As stated in the FIA rule book, new F1 entries are eligible for commercial revenues only after their first year in the series. However, being that the “Brawn GP” name was adopted by the Brackley based team after the March buyout from Honda, the rest of the F1 teams had no problem with sharing their financial rights for 2009 with Ross Brawn's team.
All but Renault's Flavio Briatore, of course, as the Italian manager fumed at Brawn following the double diffuser saga earlier this year. While accusing the Englishman for keeping things quiet about the controversial double design – as Brawn is also technical head of the Formula One Teams Association – Briatore also made it very clear he doesn't want Brawn GP to benefit from the 2009 incomes.
As estimated by the British media, the sum of money that could have entered Brawn's pockets – counting as commercial revenues for the Honda Racing outfit – would have been around 20M (pounds sterling). However, as confirmed by Ecclestone for The Independent newspaper, the money will not be paid out to Brawn GP.
Not only that, but the commercial revenues owed to Honda Racing may “not be paid out at all”, should the other F1 teams fail to decide on their potential use.
This whole situation could have been avoided if the team had arranged for a name closer to Honda Racing, believes Ecclestone. “(This is) not a good name, doesn't mean anything to the public,” Bernie was quoted as saying by the aforementioned publication, while confirming he opposed to the team's new name from the very beginning.
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