Brawn GP will cut 270 of its 700 workers, the team announced shortly after winning Formula One’s Australian Grand Prix.

Jenson Button led a Brawn GP 1-2 ahead of teammate Rubens Barrichello for the team formed from the remnants of Honda, which pulled out of the sport in December amid declining auto sales, the global economic downturn and a reported budget of e228 million.

“It’s about 270 (job losses),” team principal Nick Fry was quoted as saying in yesterday’s Daily Telegraph. “We are about 700 people at the moment and we talked to the staff about going down to about 430, something like that, which is where we (predecessors BAR) were in 2004.”

Fry said that affected staff at the Brackley factory in England had been informed by letters sent “about a week ago” as the team works on a reduced budget.

“It’s very unfortunate that we’ve got to do that but its the change of technical regulations and obviously we are now a private team,” Fry said.

Brawn GP became the first team since 1977 to win its maiden race and the first team in 55 years to finish 1-2 on its debut.