Fry: Brawn budget safe for 2009

Source: www.planet-f1.com

Despite not yet signing a title sponsor, Brawn GP's CEO Nick Fry has revealed that the team's budget is secure for this year's Championship.

After purchasing the team from Honda just weeks before the start of the season, Brawn signed the Virgin Group as their first main sponsor. And although Richard Branson has revealed that his company is keen to become Brawn's title sponsor, the team has yet to make a decision.

But despite lacking the financial boost that would come from a title sponsor, Fry insists the Championship leaders have the funds needed to see out the season and continue developing their car.

"There is no issue whatsoever with funding through this year," he said.

"Even if we didn't get another penny in sponsorship we'd be able to do what we need to do.

"We are using our money wisely and that means spending it on the performance of the car and the whole team, including Ross and I, going EasyJet - that's how it should be, that's what you do in constrained economic environments.

"But as far as development of the car goes we are in good shape."

The CEO, though, did add that Brawn are "very close" to agreeing new deals with other sponsors as well as continuing talks with Virgin.

"We are very close to several commercial agreements," he said.

"I am sure other teams are interested in Virgin and I would expect them to look with others. But we are continuing discussions with Virgin and we are talking to many others as well."



Despite not yet signing a title sponsor, Brawn GP's CEO Nick Fry has revealed that the team's budget is secure for this year's Championship.


After purchasing the team from Honda just weeks before the start of the season, Brawn signed the Virgin Group as their first main sponsor. And although Richard Branson has revealed that his company is keen to become Brawn's title sponsor, the team has yet to make a decision.


But despite lacking the financial boost that would come from a title sponsor, Fry insists the Championship leaders have the funds needed to see out the season and continue developing their car.


"There is no issue whatsoever with funding through this year," he said.


"Even if we didn't get another penny in sponsorship we'd be able to do what we need to do.


"We are using our money wisely and that means spending it on the performance of the car and the whole team, including Ross and I, going EasyJet - that's how it should be, that's what you do in constrained economic environments.


"But as far as development of the car goes we are in good shape."


The CEO, though, did add that Brawn are "very close" to agreeing new deals with other sponsors as well as continuing talks with Virgin.


"We are very close to several commercial agreements," he said.


"I am sure other teams are interested in Virgin and I would expect them to look with others. But we are continuing discussions with Virgin and we are talking to many others as well."


'Beating Rubens is proof of how good Jenson is'

Ross Brawn reckons the fact that Jenson Button is beating Rubens Barrichello is proof of how good the British driver really is.

Button has already won five grands prix this season - and we are only six races into the Championship, giving the Brit a healthy 16-point lead over his team-mate while his next closest rival is 28 points behind him.

But given Button's disastrous build-up to this season with Brawn, it has opened the debate over how much of the success belongs to the car and how much to the driver.

Brawn, though, reckons one only has to compare Button's results to Barrichello's to understand just how good the Brit really is.

"You have to remember that Rubens is a tremendous reference. Rubens had his occasions when he beat Michael (Schumacher) and Michael was a pretty strong reference so the fact that Jenson has won these races with Rubens in the team sets the standard," Brawn told Autosport.

"I think he is doing exceptionally well. It's early days but I'm obviously delighted with both drivers' performance. But Jenson is doing exceptionally well."

Jense already setting his sights on Silverstone win


Jenson Button has vowed to put on a show for his fans next month as he is now guaranteed to be World Championship leader going into the British Grand Prix.

No matter what unfolds at the next race in Turkey in a fortnight, Button's blistering start to the season, with five wins from six grands prix, ensures he cannot be caught before Silverstone on June 21.

That is a source of great pride for Button, who produced a perfect drive around Monaco to open up a 16-point lead at the top of the standings over Brawn GP team-mate Rubens Barrichello.

"That's a great feeling," said Button.

"I always love the British Grand Prix, which is obviously my proper home grand prix.

"Even when you're not competitive and things are going tough, you still get a lot of support there, being British, which is great.

"But going there having won five races (potentially six if he also wins in Turkey) will be a nice feeling.

"Hopefully there will be lots of Brawn caps out there. I think they've only just gone on sale. It would be nice to see a couple.

"But it's a special race, whether you're in a good car or a not-so-good car.

"But turning up there leading the Championship, yeah, it's going to be nice, and hopefully I'll put on a good show in front of the home crowd.

