The primary Brawn GP Components 1 automotive is being made out there to the general public for the very first time as a part of Bonham’s public sale on the Miami Grand Prix this Could.
BGP 001/01 is one in every of simply three Brawn GP chassis ever produced and Bonhams confirmed to RACER that it “is mechanically full with engine and gearbox casing minus gearbox internals.” The automotive is completed within the livery sported by Jenson Button’s automotive on the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, though it was Button’s teammate Rubens Barrichello who raced this explicit chassis on the time,
Barrichello drove the automotive from the Australian Grand Prix till the Singapore Grand Prix in 2009 earlier than switching to chassis 001/03 for the ultimate three races of the season. It scored two victories in Barrichello’s arms – on the European Grand Prix in Valencia and the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, the automotive’s penultimate outing – and an extra 4 podiums, together with second in a Mercedes one-two on the staff’s debut in Australia.
“This automotive represents the final word Components 1 fairy story – a revolutionary design that redefined what was doable,” mentioned Louis Frankel, Miami head of sale at Bonhams. “Chassis 001/01 is a chunk of motorsport historical past, and its providing at public sale is certain to captivate collectors worldwide.
“We’re honored to current this unrepeatable alternative over the Miami Grand Prix, a stage befitting its legendary standing.”
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Brawn GP’s sole Components 1 season is the stuff of legend. Rising from the ashes of the departed Honda staff and operating on a comparatively modest funds following an eleventh hour administration buyout, the staff shoehorned buyer Mercedes engines into its automotive that had been developed by the staff when it was nonetheless beneath the Japanese model’s possession, then went on to win each the Drivers’ and Constructors’ championships.
In complete, the staff took eight wins from 17 races in 2009, together with six of the primary seven because it capitalized on the ‘blown diffuser’ loophole to get a aggressive benefit in what was the primary yr of recent aerodynamic laws. On the finish of the season Mercedes bought the staff, with it occurring so as to add seven extra Drivers’ and Constructors’ title doubles between 2014-2020, and one other Constructors’ title in 2021.
Following the 2009 season BGP 001/01 fell beneath Mercedes possession as a part of its acquisition of the staff and went on to function a showcar, full with silver livery. It was later handed on to Button as a part of a contractual clause that stipulated he was to obtain a automotive within the occasion of him profitable the championship. Mercedes initially refused at hand over a automotive, and the case finally went to London’s Excessive Court docket in June 2010. Bonhams states the automotive remained in Button’s possession till 2024. It’s unknown whether or not he’s the vendor.
The opposite two Brawn vehicles additionally survive, however have by no means been offered on the open market.
Chassis 001/02 – the automotive Button drove in each race in 2009 en path to his title win – is owned by Brawn GP staff principal and namesake Ross Brawn, and is the one one of many three in operating order. It ran on the Goodwood Competition of Pace in 2016 (after being restored) within the arms of Martin Brundle, and 2019 when it was pushed by former-Brawn GP take a look at driver Anthony Davidson and Barrichello, and once more at Silverstone forward of the British Grand Prix that yr when Button drove it for the primary time in a decade.
The third chassis continues to be owned by Mercedes, however is on mortgage to the Silverstone Museum. It too noticed life as a Mercedes showcar, however has since been returned to its interval livery. Nonetheless, it nonetheless sports activities plaid trimming within the cockpit (akin to Mercedes grand prix vehicles of the Nineteen Fifties), a hangover from its early post-race life.
Coincidentally, information of the upcoming Brawn GP automotive sale comes after a Mercedes grew to become the costliest grand prix automotive offered at public sale final week.
A 1954-55 W196R Stromlinienwagen (Streamliner), pushed to victory within the 1955 Argentine Grand Prix by Juan Manuel Fangio and to the quickest lap of the Italian Grand Prix of the identical yr by Stirling Moss, offered for $53.9 million at RM Sotheby’s Paris sale. It was offered from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum assortment, which obtained the automotive in 1965 as a donation from Mercedes guardian Daimler-Benz.
That smashed the earlier document for the best worth of a grand prix automotive offered at public sale. That was one other W196R, albeit in its customary guise, which was offered by Bonhams for $29.6 million on the 2013 Goodwood Competition of Pace.
The third-highest promoting grand prix automotive at public sale additionally occurs to be a Mercedes – a 2013 F1 W04 that was pushed by Lewis Hamilton to his first race win for the manufacturing facility Mercedes staff, and later owned by McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown. The one fashionable Mercedes F1 automotive in personal arms, it was offered to an unknown purchaser for $18.8 million at RM Sotheby’s public sale on the Las Vegas Grand Prix in 2023.
All three fall manner in need of the general public sale document for a automotive although. That, once more, is a Mercedes – one in every of two 1955 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupes – which offered for $142 million in 2022.
