{"id":149065,"date":"2025-09-20T10:08:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-20T10:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/149065\/"},"modified":"2025-09-20T10:08:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T10:08:08","slug":"from-tyrrell-shed-via-brawn-fairytale-the-evolution-of-mercedes-f1-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/149065\/","title":{"rendered":"From Tyrrell shed via Brawn fairytale: the evolution of Mercedes’ F1 team"},"content":{"rendered":"

BAT even tried to run two different liveries on their cars \u2014 one for Lucky Strike, one for 555 \u2014 before the FIA stepped in to ban it.<\/p>\n

Amid all the hype and promises, BAR\u2019s debut proved to be an absolute disaster, its uncompetitive and unreliable car failing to score a single point all season.<\/p>\n

By 2001, Honda was providing full works engines, and BAR began shedding its PR project image in favour of serious racing credentials.<\/p>\n

The breakthrough came in 2004 under David Richards and with Jenson Button<\/a> at the wheel. BAR finished second in the constructors\u2019 championship, although did this without a single race win.<\/p>\n

That year, tensions between BAT, Honda<\/a>, and team management surfaced and Richards was eventually replaced by Nick Fry as Honda\u2019s influence continued to grow.<\/p>\n

In 2005, without a single grand prix victory, BAT agreed to sell the team to Honda, setting the stage for the next transformation.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Honda (2006\u20132008): Unfulfilled ambition<\/p>\n

\"Rubens<\/p>\n

Honda quit F1 after just three years<\/p>\n

\n Grand Prix Photo\n <\/p>\n

Honda assumed full ownership of the Brackley-based team in late 2005 after years of playing a supporting role as an engine supplier.<\/p>\n

Rebranded as the Honda Racing F1 Team, the operation retained key personnel from the BAR days, including Fry and Button.<\/p>\n

The facilities were expanded and staff numbers grew as Honda was determined to build a championship-winning team. For a brief moment, it appeared as though the target was within reach.<\/p>\n

In 2006, Button delivered Honda\u2019s first win, but it proved to be an outlier, as the Japanese manufacturer wouldn\u2019t get close to fighting in front regularly.<\/p>\n

The 2007 season brought fresh hope with the arrival of Ross Brawn, yet not even his strategic brilliance could salvage what turned out to be a fundamentally flawed car.<\/p>\n

The RA107 \u2014 adorned with an ambitious \u201cEarth Car\u201d livery promoting Honda\u2019s environmental initiatives \u2014 was a visual talking point but a competitive disappointment.<\/p>\n

2008 proved much of the same and, frustration mounted, the global financial crisis started to bite.<\/p>\n

By the end of the year, Honda\u2019s board announced it was pulling out of F1 with immediate effect.<\/p>\n

It appeared to be the end of the road for the team, but Brawn had other ideas.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brawn GP (2009): The miracle comeback<\/p>\n

\"Jenson<\/p>\n

Brawn came, saw and conquered<\/p>\n

\n Grand Prix Photo\n <\/p>\n

Honda\u2019s abrupt exit left a fully-formed F1 team stranded, just weeks before pre-season testing. Hundreds of jobs hung in the balance. The 2009 car, developed in secret with a radical double diffuser, was ready \u2014 but there was no engine, no budget, and no future.<\/p>\n

With just days to go before the team would be shuttered, Brawn orchestrated a management buyout, reportedly purchasing the team for a symbolic \u00a31.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAT even tried to run two different liveries on their cars \u2014 one for Lucky Strike, one for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":149066,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[1687,372,6537,6964,101,68517,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-149065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-f1","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-mercedes","tag-sports","tag-tyrrell","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}