From the political fights that pushed the sport to the brink of a damaging split to the Renault race-fixing scandal, and from the ripping up of the traditional form book on track to the changing of the guard off it, 2009 was Formula 1’s most revolutionary year.
To look back at the amazing season, leading F1 journalist and itv.com/f1 columnist James Allen is publishing a book containing his best writings on all the major moments that shaped the story of the year.
With a foreword by world championship-winning team boss Ross Brawn, James Allen on F1 – 2009: A Revolutionary Year also contains new observations from James as well as a collection of stunning photos from renowned F1 photographer Darren Heath.
So ahead of the book’s publication on November 27, here are two extracts from James’s first-hand accounts of the early days of what undoubtedly proved to be 2009’s fairytale story – Brawn GP.
Click here to pre-order your copy
Get your money on Brawn for a Melbourne win!
13 March 2009
It’s official! The Brawn is the fastest car in the F1 field with two weeks to go before the start of the season!
It is an extraordinary story.
The Barcelona test, which finished on Thursday, could well go down as one of the most remarkable events in recent F1 history, as a team which seemed dead in the water at Christmas, bounced back and not only set the fastest outright lap of the week, but showed that it is faster over the race distance than the Ferrari!
Amazingly for a brand new car, reliability was very good too. The car covered over 2,000 kilometres during the four days using the same Mercedes engine (!) and there were very few technical issues.
It looks very much as though the battle for victory in Melbourne will be between Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, as long as the car lasts the distance.
It has done two race distances in the last two days, so the omens are good.
And the competition between the two Brawn drivers is fierce – yesterday Rubens was faster than Jenson was the day before over the long runs, but there was far less wind and the track was more rubbered in.
If you make a direct comparison between the race distance runs of Massa and Button on Wednesday and Barrichello on Thursday you see that Jenson does 19 laps below 1m 21, Barrichello does 14, while Massa manages just 2!
What is even more impressive is that on the 19th lap of his 20-lap first stint Rubens does a 1m19.971 – startling proof that the Brawn looks after its tyres very well over a long run.
The team really is in amazing shape! In contrast the Ferrari’s lap times tail off into the 1m 22s at the end of the 20 lap stints.
In fact, so stunning was the Brawn’s pace in Barcelona, it has caused all the F1 teams to revise completely their targets for the season.
As I write this, there are briefings going on in all the team’s factories as the full impact of the Barcelona data sinks in.
Of course the teams will have big updates for Melbourne, which will make them faster, whereas the Brawn car is in Melbourne specification now, so the gap will close.
Also Brawn out front is not the best advertisement for KERS, as the team is not using it and won’t be until later in the season, if at all.
Don’t forget, Barcelona is a great yardstick for the season as it rewards aerodynamic efficiency and good tyre management, so if your car goes well there it’s going to go well in most places.
One team engineer I spoke to remembers a meeting last season when the then Honda engineers said that they were going to be a long way ahead in 2009.
Given where they were at the time, everyone laughed at this remark.
They are not laughing now.
Jenson Button described his new car as "beautiful".
"It’s been a stressful winter, five months out of the car," he said. "The plan B was not racing. But what would I do, sit at home?
“There’s nothing out there for me. I’m 29 years old, I’m still a kid and I’ve still got a lot to prove. I’m here to try to win races with Brawn GP and I think there is a good possibility of that in the future."
It’s early days yet, but it’s been a great start to the adventure which is Brawn GP.
* * *
In the EasyJet set with Ross Brawn and Co
11 May 2009
Vijay Mallya is bobbing in the harbour on his motor yacht, Flavio Briatore will have zoomed off in his private jet, like most of the drivers, but the winning team boss of today's Grand Prix was on the Easyjet flight to Luton with his team, plus Red Bull, Force India, me and a load of sunburned, happy fans.
Most of them couldn't believe their eyes that Ross Brawn was checking in for the same Easyjet flight as them and he had to pose for photos with many of them. His only token bit of elitism - he paid €12 for Speedy Boarding!
Ross has always been a team player when it comes to travel.
A number of times in the past when my family has been on holiday in Italy in the summer I've cadged a lift on the Ferrari charter and Ross and Jean Todt always used to travel with the engineers and mechanics on the same plane.
It's part of the team-building ethic, which also includes sending different members of the team up on to the podium, to allow them to feel that special buzz and to motivate them to work hard to
achieve it again.
Anyway, on the way out on Thursday morning the Easyjet plane was half-full of hungover Barcelona fans on their way home after beating Chelsea in the Champions League football match
Ross was sitting next to a guy who must have weighed a good 20 stone and who had clearly
been in a bar all night.
Tonight Brawn was on good form, relieved to have won another race and to have negotiated all the potential little problems, surprised that Red Bull hadn't done more with pit strategy to try to get Vettel away from Massa.
The atmosphere on the plane was good. The captain in his welcome speech congratulated the team on its success and wished them many more.
The Red Bull guys rolled their eyes.
Brawn has now won 11 trophies in the five races so far and Jenson Button has dropped only four points from a possible 45. They are making it look Easy.
James Allen on F1 – 2009: A Revolutionary Year is published on Friday 27 November by Speed Merchants, priced £9.99
Click here to pre-order your copy