The chic underwear of the Brawn GP

Do you know the fashionable joke in the paddock? It's Martin Whitmarsh, the boss of McLaren, which is addressed to Ross Brawn. “Okay Ross, no problem using the engine Mercedes, as long as you want. In exchange, provide us with your frames! » McLaren must actually be boiling to see these pesky Brawn GP/RB001s holding the top spot. And the firm with the star is boiling over having preferred to charge full price rather than negotiate a discount in exchange for a “powered by Mercedes” on the hood. This is how. Like the barons of F1 what are Ferrari, McLaren and Renault have to get used to it. Either by accepting their defeat from the start, and their interpretation of the rules a little lightly according to Ross Brawn, or by getting up to date as quickly as possible. Hard to accept, yes, but the rule is the same and also unclear for everyone. (?)

Technically, the secret of this RB001 is not to have one, like all good single-seaters. No very strong point able to make the difference, no big weakness either. Let's say that it is, for the moment, the best compromise on the board.

At first glance, it looks like a car traditional, almost banal. And yet... She obviously has something extra to have dominated the first two GPs of the season in this way. In the dry, in the rain, on a city circuit, on an artificial track... The curious thing about the story is that the F1 2009 field offers us a much more unconventional car, surprising even with certain new, even spectacular and obvious solutions. : there Red Bull.

Find the full interview this week in your AUTOhebdo magazine N°1696