New Formula One world champions Jenson Button and the Brawn GP team were honoured at the prestigious 2009 Autosport Awards in London on Sunday evening. As the second consecutive British world champion after Lewis Hamilton, Button swept the board, taking the awards for International Racing Driver of the Year and British Competition Driver of the Year. “It’s been a long fight to get here, over the last 10 years of my Formula One career, especially over the last year we have been through a lot,” said Button, who was presented with his awards by legendary F1 commentator Murray Walker and comic actor James Corden. “It was a very tough winter for Brawn and everyone at Honda. “It's a year and two days since we found out that Honda was pulling out of F1, and coming here last year was pretty tough. We all got our heads down and this is the result, so a big thank you to everyone in the Brawn team for what we have achieved.” The car that took Button to the title and scored eight wins during the 2009 season, the Brawn BGP 001, was also voted the Racing Car of the Year, following the phoenix-like recovery of the team lead by Ross Brawn and Nick Fry. “It was a challenging year for us all, but the team showed great spirit to come through and achieve what we did,” said Brawn. “The great thing for this team is that we have proved we can be world champions so now we know how to win it again.” Former McLaren team principal Ron Dennis, now executive chairman of McLaren Automotive, was honoured for lifetime achievement, as was the late Enzo Ferrari, whose eponymous marque celebrates its 80th anniversary this week. And Formula One hopeful Dean Smith, 21, won himself a McLaren F1 test by beating five fellow finalists to the coveted McLaren Autosport BRDC Award. Red Bull’s chief technical officer Adrian Newey was also recognised for his achievements in F1 design after his Red Bull RB5 won six Grands Prix in 2009.
