Drivers: Jenson Button | Rubens Barrichello

Website: www.brawngp.com

Even though its final two years had been pretty wretched, Honda’s decision to pull out of Formula 1 at the end of 2008 was still a massive shock.

The timing was the greatest surprise, for the company had put a huge effort into improving its fortunes for 2009, and was now walking away from the sport before it could take any benefit from that big investment.

But after a frantic winter of wild rumour and behind-the-scenes negotiations, the team lives on as Brawn GP.

The hiring of Ross Brawn was typical of the changes Honda had made in a bid to turn around its dismal form.

The technical and strategic mastermind behind Michael Schumacher’s championships at Benetton and Ferrari, Brawn was confident Honda had the resources to succeed once they were channelled properly.

He was upbeat about the team's 2009 package, having abandoned 2008 development very early to focus on this year.

The basis of the Brawn GP BGP 001 should therefore be good and, although its late conversion to a Mercedes engine and the minimal testing mileage will not have helped, the car showed a sensational turn of pace when it finally hit the track in testing in March.

With Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello still on board, the team has an experienced and very capable driver line-up, while the staff that have stayed on will be particularly determined to prove their quality after such a turbulent winter.

Brawn says he will be content with a ‘respectable’ performance this year, and the early signs are that the team will comfortably hit that target.


F1 track record

Brawn GP started life as BAR in 1999, when Jacques Villeneuve, his manager Craig Pollock, designer Adrian Reynard and British American Tobacco came together to launch an ambitious new team.

The squad was an over-hyped disappointment from the start – not only failing in its lofty aim of winning on its debut, but not even scoring a point in its first season.

Enter Honda, which had powered Williams and McLaren to title success in the 1980s and early 1990s, and had recently canned a factory team project.

The Japanese company gave BAR works engines for 2000, and its form duly picked up.

However BAR-Honda (which became Honda in 2006 after the company took full control) then trod water for several years.

There was a major breakthrough in 2004 when Button snapped at the dominant Ferraris’ heels and led BAR to a deserved second place in the championship, and the Briton then delivered Honda’s first win in the wet 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix.

But 2007 brought a humiliating fall from grace.

Honda’s ‘Earth car’ environmental livery concept was launched amid much fanfare – and a great deal of scepticism from those who contested Formula 1’s ‘green’ credentials.

But the colour scheme soon faded into insignificance when it became clear how appalling the car’s performance was – and the 2008 machine was little better.

After two years of disasters and negative headlines, and amid mounting economic turmoil, Honda decided enough was enough and pulled the plug on the team, despite having already embarked on a massive development programme for 2009 in the hope of reviving its fortunes.