Brawn GP Racing Team

BGP 001

The Brawn BGP 001 during testing.

Following Honda's withdrawal, development of the BGP 001 never stopped and on the day of its debut, Jenson Button performed its shakedown – the car featuring white, fluorescent chartreuse yellow and black colours.^[27] The team gave the BGP 001 its first test at Circuit de Catalunya on 9 March 2009, topping the timesheets many times.^[28] With the testing moving to Circuito de Jerez, Brawn GP continued to set the pace, finishing the test leading two of the three tests.^[29] During an interview Brawn said there was more speed to come after he explained that '...The BGP 001 car is the result of 15 months of intensive development work and the team have been nothing less than fantastic in their commitment to producing two cars in time for the first race'.^[30] At the first race an official complaint was launched by four teams against the rear diffusers of the Williams FW31, Toyota TF109 and the Brawn BGP 001 on the grounds that they did not fall within the dimensions set out in the regulations,^[31] but after analysing the cars the race stewards reported that the cars were legal. This ruling has been appealed, the appeal was heard after the second race of the season.^[32] However motorsport's governing body ruled that the car was legal.^[33] There was another complaint at Malaysia after which BMW Sauber joined the appeal after they were deemed legal, again.^[34] After the appeal the diffuser was deemed legal by the FIA. ^[35] In Spain, the car received its first improvements since Australia^{[citation needed]} and gave Brawn a 1-2, just as in Melbourne.

The Brawn BGP 001 with the Terminator livery.

The Brawn GP motor home hosts all the team's sponsors.

The sponsors that were still with the Honda team stayed on as sponsors, including Bridgestone.

Through the early stages of the 2009 season Brawn obtained various sponsor deals. On 26 March 2009, Brawn GP announced a partnership with British clothing manufacturer Henri Lloyd. The company will supply the team with clothing and footwear and their brand will appear on the BGP 001.^[36] On 28 March 2009 Sir Richard Branson announced Virgin as a major sponsor for the team.^[37] On April 17 Brawn announced an agreement with MIG Investments. They would sport the logo on the front of the car.^[38] It was also confirmed on April 19 that Ray-Ban, a sunglasses manufacturer, would carry on sponsoring the team - their logo appears on the drivers' helmets.^[39] At the 2009 Bahrain Grand Prix Virgin sported their Virgin Galactic logo instead of Virgin.^[40] They re-signed Endless Advance^[41] and NCE^[42] and signed a new supplier deal with safety harness supplier Willans before the Spanish Grand Prix.^[43] Only for the Spanish Grand Prix, Sony Pictures joined the team with the cars featuring promotional imagery from the upcoming film Terminator Salvation.^[44]. However, Virgin look set to end their deal from next season citing cost as a hurdle.^[45] At the 2009 Monaco Grand Prix, Google co-founder Larry Page was rumoured to be in talks with Brawn to sponsor the team in 2010. Although a guest of McLaren-Mercedes, Page is believed to want the Google name to appear on a race-winning team.^[46] The team took up sponsorship from Graham-London before the British Grand Prix. Their logo was shown on the BGP 001s' wing mirrors. ^[47]