Generally speaking, we love it when the underdog wins and so when the Brawn GP team won both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships in its first and only year in Formula 1 back in 2009, many believed that this was the first and probably the last time it will ever happen again in Formula 1 or indeed at this level of motorsport, which is a shame.
Brawn BGP 001/02 – The Autobiography of Jenson Button’s World Championship Winner is the story of this extraordinary team and celebrates the spectacular success of the Brawn Formula 1 team and its 2009 Grand Prix car.
Renowned F1 insider and journalist David Tremayne delves into the dramatic background of the all-conquering team and its race winning Mercedes-powered car.
The team came about when respected F1 Technical Director Ross Brawn bought the Honda Formula One team towards the end of 2008.
The following season Brawn GP dominated right from the outset, with Jenson Button taking pole position and victory in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, followed in second place by his teammate Rubens Barrichello. The result was a landmark in F1 history and the first 1-2 finish on its debut since Mercedes at the French Grand Prix all the way back in 1954.
Success didn’t stop there though, as Button went on to achieve five further race wins that season with an additional number of podium results for Barrichello. Together, the two drivers secured Brawn the 2009 World Constructors’ Championship at the Brazilian GP on 18th October. The icing on the cake being when Button also secured the World Drivers’ Championship with the Mercedes-powered Brawn BGP 001.
This lavish 320-page jacketed hardback book published by Porter Press International is therefore a fitting tribute to not only Ross Brawn and his team but also the remarkable Brawn BGP 001/02 racing car the team produced to propel them to the very top of Formula 1.
The book’s author David Tremayne acknowledged the significance of Jenson Button and Brawn GPs achievements, commenting:
“Jenson’s rise to the 2009 World Championship was dramatic and compelling, even by F1’s extraordinary standards. It was that rarest of things: a genuinely heroic tale, complete with a few bad-sport villains who, deliciously, got their comeuppance along the way.”
Tremayne thoroughly examines the Brawn BGP 001/02, the car that Jenson Button drove to the World Championship in 2009. The book looks into the factors that went into its extraordinary success, supported by interviews with mechanics, aerodynamicists and other key members of the team, including team principal Ross Brawn. The book is beautifully illustrated with over 300 photographs, most of which have never been seen before, along with detailed diagrams and official company documentation that has also never been seen in public until now.
In addition, there are some specially commissioned studio photographs of the car today which looks fantastic.
The book contains recollections and contributions from Ross Brawn, team CEO, managing director, and chairman Nick Fry, Jenson Button and 11 Grand Prix-winning racing driver Rubens Barrichello. Tremayne also provides detailed race reviews that cover all 17 races in the 2009 season.
This is a genuinely heroic story based on foresight, resilience, fortitude, dedication, determination, engineering, innovation, application, great management, a high degree of talent on many levels and intensive research and development, all contributing to the very cornerstones of teamwork and race car design excellence at the highest level.
This Brawn team’s achievement is one of the greatest and most unlikely triumphs in modern day Formula 1, and it is fully detailed, from beginning to end, in this 18th book in the Great Cars series from Porter Press and is a must-have for any Formula 1 and motorsport enthusiast.
The final word must go to the book’s author David Tremayne, who is a well-known motorsport writer and has reported on every round of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship since 1988, totalling over 650 Grands Prix.
He has written over 50 motorsport books on Formula 1 and speed record-breaking, including Donald Campbell: The Man Behind the Mask, the definitive biography of his boyhood hero; The Lost Generation: The brilliant but tragic lives of rising British F1 stars Roger Williamson, Tony Brise and Tom Pryce; and Jim Clark: The Best of the Best.
His writing style is recognised for its soul and passion, together with a deep understanding of the racer’s psyche. He also has an encyclopaedic knowledge of motorsport history and is a three-time winner of the Guild of Motoring Writers’ Journalist of the Year award.
Publication date: 27th August 2024
UK Price: £69.00
ISBN: 978-1-913089-97-9
Format: 285mm x 235mm, jacketed hardback
Page extent: 320 pages with over 300 images
A Limited Edition is also available
Brawn BGP 001/02 – The Autobiography of Jenson Button’s World Championship Winner
By David Tremayne
Published by Porter Press International
For more information and to purchase your own copy of Brawn BGP 001/02, please visit the Porter Press website. The book is also available at Waterstones, Amazon and WH Smith.
Author Bio:
Simon Burrell is a UK-based motoring and travel journalist and editor, a member of the Guild of Motoring Writers and former saloon car racing driver.
Photographs courtesy of Porter Press International
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