F1 champion hails Honda 'saviour'

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F1 champion hails Honda 'saviour'

Honda could use something like this right now...

Chris Deeley Editor

Experienced sports writer covering F1 and other motorsports since 2023

Tuesday 19 May 2026 17:56

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Jenson Button has hailed the impact of F1 legend Ross Brawn on Honda, saying that the former Ferrari chief 'saved' the team.

Brawn arrived at the outfit in what Button called a 'disastrous' 2007 season (correctly – Honda picked up just six points that season and even McLaren's disqualification for Spygate could only lift the Japanese team to eighth in the constructors' championship), and the 2009 world champion has hailed the veteran's leadership in helping to turn the team around.

Of course, 'saved' is a faintly ironic phrase in relative terms – Honda finished ninth in the constructors' championship in Brawn's first year with the team, which was sold (to him) the following winter when Honda became unwilling to fund the $300m operation.

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What the team became after that, however, was all Brawn. Literally, after he bought the team for £1, 2009 saw them on the grid as Brawn GP, winning the drivers' and constructors' titles at the first (and only) time of asking before selling up to Mercedes at the end of the year.

Button recalls surprise Brawn arrival

That one season of Brawn GP brought Button his one and only championship, before he departed to partner Lewis Hamilton at McLaren the next season.

Speaking on the F1 Beyond the Grid podcast, Button revealed: "[2007] was a tough year. And then it was more when Ross turned up at the end of 2007. That was the moment that it's like, 'Oh, this is going to turn around'.

"And you felt the mood shift. A team that had won a race suddenly was so bad in 2007, it needed that kick-start again."

"Just his presence, first of all, was enough. Just him walking into the room was enough. I remember it was like an assembly, we had the whole factory in one room, and nobody really know that Ross was coming. That's when it was announced, and he walked down the middle aisle, and there he was at the front, and he was our saviour. He was the person who was going to come in and save us from the disastrous 2007.

"It wasn't just his presence, but that was already a kick-start. But his leadership, his understanding of how a team needs to work together. Getting rid of the blame culture within a team, letting people be a bit more free within a team, and come up with crazy ideas.

"Sometimes they don't work, but they've got to take risks, otherwise you're never going to get to the front. So, it was a really good atmosphere when Ross was there."

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