Jenson Button: the driver debates

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The subject of this week’s driver debate is Jenson Button, whose career has had more ups and downs than a malfunctioning elevator.

How do you rate Jenson Button – and will he ever win another race?

Jenson Button was a Formula Three driver in 1999 but the following season was catapulted into a drive with one of Britain’s most historic teams: Williams. It came about after Williams cut their contract with Alessandro Zanardi a year short, and needed a driver for one year until Juan Pablo Montoya came along.

Button did a very respectable job in his first season, scoring points in his second race (becoming the youngest driver ever to do so until Sebastian Vettel last year) and finishing an impressive fourth in the rain at the Hockenheimring. He qualified third on his first visit to the mighy Spa-Francorchamps.

A disastrous season at the declining Benetton followed, although he recovered the following season as the team became Renault. There was no place for him at the team any more though, as Flavio Briatore dropped him for his own man Fernando Alonso (which, you have to say, worked out alright for them).

So Button ended up at BAR where he’s been ever since, the team becoming Honda in 2006. He chased Jacques Villeneuve into retirement in his first season and came of age in 2004 with a string of podium finishes, though never able to beat the rampant Ferraris to claim that elusive first win.

It didn’t happen in 2005 either – the team were nowhere in the first half of the season and thrown out of three races for running with illegal fuel tanks.

Finally in 2006 after 115 attempts Button scored an opportunistic but badly deserved win in the rain at Hungary from 14th on the grid. He was assisted by Alonso’s retirement that day, but Button had been catching him at the time and we were robbed of what might have been a thrilling battle between the pair.

The season ended on a high. But 2007 was a disaster the likes of which Button could not possibly have imagined. The unpredictable and dog-slow RA107 made a mockery of his talent, and he scraped together just four points by the season’s end – though still four more than team mate Rubens Barrichello.

Is he a great talent struggling to escape inadequate machinery? It’s easy to assume that the best drivers automatically find their way into the best cars, but that isn’t always true.

However, Button didn’t exert the kind of cast-iron dominance over team mates like of Jarno Trulli early in his career that would have made him a ‘must-sign’ driver for McLaren or Ferrari.

The embarrassment of the two ‘Button-gate’ years of 2004 and 2005 (when Williams and BAR squabbled over his contract) has now receded into memory. Whatever debt of service he owed the team for trying to dump them during their excellent 2004 season it he has now surely paid for with the purgatory he suffered last year.

With Ross Brawn on board it’s time for Honda to give Button the car he deserves so he can go racing at the front again.

What do you think of Jenson Button?

Jenson Button biography

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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55 comments on “Jenson Button: the driver debates”

  1. the "buttongate" affairs make him hard to sign! he only goes back on it once he signs it anyway!
    he is good but not great!

  2. I think he’s close to the best of the rest.

    There are probably four tiers of drivers in F1:

    1) Drivers who might win world championships
    2) Drivers who might win races
    3) Drivers who are okay
    4) Drivers who should never have been there in the first place.

    He’s probably near the top of category 2.

  3. Scott Joslin
    29th April 2008, 8:48

    Button has got good driving talent. I feel he is better than some guys out there in better machinery such as Massa, Kovi, or Heidfeld, and if he was put in their cars I am sure he would win much more races. I don’t think he has the raw pace like Kimi, Lewis and Alonso, but he has superb race craft I would aliken to Alain Prost.

    Where Button falls short is in the ability to position himself in the right team at the right time. His on/off saga between Williams and Honda cast the die that has put him in his current position.

    Do I think Jenson will win another race? Sadly not. By the time Ross Brawn sorts Honda out, Jenson’s stock will be low due to the new kids on the block.

  4. I mostly agree with andronov, hes 4 types are a good brief explanation.
    This weekend i read some declarations of Ross Brwan asked if he would want to hire Alonso, he said that when they would reach the top level they needed a driver that makes the difference and Alonso is one of them. More or less, so could we assume he doesn´t think nor Button nor Barrichello are among these drivers that makes a difference?

