After a disastrous Formula 1 season in 2008, Honda sold its F1 team to Ross Brawn and started as a Brawn Mercedes in 2009. To everyone’s surprise, the team that bottomed the table last year dominated the first half of the championship and eventually won the title in 2009.
Some of the people responsible for this season’s triumph still work at Brackley today. Andrew Shovlin, Technical Director of Mercedes, is one of the architects behind the championship win in 2009. In a recent interview, he looked back on the bizarre and unbelievable win of the 2009 season.
“We knew it would be a decent car because we tried hard and started working on it very early. The year before at Hockenheim, which was roughly in the middle of the season, we said to ourselves: “Well, let’s forget about 2008. And let’s concentrate on the new rules for 2009.” (Translated via Google Translate)
VALENCIA, SPAIN – AUGUST 21: Jenson Button (R) of Great Britain and Brawn GP speak to his race engineer Andrew Shovlin as he prepares during practice for the European Formula 1 Grand Prix at the Valencia Street Circuit on May 21. August 2009 to drive Valencia, Spain. (Photo by Mark Thompson / Getty Images)
The 2009 season had new rules and when they got to Portimao the team realized they were the fastest on the grid. “At that point we were like, ‘Wait a minute, that means we’re almost two seconds faster than everyone else.’
“Then we thought we had miscalculated our calculations. But none of that prepared us for it when we went to pre-season testing in Barcelona. At that point, we really thought, “Oh god, this looks very quick,” Shovlin recalled.
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The technical director of Mercedes explains the misjudgment
After the terrible 2008 season, the team started working on the 2009 season early to take advantage of the new rule change. The team was much faster than the others; However, because of Toro Rosso, they miscalculated their pace. The Italian team was their point of reference, but Mercedes didn’t take into account that the former were using the old model.
Formula 1 F1 – Bahrain Grand Prix – Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain – Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas in action during training REUTERS / Hamad I Mohammed
“They hadn’t adapted the car to the new rules yet, they were with the old model. That was a reference for us. They were by far the fastest car and we had practically all of our achievements regained. We estimated that we would go just as fast with our car, ”said Shovlin.
The Brackley roster seems perfectly capable of making the most of rule changes. They have shown that after 2008 and since the beginning of the hybrid era they have also dominated. The question is whether the Silver Arrows can do this next year since the 2022 regulations come into force.
Do you think the era of Mercedes rule is about to expand, or do you think it has passed its prime?
The post “Miscalculated” Mercedes F1 Technical Director reveals the bizarre feeling after seeing the pace of Brawn GP first appeared on monter-une-startup.
