Assuming their pace is real then they really need to rack up the points early doors as the other teams, especially the biggies, will be developing all the time and with such new regulations we could see big changes in fortunes as teams make big strides, or go completely the wrong way on development.
what could hurt brawn due to their lack of preseason testing is not pace but reliability, cars that appear late have an anoying habit of failing under race conditions for a couple of races, add in a new engine and transmission which the car was originally not designed for and they may have problems though at least the merc is supposed to have good heat rejection figures and need less cooling than the ferrari engine for example
Right now that is probably their main problem, rubens said that they used the same engine for 4 tests without any problems so there engine is fine the transmittion and hydrolics are probably the most worrying though.
Brawn had been doing qualifying and race simulations all through Barcelona, and the car seems to have run without any reliability issues. If their running weight was legal, then they could turn out to be an awesome wildcard.
Anyway, there is still one more test. McLaren, Brawn, Renault, and Williams are running on the final test this week, so be prepared for the timesheets to be shuffled again.
He's not the only one. Toyota are hanging their hopes on this season, Mallya seems a little... coy about his F1 adventure, Brawn will find themselves in the dumpster if they can't find any major sponsors, and the future of STR is dependent on whether they can fund their own design and manufacturing operation.
Unless the global recession lifts some time during this year, quite a few drivers will need to start knocking on doors.
Riight, Jerez testing underway, so far all I've heard is that Alonso has put one of the Renaults into the barriers, Mclaren haven't even hit the track yet (people are speculation logistical problems are the cause), and so far only Williams and Brawn have set lap times, with Brawn/Barrichello being faster then Williams/Hulkenberg.
EDIT: From what I've been able to find off F1technical.net.
1. R. Barrichello Brawn GP BGP 001 1:19.808 69
2. N. Hülkenberg Williams FW31 1:20.013 +0.205 46
Can anyone point me to one of those websites doing the live timing?
hmm im expecting bmw to fight for the championship this season
probably with ferrari, maybe mclaren or even brawn
they got a huge advantage with the KERS in races
I think Brawn is gunna get an amazing start to the season but slowly the ferrari and McLaren will start catching up.. I think BMW might be in the top 3 but I still doupt they'll be champs. The KERS system could be an advantage just as it could be a disadvantage because of the extra weight it adds and were it adds it. If they managed to balance the car properly with KERS then it might be fast but I'd still doupt it'll keep up with the Brawn.