‘Keanu Reeves Called Me’: Jenson Button Reveals Origin Story of the Disney+ ‘Brawn’ Docuseries

Rewind to a few years ago, to a time before Liberty Media took over Formula 1. The sport had this outdated vision. It was like F1 was part of the Matrix, existing in a simulated world where its doors were closed to the possibility of new audiences. It was a niche sport. Enter Liberty Media. In 2017, the American conglomerate found the glitch in the Matrix (are you seeing what I’m getting at?), and since then, it’s only opened new doors for the growth of the sport. One of the most interesting ones includes a certain Keanu Reeves (Neo from The Matrix if you will) and an F1 documentary he’s making.

David versus Goliath. It’s how an underdog challenges a stronger opponent and brats them. The chances of something like that happening in F1 are close to none. But they’re not zero. The one time it did happen intrigued Reeves so much that he decided he’d make a Disney+ documentary. This is the story of the 2009 season, of Brawn GP.

Jenson Button reveals how Keanu Reeves proposed the story for his F1 documentary

Reeves may have been the one to come up with the idea to recount the 2009 season, but the star of the show is Jenson Button. The 2009 champion drove for Honda Racing in 2008. As far as he knew, he would be driving for the team even in 2009. Until he wasn’t. Honda pulled out, but technical director Ross Brawn stepped in, bought Honda Racing for one pound, and started Brawn GP. The team literally went from rags to riches and no one saw it coming. That’s what made this story so remarkable. 

When you think about it, stuff like the 2009 season happens only in movies. So why not make it something like one? Button was a guest on the This Morning show, and he was asked where the idea for the documentary came from. He said, “It wasn’t me. I was called up by Keanu Reeves and his team. ‘Would you like to meet for lunch? Would you like to talk about the Brawn year and whether we can make a documentary about it?’ I was like, ‘Amazing!’ The story’s already there, right? The team that was bought for a pound has this massive high of winning lots of races at the start of the season, and then it hits the floor and we’re struggling. Then we win the championship at the end.”

That season was the stuff of dreams and Reeves and his team realized how interesting it would be to tell that story to the world. When Button was asked if he knew Reeves was an F1 fan, he replied, “He’s been to a few races. But I think he was asked a question, ‘Have you heard about this 2009 season? This team was bought for a pound and they went on to win the championship?’ He was like, ‘Sorry, what?’ His creative juices started flowing and he came up with this idea.”

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Now that you’ve heard Button’s side of the origin story, Keanu Reeves gave his take on it, too!

Keanu Reeves invested in “something really special”

It’s been just over a year since Variety announced that Keanu Reeves would be entering the Speed-lane (get it?) of F1 with his documentary. Now, it’s finally set to make its premiere on November 15. Brawn: The Impossible F1 Story is a four-part documentary series that’s releasing on Disney+ worldwide. As Jenson Button hyped the series up by dropping the trailer on X, Reeves talked about how he came upon the incredible story.

At the British GP, the Canadian actor talked to Martin Brundle. Reeves explained, “A friend of mine was telling me the story and I was so struck by it. He was actually working for Brawn back in the day in publicity So we were like, well let’s tell that story, let’s try and tell that story. It wasn’t just the cars, new regulations, FOTA [the Formula One Teams Association], breakaway series. There was just so much happening in Formula One at that time. It’s always extraordinary, but in that year with Brawn GP I think something really special happened.”

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Are you excited to watch Keanu Reeves tell the story of Brawn GP?