Jenson Button was forced to fly to Formula One races using the budget-friendly Easyjet during Brawn's period of financial turmoil.
The Brit joined the F1 team in 2009, having agreed to a staggering pay-cut shortly after signing an £8million-a-year contract with Honda, only for the Japanese manufacturer to withdraw from the sport in 2008 due to the global economic crisis.
Brawn – led by Ross Brawn who was described as the mastermind behind Michael Schumacher's seven titles – were the surprise package of the 2009 F1 season as Button won his maiden world championship. It also made it two seasons in a row where a Brit won the championship, with Lewis Hamilton having won the title the year prior with McLaren.
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Despite Button's victory, it was far from plain sailing given the financial pressures that Brawn faced in their only year of existence.
Nick Fry, who was the team CEO at the time admitted that the entire staff, including Button, were forced to fly with low-cost Easyjet to save money, including to the Turkish Grand Prix in the same season he won the F1 world title.
"We are using our money wisely, and that means spending money on the performance of the car and, for example, the whole team including Ross and I flying Easyjet," he said. Fry said that Brawn had hoped to increase Button's salary considering the major pay-cut he took to the join the team but the 43-year-old eventually joined McLaren instead in 2010.
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Prior to becoming Lewis Hamilton's team-mate at McLaren, Button's manager Richard Goddard said he expected the F1 star to get a bump in his salary. “When we signed the revised contract last year, we did so in the knowledge that if things went well for the team, they would go well for Jenson for next year," he said.
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"We are not being greedy by looking to get what they are paid. All we expect is for Jenson to be paid on the scale that he was last year before Honda left." Button ended up spending seven years with McLaren – his longest stint with an F1 team in his career – before walking away in 2017.
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