They interpreted the rules for a the front wing end plates a little differently. The FIA have introduced rules demanding a minimum surface area for several sections of the endplates. To make sure that teams make their front wings the full width specified. Brawn have effectively produced a full width wing but the wingtip curls down to form the bottom half of the end plate rather then an endplate being formed by a vertical fence added to the wing tip. In an attempt to meet the rules they added a large vane to the footplate to create the surface area to comply to the 2009 rules.
Having no real endplate makes high pressure flow above the wing spill down the sides and around the front wheel, reducing drag and offsetting the negative impact of the wider wing.
I've tried to find a picture to illustrate it but they obviously blocked photographers pretty well.
There's some really clever stuff on the Brawn, very few have mentioned the clever aero device under the nose that acts like barge boards but within the regs.
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