What if Alonso had driven the Brawn GP in 2009?
The Brawn BGP 001 was the most dominant car of the modern era. Would Alonso have swept the board with it?
The simulation's verdict
Fernando Alonso would have won the 2009 title in 56% of the 200 simulations.
Fernando Alonso
Jenson Button
Who finished ahead
Based on 200 simulations of the 2009 season. Numbers can vary each time you play.
Historical context
The 2009 Brawn BGP 001 is possibly the most dominant car of the modern F1 era. Button won six of the first seven races. Alonso that year drove a much inferior Renault and finished ninth. What would the double world champion have done with that prodigious car?
The real 2009 season
The 2009 season is probably the most romantic story in modern Formula 1. Honda pulled out of the sport in mid-winter and its team came within a whisker of vanishing, until Ross Brawn rescued it for a symbolic sum and renamed it Brawn GP. Against all odds, that team of survivors had designed the BGP 001, a car that perfectly exploited a loophole in the new rules — the double diffuser — and proved unbeatable early on. Jenson Button seized the moment with six wins in the first seven races and then managed his advantage. In the second half of the year, Red Bull and a young Sebastian Vettel surged, but it was too late. Button and Brawn were crowned drivers' and constructors' champions in their only season of existence, an unrepeatable feat.
Real champion: Jenson Button in the Brawn BGP 001. The Brawn BGP 001: from a team that almost disappeared in winter to world champion. See the full 2009 season →
The driver
Fernando Alonso is the most decorated Spanish driver in history and, for many, one of the most complete ever. The Asturian from Oviedo broke the Ferrari-Schumacher stranglehold with Renault, winning back-to-back titles in 2005 and 2006 and becoming the youngest champion in history at the time. What cemented his legend was not only those titles but his knack for wringing more from cars than they should give. Full profile →
How it's simulated
The engine recreates qualifying (Q1, Q2, Q3) and every Grand Prix with the ~20 real drivers of 2009, weighing each car's performance, driver skill, weather, safety cars and tyre wear. Learn how the simulator works →
Season
2009
Mode
One driver, different car
Car
Brawn GP
Tags
Choose driver, car and season. The engine simulates the full championship with real drivers.