Brawn still lacking spare car, parts

(GMM) Brawn GP may be dominating the world of formula one, but in other areas the team is not yet competing with its bigger rivals.

The Brackley based outfit was formed from the departure of the Japanese giant Honda, but the budget has been vastly cut for the new guise.

"We don't carry a lot of spares," team boss Ross Brawn told the Independent newspaper in Shanghai.

For example, Jenson Button used the very same front wing and nose piece to win both the Australian and Malaysian grands prix.

Brawn said: "We might become exposed if we experience a particular chain of events. We don't have a spare car right now, for example, and if you look at it statistically, it wouldn't be good if we lost the world championship because of that.

"But I'd rather we spent the budget in the wind tunnel. That's more important to us than the number of sets of wings or bodywork we take to a grand prix."

Brawn has also cut the race team from 100 last year to just 55 in 2009.

"We prefer to keep our funds where they need to be to do the most work to make the car go faster," he said.