Just weeks before the season opener in Melbourne, team manager Ross Brawn purchased the Honda team, renaming it Brawn GP and removing the threat of possible closure. Barrichello was the subject of persistent rumours suggesting he would lose his seat to the young Bruno Senna, nephew of his friend, idol and mentor Ayrton Senna. Ultimately Brawn elected to retain Barrichello to partner Jenson Button in 2009. At Barcelona during the final pre-season test, both Barrichello and Button surprised the paddock with extremely competitive lap times, outperforming others by as much as two seconds, and foreshadowing the performance the team would show in the early races.