Jenson Button on how he looked for a job at Red Bull

Jenson Button won the championship title in 2009 with Brawn GP, ​​the former Honda factory team, but before that there was an episode in his sporting biography when he turned to Red Bull in an attempt to find a place in one of the two owned teams from the Austrian company.

As we know, of course, nothing came of this, but the further development of events became one of the most impressive stories worth embodying in the cinema. Actually, this has already happened to some extent, since the premiere of a documentary film dedicated to the Brawn GP team, which lasted only one season, is scheduled for November 15, after which the assets were acquired by the Mercedes group.

The original film, produced by Disney+, is called Brawn: The Impossible Formula 1 Story, which can be translated as “The Incredible Story of Brawn, the Formula 1 Team.” This documentary consists of four episodes and the story is narrated by Keanu Reeves, the famous Canadian actor, director and producer.

In late 2008, Honda’s management unexpectedly announced that it would be winding down its Formula 1 program, and Button found himself at a crossroads. He was sure that he would continue to play for the factory team of the Japanese concern next season, but the situation changed overnight and he had to look for work elsewhere. But since this happened in December, there were virtually no places left in the championship teams.

And then Jenson decided to try his luck at Red Bull. He talked about this during a morning show on the British television channel ITV, where they talked about a future documentary.

When Button was asked if he could have guessed at the time how successful BrawnGP would become, he answered honestly: “No, no, and I tried to leave the team because it didn’t look like the team would continue.

So I asked my manager to talk to Christian Horner about a place in his Red Bull Racing or Toro Rosso, but the answer was: “No, all contracts have already been signed.” And then I realized that I would have to work hard to implement another scenario.

We have found people who are interested in taking over the team and investing in it, but I don’t think that option could work. But then Ross Brawn got involved and eventually bought the team for £1 and ran it – it was his leadership that became one of the key components of success.

We also had to design and build a car. The chassis was designed for a specific Honda engine, and we had to ask (in fact beg) someone to get us the engines so we could integrate them into the chassis.”

At the same time, Button assured that the success achieved in 2009 was not accidental, as the work on the BGP 001 chassis had actually been carried out by the Honda factory team in recent years in accordance with the requirements of the technical regulations in force. force that exact year.

“A lot of money has been invested in this car,” said the 2009 world champion. “It was no coincidence that we were competitive that season, and on top of that we got a different engine, and our specialists did a great job fitting it into the chassis. integrate.

We went fastest during the very first tests, even though the other teams had already been testing for several days. Then everything fell into place and we realized we had an effective machine.”

At the end of 2009, the Brawn GP team was taken over by Mercedes, but Ross Brawn remained in charge and remained in this position until the end of the 2013 season.