Brawn GP (topic rename)

Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group is to sponsor the new Brawn GP team.

Sir Richard, who was last month linked with buying the team, announced a "substantial sponsorship deal" at the Australian Grand Prix on Saturday.

Brawn GP chief executive Nick Fry said: "Virgin is paying to sponsor the car and it might evolve into more."

Sir Richard said: "Virgin are trying to build the most respected brand in the world and an involvement with a great team will help that."

The Brawn team raced as Honda last season but secured their survival only at the beginning of this month following Honda's decision to quit F1 because of the global financial crisis.

Their car only ran for the first time in March but quickly emerged as the fastest in F1 and the team's English driver Jenson Button is the pre-race favourite for Sunday's Australian Grand Prix.

As part of the deal, the car will be renamed the Virgin BGP 001.

Brawn team principal Ross Brawn said: "An exciting debut race weekend for our team has become even more important as we have secured our second commercial agreement of the season.

"We look forward to working closely with the Virgin Group and sharing our on-track successes."

Branson added: "I have always said I would love for Virgin to be involved in F1 and I am thrilled that we will be entering this fantastic sport with people as skilled as Ross Brawn and the Brawn GP team.

"Over the years Virgin has had the great honour of partnering with technical geniuses and I truly believe that Ross Brawn is to F1 what Burt Ratan is to space travel with Virgin Galactic.

"We are confident that the Virgin BGP 001 car driven by Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello will go from strength to strength this season and we look forward to a great future working with the Brawn GP team."

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Hey look. Funding. I bet Bs in a corner crying right now.

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i hope they don't ruin the livery now. it was suggested that the white will go completely now...

however, its great to see them get such a good sponsor, and branson is the sort of person that is good to have in the sport

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X (@ed24f1)

DaveEllis Wrote:
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> Hey look. Funding. I bet Bs in a corner crying
> right now.

Especially with Rubens flying!! :P

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he said brawn has a shoitbox car. its illegal. his name is grasschello. r29 is a box of a car too. pah to jenson. what else... oh um.... theyre all on hotlaps and nico was hotlapping, despite being on hards, and being p1 all times with nakajima in suit. kimi wasn't hotlapping when he did his lap on softs too. lol.

LOL


Jenson drives it like he owns it; Lewis drives it like he stole it

lol. Brawn,Button,Barrichello,Branson

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The Brits are back - Brawn, Button, Branson.

Exceptional performance from them.

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Well done, absolutely well done Brawn.

might be an end to the B theme, Branson is thinking of renaming the team!

[en.f1-live.com]

i hope this doesn't happen tbh. Virgin Brawn GP would be great, but i think Brawn deserves to have the team under his name now

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X (@ed24f1)

What exceptional performance?

Branson should be thankful that Honda approached him, otherwise he would have been just one in the long cue of perspective sponsors next Monday.

Brawn should be thankful that he got his hands on the car that Honda spent 18 months developing

Button only had to beat Barrichello which considering their head-to-head results should only be expected.

Well done Honda for getting it right for once since there's going to be a lot of coattail riding from now on.

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tripleM Wrote:
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> Button only had to beat Barrichello which
> considering their head-to-head results should only
> be expected.


don't know about that one. i think it was agreed by most that Barrichello did a better job last year than Button

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X (@ed24f1)

In the context of their overall performance over the 3 years together Button going faster in 1 qualifying is not an exceptional performance.

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What exceptional performance?

I think the whole team in general!!

Brawn should be thankful that he got his hands on the car that Honda spent 18 months developing

Honda's money, not Honda development. It was Brawn who headed the development and directed how they should develop and what resources should be used. And 15months wasnt it?

Button only had to beat Barrichello which considering their head-to-head results should only be expected.

True to an extent. It is greatly accepted Rubens is better at qualifying and overal able to get more out the car on a single lap.

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

I am just amazed how quickly the bandwagon started rolling once Honda peeled off their stickers

And yet, we haven't really seen how well Brawn can do on it's own

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I am just amazed how quickly the bandwagon started rolling once Honda peeled off their stickers

Popularity does that. Remove the blank corporate dullness and suddenly you are more likeable. Bring on Richard Awesome Branson and your onto a winner in terms of popularity. Getting Nick Fry to do less talking was probably a good move too.

Similar has happened for Force India. Ian Phillips on the BBC was fantastic, and VJM is clearly an awesome guy, and wanting whats best for the sport.

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The fact that the Mercedes engine is possibly better for 80 extra HP over the Honda engine might have a little to do with it...



"There are some pikeys there at Turn 10 putting tarmac down - what do you think of that?" - Martin Brundle

SchueyFan Wrote:
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> tripleM Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Button only had to beat Barrichello which
> > considering their head-to-head results should
> only
> > be expected.
>
>
> don't know about that one. i think it was agreed
> by most that Barrichello did a better job last
> year than Button


You did see the previous two seasons where JB beat RB by quite a margin didn't you? JB just gave up last season. Can't blame him, he is so much better than the '07 and '08 cars were.

DaveEllis Wrote:
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> Similar has happened for Force India. Ian Phillips
> on the BBC was fantastic, and VJM is clearly an
> awesome guy, and wanting whats best for the sport.

Major PR coup for Force India all weekend all right. Vijay is the kind of guy that works instantly on television, enthusiastic about the sport, enthusiastic about his chances and wearing a damn funky hat to boot. Landing the Beeb team in their part of the paddock is a genius move. And it's not just the image that has improved, the car can definitely take points this season. Had Giancarlo not tried to kill his pit-crew they could have even snuck in here. Took an instant liking to them this weekend.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/2009 02:23PM by The Lopper.

just for the record, I'm on the Brawn bandwagon for the reasons Dave stated - and they're a privateer team going up against the manufacturers. Plus they have Sir Richard Awesome Branson.

Sim

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All Hail The New York Giants - Winners of Superbowl XXI, XXV and XLII!

"I'd love to know what goes on in that crazy head of yours sometimes, Sim..." - Locke Cole

sir Richard Awesome Branson will be doing less for the team and more for himself in the foreseeable future compared to the "blank corporate dullness" of Honda

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