Brawn

Brawn GP is the author of the greatest fairy tale in modern Formula 1 history. When Honda abruptly withdrew at the end of 2008 amid the global financial crisis, team principal Ross Brawn led a management buyout that saved the Brackley squad, which entered 2009 as Brawn GP with barely any sponsorship and an uncertain future.

What followed was extraordinary. The Mercedes-powered BGP 001, exploiting a clever interpretation of the new aerodynamic rules with its 'double diffuser', was the class of the field from the first race. Jenson Button won six of the opening seven Grands Prix, and Brawn GP claimed both the drivers' and constructors' championships in its one and only season of existence.

At the end of that triumphant year the team was bought by Mercedes-Benz, becoming the works Mercedes team that would later dominate the sport.

Brawn GP is the ultimate underdog story, a team that went from near-collapse to double world champions in a single, miraculous year. Ross Brawn's leadership and engineering insight turned crisis into history, and the team's one-season fairy tale remains one of the most beloved chapters in the entire sport.