Brawn immediately saw that the RA108 was a lost cause and decided to stop the rot and put the considerable Honda resources into the design and perfection of the RA109. Of course, the drastically changed technical landscape for the new season was the perfect opportunity to deliver.

For this the team had to endure a nightmare season in 2008, with Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello having to put up with a slow, unpredictable and at times undriveable car.

This wasn't easy, but such are Brawn's leadership and inspirational qualities that, with the promise of a potential race-winning car in 2009, he could keep on board those that otherwise could have jumped ship.

When the board of Honda in Japan decided in early December to pull the plug on their F1 operation, Brawn was so convinced of the potential of the new car that he set about saving the racing operation while at the same time convincing the rest of the team to continue working on it.

That was the key, for if he couldn't succeed on both counts the team was either doomed or they wouldn't have turned a wheel in Australia.

So Honda F1 and the RA109 were essentially rebadged as respectively Brawn GP and BGP001. The rest, as they say, is history — with a tinge of fairytale to it.