning that we are testing without the new tech at the minute, is this why we are looking good in testing? Less weight vs more power is always going to be argument with KERS and this could prove it.

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Brawn GP – Rubens reflects on winning a seat from Senna

Througout the close season speculation grew that Rubens was facing 09 without a drive. This was largely due to the prospect of Bruno Senna testing the then Honda Racing car. Luckily for Rubens the world of F1 was rocked by the global economic crisis and with Honda's announcement they were withdrawing even Jenson could have been without a drive. In steps Ross Brawn an the management buy out with this the decision is made that Rubens for 09 would be the best candidate for a team needing maximum setup ability. Ruben comments:
"I'm just lucky that at this time F1 has changed a little bit," he admitted.
"Because of the lack of testing, it is going to more experienced drivers again but I wish Senna all the very best," added the 36-year-old after the first day of a four-day test session at the Circuit de Catalunya on Monday.
"We're good friends, and although we haven't talked for the past couple of months when we've been fighting for a position, it has nothing to do with us.
"It was sheer coincidence that we ended up at the same place at the same time.
"For someone who has three or four years of experience, he has done fantastically well and he has a future in Formula One.
"I haven't seen anyone just yet with the capability of running for three years in cars, and all of a sudden getting to Formula One and doing so well like he did in testing."

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Brawn GP – Sponsorship?

It appears BWIN (a betting company if you didn't know) are looking at sponsoring the team. They already sponsor AC Milan, AS Monaco and Real Madrid and seem to be fortifying their hold in different sporting genres. BWIN's corporate logo's are made up of Black, White and Yellow markings which would tie in nicely to the BrawnGP livery. One things for certain the livery will have an addition to it come Melbourne as carrying at least one sponsor is part of the rules.

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Wednesday 11 March 2009

11th March - BRAWN GP - Testing Barcelona


Sorry for the late start!

Jenson is back in the seat today....

17.00 - The session is complete and Jenson ends the day top of the table on a 1:19.127 covering 124 Laps
15.00 - Jenson leads the times again breaking into the 1.19's with a 1:19.127 covering 94 laps
13.00 - Lunchtime break and Massa now leads the field on 1:20.68

12.08 - Jenson still tops the chart with his 1:20.313 and has now completed 86 laps

11.53 - Jenson still running in simulation and running anywhere around late 1.30's

11.17 - Jenson must be running the full GP simulation as he is still out there running low to mid 1:21's

11.15 - Jenson is still the quickest out there with a 1:20.313 and has completed 53 laps.

10.46 - Still out there consistently hitting mid 1.21's

10.07 - Another quick one 1:20.313 and he's the quickest out there

10.06 - Jenson puts in a great one 1:20.749

9.47 - Back out on circuit

9.17 - Jenson in pits.

9.16 - More progression 1:23.790

9.14 - 1:25.363

9.09 - First time of the day 1:43.713 and Jenson then returns to the pits

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Tuesday 10 March 2009

10th March - BRAWN GP - Testing Barcelona

Day 2 of the last pre season test commenced this morning. Rubens will take charge of the BGP001 today.

I can't say for sure but apparently we are running without KERS at present.

I'll try to keep you updated with Ruben's progress throughout the day...

17.00 - Thats the end of day 2's testing. Rubens completes the day in 3rd with a 1:20.966 completing 111 laps - Jenson should be back in the test seat for tomorrow's session.

16.53 - Rubens heads for the pits

16.51 - Rubens heads to the pits for some practice refueling then heads back onto the circuit.

16.38 - Rubens is pumping in some consistant 1.21's

16.07 - Rubens pits

16.06 - Rubens puts it in at 1:21.776

15.56 - Rubens is consistantly in the 1:21's

15.25 - Rubens returns to the pits.

15.21 - Rubens returns to the track.

And that concludes the morning session. The interim times are as follows:

Raikkonen (Ferrari F60) -1:20.314-44 laps
Barrichello (BrawnGP BGP001)-1:20.966-57 laps
Trulli (Toyota TF109)-1:21.326-54 laps
Alonso (Renault R29)-1:21.937-58 laps
Heidfeld (BMW-Sauber F1.09)-1:21.965-84 laps
Sutil (Force India VJM02)-1:22.141-41 laps
Kovalainen (McLaren-Mercedes MP4-24)-1:22.328-1:22.328-42 laps
Webber (Red Bull RB5)-1:22.517-40 laps
Nakajima (Williams FW31)-1:22.381-29 laps
Bourdais (Toro Rosso STR04)-1:23.039-14 laps

12.52 - He smashes it again with a 1:20.966

12.49 - Rubens posts his fastest lap 1:21.093

12.40 - Rubens returns to the track

12.08 - Rubens improves again 1:21.122 and then pits

11.58 - Rubens makes a marginal improvement 1:22.654 but Kimi has gone in front on a 1:20.869

11.23 - Rubens sticks it in first with a 1:21.665

11.13 - Rubens must be putting the BGP001 through it's paces now placing it 2nd on a 1:22.183

11.09 - Rubens puts the BGP001 into 3rd with a 1:22.240. He had previously turned in 1:23.578, 1:23.277 and 1:23.584.

