Brawn downplays talk of an early title win.

Ross Brawn would love to prove correct the doom-mongers who fear the new Formula One campaign will be over by mid-season, but he knows that will far from be the case.

Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso are two such defeatists, with last season's title runner-up and double World Champion believing Brawn potentially have this season's crown wrapped up.

The duo saw enough throughout the course of an Australian Grand Prix weekend that ended with a historic one-two for the team on their debut.

But Brawn is a realist, even if he played a part in aiding Michael Schumacher's domination of the sport at the start of this decade.

Asked for his reaction the title could be his by the midway point, Brawn replied: "I'd like to think so, but you can never assume that.

"The rate of progress will be very rapid with the new regulations, and some people here have forgotten what happens when new rules are introduced.

"In 1994 I was at Benetton. We sacrificed 1993, and in '94 we won the World title.

"It was an anomaly because we were a small T-shirt manufacturer who won the World Championship. People didn't like it. They can't adjust to that concept.

"Right now we've a long way to go and people will progress very rapidly this year.

"But we started this car 15 months ago and I think we're the only team that did that."

Brawn is anticipating considerable progress will be made by the major manufacturers ahead of the first European race in Spain in early May.

However, Brawn insists his own team will not be standing still either, even if they lack the budget of old when they were Honda Racing, and in light of making 270 staff redundant.

The problem he faces is developing the current car, which could be a Championship winner, and looking ahead to next season's car when more new rules come into force.

"We've all seen each other's cars now, and we understand what other people are doing," added Brawn.

"So we've got to try and keep moving forward as well. We've got an upgrade for Barcelona which looks quite good, and there will be two or three different steps during the year.

"But then we've some different regulations next year as well. The 2010 regulations are quite different, with no refuelling and we've got to start the 2010 car quite soon.

"It's certainly not going to be easy at any stage, but we've got things happening to try and ensure that we stay competitive."

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