Feeling a bit flush? Want to commemorate a brilliant season for Brawn GP well these are the models for you then.....
1/8th Scale BGP001 - Monaco Spec Model
BGP001 - Nosecone Model
The BGP001 1/18th scale full car model will set you back a stunning £2950 where as the 1/12th Nosecone model will relieve your bank of £69.99
Unfortunately overnight the team had to take the choice to replace Rubens gearbox. Rumours of it's demise were coming through at Monza but it lasted the distance. This means that Rubens will forfeit 5 places on the grid and so he must now run his optimal race strategy to preserve any chance of winning the race. The team had already factored this into any strategy calls they may have to make so are fully ready with the right strategy for the job.
Read more...
For the older F1 fans out there cast your mind back to the 80's Williams cars and you will remember seeing the rear wing being emblazened with the Canon sponsorship. Brawn GP are using their 1 race sponsorship strategy to full effect again to promote CANON whilst at the Singapore GP in a rumoured $100,000 deal. This will see the Sidepod's of the BGP001 used as a sponsorship platform for the 1st time this season.
Melvyn Ho, Vice President, Consumer Imaging and Information Group, Canon Singapore
"The Singapore Grand Prix is one of the most visually distinctive races in the world and, as the leader in digital imaging, the race weekend is the perfect showcase for Canon. We are extremely proud to be working with the current World Championship leaders Brawn GP and respect the skill, vision and engineering excellence that have made Ross Brawn and his team so successful this season. Like Brawn GP, Canon brings innovation to the marketplace and as leaders in our respective fields, we look forward to a fruitful and rewarding relationship together."
Further down the line Brawn GP have already secured another 1 race deal with Cervejaria Petrópolis for their Itaipava beer brand at the Brazilian GP. This deal is rumoured to be netting BGP around $150,000.
Douglas Costa, Corporate Marketing Manager at Cervejaria Petrópolis
“We are very pleased to have agreed the partnership between Cervejaria Petrópolis and Brawn GP for the Brazilian Grand Prix. Raising awareness of the Itaipava brand and our responsible driving message through our involvement in motorsport is extremely important to our company strategy and our first venture in Formula One is designed to take this awareness to a wider audience through the global reach of the sport. We look forward to using the opportunity and prestige of working with the current Formula One World Championship leaders for our Itaipava brand.”
In an interview with http://www.autosport.com/ Nick Fry has alluded to the fact that 2010 and beyond are secure with deals already done to provide sponsorship to the team.
Q. You've won seven races out of the 11 held so far this year, but there is still a lot of white space on the car. Is there any concern about funding for this year or next year?
NF: We have zero worries on funding for this year, next year, the year after, and the year after that. I smile when people talk about money, because we've always had the finances for this year, and neither Ross nor I would not have taken on the team if we did not have the money for this year. We've signed some nice contracts, and those will come out into the open when we launch the car next year, but we will see what happens. There is zero worry on our side.
Q. Were those new sponsors signed over the summer break?
NF: When you are asking people for large amounts of money, it doesn't generally happen in five minutes. We've been talking to people from the beginning of this year when our situation changed, and it is fair to say that things have crystallized in the last month or so. I said at the beginning of the year that we were in the enviable position that we didn't have to hurry.
We were well covered for this year, and were covered well into next year, so it wasn't a situation where we had to jump at things that we were not quite sure about. I am pleased about the work we've done, and I think there is more to come as well. So, we've got an assured future from a financial and commercial point of view.
Q. Will Virgin be on the car next year?
NF: No.
Q. Definitely not?
NF: We've had a great relationship with Virgin. You have noticed different stickers from Virgin on the car over the year, and that is the result of additional requests from their side, which has increased our income as well which is nice. I think they have had a great initiation into F1, and we are helping where we can in advice about what they can do with Manor. I really do hope they are successful not only next year but beyond, because they are a good company and it is a good company for F1 to have.
The rest of the interview can be found here: www.autosport.com
From start to finish this has been a great performance for Rubens all weekend. I made the prediction earlier in the week and took a bet at 25/1 so i'm happy having £26 back now :)
Again before the start of the race i mentioned it on twitter that I still believed Rubens would have the measure of the McLarens. Congratulations to Rubens first and foremost but also a big well done to the team and Jenson for a 7th place finish.
Classified:
Pos Driver Time
1. Barrichello 1h35:51.289
2. Hamilton + 2.358
3. Raikkonen + 15.994
4. Kovalainen + 20.032
5. Rosberg + 20.870
6. Alonso + 27.744
7. Button + 34.913
8. Kubica + 36.667
9. Webber + 44.910
10. Sutil + 47.935
11. Heidfeld + 48.822
12. Fisichella + 1:03.614
13. Trulli + 1:04.527
14. Glock + 1:26.519
15. Grosjean + 1:31.774
16. Alguersuari + 1 lap
17. Badoer + 1 lap
18. Nakajima + 3 laps
Fastest lap: Glock, 1:38.683
All timing unofficial
Hi BGP fans, with Rubens taking 3rd on a much heavier fuel load than the 2 McLarens 3rd is a great result. Jenson however only managed to get 1 hot lap in at the end of Q3 which compromised his result and leaves him down in 5th and in the clutches of Kimi and his KERS enabled Ferrari.
