Brawn GP Has the Most Expensive Car in Formula One

Alexander Wurz, the man who almost became team owner in Formula One a few weeks ago, revealed that the BGP 001 is currently one of the most expensive cars on the grid. Although Brawn GP are the lowest budget operations in Formula One this year, the team's test driver insists the car is exactly the opposite, as it was built and tested back when Honda was sponsoring the Brackley based team.

Wurz said the 2009 challenger was intensively tested throughout the duration of last year and that it has underwent several checks in the wind tunnels in 2008. With the Japanese manufacturer unable to sustain a competitive budget for this year and withdrawing in December 2008, the car remained top-of-the-class, although run by a financially struggling team.

“The car was taken in three different directions in the wind tunnel. Two directions were found to be wrong, so the team could just switch. The Brawn is probably the most expensive car with the lowest operating budget ever,” the Austrian test driver was quoted as saying by News.

Another report to suggest the same findings was issued by German magazine Auto Motor und Sport, who revealed Honda had no less than 5 wind tunnels at its use during the 2008 season. With all of their last year operations focusing solely on the 2009 season, added to a presumed half-billion euro budget from the Japanese manufacturer – not to talk about Ross Brawn's supervising the whole thing – the success was imminent for the British outfit. Our only question is how in the world have Honda missed it?

Referring to Red Bull's dominating performance at Silverstone, Wurz admitted he was impressed with Sebastien Vettel's drive during the British Grand Prix, but reckoned the two leading teams – Brawn GP and Red Bull – will share dominating weekend for the remainder of the season depending on tracks' characteristics.

“I would say that Brawn and Red Bull are at eye-level, and success from now on will depend on the circuits,” added the Austrian driver.