10.37 - Rubens posts a provisional time of 1:23.765 and has completed 15 laps

10.31 - Rubens comes back onto the circuit

9.58 - Rubens returns to the pits

9.12 - Rubens takes to the Circuit for the 1st time

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9th March - Testing - BRAWNGP - Barcelona

Apart from the Silverstone shakdown last week the BGP001 has been left in the shade in terms of testing. So what would the first real test of the car show? Well testing is never going to give any real indication as to race performance as teams as till developing, fine tuning or even sand bagging their cars. However aside from that Jenson showed that the car does have a competitive chance notching up a 121.140 and pushed the car through 82 laps to contest its reliabilty. That put the BGP001 fourth fastest for the day with Nick Heidfeld topping the chart on a 120.338.


Button commented:

"We have enjoyed a positive opening day of running at our first test," "We did experience a problem with the gearbox late in the day but we knew we might face some reliability issues in view of our lack of testing. ... It's early days yet, but generally it has been a positive start to our pre-season preparations."

Rubens will continue testing on Tuesday (10th March)

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6th March - BRAWN GP's Silverstone Shakedown

With Brawn GP officially announced Jenson was the first driver to shakedown the car, before the team travelled to Spain for the official test. Personally I love the look of the car in it's naked form and i'm sure a few sponsors won't spoil it's appearance too much. Jenson commented:

"It was nice at Silverstone on Friday at the shakedown as most of the team were able to come down and see us doing a few laps. It was a very emotional day for us."

To me the car looks great here's a picture from the Silverstone Shakedown

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BRAWNGP - Technical - 09 Regulations

I'm a simple person that can grasp technical information should it be presented correctly, but with all the rule changes in F1 for 09 can the armchair fan quantify them all? Let's have a look at what the actual changes are in a simple format.

Slicks - No more grooved tyres, welcomed back by many as a trip to the better years when racing was closer. But what impact do Slicks have over groove tyres? A massive one is the easy answer, think of it this way groove tyres have less surface area touching the ground than a slick. Less surface area = Less Grip. Furthermore other characteristics appear such as tyre temperature operation, degredation, absorbtion and most importantly airflow. In my opinion the tyre on an F1 car could be classed as one of the single most important aspects of the entire cars design. If you don't understand how the tyre operates you can't build a car around it, the tyre takes impact and passes that on through heat, energy, direction and airflow. Understanding a cars tyre will help you mould a better F1 car.

Aero Changes - In an attempt to create closer racing and also bring back slicks the aero of the cars have been curtailed. Lower, Wider front wings and taller, narrower rear wings are the biggest difference that someone from the outside of F1 would see straight away. Also gone are the stick on aero bits that have dominated the sport for the last few years like McLaren's devil horns and Honda's Elephant nose cone (Although it appears that some are still finding means to bend the rules like Williams' surf fins) Most people seemed to believe that the cars would all look the same on the 09 Grid at Melbourne but thankfully that isn't the case and the designers have been busying theirselves finding both loopholes and different ways to design their cars.

In Car Adjustable Front Wing Settings - This year the driver will be able to adjust their front wing angles by 6 degrees twice a lap, this again should prove interesting for cornering and overtaking as they are limited to 2 movements per lap. (At the time of writing I don't know but I assume that the team can still manipulate the wing angle further during pit stops, so as to give the driver different feedback once pit stops have occured)

KERS - A massive leap forwards in my opinion, F1 has always been described as the pinnacle of motorsport and this takes them there. Designing a system that recoups energy in a form that can be reused. I know there were initial doubts over how it would all work and even if some teams would use the tech in the opening season. However you can't argue with anything that helps/hinders overtaking and causes wheel to wheel action. Listening to some of the drivers comments on KERS and using the system during corners to get a greater exit speed seems to be the stratergy to be used, however I would see this as an evolution that will be used to differently by different drivers dependant on their skillset and the environment. Having driven both N/A, turbo and S/C'd cars on circuit there is a world of difference when you know you have a little more go ready mid corner.

So what do you think to the technical changes of F1, will it bring closer racing? will it confuse the fans?

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Sunday 8 March 2009

BRAWNGP - Team Profiles

A brief look into the people behind the team:

Ross Brawn - Team Principle

Jenson Button - Driver

Rubens Barichello - Driver

Please bear with us more team info will be added.....

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Ross Brawn - BRAWNGP - TEAM

For those that haven't followed or don't know much about Ross Brawn he is a man that started at the bottom and worked through the ranks.

He started at March Engineering in 1976 as a milling machine operator, in 78 Frank Williams hired him as a machinist for the newly founded Williams F1. Whilst working for Williams he acquired many more skills working in R&D and working as an aerodynamicist. After a brief stint the Arrows F1 team he went to work with Jaguar (1989) in their sports car racing division helping to produce the 1991 World Sportscar Champion (Jaguar XJR-14)

1991 He turned back to F1 and became technical director of the Benetton team helping them to back to back drivers championships (94 & 95) and constructors championship (95)

1996 Both Ross and Schumacher made the move to Ferrari in 1996 with Ross continuing his role as Technical director. After a few years of rebuilding Ferrari became a dominant force in F1 taking six consecutive constructors championships from 1999 onwards.

2005 was a bad year for Ferrari as they struggled with their Bridgestone tyres.

2006 it was announced that Ross would take a years sabbatical, this however would be the last time Ross would work with Ferrari.

2007 Ross joined Honda as team principle trying to replicate his previous success with Ferrari.

2009 Ross acquired the Honda team in a management buy out forming BRAWNGP

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About Me

I have been an F1 fan from a very early age, however in my very early years I didn't really support a team just loved the racing. Since the BAR years I have been supporting this team through it's highs and lows. I'm confident under Ross Brawn's control the team will go from strength to strength and hopefully Jenson and Rubens can find themselves in a competitive car once more.

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