  5. One word: overrated
    I did feel sorry for him a little bit when he got pushed way beyond his means by the British media at the beginning of his career, but when this then got to his head I started to dislike this average driver.
    Now the emergence of Hamilton has taken the focus of the media away from him, I think he has calmed down a little.

  6. sChUmAcHeRtHeGrEaTeStEvEr
    29th April 2008, 9:29

    i wouldnt go as far as michael and say he i over rated but the british press certainly didnt help claiming he was britains next world champion. Sadly in britain the press have a habbit of celebrating mediocrity and thers no better example of that than tim henman.

    I think if button was in a top car hed do a good job but he hasnt go the raw pace that alonso, kimi, hamilton and maybe even kubica have. i think hed make a good number 2 to someone like alonso.

    Also you look at most of the great drivers in the past they all got theyr first wins early in their career. Senna won in his 2nd season after he impressed in a toleman in 84. Prost won his 1st race in 1980 i think, not totallt sure about that 1. Schumacher won in his 1st full season. Alonso won in his 2nd season after impressing for minardi. the top f1 drivers dont end up at the best teams by luck its because they impress in lesser cars eg senna in a toleman, schumacher in a jordan, kimi in a sauber. Thats what makes them stand out and thats why the top teams want them. Jenson didnt outscore ralf schumacher in his 1st season, and although ralf was rated quite highly back then jenson had the 3rd best car on the grid at his disposal , he didnt impress enough to keep a drive with a top team.

    on his day jenson can be very good but hel never be a world champion and id be suprised if he ended up with more than 5 wins.

  7. So near, yet so far, pretty much sums up Jenson.

  8. Everyone seems to be in agreement here: Jenson is a good, maybe even very good driver.   But will he ever win the championship?  Probably not.  He’ll need to be at the right place at the right time in the perfect circumstances to win even just one title.

    That being said, he’s had some great or even brilliant drives, notably Germany 2000, Germany 2001, Malaysia 2002 (where he was cruelly robbed of his 1st podium on the final lap), USA 2003 (where an engine blow also robbed him of a podium), Germany 2004, Belgium 2005, Hungary 2006, and China 2007.

  9. I really rate Jenson.  He has one of the smoothest driving styles out there.  His 2004 season shows how good he can be with a good car under him. 

    Granted he has his moments, but he is a character and I always admire his honesty in pre race interviews.  I totally agree with Michael about his exposure, but I think now that the media is off his back he seems to be enjoying racing again.

    Can he win a championship… I hope so!

  10. I rate him alot.  Its amazing he can drive that well considering he hardly moves the wheel.

    he’s been signed by honda again for 3 years, all the toil has been repaid to him by the signing of ross brawn.

  11. I’am still not sure about  Button, sure enough he is a decent driver. But there is some ticks against him. For example in his 2004 season he did have a decent car during some stages of the season properly the second best car. But he didn’t manage to score a win, while Alonso and Kimi in lesser cars did managed to score a win. He also sometimes seem to disappear when he doesn’t have good car, although he did do a relatively good job last year. He also isn’t exactly doing Shumacher like performances against a much older Barrichello.

    But I think he has done some maturing though the recent lean years and it will be interesting to see how he will apply it in a competitive car. He definitely has the potential to win a few more races, if he will have the chance to do so is more difficult to say, he has definitely been unluckily with his team choices much like Webber.

    If the team improves and Honda for argument sake sign Alonso for the team, it would be his perfect oppertunity to prove what could have been.

  12. Well… I have never followed Jenson’s career with much enthusiasm as he always seemed to come across as another one of those drivers that the Brit media was hyping about… you give the Brit media one Brit driver abut to make into F1 and they start rebranding him as the next world champ… it was the same in cricket… they spent an entire decade labelling every upcoming cricketer as the next Ian Botham… until the whole game broke its back under the weight of those expectations… it seems to be the same case with Jenson… the whole Brit F1 scenario might not break its back under the weight of this (lewis didn’t have to start off his career with super aguri thankfully) … but it did break Jenson’s back… Although… this does bring one question to my mind… Would Lewis have been as highly rated if he had come into F1 driving a super aguri and having had Anthony Davidson or Takuma Sato for a team mate instead of Fernando… the inputs coming in from whatever race runs were done and not from the experience of Pedro? Maybe… I know he wasn’t born with a silver spoon… but he did get into F1 with a silver car…

    Now let the mud fly!!!

