British entrepreneur Richard Branson's Virgin Group has agreed a substantial sponsorship deal with the new Brawn GP team, both sides announced at the Australian Grand Prix on Saturday.
Britain's Jenson Button chalked up his fifth win in six races with team mate Rubens Barrichello following him home for a Brawn GP one-two at the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday.
This year's Formula One championship could be over halfway through the season unless teams find a way to stop the incredible new Brawn GP outfit, Ferrari driver Felipe Massa said on Saturday. Ferrari have won a record 16 constructors' championships, including the last two, but Massa said the sport's newcomers appeared to be in a class of their own after a stunning debut in qualifying for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
Rubens Barrichello accused his Brawn GP team of losing him the German Grand Prix in Nuerburgring on Sunday and said he did not want to hear any excuses from them. In an extraordinary outburst, the Brazilian told BBC television that the afternoon had been "a good show from the team on how to lose a race."
Formula One champions Brawn GP will compete next season as the official Mercedes factory team after the German carmaker announced a takeover on Monday.
Britain's Jenson Button put the new Brawn GP Formula One team on top of the testing timesheets in Barcelona on Wednesday while champion compatriot Lewis Hamilton had a difficult day with McLaren. Button, whose car has been both quick and reliable since the former Honda team's test debut on Monday, completed 130 laps with a best time of one minute 19.127 seconds according to unofficial timings.
The Brawn GP owner, whose team tops both the drivers' and constructors' standings with two wins from two races, told reporters at the Malaysian Grand Prix that his rivals' difficulties were a direct result of last year's title battle.
Rubens Barrichello wore his feelings on his chest, if not his sleeve, at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Thursday when he turned up for duty in a 'Mr Happy' T-shirt. After angrily accusing his championship-leading Brawn GP Formula One team of costing him victory at the previous race in Germany, the Brazilian made clear that he has calmed down and made his peace with the world.
Jenson Button seized pole position for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Saturday in a fairytale front row sweep for his new Brawn GP team. Brazilian team mate Rubens Barrichello will line up alongside in Sunday's race in a remarkable turnaround for a team who were fighting for their Formula One survival earlier this year.
Formula One leaders Brawn GP see Red Bull as their main rivals for the championship with Germany's Sebastian Vettel an ever present danger for Jenson Button.
Formula One stewards cleared Brawn GP, Toyota and Williams to race in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix after rejecting the protests of three rival teams on Thursday. After six hours of deliberation at the Albert Park circuit, the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) said the officials had dismissed protests by Red Bull, Renault and champions Ferrari.
Mercedes and the Brawn GP team declined to be drawn on Monday about reports the German carmaker planned to buy a stake in the Formula One championship leaders.
Mercedes has agreed to take a 75 percent stake in Formula One leaders Brawn GP within the next three years, German magazine Auto, Motor und Sport reported on Wednesday.
Jenson Button and Brawn GP team mate Rubens Barrichello rocked Formula One to the core on Saturday by running away with Australian Grand Prix qualifying. The team who arrived in Melbourne with no sponsors, a barely-tested car and two drivers written off as has-beens only a few months earlier, were in a class of their own.
Brawn GP can lead a 'clean fuel' revolution in Formula One, British entrepreneur Richard Branson said on Saturday after his Virgin Group agreed a sponsorship deal with the sport's newest team. The Virgin Atlantic owner, whose interests range from space travel to soft drinks, told a news conference at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix that a Virgin-backed company had developed a clean fuel that could change Formula One's dirty image.
Britain's Jenson Button led an astonishing one-two on his Brawn GP team's racing debut in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on Sunday. No Formula One team had won on their debut since Wolf in 1977 while the last to secure the top two places first time out was Mercedes in 1954.
Jenson Button and his Brawn GP team were crowned Formula One champions with a race to spare in an action-packed Brazilian Grand Prix won by Red Bull's Australian Mark Webber on Sunday.
Formula One's ruling body the FIA ruled on Wednesday that the diffuser fitted to championship leader Jenson Button's Brawn GP is legal. The long-awaited verdict confirms the Briton at the top of the driver standings after sensational wins in the season's first two races in Australia and Malaysia.
