Jenson Button Brawn during the 2009 Monaco Grand Prix Formula One Art Card by Stuart Booth

The Monaco Grand Prix, sixth race of the 2009 Formula 1 season - Jenson Button leading Brawn team-mate Rubens Barrichello up the hill to Casino Square.  Button had a sequence of six wins and a third at the start of the year but then struggled to keep up with the increasingly competitive Red Bulls, until he was finally crowned World Drivers’ Champion at the penultimate race in Brazil.

Brawn GP was the Honda team resurrected over the winter of 2008/9 following a management buyout led by Ros Brawn.  The Formula 1 regulations were changed for 2009 in an attempt to improve the spectacle by making overtaking easier, in particular by reducing the effect of aerodynamics.  Brawn exploited a loophole to develop the so-called double diffuser which immediately made the car around one second a lap faster than the best of the opposition.

The car was unusual in racing in a very simple and attractive livery with minimal sponsorship, but the visual appeal was somewhat offset by the complex full width front wing allowed by the new design rules.