Ross Brawn's three-week-old team roared to take a 1-2 victory in the 2009 Formula One season's first Melbourne Grand Prix, causing the clouds to part above the South Pacific. Click through for Brawn's full plans.
The ex-Ferrari engineer and tactician’s brain has grown quite a bit since we last photographed it East of Japan on March 6, the day Brawn GP was born as a team. Jalopnik Space Initiative captured the very moment his drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello are dousing the team owner in champagne, following their magnificent victory in a stunning race.
Brawn is clearly elated and has already set his eyes on the Malaysian Grand Prix, to be held at Sepang International Circuit, Kuala Lumpur.
Damage to the outboard brain is visible in the middle of the image, where a still-rising ash plume from the recent eruption of the volcano Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haʻapai has burned a large hole in it. Favorably to Brawn, the hole appears to have formed right in the middle of the central sulcus, a large indentation between the primary motor cortex and the primary sensory cortex.
There is more to come on the race later on. Until then, you can download our space photo in full detail here.