  13. You give the Brit media one Brit driver abut to make into F1 and they start rebranding him as the next world champ

    I don’t remember them doing that with Anthony Davidson or Ralph Firman or Justin Wilson.

    My point is, they may be more discerning about who they hype than you think. Perhaps Button is champion material, he just hasn’t had the car.

  14. Definitely overrated. Until Lewis arrived he was the great british hope but nothing since then. Thank goodness my race afternoons are no longer filled with a blow by blow description of jenson’s race at the back of the field. I have nothing against jenson, he must be good to have made it into F1 but is he a champion? I dont think so.

  15. I disagree with Melanie’s point that he had the second best car on the grid in 2004. In truth, the second best car belonged to Rubens Barrichello and Button would have had to have been superhuman or at least extremely fortunate to have beaten both Schumacher and his faithful rear gunner; the best he could have hoped for was a 2nd place that year.
    .
    I rate Button and agree with Keith that he’s not had the right car. But then again, when will he ever get that car? 2008 has been written off, Brawn is now talking down 2009; so that leaves 2010-11.

  16. You cannot really compare Jenson with Lewis.
    Lewis started in F1 with a car that could win a race. If he had not won a race then where would he be now? I’ve run back and checked results for Jenson for his earlier F1 years and he’s never been in a car that you would say was the fastest or best car on the grid. I guess the best he’s been in would be the equivalent on Robert Kubica in the BMW this season when he had the BAR in 2004.
    Going through the results it was quite clear that he was a bit "out of depth" in the Williams. Probably due to the sudden leap into F1 and the pressure from the British Press. But, given the car he had and it’s reliability he had far fewer racing laps under his belt by the end of the season than Lewis did.
    Moving on a few seasons it was clear that he did have speed and a plethora of mechanical failures seem to pop up over his results. I wonder what would have happened if these were less? He does however show skill in wet \ slippery conditions. This smooth driving style should be kinder to the car and makes the many mechanical retirements all more frustrating for him.
    In the end compared with Trulli \ Ralf \ Fisichella \ Villeneuve \Sato \ Barichello, if I was a F1 manager I’d pick Jenson. He can race well and race smooth. Maybe a bit more qualifying pace would be better, but I think that requires a "Grab it by the horns" method that he just doesn’t do.
    I’d really like to see him in a Ferrari \ McLaren etc… that’s the same for many drivers out there. You have to take what you can get and use it to the best you can.
    Another plus is that he has yet to say "For Sure" in an interview :D. I should have run a sweepstake on how many times I heard that this last race weekend.
    Oh and I’d also get him to take a shave…

  17. Oh and I’d also get him to take a shave…

    Agreed – that’s why I used a picture of him with his helmet on!

  18. "I don’t remember them doing that with Anthony Davidson or Ralph Firman or Justin Wilson."

    The reason Jenson and Lewis were hyped and not the three above was because they started in good cars right away – and thus had good results right away.
    That’s the only discernment the press does, the way I see it.  Good results = champion driver.  But as we know, it isn’t always that straightforward.

  19. Jenson is one of my favourites drivers, and i use to defend him in all the arguments about F1 with my friends.

    But i trully think that he’s a god driver in a crap car. He had his moment with Honda, but engines used to end in a BBQ, and the secret tank affair was the final strike to the team.

    Last season in China, we could watch how in a wet race, where driver is more important than car, he did it really well.

    Anyway, he is so much better than a lot of nº2 drivers (such as Massa, Piquet, Heiki), and he is not so good as the nº1 drivers. So Ferrari, Mclaren and Renault could have a better team performance including Jenson as nº2 driver.

