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Extract from our Formula 1 catalogue BR68 – June 2009

It’s a funny old world. After nine seasons in Formula One, Jenson Button had but one lucky win to his name, had lost most of his diminishing fan base to Lewis Hamilton, and seemed to be out of a drive following Honda’s decision to quit the sport.

Then, less than a month before the start of this season, it was finally confirmed that Brawn GP would be on the 2009 grid. Even though Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello set promising times in pre-season testing, this was put down to ‘glory runs’ in the hope of finding a sponsor.

Then came the Australian Grand Prix; nowhere to hide. The two Brawns easily swept the front row of the grid. In the race, Jenson scored a convincing victory, while a slow start saw Rubens have an eventful race as he fought his way back up to second.

Brawn became the first team to win on its debut since Wolf in 1977, while British Formula One fans remembered that they liked Jenson as well as Lewis!

Melbourne was no fluke either, with Button scoring a further five wins in the next six races. At the time of going to press, the Brawn drivers are first and second in the world championship!

Minichamps quickly obtained a Brawn licence and has already announced a whole host of replicas to celebrate the incredible start of Brawn GP.

There will be five replicas from the Australian Grand Prix, all of which will be limited editions. They will have the Virgin logos on the rear wing and on the side of the car. There will be 1:18 and 1:43 BGP001s for both Jenson and Rubens, and a 1:43 two car set commemorating their 1-2 as well. There will also be showcars in 1:43 for the two drivers.

Finally, and most excitingly, ‘late season livery’ cars have also been confirmed in 1:18 and 1:43. This suggests that Minichamps has inside information that the team’s look will significantly change at some point during the season; a result of increased Virgin exposure, perhaps?

All the 1:18 replicas will be from Minichamps’ new series that comes without working steering, in order to keep costs down to a sensible level.

Already the reaction for these models has been significantly greater than anything we ever saw for any of Lewis’s McLarens. It is clear that they will be big, but we just don’t know how big. To guarantee what you want, you really should pre-order now. Minichamps has now also announced limited edition 1:43 specials for Malaysia, Bahrain and Spain. See page 13 for details.