Brawn GP's 2009 Championship-Winning F1 Car Sold For $3.8 Million At Miami Grand Prix
The Brawn BGP001 chassis 001/01 is one of the only three cars ever built by the team that year and is the only Brawn vehicle to be sold publicly, fetching $3.8 million.
The auction was hosted by Bonhams in collaboration with South Florida Motorsports, the organizers of the Miami Grand Prix, and it took place on Saturday evening right in front of the Miami podium at Hard Rock Stadium.
'This car represents the ultimate Formula 1 fairy tale – a revolutionary design that redefined what was possible,' said Louis Frankel, Miami's head of sales for Bonham|Cars, ahead of the auction.
'Chassis 001/01 is a piece of motorsport history, and its offering at auction is sure to captivate collectors worldwide. We are honoured to present this unrepeatable opportunity over the Miami Grand Prix, a stage befitting its legendary status.'
Chassis 001/01 was used by Rubens Barrichello in all but seven races in 2009 and it was then gifted to world champion Jenson Button at the end of the season.
It is currently equipped with period-correct Bridgestone slick tires and has its race-used 2.4-liter Mercedes-Benz V8 engine but lacks gearbox internals.
Brawn GP has one of the most incredible stories in the history of the sport. It's the only team to have won both the constructors' and drivers' championships in its debut season, having secured both titles in its only year in F1 in 2009 with a minuscule budget compared with its rivals.
A year earlier, in 2008, Honda made a decision to pull the plug on its F1 team which had been running since 2006. The global financial crisis and the lack of much success on the track forced the Japanese marque's hand.
But the struggling team was lucky to have Ross Brawn on board during this tough time. He was brought in by senior manager Nick Fry to serve as the team's technical director.
Brawn was already a big name in motorsport, having led TWR-Jaguar to victory in the Sports Car World Championship in 1991. He then moved to Benetton where he oversaw Michael Schumacher's first two world titles before joining the German legend at Ferrari and witnessing the team secure six titles in a row.
As the clock was ticking down and the new season was fast approaching without an owner in sight, Brawn and Fry decided to take a huge gamble to rescue the team, purchasing Honda's F1 operation for a dirt-cheap price of £1 and rebranding it Brawn GP.
Even though they purchased it for nothing, they still needed funding and deals to get the team back on its feet. They managed to secure a last-minute deal with Mercedes-Benz for engines and signed on a few brave sponsors willing to take such a big risk.
Brawn was able to retain Button and Barrichello's services, and while they had hardly any time to test the cars before the 2009 season began, they put their faith in Brawn and his newly formed squad.
Fortune then smiled upon them when engineer Saneyuki Managawa found a loophole in the 2009 regulations that allowed them to build a double diffuser. They soon knew that they created a beast of a car when they later took the BGP01 chassis 001 - the one sold at auction - to the track to be tested by Button.
In the 2009 season opener in Melbourne, Brawn GP stunned everyone with a one-two finish headed by Button. It wasn't a stroke of luck however as the Brit went on to clinch his second victory of the season in a rain-shortened race in Malaysia, finishing 22.722 seconds ahead of Nick Heidfeld of BMW Sauber.
After securing third in the following round in China, Button brought home four straight wins from Bahrain to Turkey. And while those were his last wins of the season with ten races still to go, Barrichello netted two more victories for the team.
Thanks to 15 podium finishes throughout the season, the outfit claimed its sole constructors' championship with 172 points, beating Red Bull by 18.5 points. Button took home his and the team's first and only drivers' title with 95 points - 11 points clear of Sebastian Vettel.
Brawn GP, the team that was born from the ashes of Honda and achieved the unthinkable, was then sold to Mercedes at the end of the 2009 season.
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