BGP 001 in numbers...

General information

The Brawn BGP 001 was the first and only Formula 1 car designed by the Brawn GP team. At first, the chassis was going to be called Honda RA109, since the owner of the team was Honda, but due to the economic crisis of 2008 he had to leave the competition and put the team up for sale. Finally, after several comings and goings, the then Honda boss, Ross Brawn, took control of the team by purchasing its shares. With this car, the Brawn GP team became champion of drivers and constructors in the same year of its debut (2009),being the first (and so far, only) Formula 1 team to achieve it.

History

Jenson Button debuted the car on March 6, 2009 at Silverstone. Brawn only participated in the Circuit de Catalunya tests (from March 10 to 14) and in Jerez (from March 15 to 17) before making his debut in Australia, setting some amazing times. Already in Melbourne, the BGP 001 clearly achieved pole position and victory with Jenson Button and second place with Rubens Barrichello, proving to be the most competitive car on the grid. Jenson Button won six of the first seven races held and Rubens Barrichello took two other victories throughout the season.

Double Diffuser

he wide sweeping rule changes introduced for 2009, with the intent of improving the ability of drivers to follow one another and thus improve overtaking, had sought to reduce the overall downforce that was achievable. F1's designers were clearly in search of ways of reversing this and three teams, who don't at first seem remotely connected, universally struck upon the idea of adding a secondary tier to their diffuser.