  20. Well, I think we can talk here all we want, the professionals in the business have decided that he isn’t a top driver, otherwise he would be driving for one of the top teams. There is nothing going against him from outside influences, being British and therefore from a market with strong sponsorship interest is a big plus for him.
    An yet he still doesn’t get picked. I think it’s a combination of his major contract cock-up with Williams, but this would’ve worn off already if he would be a very good driver and him just being above average at best. He clearly isn’t a top driver as the results show. He has rarely managed to convincingly outshine his teammate and struggling against Rubens is also not really a ticket to glory…

  21. Michael Counsell
    29th April 2008, 15:44

    He’s one of the very best in the rain and pretty solid in the dry but he hasn’t handled his career well with Williams and Honda.  I suppose he’s been unlucky in the fact that when he was driving the second best car on the grid it was miles away from the best so no matter what he did he wasn’t going to win.

  22. Michael Counsell
    29th April 2008, 15:47

    Michael K, Honda (BAR) have been a top team in the time he’s been there and at other times Mclaren, BMW (Sauber) and Renault haven’t been.

  23. I can only say that Fred crushed him with a Minardi when he was driving his Renault…. Then Fred took his place and the rest is history well known…. Being defeated by a last year no-evolution Minardi dog of a car,,,, well, IT MUST HURT.

  24. "Michael K, Honda (BAR) have been a top team in the time he’s been there and at other times Mclaren, BMW (Sauber) and Renault haven’t been."

    118 races, 2 poles, no victory. How is that a top team? And if it really would’ve been a top team, it would mean that Jenson and Jaques would’ve had to be absolute amateurs. Even I don’t think they were/are that bad.

  25. Michael K, regarding the contract killing of his err contract, it would have worn off if he was a world champ.

    Not for someone like him, he’s probably been branded a petulant child by the F1 Deity’s such as Jean Todt, Flavio Brioche et al.

  26. In my opinion, Jenson has the pace and the racecraft to win races consistently. Maybe not win a world championship, but probably get a couple more victories than Massa would in a top-car.

    Button-gate I and II may still keep a few people from liking him, but after his first win, and wrestling that dog of a car into the points last season, I think most people will have forgotten it. But he’s on the verge of staying at Honda for another 3 years anyway, last year that may have been a bad choice, but with Honda’s staff overhaul, he may have made the right choice for once…

  27. Jense is a very good driver but probably not an all time great…

    Now do such drivers win WDCs…yes they do…if they are in the class car with a weaker team mate… (why do the later Williams WDCs come to mind?)….

    But Jense hasn’t been in that position…. the best car he had was almost the Williams of his first year… the Benetton was rubbish in the years he was with them and although Fisi (who had been with the team the previous year) beat him it was by 8 points to 2 (Alonso scored 0 in the Minardi) and in the second year he beat Trulli 14 to 9…

    But Flav already had Alonso lined up… or almost lined up as he actually tested in 2002 for Renault and as the team started to be strong in 2003 (Alonso 55 to Trulli’s 33 so a similar proportion to Jense/Trulli the previous year) Jense moved on to beat an ex WDC, JV, in his own team by 17 to 8 and then came 3rd in the WDC in 2004, scoring more than Alonso….

    So it was always a case of the nearly guy…. let’s hope Ross gives him a chance to prove his detractors wrong…. he deserves at least the shot Lewis got…. even if only once…

  28. i think button is an underacheiver.. he’s not been able to live up to his potential.. i beleive he’s relatively well paid at honda and may be he just lacked motivation during the last couple of seasons….as he has not been able to produce results that would put him into the limelight… i think it may just be too late for a resurgence in his career… however.. with lewis taking the "next brit world champ" away from him.. he might just wanna prove a point or two

  29. Jenson is a class driver in the mold of Damon Hill. Is he a senna or Schumacher? Probably not. Is he a WDC material though? Yes, he is. When someone like Frank Williams who knows more than many about WDC drivers says that Jenson has the talent to be WDC, i will take it blindly. No questions asked.

    Unfortunately for Jenson, one bad season and two disastrous contract decisions is all he took to bring himself down. Now, his only option is stay at Honda and hope Ross Brawn magic works for him.

    Keith, Jenson won on his 113 attempt, not 155.

