Expect Speed, but without the bus
At the 2022 Sunday Times Motor Awards photographic shoot, one of our team noticed someone who looked rather out of place at the otherwise empty, wind-swept paddock at Silverstone Circuit. Sitting at a pub table drawing on a cigarette, he had long dark hair held back under a backwards baseball cap, which was paired with a smart suit and t-shirt. It looked a bit like Keanu Reeves, they thought… before getting closer and realising it was indeed the Hollywood megastar.
Reeves was there with Jenson Button, it turned out, to film a new four-part documentary series about Brawn GP’s astonishing win in its sole Formula 1 world championship season. Jump forward 13 months and Disney+, the channel behind the show, has announced that Brawn: The Impossible Formula 1 Story is set to air on the streaming service from November 15.
Produced by North One, the company behind Fifth Gear, the documentary will include previously unseen footage from the F1 archives, as well as interviews with 2009 drivers’ champion Button and his former teammate, Rubens Barrichello. Team principal Ross Brawn, CEO Nick Fry and Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner will also feature.
Button’s car under the spotlight
Stills from the series show Reeves interviewing Button both at Silverstone and away from the track, while Brawn himself is also seen in the spotlight.
What’s more, Reeves gets up close and personal with Button’s championship-winning car, the BGP 001 at what appears to be the former Brawn GP base in Brackley, now home to Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team.
The Brawn GP story is undoubtedly one that bears repetition. After Honda decided to pull out of the sport in 2008, a consortium led by former Ferrari team boss Ross Brawn (who now works for Formula 1, rather than in Formula 1) bought the foundering team for just £1 and scrambled to adapt the car to run with a new engine — one from Mercedes was secured. The team went on to dominate 2009 F1 season.
Such was the team’s superiority in the early part of the season that despite driving a car almost devoid of sponsors, British driver Button won six of the first seven races. Although other teams caught up, Button finished all but one of the remaining 10 races in the top eight positions, including a further podium finish in Italy and another at the final race in Abu Dhabi.
Button had already clinched the 2009 drivers’ championship, at the penultimate race in Brazil, and Barrichello’s wins at the European Grand Prix and the Italian Grand Prix sealed the constructors’ title for Brawn GP.
One season wonder
After the 2009 season, engine manufacturer Mercedes-AMG entered the sport as a constructor, taking over the Brackley-based team from Ross Brawn (pictured). In total, Brawn GP existed for just over eight months before being rebranded as Mercedes GP for the 2010 season, but it remains the only F1 team to win both titles in its only season.
The team went on to become Mercedes-AMG Petronas, which won every world drivers’ dhampionship between 2014 and 2020, as well as earning the constructors’ championship title in every season from 2014 to 2021.
Now the story is being retold by John Wick and Matrix actor Reeves, who is clearly deeply interested in Formula 1. He has already been seen at numerous F1 races, and was interviewed by Martin Brundle at the British Grand Prix in 2022.
Not the only Hollywood interest in F1
Reeves is not the only Hollywood superstar bringing Formula 1 to the fore. Brad Pitt is currently working on a film that centres around the sport, with filming taking place at various events this season, including the 2023 British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
The sport is also experiencing heightened interest sparked by the Formula 1: Drive to Survive series on Disney’s competitor streaming service, Netflix. As well as getting access to star drivers such as Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, and team principals Christian Horner and Toto Wolff, the series has made a cult hero of Haas team boss Guenther Steiner.
With Reeves at the helm (he is also listed as an executive producer of the series), Brawn: The Impossible Formula 1 Story is being eagerly awaited by F1 fans, and the directorship of award-winning Daryl Goodrich should ensure the quality of the production is extremely high.
Brawn: The Impossible Formula 1 Story is available to watch on Disney+ from November 15.
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Keyword: Date set for Keanu Reeves’ Brawn GP F1 documentary premiere on Disney+