Brawn success is worthy of Hollywood

Jenson Button's Brawn GP team can celebrate a fairytale Formula One title tomorrow, whatever happens to their championship leader at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Brawn, whose very existence had looked doubtful back in January, are on the brink of becoming the first team to win the constructors' crown in their first full season and they may not even need another point.

Red Bull must finish one-two with Brawn failing to score if they are to remain in the reckoning, meaning that Brawn would be champions the instant Australian Mark Webber or Germany's Sebastian Vettel retire at Interlagos.

"It's an amazing story and it is a Hollywood movie, for sure," said Button, who will wrap up his own personal battle to become Britain's 10th world champion if results go his way.

"I know it's not a completely new team, and there are a lot of very experienced people in the team, but it will be a very emotional moment for everyone just as it was in Australia when we finished one-two."

Brawn, named after team principal Ross Brawn, emerged phoenix-like from the ashes of the Honda team after the Japanese manufacturer announced in December that they were pulling out of the sport.

Neither Button nor Brazilian team mate Rubens Barrichello, now his closest rival for the title but still 14 points adrift with two races remaining, knew over the winter whether they had a future in Formula One.

Button had scored just nine points in 2007 and 2008 combined while Barrichello, now 37, was heading for the scrapheap.

It was only in March, some three weeks from the start of the season, that Honda agreed to the management buyout that saved the team and threw both drivers a lifeline.

They already knew the car was good, Honda having spent huge amounts of time and money on it, and Button led a one-two in their first race in Melbourne. He went on to take six of the first seven in an astonishing sequence of results.

GOOD LEADERSHIP

"The team has been through a lot this winter and it's not just whether they could compete in Formula One, it's whether they had a job that could pay for their kids' school and what have you," said Button.

"It was a very difficult situation for them over the winter and I think a lot of them found it very tough, but they had good leadership and that's what counted and it gave them hope and it gave them a positive outlook for the future."

Brawn, dubbed "The Big Bear" by Button, won numerous championships with Michael Schumacher at Benetton and Ferrari where he was the technical director. Success under his own name and with his own team takes him onto another level.

"Ross has achieved so much in this sport, but to win a championship with his own team is far greater than what he's achieved in the past, I think," said Button.

"And that goes for everyone within the team. They've worked so hard with this team, whatever its name was in the past, they've worked very, very hard and they deserve whatever we achieve this season."

Button's road to the title, if it happens this weekend, has been no less astonishing.

Written off by some critics as an overpaid one-hit wonder with playboy tastes, the 29-year-old who has dreamed of being champion since he was old enough to get in a go-kart lined up in Australia with just one win to his credit from 153 starts.

He has proved the critics wrong, even if there are still some who have looked at his struggles to score points in recent races and questioned whether he would be a worthy champion, and arrived in Brazil calm and refreshed.

"I feel a lot more relaxed here than I did in Japan, and maybe the previous few races because it's a very different situation," he said this week. "Rubens has to beat me by four points at least, and Sebastian by six (to stay in the chase).

"It would be better if we could win it here, but if we can't then we have another race in hand, which is the great thing," added the Englishman.

"It's been a long time since it hasn't gone down to the wire, so we will see if we can make it different here."