  30. It’s easy to say that he is mediocre now, a year and half adrift from the last decent car he was given, which wasn’t quite good enough to let him win races, but when he had that car I remember his qualifying and racing being really great.

    What would people say about Kubica if he BMW spend the next fea years at the wrong end of the grid? I bet we wouldn’t be saying he was a potential champion either.

  31. I have always thought alot of Jenson, I believe he has been in the wrong teams at the wrong times. I think if he was given a top drive he would be consistent and a challenge for a title, I would put him above Massa and Hamilton, and below Alonso and Raikkonen until he could prove me wrong!

  32. I second Uppili’s affirmation on Button’s attempts… he won his first race out of 114 starts, not 155…

    I know that because in a few months Rubens Barrichello will win Formula 1 "Insistency Trophy" Grand Slam: Most GP Starts (when he reaches 257), Most starts until the first win (123).

    About Button, I think he and Barrichello had a similar fate, with a huge difference: Jenson never had a Ferrari on his hands, but, had he been in Rubens’ position, I don’t think he would be a match for Schumacher either…

    He’s a good, solid driver, who made wrong choices, that seemed right at the time, and deserved a better luck…

    I think he could be a champion with a not-too-strong opposition, for example, like Damon’s title in 1996 (when Schumacher was rebuilding Ferrari and Villeneuve was a rookie). Not surprisingly, some posts above compare Jenson with Damon…

    And, seeing what you’re saying, I can see the British press reacts the same way the Brazilian press does: hailing many drivers as our "next champion". Like Keith said, they discern (nothing was said about Enrique Bernoldi or Tarso Marques, for example), but whenever someone shows some talent (like Cristiano da Matta, that came as a Champ Car Champion), they make huge prospects…

  33. I always felt that Jenson Button was a little mistreated by Williams back in 2000. I know that we all know that Montoya had been selected for 2001, but I believe Button’s career was seriously damaged because of his treatment by Williams, when maybe a better decision could have been made.
    When you look at the career of Felipe Massa, which began at Sauber ofcourse, his first season was littered with mistakes and overeagerness. How easy it would have been for Peter Sauber to have cast Massa aside completely, back to the bargin basement, never to be seen again.
    That did not happen, and Massa was made a test driver for a year, then a got a race seat again, before his move to Ferrari.
    Button on the other hand has been used, first by Williams, then by the now Renault team, and an inbetweener, a back up guy. The only difference being, is that atleast Flavio Briatore
    replaced Button with an all time star, Alonso.
    The same could not be said of Williams. The pairing of Montoya with the equally flamable Ralf Schumacher was, as Patrick Head put it, ‘like water and oil’.
    My point being, is that Williams may well have been better off keeping Button as a test driver, giving him the chance to learn as much about the car as possible, rather than cast him off.
    If he wasn’t up to ‘their’ standards in 2000, why want him back four years later? What had changed in that time?
    You only have to look at Felipe Massa now, as a race driver, and compare him to how he was six years ago. He has had the great fortune to learn from a seven times world champion, and to mature. Just imagine how Button may have performed had he been in the same team as Juan Pablo Montoya for instance, even as his team mate in the first place.
    He is a very gifted driver, but he is now in a hole, not too different from David Coulthard, forever an alsoran. It is such a shame and a terrible waste, because he is better than that, but will never be able to prove it where he is.

  34. Uppili, Daniel, that’s a typo I’ve made actually, it was 115 attempts, including the 2003 Monaco and 2005 US Grands Prix, which he didn’t start. Fixed it now, thanks for spotting it.

  35. The F1 annals are littered with drivers who could have, should have, would have – if only they’d had the chance.

    Add JB to that list.

  36. Michael Counsell
    30th April 2008, 13:21

    In the mid 2000s very few drivers have scored more points than Jenson.

