Having 2 separate UK world F1 champions back to back seems an unrealistic dream but with Jenson Button delivering 5 wins out of the first 6 this now seems like it may come true. Last year was an amazing finish with Hamilton just squeezing his world championship with a drive that nearly proved top be too careful at the last race in Brazil. The scene was set for 2009 with Hamilton and Massa ready to take on the challenge. But with rules changes and aerodynamic confusions the most unlikely team have come through to be winners.
Brawn GP (spelt it right this time) are dominating the F1 calendar with reliability and driving that can only be described as awesome.
Even Ross Brawn has admitted that Jenson Buttons driving is well above expected and worthy compliment. This means any doubters over recent seasons are seeing a motor racing champion in the making after nearly 10 years at the wheel. It is only a few weeks to Silverstone and you just know the Union jacks will be flying again for a British driver, only this time a driver that is a bit older and in the right car.
Lewis will come back as Mclaren always do, but it is unlikely to be challenging for any tropies this season. An improvement in Ferraris form in last weeks Monaco GP, suggest they will make points up. But with Brawn GP delivering what they are and with the lead in the championship , it is hard to see how they can catch and overtake.
Let’s get this right! Last season Honda F1 was probably the worst performing term on the grid bearing in mind the budget they had to work to, the quality of drivers behind the wheel and of course Ross Braun, the genius from Ferrari. Then Honda announces it is pulling out of F1 as it can’t justify the huge cost, when they are struggling ot sell cars worldwide and factory workers are losing their livelihood, which nearly means Jenson Button and the whole team were effectively going to be redundant.
But with the failure to sell the team, Ross Braun steps in with the help of Honda and a sponsorship deal from Virgin and guess what they will be racing this season. Never in anyone’s mind did we think that this new team would turn up to testing and blow away everyone’s lap times.
If that was not good enough, Ross Braun’s F1 team have not won the first 2 races of the season. What a fairy tale, only once before back when they drove around straw bails, has a new team come straight in to win the first race of their career.
A lot has to do with the new aerodynamic rule changes and to be honest a car that Honda had been working on for 16 months, prior to knowing, they would pull out. Then there is this disagreement about the diffuser being used on the car, (more about that on another post). Even with all this, Jensen has won another 2 grand prixs. Which is astonishing considering he did not even think he would be driving this season. He has proved he is a race winning driver, even if many never doubted the fact.
If the season continues in the way it started, this will be another fantastic racing year for F1.