A new Formula 1 documentary is set to land on Disney+ later this month, with fans eagerly anticipating a look behind the scenes of the iconic 2009 F1 team. Brawn: The Impossible F1 Story is a four-part series that will look at the history of the Brawn team after Ross Brawn saved the former Honda team in 2008.
Brawn bought out Honda for just £1 before securing both championships in F1 in 2009. The documentary will go behind the scenes with people who were on the track and in the garage and boardroom as they tell the story behind the historical team.
The Disney+ documentary is full of footage from the F1 archives which had previously been unseen.
What is the release date for Disney+ Brawn: The Impossible Formula 1 Story?
Disney+ will launch Brawn: The Impossible Formula 1 Story in the UK and US on 15 November 2023. The four-part series will all be released on the same date, saving fans the agonising week-on-week wait for the next episode.
How to watch Brawn: The Impossible Formula 1 Story
Brawn: The Impossible Formula 1 Story will be available on Disney+ in the UK and can be streamed in the US on Hulu.
Standard Disney+ in the UK with ads costs £4.99, with an ad-free version available for £7.99 and a premium service for £10.99. Basic Hulu in the US costs $7.99 with a no ads version available for $17.99 and Hulu + ESPN starting at $76.99.
Disney+ is available to watch online via the website, as well as the Disney+ app on smartphones, consoles or smart TVs.
How long are the Brawn: The Impossible Formula 1 Story episodes?
Brawn: The Impossible Formula 1 Story episodes will vary in length but will be between 45 minutes and one hour.
Who will star in Disney+ Brawn: The Impossible Formula 1 Story?
Brawn: The Impossible Formula 1 Story will be hosted by Keanu Reeves, who is also an executive producer for the documentary. The John Wick and Matrix actor has capitalised on his passion for F1 to create a documentary about the unusual story of the Brawn Formula 1 team.
The documentary will feature interviews with Ross Brawn, who was the brains behind the team, as well as the team's former drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello. In photos released to tease the programme, Reeves can be seen with Button alongside his championship-winning car at Silverstone.
The programme will also feature interviews with the team’s CEO Nick Fry and the Brawn team’s biggest competition, Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner.
The series has been produced by North One, is written by showrunner Simon Hammerson and directed by Daryl Goodrich, who previously worked on the 2017 Ferrari documentary ‘Ferrari: Race to Immortality’.
What is Brawn: The Impossible Formula 1 Story about?
Brawn: The Impossible Formula 1 Story is a four-part documentary series that looks at the story behind the Brawn F1 team. After Honda attempted to sell its works team during the 2008 season, Ross Brawn took over the team for just £1 and went into the following year understaffed and underfinanced and completely independent.
Brawn was then able to secure a Mercedes engine for the 2009 Formula 1 season and the RA109 Honda proved to be a successful car. The team were able to retain drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello who had both been driving for Honda in 2008.
Button recalls being told that Honda were pulling out of the 2009 F1 season due to financial issues and said that he had considered a move to the Red Bull junior team Toro Rosso, now known as AlphaTauri. The former driver told Sky Sports that the opportunity from Franz Tost was a “lovely option to have but also an option I knew wouldn't bring me race victories [at] that moment in time.”
The car had been described as a “rocket ship” by many during the testing period and at the first race of the season in Melbourne, Button and Barrichello secured a 1-2 victory. Button then went on to win six out of the first seven races of the year, but was unable to secure further victories during the rest of the season.
The Brawn F1 team secured both the constructors' championship and the drivers' championship after Jenson Button secured the most points that year. After winning the drivers' crown, Button said: “This team has done staggeringly well and what we've achieved this season after the winter we've had is exceptional, and I don't think there has been a season like it in Formula One.
"It's great to be sat here as world champion and I personally think I thoroughly deserve it.” Button secured the title with 95 points and was just 11 points ahead of Red Bull Racing driver, Sebastian Vettel.
Brawn won the constructors' championship with 172 points, beating out the competition from Red Bull who scored 153.5 points.
The team was then bought out by Mercedes in November 2009 and won eight consecutive constructors' championships and seven drivers' world championship titles between their drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.
How to watch the trailer for Brawn: The Impossible Formula 1 Story
A new trailer for Brawn: The Impossible Formula 1 Story was released by Disney+ this week which teased the upcoming documentary series.
Other upcoming F1 films and documentaries
Formula 1 fans have plenty of excitement left to come with the release of Ferrari which is set to be released on 29 December, 2023. The film stars Adam Driver, Penelope Cruz and Shailene Woodley and follows the story of Enzo Ferrari during the summer of 1957 as bankruptcy loomed.
Fans are also eagerly anticipating the release of Apple’s untitled Formula 1 film starring Brad Pitt and Damson Idris. The team have appeared at many F1 races this season to film scenes, including an appearance at Silverstone.
Filming for the untitled F1 movie has been impacted due to the ongoing actor’s strike, but it has since been announced that filming will continue at the end of the 2024 season.
