2) Brawn stun the paddock – 2009
Brawn arrived at Barcelona in 2009 with almost no sponsorship on the car, with
a very plain white and green livery, but the lack of backers did not stop
them blowing away the rest of the paddock.
They even arrived in Jerez at the last minute, but as soon as Rubens
Barrichello went out on track, it was obvious the other teams had some
catching up to do. While Red Bull in particular had caught up by the middle
of the year, it was too late and Jenson Button had dominated the early part
of the year enough to win the championship.
3) Prost flatter to deceive – 2001
It is often hard, particularly for smaller teams, to resist the temptation to
showboat a little bit at testing in a bid to win sponsors.
Alain Prost’s team were certainly guilty of that in 2001. In Estoril,
Portugal, not only had Jean Alesi topped two of the previous four days of
testing, he then went a second quicker than anyone else, and a second
quicker than anyone managed all winter, fuelling suspicions AP04 was
underweight.
It seemed to be proved true by the season itself, as once they had sponsors on
the car, they managed only four points all season.
4) Honda’s short-lived return – 1999
Honda emerged in 1999 with its own car, but surprised a few in the paddock
setting a time quick enough for 11th on the grid at the previous year’s race
in Spain in only its second test.
The RA099 car, driven by Jos Verstappen, looked to be developing very quickly,
but the death of team leader Harvey Postlethwaite in April 1999 meant the
project was stalled just eight months after its inception. Honda did not
return as a full constructor until 2006 when they bought BAR.
5) Glory days at McLaren with the MP4/4 – 1988
People often bemoan Red Bull’s recent dominance of Formula One, and while it
has been impressive, in terms of a pure speed advantage, nothing quite
matched the arrival of McLaren’s MP4/4 at testing in 1988.
The test in Rio was actually a week old when McLaren arrived, but that did not
stop it turning heads. Up until that point, Ferrari’s Gerhard Berger had
been fastest with a 1 min 29.9 sec lap. But the great Frenchman Alain Prost
managed a 1 min 28.5 on his first morning, and then in the hands of Ayrton
Senna, it went a full two seconds of McLaren’s closest challenger.
This performance set the tone for the rest of the 1988 season, as the MP4/4
went on to win 15 out of 16 grands prix.