Brawn GP in F1, yes but?

No one has forgotten the winter saga that shook the world of F1, the incessant rumors of takeover, or not for that matter, of the former Honda Racing team after it officially declared, at the end of December, that it was definitively withdrawing from competition.

A saga which finally ended, on March 6, with the resale of the Japanese team to its former technical director, the charismatic Ross Brawn, whom the latter soberly renamed Brawn Grand Prix. A happy ending for the fans, but also for all the people making up the great Formula 1 circus.

But then, the story is perhaps not as beautiful as we think? Indeed, to commit to the long term and to ensure the development of the car, in partnership with Mercedes, Ross Brawn first had to find the necessary financial means. Counting both on the participation of Honda, which rather than paying very heavy severance pay preferred to re-inject money into the team, but also on that of the big financier of F1, Bernie Ecclestone. Because indeed, the latter still had to pay the FOM rights, based on the annual turnover of F1, to the managers of the Brackley team.

But that?s precisely the whole problem. Because the Brawn GP team was certainly admitted to the 2009 championship, but admitted as a new entrant. As such, it therefore does not have the right to collect the promised royalties, amounting to around 22 million euros all the same, for a period of three years in total. This is how Bernie Ecclestone plays his personal strategy to put the knife under the throat of Ross Brawn, after having badly digested the fact of seeing his initial takeover proposal rejected, with the aim of then reselling it even more expensively to the Russian buyers. with whom he was in contact.

It remains to be seen whether Brawn can find the means to make his team survive while remaining independent, in particular thanks to good racing performances which could possibly attract a few sponsors and by putting a little hand in his pocket, or, if necessary , if he will have to bow and return, tail between his legs, towards Ecclestone?