
Survive. Drive. Win.
The Inside Story of Brawn GP and Jenson Button's Incredible F1 Championship Win
Nick Fry(Author)
Atlantic Books (Publisher)
Published on 3. October 2019
Book
Hardback
288 pages
978-1-78649-890-8 (ISBN)
Description
'The story of Brawn GP is legendary... Exciting and magical.' Damon Hill
'Nick Fry and Ed Gorman take us behind the mysterious and tightly closed doors of F1 to tell the remarkable story of the 2009 season.' Martin Brundle
Foreword by Bernie Ecclestone
The full story of F1's incredible 2009 championship battle has never been told. Until now. In this gripping memoir, Nick Fry, the former CEO of Brawn GP, reveals how he found himself in the driving seat for one of the most incredible journeys in the history of motor sport.
At the end of 2008, Nick, then head of Honda's F1 team, was told by his Japanese bosses that the motor company was pulling out of F1 in thirty days. This bolt from the blue was a disaster for the team's 700 staff, for Ross Brawn, who Nick had recently recruited as chief engineer, and for the drivers, Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello. But in a few short weeks, Nick and Ross would persuade Honda to sell them the company for GBP1 (plus all the liabilities).
Just thirteen weeks later, the Brawn GP team, led by Nick and Ross, would emerge from these ashes, win the first Grand Prix of the 2009 season, and go on to win the Driver's and the Constructor's Championship, with a borrowed engine, a heavily adapted chassis and, at least initially, no sponsors.
In Survive. Drive. Win., Nick gives an up-close-and-personal account of how he and Ross turned disaster into championship glory and laid the foundations for what was to become the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team. Along the way he gives the inside track on the drivers, the rivalries between teams, on negotiating with Bernie Ecclestone, on hiring and working with two global superstars: Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton - and offers a unique and thrilling perspective on an elite global sport.
'Nick Fry and Ed Gorman take us behind the mysterious and tightly closed doors of F1 to tell the remarkable story of the 2009 season.' Martin Brundle
Foreword by Bernie Ecclestone
The full story of F1's incredible 2009 championship battle has never been told. Until now. In this gripping memoir, Nick Fry, the former CEO of Brawn GP, reveals how he found himself in the driving seat for one of the most incredible journeys in the history of motor sport.
At the end of 2008, Nick, then head of Honda's F1 team, was told by his Japanese bosses that the motor company was pulling out of F1 in thirty days. This bolt from the blue was a disaster for the team's 700 staff, for Ross Brawn, who Nick had recently recruited as chief engineer, and for the drivers, Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello. But in a few short weeks, Nick and Ross would persuade Honda to sell them the company for GBP1 (plus all the liabilities).
Just thirteen weeks later, the Brawn GP team, led by Nick and Ross, would emerge from these ashes, win the first Grand Prix of the 2009 season, and go on to win the Driver's and the Constructor's Championship, with a borrowed engine, a heavily adapted chassis and, at least initially, no sponsors.
In Survive. Drive. Win., Nick gives an up-close-and-personal account of how he and Ross turned disaster into championship glory and laid the foundations for what was to become the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team. Along the way he gives the inside track on the drivers, the rivalries between teams, on negotiating with Bernie Ecclestone, on hiring and working with two global superstars: Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton - and offers a unique and thrilling perspective on an elite global sport.
Reviews / Votes
The story of Brawn GP is legendary. Imagine sitting at home at Christmas thinking you were out of a job, then by next Christmas you were a World Champion. This is F1's Leicester City story - it's every bit as exciting and magical. -- Damon Hill It is refreshing for a book to be written about a sport as exciting as Formula One which covers the enormous amount of work that happens behind the scenes to bring two cars to the grid. Until now I had not seen this in a book about our sport. -- Sir Jackie Stewart Nick Fry and Ed Gorman take us behind the mysterious and tightly closed doors of F1 to tell the remarkable story of the 2009 season, through the eyes of someone at the centre of the action. -- Martin Brundle Fascinating detail covering efforts behind the scenes to keep Brawn GP alive and on course for their extraordinary World Championship. Nick Fry gives a refreshingly honest and, at times, self-deprecating account. Reporting from the sidelines, it's clear we only knew half the story... -- Maurice Hamilton, award-winning motor-sport writer and broadcaster This book portrays all that is good about Britain. The very best talent in motor sport, excellent designers, engineers and sound business leaders who kept their heads in a crisis... and then went on to win a World Championship against all the odds in the most ruthlessly competitive sport there is. A truly inspiring story. -- Lord Digby Jones, Former Director General of the CBI and former Minister of State for UK Trade & InvestmentMore details
Edition
Main
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Illustrations
2x8pp colour plates
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 165 mm
Thickness: 28 mm
Weight
640 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78649-890-8 (9781786498908)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Nick Fry
Survive. Drive. Win.
The Inside Story of Brawn GP and Jenson Button's Incredible F1 Championship Win
E-Book
10/2019
Atlantic Books
€11.49
Available for download
Person
Nick Fry was appointed the managing director of the BAR Formula One team in 2002, which became the Honda F1 Racing Team in 2006. When Honda pulled out of F1 in 2008, Fry led a management buy-out with Ross Brawn, becoming CEO of the Brawn GP team. After the sale of the team to Mercedes he became CEO of Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport before leaving in 2013. He is currently chairman of the professional e-sports team Fnatic.
Ed Gorman was a foreign news correspondent for The Times, covering wars in Afghanistan, the Balkans and Sri Lanka, before becoming the paper's sailing and Formula One writer. He attended sixty consecutive F1 races between 2006-09. In recent years he has been editorial director of the sports management company OC Sport and has published a memoir, Death of a Translator.
Ed Gorman was a foreign news correspondent for The Times, covering wars in Afghanistan, the Balkans and Sri Lanka, before becoming the paper's sailing and Formula One writer. He attended sixty consecutive F1 races between 2006-09. In recent years he has been editorial director of the sports management company OC Sport and has published a memoir, Death of a Translator.
Content
1: Bombshell from Honda 2: Pulling the team from the fire 3: Now it's our turn to become team owners 4: One hell of a tunnel and getting Ross on board 5: Bringing the RA109 to life as BGP001 6: Testing the rocket ship 7: Now Bernie wants to buy us 8: Branson steals the show at Melbourne 9: Winning with no money 10: A night to remember in Monaco 11: Keeping our heads as Ron calls for the aero number 12: The buying game: Mercedes, the Glazers and Air Asia 13: The dip 14: Rubens on a charge as Jenson 15: Brawn GP scales the heights in 16: Splitting with 17: Michael 18: The long road to hiring Lewis 19: Epilogue: Looking back on a sporting fairy