"Rubens is going to be tough to beat there. He's beaten me every year he's been my team-mate (all three years), but I'll give it a good go."

In fact, it will be a British team, driver and owner heading into the British Grand Prix leading both Championships as Ross Brawn's marque have been inspirational since he took over following the demise of Honda.

That fact took Brawn by surprise when it was put to him as he said: "I hadn't thought of that.

"But we seem to have built up a tremendous group of fans, even in the short time we have been together.

"So we are really looking forward to seeing them all at Silverstone and hopefully having a special time.

"All races are very special, but of course your home grand prix has an extra element, so victory there would be pretty special.

"It would almost complete the set."

With his win in Monaco, Button joined an all-star cast of drivers to have won five of the first six races after Alberto Ascari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Jim Clark, Sir Jackie Stewart, Nigel Mansell and Michael Schumacher.

It was a feat Schumacher achieved three times, and on each occasion Brawn was the brains behind such an accomplishment.

Although reluctant to compare the two, Brawn's appreciation for Button's attributes behind the wheel is growing immeasurably.

"There was a point in the race where Jenson was coming up to a group that were racing each other," reflected Brawn.

"We were talking on the pit wall and saying maybe he should ease the pace back a bit, and not get mixed up in it.

"Almost simultaneously he came on the radio and said 'Look guys, I don't want to get involved in what's going on ahead. I'm going to ease back a bit'.

"So he's gaining in that mental capacity to do things, as well as drive the car.

"For Jenson, you have to remember Rubens is also a tremendous reference. Rubens had his occasions when he beat Michael, and Michael was a pretty strong reference.

"So the fact Jenson has won these races with Rubens in the team sets the standard.

"It's early days, but I'm obviously delighted with both drivers' performance. But Jenson is doing exceptionally well."

On the evidence of what we have seen so far, it should yield the world title, not that Button will be drawn into that.

"I'm taking it as it comes. Nothing's changed," insisted Button.

"I don't know what would change if I did think about the World Championship to be fair.

"But I'm enjoying myself, as you can imagine, and I'm just looking forward to the next weekend in Turkey."

Turkey Friday quotes: Brawn

Source: www.autosport.com

Rubens Barrichello - 8th: "It's been a slightly different Friday today from our recent experiences. We don't look that competitive at the moment however it is still early in the weekend and depends on the programmes and fuel levels that our competitors are running. There is a lot of work for us to achieve, particularly in the first sector where we seem to be suffering the most, but we believe that we understand the issues. We know that we can work with this car to improve its performance quickly and that puts us in a strong position to make the changes needed ahead of qualifying."

Jenson Button – 12th: "We've had a tough first day of practice trying to find a good balance with the car. We tried many different set-up options over the course of the two sessions but unfortunately could not get the car to where I want it to be and struggled with a lack of grip. However we now have a great deal of information to review after trying a few evaluations and believe that we have some understanding of what is causing the problems. We need to have a good look at everything tonight and I'm hopeful that we can resolve today's issues and have a better day tomorrow."

Ross Brawn – team principal: "We've had a challenging opening day to the Turkish Grand Prix weekend as we faced issues on both sides of the garage. The team worked very hard in both sessions on a number of set-up changes and whilst we made some progress, we were not able to find a good enough balance on either car. We also experienced a lack of grip on both the prime and option tyre. I'm confident that we will get to the bottom of this overnight and should be in a much better position ready for qualifying tomorrow."

Q & A with Jenson Button

Source: www.autosport.com

By Jonathan Noble

Jenson Button comes to Turkey as a dominant championship leader, with the benchmark car underneath him, and amid increasing speculation about whether he will commit his future to Brawn - and if so, for how much.

He tackled all these topics on more as he addressed the media at a damp Istanbul Park this afternoon.

Q. Have you found out why Brawn was slower than Red Bull in the last wet race in China?

Jenson Button: I think the Red Bulls are bloody quick in the wet. Maybe not with the way the diffuser is now, maybe that might make a difference, we'll have to see. We know a lot of the reason why we weren't so competitive, and it's amazing how you can find that chunk of time. We were over a second slower than the Red Bulls, but we know where a lot of the time is and it's an easy thing to put right, we just haven't had any practice to see if it does work.

