Jenson Button and the Brawn GP team famously dominated the start of the 2009 Formula 1 season.
But after that early run of six wins in seven grands prix, things went awry.
Our Bring Back V10s classic F1 podcast takes one of its occasional V8 era detours this week to revisit the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix, by which time Button’s points lead was being whittled down by not only team-mate Rubens Barrichello but also the Red Bulls of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel.
Edd Straw and Ben Anderson join Glenn Freeman to explore the causes of Button and Brawn’s mid-season slump, and all the other big storylines from that weekend.
They of course include the fact that Force India – last in the championship with zero points to its name coming into Spa – took pole with Giancarlo Fisichella and nearly won the race.
They were denied by Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, who was in a tough spot in a busy driver market as his team lined up Fernando Alonso to replace him.
Michael Schumacher was also in that driver market mix, his attempted comeback as the injured Felipe Massa’s Ferrari stand-in prompting talk of a racing return and even a new push for three-car teams.
The first moves to turn Brawn GP into Mercedes and the possibility of Red Bull getting Mercedes engines are among the many, many other Spa 2009 topics relived.
ASK US ANYTHING! (about 1989-2005 F1) – Submit your questions for our end-of-series episode using the hashtag #BringBackV10s on Twitter, or you can email bringbackv10s@the-race.com.
Bring Back V10s is available through all major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
