Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello lead Brawn GP in historic debut 1-2

Posted by Mikel on March 31st, 2009 at 09:55am

Button and Barrichello finished 1-2 in the Australian Grand Prix

Brawn GP grabbed an historic one-two finish in the dying stages of the Australian Grand Prix.

It cemented an unbelievable transformation for the team that massively under-performed in 2007 and 2008, was sold by Honda over the winter, and rescued by a management buy-out just a few weeks before the season began.

Jenson Button lead most of the race despite pressure from Sebastian Vettel and Robert Kubica in the dying stages. But with three laps to go the Red Bull and BMW drivers controversially collided allowing Rubens Barrichello to complete Brawn’s joy by grabbing second.

The jubilant drivers stood on the podium with hardly any sponsors on their overalls, and hastily-applied Virgin decals on their cars.

An ecstatic Button claimed his second win, finally following up his maiden triumph in the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix.

It marked the first time a new team has won its first race since Jody Scheckter steered Wolf to victory in the 1977 Argentine Grand Prix.

Image (C) Bridgestone

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