Couple of thoughts about Brawn GP

[Azumanga Davo]

McLaren-TAG surely was the last?

[Norwegian Blue]

Vettel surely... and if not, Fisichella in the Jordan-Ford Brazil 2003?

[Mark]

Vettel surely... and if not, Fisichella in the Jordan-Ford Brazil 2003?

Yes, Vettel was the last race winner, but we were talking about world championships.

[V12]

McLaren-TAG surely was the last?

As I mentioned it's a bit of a grey area. Technically they probably are the last, although a bespoke design (it never appeared in anything other than a McLaren) from a manufacturer (Porsche), funded by an organisation (TAG) headed up by a rich Saudi (Ojjeh, current McLaren shareholder) probably doesn't quite fit the usual profile of a private/customer engine.

[I am evil Homer]

My thoughts so far is that the coverage in some areas of the press has made Brawn seem like minnows, a la Minardi, when their car was backed by Honda up until a few months ago and has spent longer in development than any other.

I suppose it's a nice tale to sell a story. Maybe I should just be less grumpy about it

[rabf1]

Here are my thoughts/questions:

1. Who actually designed this car? I assume it wasnt RB himself. RB seems to be getting all the credit for this, but I am wondering if there is someone else in the organization who is more directly responsible for the pace of this car.

2. Honda looks pretty foolish. The Mercedes engine may be good, but it is by no means a dominant engine that can make a bad car look good (McLaren). The "Honda" car is just flat out a good car. It wouldn't shock me if this car would have been even faster with the Honda engine it was designed to run with. Having spent hondreds of millions (maybe even billions?) on their F1 program, Honda pulled out right before all the money and work was about to pay off.

[DexDexter]

I know Bigois helped with Prost in the late 90s, and they made some good cars. Not sure if he was there when they made their best car (1997), but I'm guessing he's had a good effect.

Their 97 car was basically the same car that they had in 96 (which was based on the Benetton) with some new bits here and there. So the car was actually based on a Ross Brawn/Rory Byrne design. In 98 Bigois was more responsible for the car which turned out to be a complete dog.

[woody2goody]

Their 97 car was basically the same car that they had in 96 (which was based on the Benetton) with some new bits here and there. So the car was actually based on a Ross Brawn/Rory Byrne design. In 98 Bigois was more responsible for the car which turned out to be a complete dog.

Cool didn't know that

[ChrisS]

Here are my thoughts/questions:

1. Who actually designed this car? I assume it wasnt RB himself. RB seems to be getting all the credit for this, but I am wondering if there is someone else in the organization who is more directly responsible for the pace of this car.

I believe Ross Brawn serves as the technical director with Jorg Zander as deputy technical director and Loic Bigois as chief aerodynamicist

In mid 2007 Honda signed a number of new people to fix the aero problems they were having, along with Jorg Zander from BMW and Loic Bigois from Williams some other names I found are: Francois Martinet (aerodynamicist) from Williams, Peter Coysh (aerodynamicist) from McLaren, Ben Agathangelou (aerodynamicist) from Red Bull, John Owen (aerodynamicist) from BMW

[Malbec]

2. Honda looks pretty foolish. The Mercedes engine may be good, but it is by no means a dominant engine that can make a bad car look good (McLaren). The "Honda" car is just flat out a good car. It wouldn't shock me if this car would have been even faster with the Honda engine it was designed to run with. Having spent hondreds of millions (maybe even billions?) on their F1 program, Honda pulled out right before all the money and work was about to pay off.

I've been wondering about that too. I guess there are several options :

Honda didn't believe the team predictions, or did believe it would be fast but that Ferrari/McLaren wouldn't be as slow as they are.

Honda knew but cutting costs was more important, after all they cut loads of other important projects at the same time as leaving F1.

Honda were fed up of the politics and being owed money by FOM as part of some game played by Bernie.

I guess all of the above factor to some extent, and one ought to remember that they're increasing investment in cheaper forms of motorsport like ALMS GT.

I also think its inaccurate and unfair to classify Brawn as independent and a minnow, that car was developed under Honda ownership in the best equipped factory on the grid with the biggest manpower. Its just that finally, the performance of the car coming out of Brackley actually reflected the amount of money and effort that went into it.