THE BRAWN ›RISE TOœ SUPREMACY
BENETTON 1991 1996
Brawn has already accumulated a wealth of experience (notably with March and Williams, and with Jaguar in sports car racing) by the time he arrived at Flavio Briatore’s Benetton outit, but it was there that he showed his mettle. With Brawn’s brilliant mind on the pitwall, Schumacher won consecutive titles in ’94 and ’95.
FERRARI 1997 2006
With Ferrari the only real challenger to Merc dominance in recent years, it’s easy to forget just what a parlous state Italy’s national F1 team were in prior to the arrival of Brawn and Schuey in the mid-’90s. By the end of the decade, with Brawn the keystone of its dream team, the Scuderia were a dominant force.
BRAWN GP 2009
It’s a preposterously far-fetched, sports-movie script that, like Leicester winning the Premier League, still feels like a daydream. From the ashes of Honda’s withdrawal, Brawn scrapes together a lean little team and a giant-killer of a car. With Jenson Button at the wheel, they go on to kill giants, winning both titles.
MERCEDES 2010 2013
When Mercedes bought Brawn (the team), Brawn (the man) put on another new team shirt and began to build the foundations of Merc-AMG’s later dominance. But Ross retired from F1 before the hybrid V6s hit the track, and before Merc’s ascension to a level above the rest of the grid. That retirement always felt temporary…