Cast your mind back however to before the tyre temperature issues arose and the BGP001 was great at making the tyres last. IF it's right that the setups have equalised and the BGP001's performance is back to how it was it could make for a very interesting race.
Rubens and Jenson just need to drive their own races managing the tyre wear as usual whilst everyone else will have trouble with rear graining (appears to have been an issue for most teams during Friday and Saturday) They can bide their time whilst the others simply grain up and fall off the timings/circuit.
Pos Driver Q1 Q2 Q3
1. Hamilton 1:38.649 1:38.182 1:39.498
2. Kovalainen 1:38.816 1:38.230 1:39.532
3. Barrichello 1:39.019 1:38.076 1:39.563
4. Vettel 1:39.295 1:38.273 1:39.789
5. Button 1:38.531 1:38.601 1:39.821
6. Raikkonen 1:38.843 1:38.782 1:40.144
7. Rosberg 1:39.039 1:38.346 1:40.185
8. Alonso 1:39.155 1:38.717 1:40.236
9. Webber 1:38.983 1:38.625 1:40.239
10. Kubica 1:38.806 1:38.747 1:40.512
11. Heidfeld 1:39.032 1:38.826
12. Sutil 1:39.145 1:38.846
13. Glock 1:39.459 1:38.991
14. Grosjean 1:39.322 1:39.040
15. Buemi 1:38.912 1:39.514
16. Fisichella 1:39.531
17. Nakajima 1:39.795
18. Trulli 1:39.807
19. Alguersuari 1:39.925
20. Badoer 1:41.413
All Timing Unofficial
With most of the session under red flag due to Vettel' engine mishap the times are a little deformed....
Read more...
Pos Driver Time Laps
1. Sutil 1:39.143 12
2. Nakajima 1:39.247 + 0.104 12
3. Kubica 1:39.513 + 0.370 12
4. Kovalainen 1:39.553 + 0.410 8
5. Rosberg 1:39.732 + 0.589 11
6. Fisichella 1:39.764 + 0.621 12
7. Button 1:39.883 + 0.740 10
8. Hamilton 1:39.950 + 0.807 12
9. Trulli 1:40.017 + 0.874 11
10. Grosjean 1:40.088 + 0.945 11
11. Buemi 1:40.118 + 0.975 12
12. Barrichello 1:40.192 + 1.049 10
13. Heidfeld 1:40.230 + 1.087 12
14. Raikkonen 1:40.260 + 1.117 12
15. Alonso 1:40.402 + 1.259 9
16. Glock 1:40.443 + 1.300 10
17. Webber 1:40.879 + 1.736 10
18. Vettel 1:40.916 + 1.773 6
19. Alguersuari 1:41.125 + 1.982 12
20. Badoer 1:42.198 + 3.055 14
All timing unofficial
http://premium.f1-live.com/f1/photos-hires...a/diapo_181.jpg
http://premium.f1-live.com/f1/photos-hires...a/diapo_157.jpg
http://premium.f1-live.com/f1/photos-hires...a/diapo_116.jpg
http://premium.f1-live.com/f1/photos-hires...a/diapo_131.jpg
http://premium.f1-live.com/f1/photos-hires...a/diapo_151.jpg
http://premium.f1-live.com/f1/photos-hires...a/diapo_193.jpg
A very impressive practice session for Jenson and Rubens once again with a 2nd and 3rd place respectively. Alonso once again putting the Renault in 1st with a car running on fumes after punting Nick Heidfeld off the circuit in a previous incident.
Pos Driver Time Laps
1. Alonso 1:39.404 33
2. Button 1:40.178 +0.774 33
3. Barrichello 1:40.209 +0.805 34
4. Rosberg 1:40.385 +0.981 39
5. Nakajima 1:40.503 +1.099 35
6. Sutil 1:40.596 +1.192 23
7. Kubica 1:40.643 +1.239 34
8. Fisichella 1:40.681 +1.277 31
9. Vettel 1:40.723 +1.319 33
10. Kovalainen 1:40.738 +1.334 31
11. Raikkonen 1:40.739 +1.335 39
12. Trulli 1:40.770 +1.366 32
13. Grosjean 1:40.787 +1.383 35
14. Webber 1:40.956 +1.552 37
15. Glock 1:40.985 +1.581 30
16. Buemi 1:41.156 +1.752 34
17. Heidfeld 1:41.350 +1.946 29
18. Badoer 1:42.017 +2.613 37
19. Alguersuari 1:42.089 +2.685 34
20. Hamilton 1:43.214 +3.810 3
All timing unofficial
Read more...