The desert heat will make Brawn GP hard to beat in Bahrain on Sunday after losing out to Red Bull in a wet Chinese race last weekend, Formula One championship leader Jenson Button said on Thursday. Button, winner of the first two races of the season in Australia and Malaysia, struggled to get heat into his tyres in Shanghai and finished third behind Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.
Jenson Button and his Brawn GP team were crowned Formula One champions with a race to spare in an action-packed Brazilian Grand Prix won by Red Bull's Australian Mark Webber on Sunday.
Britain's Jenson Button won a Malaysian Grand Prix cut short by heavy rain on Sunday for his second victory in a row for the new Brawn GP team.
Renault's Fernando Alonso made his peace with future Ferrari team mate Felipe Massa on Friday before setting the pace in free practice for the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos. While the Spaniard lapped with a best time of one minute 12.314 seconds, Brazilian Rubens Barrichello was the fastest of the three championship contenders ahead of what could be a title-deciding race on Sunday.
Jenson Button made the best possible start to his quest for a third successive Formula One victory by setting the quickest lap time in Friday's two practice sessions for the Chinese Grand Prix. The Briton, who won the first two races of the season from pole position, again showed the pace of his Brawn GP car with a storming lap of one minute, 35.679 seconds late in the second session.
Germany's Sebastian Vettel ran away with the British Grand Prix in a Red Bull one-two while championship leader Jenson Button struggled home in sixth place on Sunday. Australian Mark Webber finished runner-up, 15.1 seconds behind the 21-year-old, with Brazilian Rubens Barrichello in third place for Brawn GP.
The former Honda Formula One team has been saved and will race this season as Brawn GP under new owner Ross Brawn, the renamed team said in a statement on Friday.
The reigning F1 world champion Jenson Button has hinted at a sensational switch to McLaren next season, after talks with Brawn GP were stalled.
Jenson Button won a 'Legends Trophy' esports race on Saturday with fellow retired Formula One world champion Jacques Villeneuve going from last to sixth on his virtual debut.
Honda will return to Formula One in 2015 as McLaren engine partners, replacing Mercedes, sources close to the company said on Wednesday.
Germany's Sebastian Vettel ran away with the British Grand Prix in a Red Bull one-two while championship leader Jenson Button struggled home in sixth place on Sunday.
Team by team prospects for the Formula One season starting in Bahrain on March 14.
Brawn GP driver Rubens Barrichello said on Tuesday he is in talks with Williams and is sure to remain in Formula One next season. The Brazilian denied, however, he has already signed a deal with Williams, saying he is also in discussions to renew with his present team.
Jenson Button clinched his second pole position in a row for the new Brawn GP team at the Malaysian Grand Prix on Saturday while McLaren's world champion Lewis Hamilton could qualify only 12th.
Brawn GP still have plenty of room for improvement despite their one-two debut finish in Sunday's season-opening Australian Formula One Grand Prix, according to race winner Jenson Button.
McLaren gave their rivals something to chew over on Tuesday as Jenson Button kicked off Formula One's pre-season testing with a lap comfortably quicker than anyone else's.
Events in Europe could reshape the F1 championship before teams regroup in China next week. The focus is on the International Automobile Federation and an appeal court hearing scheduled for Paris on April 14 that will make a definitive ruling on the sport's diffuser controversy. If the protesting teams -- BMW-Sauber, Ferrari, Red Bull and Renault -- succeed in overturning stewards' decisions from Australia and Malaysia, then Brawn GP, Toyota and Williams will be reined in.
Brazilian Rubens Barrichello will get a five-place penalty on the starting grid for Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix after Brawn GP changed his car's gearbox after practice on Friday. The decision dealt a blow to his new team's chances of repeating their stunning one-two finish in Australia last weekend.
Jenson Button celebrated his 50th Formula One race for McLaren by ending a three-year wait and taking pole position in qualifying at the Belgian Grand Prix on Saturday.
McLaren's Jenson Button set the pace in a rain-hit practice for the Monaco Grand Prix but kept a wary eye on rivals Lotus.
So-called 'team orders' are unlikely to tarnish this season's Formula One title battle despite being made legal by the sport's governing body, according to McLaren's Jenson Button.
Formula One teams and the governing body remained locked in combat on Friday after the publication of a controversial 2010 entry list that included all 10 current teams as well as newcomers from America and Spain.
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