Five things we learned from Keanu Reeves' Brawn GP F1 documentary

Both Red Bull boss Christian Horner and former Ferrari chairman Luca Di Montezemolo seethe over Brawn’s double diffuser innovation, the two still protesting that the car wasn’t legal.

You might have thought feelings would have faded on the matter, but they appear to remember the car’s stunning first test and the subsequent protest over its legality clear as day.

Though they may be hamming it up for the cameras – neither is shy of the limelight – the consternation emphasises just how incredible Brawn’s performance margin was.

A clear dislike of former FIA president Max Mosley is also emphasised by the Ferrari man – who claims there was a great deal of score-settling going on.

Brawn didn’t rate Jenson Button when he first joined Honda

Brawn admits that upon joining the team in 2008, he wasn’t convinced Button had what it took to lead the team onto greater success.

Struggling with a dreadful ’08 Honda, Button’s own performance level appeared to have dipped as well.

However, Brawn says team members emphasised to him the form he had shown previously, particularly 2004 when Button had take the fight to the all-conquering Ferraris.

The Brit himself recalls a time when his father John used a moment in the van to air his feelings on his son’s karting efforts – which Lewis Hamilton’s father Anthony interprets as a motivational effort.

As the incredible winning streak of 2009 shows, demonstrated in detail in the documentary, Brawn GP was right to keep faith with Button.

Rubens Barrichello never had a full contract for 2009

As the 2009 season loomed, Rubens Barrichello wasn’t even attached to Team Brackley for the coming year.

Before the Honda pull-out, it had actually been considering a well-backed younger driver to partner team leader Button, with the main contender being Bruno Senna, nephew of F1 legend Ayrton.

With the fortunes of the squad in flux, when Honda morphed into Brawn, it went for experience over youth by calling Barrichello back in – but not for the full year.

He was only contracted for four races, with the team’s immediate future still unclear. However with the reborn squad showing brilliant pace from the off, Barrichello was soon committed for the rest of the year.

Button suffered huge mental collapse in second half of the F1 season

Button was in devastating form in the first half of 2009, but suffered a shocking loss of performance in the second part.

The Brit managed to cling on to win the title by his finger tips, but found himself qualifying in poor positions and getting by on meagre points finishes.

At the same time, team-mate Barrichello was winning races – the Brazilian’s style meant he was able to get more performance out of Brawn 001 in certain scenarios, while Button just couldn’t crack the code.

His enlightening interviews and anguished team radio messages, paint the full picture, garnered from given total access to the F1 archives at Biggin Hill, without a third party acting as an intermediary – the first time this has happened.

Brawn intra-team needle has real edge to it

Central to the team-mate rivalry was the brilliant veteran F1 engineer Jock Clear, who clearly knows how to play the psychological game as much as the sporting.

Former opposite number Andrew Shovlin has some choice words about Clear’s antics – said with a rye smile, he still clearly likes him – and the engineer’s wild celebratory radio messages at Barrichello’s Interlagos pole have the heavy weight of one-upmanship as the title fight comes to a head.

Button, who was out early in Brazil qualifying and had to watch on and listen to the team radio, gives his own reaction on what happened, saying that it took him by surprise.

It only adds to the drama as the story unfolds.