Q. You've won on every type of track so far, surely there's no reason why that won't continue this weekend?

JB: If everyone had the same car coming here, then maybe not. But we do have a couple of improvements, we have something different with the aerodynamics. It's not really a big step, it's just trying to stay ahead of the game. I think that the Red Bulls should work quite well here. The car that they had in Barcelona, if they brought that here they would be competitive. We'll have to see if their diffuser makes a difference on this circuit.

But they're expected to be competitive and I think they will be. If you look at the times in the races previous to Monaco, they were very competitive. You could say that they have been as quick as us, they just haven't got it together over the race weekends. You can't blame KERS cars, I think strategy is important, and a few other things. They haven't had race wins, but I think they're quick enough to fight with us for sure.

The Ferraris will be quick here too. I think they've made up ground at every race and they performed very well, especially in Monaco. You can say it's a different type of circuit, but there's a lot of slow speed here and they've got KERS for the drag up the hill, which should help them quite a bit. So those two teams will be strong.

McLaren I think will be quick for most of the circuit but I think they'll struggle so much with Turn 8 that maybe they won't be there over a lap time. And Toyota maybe will be competitive because they've reverted to a previous aero package and they'll be quite good at a circuit like this.

Q. There have been stories suggesting you are discussing big pay deals to stay with Brawn beyond 2009...

JB: I haven't spoken to anyone about it. I've read the articles and that's about it. Even after reading the articles I haven't spoken to the team about it because I'm not interested. I'm here to race and I don't want to talk about money. I don't want to talk about anything else. It's irrelevant at the moment. I've got to concentrate on this weekend, and that's what I've got to do at every race we go to. I'm not thinking about money at all. I was with this team and continued with this team because I thought the car would be competitive, that's all.

Q. Do you see yourself staying at the team long term?

JB: I'm very happy here, as you can imagine, I've won five out of six races. It's not something that I'm going to talk to the team about until much later in the season. A lot, lot later in the season. Because I'm having a great time, but I know that it could end very quickly if you take your eye off the ball, so that's not what I'm going to do.

Q. Fernando Alonso said today that he expects him to wrap up the title by early summer, what would you say to that?

JB: That would be nice, but I can't see it happening with the way the system is. We've had six races and I've only got a 16-point lead. It's not a lot. If nothing changed now it would only two races before the end of the season when I would have won it, and there's so much that's going to happen before then. It's definitely not going to be a walk in the park. You can see that by the competitiveness of the other teams. If you look through all the data after the races, their lap times are the same as ours, we've just done the better job on the weekend. But they will get it right, for sure. But hopefully not too often.

Q. You're now a hot property, presumably there is interest from other teams wanting to sign you?

JB: It obviously looks good when you read it, but I have no interest in discussing anything with anyone at the moment. I'm very happy, I'm doing what I'm here to do, and that's winning races and leading the championship. I'm not thinking about next year yet.

Q. Turn 8 must have been horrendous in last year's car, presumably you're now looking forward to it?

JB: I am, but it's probably the weakest corner on the circuit for our car. I think that the Red Bull will be very competitive through there. If you look at Barcelona in the two high speed corners they were taking one and a half to two tenths out of us each of them, which is massive. Everyone says 'your car must be amazing' in high speed, but it's not compared to the Red Bull. So that's an area we need to work on, for sure. We're not as weak as the McLaren, for example, in high speed corners, but it's an area we've got to work on because it's not only going to gain or lose you a lot of time in Turn 8 because it's such a long corner, but it can damage the tyres if you haven't got the balance right.

I've been watching a lot of data from previous years. The good thing is there's only one high speed corner on the circuit. Coming here I was thinking Red Bull are going to be very, very strong - are we actually going to be able to touch them? But if you think about it, it's not a high speed circuit. There are so many long straights you think it's a high speed circuit, but it's only really Turn 8.

Q. So is that more of a worry for Silverstone then?

JB: Yeah, that is a bit of a worry, but I hear it's not so much of an issue, just one long corner, it's not as much of a problem as Silverstone.

Q. So are you concerned about Silverstone?

JB: Not really concerned, but we're going to have a lot of competition there and it won't be an easy race, that's for sure. But at the moment I'm not thinking about it too much. Let's think about this one for now. I'm sure we can sort out some of our issues in the high speed corners. We've got something different aerodynamically, the front wings are a bit different, and hopefully that will help us.

Q. Do you find yourself being congratulated more these days?

JB: People in the past were very friendly and saying 'we know it will happen in the end' but this year's obviously very different. But it's the same in a way because you never get anyone trying to be funny or cocky.

