Ross Brawn has revealed more details behind his takeover of the Honda team and some of the decisions he’s made.
Speaking to La Gazzetta dello Sport, Brawn makes the key revelation that he had the choice of Ferrari or Mercedes engines but chose the Mercedes because it was easier to fit into the Honda chassis. This is interesting because it had been widely believed that Ferrari had said no. He also says that they started modifying the chassis just after Christmas.
Brawn also reveals that,
“When I left Ferrari I never imagined that one day I would become the owner of a team. But it would have been a real shame to close a team based on such fantastic people.”
Finally he reveals that Bruno Senna’s test “went well, but he doesn’t have the experience. It would have been too ambitious a challenge.”
I wonder who they will choose as a third driver. Logic dictates Anthony Davidson as he will be at the races anyway as a summariser for BBC Radio 5 Live, so his expenses are already covered! Unless a race driver gets hurt or falls ill it’s a notional title anyway as there is no testing allowed once the season has started.
The team had a shakedown test at Silverstone on Friday and will have the first proper test of its car at Barcelona this week.
allenonf1.wordpress.com 
It is immensely satisfying to see such a positive outcome to what at the time was a depressing story that broke over the Christmas period and great news to hear that the team will be on the grid in Melbourne. I was shocked like everyone else and even had a slight feeling of anger towards the chieftains at Honda for pulling the plug on these people that had been working hard towards the new season, after having suffered an embarrassing couple of seasons in the interim.
I really felt for the hole team, and have enormous respect for Jenson’s show of support and dedication to the team. I can only imagine the pain the guy must have been going through having just found out that his loyalty to the team and to Honda for the past few years may have all been in vain, he showed up at the factory to be with his team, and braved the onslaught of the press.
Ive only just heard the news, and seen the new car, and it looks absolutely superb to me. Although I hope they go for a more imaginative logo and color scheme eventually, I understand the time restraints and the amount of work it has taken just to be where they are at the moment, but its also nice to see the new car in its pure, unadulterated form before it’s labelled up with sponsor logos like a football strip.
When I heard of the rule changes, I was excited at the prospect of seeing clean unfussy looking F1 cars again, I saw the first iterations in the form of the BMW and Williams interim cars and was a bit dazed by the drastic difference in the dimensions of the wings, but they are progressively becoming more shapely as the teams continue to develop their cars for the start of the season.
I wanted the cars to look more like they had in the late 80s to early 90s before Benetton introduced the ugly high nose cone, and so far most of the teams are still going for high aggressive styling at the nose of the car.
The Brawn GP has a very low slung nose cone and looks closer In appearance to the F1 cars of the early 90s than anything I have seen for years and in my opinion is the easiest on the eye of all the new generation of cars. I’m not sure about the front wing, doesn’t sit well with the organic shape of the rest of the car in my opinion, looks as though they let a computer design the front wing.
I take my hat of to the team for what they have achieved so far, the car looks rapid, I hope it go’s as quick as it looks and wish them good luck for the future.
Actually I feel bad for Button and Barrichello…They have waited 3 years for a competitive car.And 2009 should be the resurection year for Honda.Now,they would have to start from the bottom again.Who knows when will they be a title contender…
Well the way their luck’s going at the moment, never. Barrichello only has about 3-5 years left in him till retirement. Shumi Retired when he was barrichello’s current age as well…
But who knows? Could Brawn Have pulled it off? We will have to wait till March 29th to find out anything…I’m sure Honda will be satisfied to merely be on the grid, let alone be competitive. I Hope Brawn GP Survives at least till Barrichello sees his carrer out.
For too long have Rubens and Jenson Been lagging around in bad cars! It’s time for a change I say, to prove the descision to stay on was a good one…
I really really don’t think Brawn has pulled it out like you said,Ed..Let’s say they had been working on this year’s car very early,but they still missed the crucial winter testing times…And it’s going to hit them back big time….
But,like you,I really hope Button and Barrichello would be given chances to prove themselves again.I’m a fan of ’em…
Nice idea about Davidson there James with his expenses covered by the BBC! Just wonder about his contract details though and whether the BBC will let him race if Ross needs him! Can’t see David Croft doing it alone!…which raises the question what has happened to Maurice Hamilton this year on 5 Live? There’s been no mention of him. Do you know?
I too am happy for Button, he’s shown his loyalty, a rare thing in such a sport, and been rewarded with a hefty salary cut (although the difference between 10m and 5m means nothing to me, they’re just numbers I can’t achieve
).
I’d like to see Button in a competitive car to prove once and for all, he is the best British driver out there.
I used to like McLaren but ITV’s Lewis Hamilton Show has turned me against all things McLaren and Hamilton.
Alonso ftw this year 🙂
Hopefully, this year will be a good one