In their first year in Formula One, Brawn GP set plenty of records, finishing with a one-two in their first ever grand prix, and winning both the drivers' and the constructors' titles in their first season.
Under the direction of Ross Brawn, the then Honda team spent precious time developing their 2009 car, and in the team's last few races as the Honda outfit, no one would have imagined that they would turn up in Australia for the first race of the 2009 season as the Brawn team, winning their first ever race, and finishing the year with an impressive eight wins. No one even knew that Honda were participating in their final few races, and then out of the blue, they quit, leaving Ross Brawn and his team wondering if all their hard work was even worth it.
But on the 5th March 2009, after three whole months of the unknown, Brawn GP was born, and less than eight months later they were celebrating their first double world championship.
Brawn GP wasn't a completely new team though, Ross Brawn had been team principal for Honda when they pulled out of the sport. Honda first entered F1 in 2000, when they became an engine supplier for BAR, and it was in 2006 that the Japanese car giant finally took over the team and became the Honda Racing F1 Team.
It's hard to imagine that 2008's unsuccessful 'ugly duckling' the Earth Dreams Honda, became the swan of Brawn GP. But a decade ago, it was BAR who were just starting out in F1 having taken over the Tyrell team at the end of 1998. Then, they weren't successful, apart from in 2004 when they finished second in the constructors' championship behind Ferrari, while Jenson Button finished third in the drivers' behind the two Ferrari drivers of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello.
2005 was less successful for BAR, and in 2006 when Honda bought out the team, they still struggled, securing their only win in Hungary when Button came through from 14th on a rain dampened track to take his first victory. 2007 and 2008 were once again unsuccessful, and even when the team brought in Ross Brawn as their principal in 2008, they wrote off the season to start working on their 2009 car, using the skills and knowledge of Brawn to develop their best car yet. But by the end of 2008 it looked like it was all for nothing, until the genius of Ross Brawn took over the team, and they were able to put their plan into action.
In total the team secured eight wins, four one-two's and 15 podiums, more than BAR or Honda ever scored. To go from a team who has struggled to get into the points race-after-race, to winning the first six of seven races in their first season as the newly-named Brawn team, is a big achievement. Even if Honda had remained in the sport, the outcome of this season most likely would've been the same, under the lead of Ross Brawn. But for him, doing it in his own name must make it all the more special.
