The team won eight of the season's seventeen races, and by taking both titles in its only year of competition became the first, and as of 2024[update] the only, constructor to achieve a 100% championship success rate.

While BAT bought the Formula One entry, they set up the British American Racing (BAR) team in a new factory in Brackley.

FIA vice-president Keith Hayes agreed to waive the standard entry fee in recognition of the team's circumstances.

[11] Honda had finished the 2008 Formula One season ninth out of eleven in the constructors' standings and that same year focused its development for the 2009 car.

In qualifying at Australia, Jenson Button took pole, with teammate Rubens Barrichello coming second, followed by Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel.

Button ran most of the race in clean air and maintained the lead after the Toyotas pitted and fell down the order.

[24] At the Turkish Grand Prix, the Brawns were beaten to pole by Vettel after struggling with pace throughout Friday and Saturday, for Button especially.

[29] At the Hungarian Grand Prix, Brawn suffered the same uncompetitiveness after experiencing their worst qualifying of the season, with Button in eighth and Barrichello in thirteenth.

Button too was affected by this as his car spent most of Q3 being checked to make sure the same components would not fail and ended up qualifying with much more fuel than planned.

In the race, neither driver showed much pace until the temperature hit 40 °C, and Button was the fastest man on the track at that point.

While Barrichello thrived, Button started fifth on the grid and finished the race in seventh after the retirement of Vettel from fourth.

Both Brawns managed to make it past the heavily fuelled Kovalainen in the opening laps, and both kept up their pace to complete their final one-two of the season, with Barrichello in first and Button in second.

A typical 25-second penalty would have moved both Brawn drivers one place up and the Constructors' Championship would have been won; it was announced later that Rosberg was in the clear and the race result would stand.

[3] In Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the final race of the season, they finished 3–4, with Button world champion ahead of Barrichello third in the championship.

[9] Jenson Button performed its shakedown; the car featuring white, fluorescent chartreuse yellow, and black colours.

[46] In Spain, the car received its first upgrades since Australia; these were mainly to do with the different cooling requirements of the Mercedes engine,[47] and gave Brawn a 1–2 just as in Melbourne.

Button took ownership of chassis BGP 001-01 as a condition of his contract with Brawn GP in the eventuality that he won the championship, after a protracted legal battle with Mercedes, the subsequent team owners.

[50][51] On 28 March 2009, mid-way through the Australian Grand Prix weekend, Richard Branson announced Virgin as a major sponsor for the team.

[54] It was also confirmed on 19 April that Ray-Ban, a sunglasses manufacturer, would carry on sponsoring the team – its logo appears on the drivers' helmets.

[59] Only for the Spanish Grand Prix, Sony Pictures joined the team with the cars featuring promotional imagery from the film Terminator Salvation.

[60] At the Monaco Grand Prix, Google co-founder Larry Page was rumoured to be in talks with Brawn to sponsor the team in 2010.

The team took up sponsorship from Graham-London before the British Grand Prix, with its logo being shown on the BGP 001s' wing mirrors, including an agreement with Menna Casting.

For the Singapore Grand Prix, Brawn GP secured a sponsorship deal with Canon,[64] and the cars also sported the Virgin Media logo.

For the Japanese Grand Prix, Brawn GP secured a single race sponsorship deal with Angfa Co. Ltd., maker of the medical shampoo Scalp-D, which has proved very popular in Japan since its launch in 2005.

For the Brazilian Grand Prix, the event in which it won the Constructors' Championship, Brawn GP had deals with Banco do Brasil and Petrópolis brewery to display its colours and beer brand Itaipava and TNT energy drink on both cars.

For the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the cars sported the Virgin Galactic logo once more, as the team had a deal with Qatar Telecom.