Crowning a New Champion

With one race remaining in the 2009 Formula One Championship, the world champion was crowned again this year at the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos. And once again this year the winner was a British driver but not the one that was expected at the start of the season. Rather than repeating his stellar season from last year, defending champion Lewis Hamilton was more or less sidelined during the season by fellow Briton Jenson Button who has finally 'arrived' in Formula One after having been around for nearly a decade. As someone who has followed Button with some interest for a few years now I can honestly say that it was well deserved and a long time coming.

Not only does this championship come after a well-deserved run during the course of the season but it also shows that some of the new rules that are being implemented means that newer (and smaller) teams can have a real chance at fighting for the title of world champion. Driving for the newly formed Brawn GP team that team principle formed from the remaining shell of what was the BAR Honda racing team, Brawn elevated a team that always had potential but little staying power and turned the outfit into a real contentder. At the outset of the season it looked like Brawn and the team were out to repeat their domination as when Brawn was at Ferrari during Michael Schumacher's reign as champion but shortly thereafter it seemed that the chinks in the armor were beginning to show and the team didn't show as strongly as it did at the outset.

Rather than consistently finishing in first or second, Button and teammate (and perenial 'bridesmaid' to the eventual champion) Ruebens Barichello seemed to be on the edge of winning but something or the other kept them from clearing that last hurdle. But Button and the team persevered and even in the face of criticism that Button was never good enough as a driver to begin with and relied totally on a car to be good was unfair criticism. I think that any driver (with the possible of exception of Michael Schumacher) needs a consistent car to win a race. Schumacher used to drive his car to the limits and then some because that's what the rules allowed. In the face of changing rules it wasn't possible to drive on the ragged edge all the time anymore which is why drivers like Juan Pablo Montoya probably didn't do as well as people thought they would.

But unlike past years at Ferrari where many felt the rules were always altered to give the Scuderia (Italian for horse's stable... i.e., reference to Ferrari's prancing horse logo) an unfair or competitive advantage; Brawn GP raced within the rules and managed to come out ahead. What makes their triumph even more significant is the fact that despite the fact that McLaren, Ferrari and Renault had basically the same teams that won them the championships the last three years respectively, Brawn GP was a new team with an untested chassis and engine combo with drivers who many said were on their last legs. There were such lukewarm expectations for the team that at the start of the season their car lacked even a single sponsor. It wasn't until Virgin mega-mogul Richard Branson saw the first race of the season that he felt that perhaps there was something more to the team.

Now, several months down the road and a championship later, it seems that perhaps Ferrari, McLaren and Renault aren't the only big boys on the block. If expectations were low this year for the dark horse of the circuit then they'll be even higher next year when Button and Brawn GP will look to defend their respective championships. Many felt Button made a mistake in sticking with BAR Honda as long as he did but his patience finally seems to have paid off and the expectations are now even higher. It's significant to win a championship when people don't expect you to even complete the season but it will be even more significant if they can defend it next year. Four years and four different champions and championship teams. Formula One is finally becoming exciting again and I can't wait to see what happens next year!