Q. If Ferrari keeps getting quicker, do you think you will have to start running shorter first stints and carrying less fuel in qualifying?

JB: The problem is if you do that and you do get trapped, you're screwed completely. It's a difficult one, because going into qualifying and thinking maybe you haven't got the pace of the others and you go a bit shorter, then everyone starts going shorter and shorter and then if you don't get the perfect lap you're totally screwed in the race because you're stopping early and you might get stuck behind someone. So it's a difficult one. But also if everyone's going shorter, say lap 13 or 14 for example, and you think 'I don't want to go that short' so you go to lap 18, then you could end up sixth on the grid. So it's a really difficult one.

You have to read what's happened this year. Sometimes you've got to do something completely different. It might work, it might not. Qualifying's difficult at this point of the season, to know what to do. Hopefully we'll have good pace, and if we haven't it's going to be a tough one.

Button not distracted by future talk

Source: www.autosport.com

By Jonathan Noble

World championship leader Jenson Button has vowed to push talk about a new Brawn deal for 2010 to the back of his mind - saying his only focus at the moment is keeping his title charge on course.

As AUTOSPORT reported last week, Brawn is ready to rewrite the terms of Button's multi-year contract to give the Briton the kind of money deal that will deter him from being tempted by big cash offers from rival outfits.

But despite his bosses' pledge, Button says any talk about money or new contractual terms will be ignored for now – because he does not want to get distracted from his on-track efforts.

"It's not something that I'm going to talk to the team about until much later in the season," said Button in Turkey on Thursday. "A lot, lot later in the season. Because I'm having a great time, but I know that it could end very quickly if you take your eye off the ball. So that's not what I'm going to do."

Button says he has not talked to bosses Ross Brawn or Nick Fry about his contractual position, having originally signed a cut-price deal, and has no interest in bringing up the subject yet.

"I haven't spoken to anyone about it," he said. "I've read the articles and that's about it. Even after reading the articles I haven't spoken to the team about it because I'm not interested. I'm here to race and I don't want to talk about money.

"I don't want to talk about anything else. It's irrelevant at the moment. I've got to concentrate on this weekend, and that's what I've got to do at every race we go to. I'm not thinking about money at all. I was with this team and continued with this team because I thought the car would be competitive, that's all."

And he says he is unmoved by reports that rival teams are forming a queue to try and lure him away from Brawn for next year.

"It obviously looks good when you read it, but I have no interest in discussing anything with anyone at the moment," he said. "I'm very happy, I'm doing what I'm here to do, and that's winning races and leading the championship. I'm not thinking about next year yet."

Although Button has won five of the first six races of the season to emerge as clear favourite for the championship, he thinks that things will be much tougher for his Brawn team in Turkey this weekend.

"I think that the Red Bulls should work quite well here. The car that they had in Barcelona, if they brought that here they would be competitive. We'll have to see if their diffuser makes a difference on this circuit. But they're expected to be competitive and I think they will be.

"If you look at the times in the races previous to Monaco, they were very competitive. You could say that they have been as quick as us; they just haven't got it together over the race weekends. You can't blame KERS cars, I think strategy is important, and a few other things. They haven't had race wins, but I think they're quick enough to fight with us for sure.

"The Ferraris will be quick here too. I think they've made up ground at every race and they performed very well, especially in Monaco. You can say it's a different type of circuit, but there's a lot of slow speed here and they've got KERS for the drag up the hill, which should help them quite a bit. So those two teams will be strong.

"McLaren I think will be quick for most of the circuit but I think they'll struggle so much with Turn 8 that maybe they won't be there over a lap time. And Toyota maybe will be competitive because they've reverted to a previous aero package and they'll be quite good at a circuit like this."

Button also thinks talk about an early end to this year's championship is premature – especially because teammate Rubens Barrichello is only 16 points behind him so far.

"I can't see it happening with the way the system is," he said. "We've had six races and I've only got a 16-point lead. It's not a lot. If nothing changed now it would only be two races before the end of the season when I would have won it, and there's so much that's going to happen before then.

"It's definitely not going to be a walk in the park. You can see that by the competitiveness of the other teams. If you look through all the data after the races, their lap times are the same as ours, we've just done the better job on the weekend. But they will get it right, for sure. But hopefully not too often."