The start of the 2009 Formula 1 season produced one of the most unexpected outcomes, when Brawn GP emerged as frontrunners from the ashes of Honda. Prior to 2009 Honda were competing towards the back of the grid, with both Jenson Button and Rubens Barichello finishing the season with just 14 points between them. The team elected to pull the plug on its F1 operation amid the global financial crisis in 2008, which prompted Ross Brawn to salvage what was left and bankroll the team for 2009. Button went on to win the first six opening races of the season with the dominant BGP 001 chassis, which enabled him to build up enough of a points gap to take both the Drivers' and Constructors' titles.
Alonso: With a non-regulation change, Aston Martin made the biggest step
Fernando Alonso has likened Aston Martin's recent ascent to the Brawn GP fairytale, claiming that it is more impressive that they managed to become competitive during a stable regulation period between 2022 and 2023. “Ferrari when it was 2020, they were very bad," he said in an interview with F1.com . "Then in 2022 they were fighting for the championship, or won the first two or three Grands Prix of the year, so Ferrari made a huge step last year. "[There was also] Brawn GP – huge. With a non-regulation change, [Aston Martin’s is] probably the biggest one. "All the others, they were with the regulation change, plus with the cost cap it’s very difficult to do something like that, but we have very talented people in the team – so far it’s been a good start and hopefully only the start.”
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