Good morning BGP fans it seems like an eternity since the last race but now it's here upon us. Free Practice 1 as usual for a street circuit was very dusty so we really only saw the boys performing towards the latter stage of Practice. They were working hard with different setups to see what has been the problem over the last few races. Jenson switching front wings at least 3 times at my count. Pace seemed ok but as usual we don't the fuel loads being tested with and also the relativity to the rivals. The biggest stand out upgrade to me was the addition of air flow conditioners to the side of the sidepods like that we have seen on virtually every other car so far this season. As soon as some pictures are available I'll post them up for comparison.
Towards the end of the session Rubens had some issues with his gearbox and not being able to select neutral. Lets hope its electrical and not going to be a change.
Pos Driver Time Laps
1. Barrichello 1:42.460 19
2. Kovalainen 1:42.636 +0.176 16
3. Hamilton 1:42.654 +0.194 18
4. Button 1:43.074 +0.614 19
5. Vettel 1:43.088 +0.628 17
6. Sutil 1:43.209 +0.749 13
7. Nakajima 1:43.225 +0.765 25
8. Webber 1:43.243 +0.783 19
9. Alonso 1:43.345 +0.885 18
10. Raikkonen 1:43.384 +0.924 23
11. Buemi 1:43.389 +0.929 30
12. Kubica 1:43.419 +0.959 20
13. Alguersuari 1:43.637 +1.177 30
14. Rosberg 1:43.746 +1.286 22
15. Heidfeld 1:44.040 +1.580 23
16. Fisichella 1:44.126 +1.666 17
17. Grosjean 1:44.356 +1.896 23
18. Trulli 1:44.638 +2.178 26
19. Glock 1:44.732 +2.272 28
20. Badoer 1:45.840 +3.380 25
All timing unofficial
"Well, after the break and after the two weeks when they couldn't work at the factory, they spent a few days to work on the car and come up with some ideas," said Button ahead of this weekend's European Grand Prix.
"Then I spoke to my engineer 'Shov' (Andy Shovlin) last Monday, and we ran through everything and what we had for this circuit aerodynamically in terms of improvements. And also the step by step over the season in terms of where we have gone with the car mechanically – the ride, the weight distribution and the rest of the mechanical set-up.
"We ran through everything, and saw a bit of a trend, so we think we know some of the reasons for our issues with tyre temperature. Normally, going in the direction that we have gone is the preferred route because you are looking after the tyres, but with the way the tyres are you need to be aggressive with them. You need to get them to work and you need to get them into their working range – otherwise the aerodynamic improvements you have on the car mean nothing because the four tyres are the things that are on the road and if you cannot get them working then nothing else really matters."
He added: "We know getting the tyres to work is important, so we come here this weekend positive, as we should be, and we are going to test a few things that we had on the car in the earlier races, do some comparisons between both cars and on both cars, and we will see how it goes.
"By the end of tomorrow we might put our hands up and go, we really do not know why we still cannot get the tyres working, but I am positive that we know the reasons and we can get the car back to where it was. It is not we can improve the car, it is understanding the issues and getting the car back to where it was three races ago where the car felt good – and then you can see the improvements that you have made with the car.
"So it is a strange situation, but even if the track is cool here this weekend I am hoping and I really feel that we can get this car working and get the tyres working – but we will not know until after tomorrow. It all sounds great in the engineering office, and I believe them that this is the direction we need to take, but we will see tomorrow."
Button declined, however, to reveal what area the team has focused on to help its tyre issues though.
"I think it's better for us to leave it as it is at the moment and just get on with the weekend. After the weekend we might tell you."
Source: www.autosport.com
Picked this up from Rubens twitter account, it's a great shot of the BGP001 from the rear from inside the garage.
Well for a Brawn GP fan anyway......
http://confuseadog.com/2009/08/12/brawn-and-brain/
James Allen has added a new blog post in regards to the performance deficit that the team are now seeing:
http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2009/08/no-quick-fix-for-brawns-car-woes/
With the summer break now on us we have no F1 to look forward to for 4 weeks. There will be plenty of speculation flying around to keep us amused as usual and like me I'm sure many of F1's fans will take this time to reflect on Felipe's condition, the circumstances leading to it and the future for him.
I thought I would take this opportunity to look back at the season so far and try to understand why Brawn's performance now seems to have dropped in comparison to it's rivals.
