Brawn team over the biggest hurdle

The former Honda team have already overcome their biggest challenge in securing their survival and can hope for a "respectable" start to the Formula One season as Brawn GP, according to new owner Ross Brawn.

The first race in Australia is on March 29 and the team, whose change of ownership was announced only on Friday after months of uncertainty that could have left the sport with just nine entrants, have plenty of catching up to do.

"The biggest hurdle we faced was being in a position to race in Melbourne and we will now be able to achieve that target," Brawn said in an interview on the team's web site. "Initially we may experience some reliability issues resulting from the lack of track testing but we feel we have a good car and we hope that our performance will be respectable. We are confident in the fundamental design principle of our car and look forward to the opportunity to develop it further as the season progresses."

The 700-strong British-based team's future had hung in the balance since Honda announced in December that they were pulling out due to the credit crunch. Japan's second largest carmaker lavished an estimated $300 million on their under-performing team last year for very little reward.

Brawn said he had purchased the team, adding that closing down the operation had always been a last resort for the manufacturer.

"As the owner I will continue to be supported by the incumbent management team, who have worked closely with me throughout the sale process and will continue to do so in the future," said the former Ferrari technical director.

The team gave their new-look black, white and fluorescent yellow liveried BGP 001 car a private 'shakedown' at Silverstone on Friday before a test debut at the Barcelona circuit on Monday. Britain's Jenson Button is scheduled to carry out the initial testing before handing over to Brazilian team mate Rubens Barrichello.

Brawn said both drivers, whose careers could have been dealt a hammer blow by Honda's departure, were extremely motivated and had trained hard over the winter.

"After four years as team mates, their experience with our team in Brackley, our systems and our engineers, will prove a real asset," he added. "Jenson and Rubens have always had a great relationship and we expect to see them pushing each other hard over the season to get the best performance from the car and drive forward its development."

Brawn said designing and manufacturing the new car, which will be powered by a Mercedes engine, had been "reasonably straightforward".

"Our first test with the new car, though much later than we would have liked, will be an emotional moment for everyone in the team I'm sure," he said. "The debut race weekend with 20 brand new cars is always difficult to predict and on this occasion I'm not even going to try. What I know we can take away from Melbourne is an enormous sense of pride and achievement at having already met and overcome our biggest challenge."

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