    2004: 3rd overall with 85 points and 26 points ahead of next non Ferrari (Alonso) and racked up 10 podiums

    2005: 9th overall with 37 points but the car was disqualified from the first part of the season and was unreliable.  After the USGP was only outscored by the McLarens and Renaults.  Meanwhile Sato scored only 1 point the entire season

    2006:  6th overall with 56 points, nearly twice Barrichello’s score.  Won a race and scored the most points in the last 6 races of the season

    All of this is highly selective admittedly but these were all things achieved that suggest that Jenson is a top driver and has driven for a top team and at certain times the combined package has actually been the best.  It can probably be applied to everyone and every dog has their day…

  37. OK, I’ve done a bit of digging on results as I do not think that Jenson has driven for a "Top Team". My definition of a "Top Team" is one that has provided both drivers with a win in a season. Thus, proving that the car is race winning and capable and challenging for the championship. I know it’s all measured on past results but I think it indicates who had the chance and who just is making up the numbers. So here goes from 2000 when Jenson started:
    Year – Winner (Team mate) \ Other teams with wins for both drivers
    2000 – Schumacher (Barrichello) Ferrari \ McLaren
    2001 – Schumacher (Barrichello) Ferrari (no win for Barrichello but pre 2002 Hungarian GP fiasco so team orders prevalent?) \ Williams \ McLaren
    2002 – Schumacher (Barrichello) Ferrari \ (1 win for Williams & 1 for McLaren) Ferrari dominant!
    2003 – Schumacher (Barrichello) Ferrari \ Williams \ McLaren
    2004 – Schumacher (Barrichello) Ferrari \ (1 for Toyota, McLaren, Williams) Ferrari dominant!
    2005 – Alonso (Fisichella) Renault \ McLaren (1 for Ferrari infamous US GP)
    2006 – Alonso (Fisichella) Renault \ Ferrari (1 for Honda)
    2007 – Raikkonen (Massa) Ferrari \ McLaren

    So nowhere in Jensons time in F1 has he been in a team that has provided him with a chance at the title. Hopefully that proves he’s done the best in what he’s got so far.

  38. Point taken, Chalky, but surely, Button should’ve managed to win in 2004 when lesser cars managed to take wins, right?  How can BAR not be a top team when they were 2nd in the WCC?  I just think that while Button has done much with what he has got, he could’ve done more to get more (and therefore be in a better position to win more).  And that’s why the top teams haven’t been looking seriously at him: he lacks that something extra.

  39. Michael Counsell
    30th April 2008, 17:04

    I don’t think its possible to prove that he did the best possible because there’s no such thing.  Maybe if Michael Schumacher had been driving the 2004 BAR and Button the Ferrari, Schumacher may still have won the title or at least some races to allow it to be considered a top team.

    Either way Button has yet to drive a car good enough for him, or his team mate to win a world championship yet.  I don’t think building such a car is impossible particularly with Ross Brawn behind it.

  40. Michael Counsell
    30th April 2008, 17:19

    If he doesn’t have "that something extra" how can the 2003 USGP or the 2006 Hungarian GPs be explained.  As it is I don’t think criticising someone of lacking "that something extra" is really a valid point.

    Arguably Button had the best race car at the Monaco GP but couldn’t pass Trulli but remember it was Monaco. 

  41. Both of them had great strategy partnered with it.  In particular, the 2003 US GP had more than a bit of luck – the rain fell right before their first pitstop – so they made 1 less stop.

    Button had other chances to win in 2004 – like San Marino, Germany (to some extent), and especially Italy – yet it didn’t quite happen.  Now, if Michael Schumacher was driving that BAR (especially in the 2 Italian races), would he have just let those race leads slip away from him so easily?  I wouldn’t think so.

    "That something extra" is an intangible.  How else would you describe it?  Jenson looks very good, yet… you just feel something seems missing with him… that something that you feel in drivers like Alonso, Raikkonen, and even Hamilton.  You can’t quite describe it, you just feel it.

  42. Michael Counsell
    30th April 2008, 21:33

    I wouldn’t describe it as anything, because its meaningless but then again no one here is really describing Jenson Button’s ability because it is beyond our capability to truly compare drivers because we know so little about what they do.  All anyone really does is pick favourites and try to argue a case for them.

