The Strange Case of Walter Wolf, Ross Brawn and the Australian Grand Prix

Posted by Ewan on Mar 30th, 2009 in Motor Racing | 0 comments

Walter Wolf Racing
As the British Lazarus of Jenson Button wins the Australian Grand Prix, Ross Brawn can’t relax at his job well done, because now it all starts again for Race Two.

As one of the few teams to win their first race, Brawn GP join an elite club in Formula 1 (and an almost as elite club of actual winners), but did you know that there’s more than just the statistical connection?

Back in 1977, Walter Wolf Racing arose from the ashes of a previous team including a certain Frank Williams. The year before, young engineer Ross Brawn was sent by Williams to the Wold side of the operation and stayed with the workers as Wolf Racing took a new team to the Argentinian Grand Prix… and won.

Now of course Honda left a lot of people in limbo, and Ross Brawn stayed with the workers as Brawn GP took the new team to the Australian Grand Prix… and won.

From the start of the race, Frome born Button stayed in pole position right through to the flag, but with a safety car period eroding his initial lead, and rapidly deteriorating tyres in the last ten laps, the advantage of the Brawn Car is not as large as many hoped (or feared).

Team mate Rubens Barrichello suffered from the lack of testing in the team, as his anti-stall mechanism kicked in and he failed to get a good start. Thanks to some sterling and mature racing, and a late crash between BMW’s Robert Kubicka and Sebastien Vettel, he took a well-deserved second place.

Last year’s World Champion Lewis Hamilton took a surprising third place given the lack of performance from the 2009 McLaren car, a result he would have bitten your hand off for on Saturday after qualifying for the last row of the Grid.

F1 now heads to Malaysia, where the longer straights will be of benefit to the cars carrying the new “one turbo boost per lap” style kinetic energy recovery system – but the odds of back to back victories look a little better today for Britain’s nearly man of F1, Jenson Button.

Thanks to James Allen for the Wolf connection.

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