It would appear to me as an outsider that a number of things have contributed to Brawn's performance deficit and not simply a 1 component fix. Red Bull and McLaren more than anyone have reaped the rewards of constant development whilst Brawn GP already had the package to beat and the one to learn most from. Red Bull's successful introduction of the double decker diffuser has been fruitful and i'm sure highlighted other area's to Newey and his team of designers that will have given them the huge leap forward. McLaren on the other hand seem to chuck parts at the car to start with and really gain no net result. They learnt from this mistake and bought a massive update to the Nurburgring updating Lewis's car giving theirselves a good shout at a podium finish. It would appear that McLaren have struggled to measure the overall aerodynamic disadvantage that carrying around the KERS system made. They have seemingly removed this obstacle now and understand how this both affects their car and can still be used to create an advantage.
The BGP001 was famed for being kind on it's tyres which has been the reasoning why at Silverstone and Nurburgring the car struggled in colder temperatures with the drivers struggling to put heat through the tyres. At Hungary we were supposed to see a return to warmer weather and less degradation on the BGP001 to it's competitors. This however didn't occur and begs the question have the new suspension geometry upgrades that were bought to the car inherently removed it's advantage of being kind to the tyres.
What we all have to remember is that the combination of both the BGP001 and the Mercedes powerplant although a good fit is still a compromise that other teams are not having to work around.
Upgrade delays could also have hindered progress somewhat, with limited testing this year adding components to cars during Friday test and running numbers of laps has really been the only way to get solid answers back from upgrades. I've already alluded to the problem this caused McLaren above. Silverstone has caused a domino effect in this area when the scheduled upgrades were run on the Friday but no accurate data could be found due to the weather conditions and the upgrades dropped until Nurburgring.
The astute amongst us will also notice some upgrades that seem to get run in testing and never making it to the car due to their impact not being sufficient.
Case in point see the pictures below for a section of raised bodywork that has made its way to friday practice at both Silverstone & Nurburgring but not made it onto the car for Qually or the Race:
Furthermore there may be some upgrades that have been added to the car that have made the car inherently faster but maybe not as balanced and thus are creating the tyre issues we have seen. The one piece rear movable element on the front wing springs to mind when before we saw only the triangular component could be moved.
OLD
NEW
I remain unmoved in my assumption that Brawn GP can win the constructors championship but until some of the above issues are addressed it may be McLarens meteoric rise that hinders Red Bull and helps BGP.
Jenson Button: "The Nürburgring is a tricky circuit but there are two key characteristics which should be good for our car. It is a relatively slow circuit with a lot of medium-speed corners which are one of the strengths of the BGP 001. The Nürburgring is also one of the heaviest braking circuits on the calendar so you need a car which will be good through the four heavy braking zones. With the extra week's break, everyone at the factory and at Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines has been working extremely hard in preparation for the German Grand Prix to get the best package for the race and we're looking forward to showing what the car can do at the Nürburgring after a disappointing weekend by our standards at the British Grand Prix. My last stint at Silverstone showed that the pace of the car is really competitive so we're confident that we can turn it around at this race. I'm sure we will see a really intense fight with our closest competitors and hopefully a great race for the fans."
Rubens Barrichello: "I have always enjoyed racing at the Nürburgring and it provides a good challenge for the drivers. The layout and flow is nice which allows you to get into a rhythm and there are some interesting undulations and bumps to look out for. I won the race here back in 2002 so the circuit always holds some good memories for me. The weather can be a little unpredictable due to its location right in the Eifel Mountains but we'll be hoping for some warmer temperatures than we saw at Silverstone for the last race. The first corner here is really important to set yourself up for a good lap and it's a bumpy run down from the start line. You have to get your approach absolutely right and position yourself well for a good exit. However, it is also one of the best overtaking opportunities if the cars around you slide straight on so you need to be alert to take advantage of any opportunities. Many of the corners at the Nürburgring are off-camber so getting the correct line for your corner entry is important all round the lap. We haven't raced here for a couple of years so it will be interesting to see how the circuit feels in a good car."
Ross Brawn: "The team is looking forward to returning to the race track at the German Grand Prix next weekend and the Nürburgring should be a good circuit for our car and play to its strengths. We have several new aerodynamic parts from Silverstone which were not used in qualifying and the race due to the issues that we faced there, along with additional improvements scheduled for the Nürburgring, which should position us well going into the weekend. Whilst coming away with third and sixth placed finishes from Silverstone was still a good outcome from our home Grand Prix, we would be the first to admit that the result did not meet our expectations. However we have always said that we would have a fight on our hands to maintain our excellent run of results at the start of the season and everyone at the factory and at Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines in Brixworth is looking forward to that challenge. As a team, we have a good history of going away from a race, thinking about the outcome, identifying where we need to make improvements and then coming back stronger. As the home Grand Prix for Mercedes-Benz, we will be hoping to come away from the race in Germany next weekend with a successful result."
Thanks to Brawn GP's Official Tweeter for allowing us to display these shots on the blog:
As always please visit http://www.brawngp.com/ for all official news.
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