  43. Ok, Michael Counsell, there are two choices here:

    a. you work for Jenson’s PR team

    or.

    b. you are a real Jenson fanatic, bordering on the deluded

    All the stats you wrote are nothing but clutching at straws, Jenson has won 1 race in his career and I wouldn’t be surprised if that was it. He will never drive for a top team unless Honda somehow manage to get their act together, which I doubt, even with Ross Brawn at the helm as the Japanese will manage to cock that up with their way of working.

  44. "but surely, Button should’ve managed to win in 2004 when lesser cars managed to take wins, right?"
    Well you could argue that. However Monaco he finished 2nd to Trulli. Trulli took pole, Button 2nd on the grid. Typical Monaco result.
    Belgium – Although a bad qualifying he got up to 5th and then suffered a puncture that blew the tire crashing him into a Minardi.
    Brazil – Engine failure after 3 laps.
    Schumacher only needed 2 points more than Barrichello by the time the Belgium GP had come around. Maybe a reason not to push too hard in that race?
    Some years there is only 1 team that is a "Top Team" in F1. Not fun for the fans, but a great achievement by the team.
    I’m always hopeful that we can finally have 3 teams with both drivers winning. That means BMW have to step up a bit more in performance. I wonder how far back I have to look in the results to see a season like that?
    I think Jensons only hope for another win is with Honda, I can’t see Ferrari \ McLaren hiring him. Doubt we’ll see that next win, but the with the new rules for 2009 you never can tell.

  45. Michael Counsell
    1st May 2008, 13:30

    You don’t need to be a fan or work for his PR team to select some statistics and comment on them.  If someone was to put forward some kind of argument criticising his driving, or ability in testing  it would be fair enough, but they haven’t.  The main arguments being that he is overrated and good,  but not quite good enough.  Perhaps some of the key questions are.

    Is he fast enough qualifying and in races?
    Does he make too many mistakes?
    Can he overtake well enough?
    Can he defend his position?
    Can he cope with changing conditions?
    Can he perform under pressure?
    Can he set up and develop a car?

    If he can tick all the boxes, he can keep his team happy and achieve desirable results whether he’s in a top team or not.

  46. "You don’t need to be a fan or work for his PR team to select some statistics and comment on them."
    Oh you don’t have to, but the likelyhood is that you are one of the two as noone would go through that many stats and present them in such a positive light if there wouldn’t be the motivation it behind it to do just that.
    You can do that, of course, and if you work for his PR team, then it’s a job well done I say!
    Yes, he ticks all the boxes for a team like Honda and no, he doesn’t for a top team, never has, never will.

  47. Michael Counsell
    4th May 2008, 9:09

    It wasn’t too difficult just used wikipedia and I pretty much knew what I was gonna write anyway.  I’m a big fan of F1 and could pull stats like that out for pretty much anyone…  My only motivation is due to people using poor arguments to back up some kind of dislike.

  48. The Leicester Boy
    23rd June 2008, 11:47

    Let’s just wait and see what happens next year as it will be a complete reset for all the teams and with Brawn Honda may be a leading team. But more importantly 2010 may be there best position and so we just have to pray. Hamilton is sooooo overated by ITV and Steve Rider the mic shaker with Hamilton being in the first or second best car with Jenson at the minute being in the eighth or ninth. Also the ITV coverage is always negative so come on BBC next year be nice.

  49. If Button was anything other than british you’d be talking him off as rubbish and you guys know it.

  50. Sebastian – Most people in these comments have taken the time to explain what they think of Button so I don’t think it’s fair to write off those who give him credit as being simple-minded jingoists. After all, it’s not as if you’ve taken the time to share your point of view.

  51. Jingoists!……nice word Keith! :-)

  52. Who can say that Jenson has not done well for the place he has been and lets hope that the Testing on Wednesday is right and that Hamilton is at the back for a couple of seasons. He has never lost it but has been in rubbish machinary. Role on 09 with Brawn G.P. fighting for both championships as they have two good drivers but Button is sooooo much better than Rubeans.

  53. hmmm….that was an interesting read.

  54. I think he’ll become the 2009 world Champion lol.

  55. Hey there..Great Site you have here! Just wanna leave a short info to suit your needs about how you can blow the girl’s head at the next Barbeque-Party!

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