The car used by Jenson Button to win the Formula 1 World Championship is truly remarkable, at the start of the Brazilian Grand Prix his chassis, Brawn BGP001-02 was already the most used on the grid having been driven by the Englishman in every session and race of the 2009 season. It may also be the most raced F1 chassis of all time, and one of the most successful.

It is normal for drivers to use a number of chassis during the season, for instance BMW has run eight cars, Toyota six and Red Bull five. But Button has persisted with the same chassis all year.

The only comprable car on the 2009 grid is the Force India VJM02/01 driven by Adrian Sutil, but that car has had a number of non finishes and accidents reducing its track time, both cars tested initially at Silverstone. Button’s team mate Rubens Barrichello used the older BGP001-01 for most of the season but it was replaced with a new car BGP001-03 at the Singapore Grand Prix.



It is believed that Brawn BGP001-02 was the fourth chassis produced by the Brackley team over the winter. Before Honda pulled out two Honda RA109 chassis were built, these chassis were basically the same but had different rear ends, the Honda engine has a significantly different oil tank shape to the Mercedes meaning that new tubs were required.

One of the Mercedes-Benz FO108W engines fitted to Brawn BGP001-02 also broke records as the most successful engine in modern Formula 1. It won three races including the Monaco Grand Prix without any work being done other than oil changes and inspections. The FO108W was not originally designed to last such a long time but the 2009 regulations limit each driver to just eight units for the season. Mercedes has built the engine of choice it seems, consistently fastest through the speed traps in the Force India VJM002 and having won the most races this year in the Brawn. Apparently the enginehas the lowest cooling demand of any in F1, notable from the small radiator ducts on the Brawn and McLaren (but less evident on the Force India).

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