My opinion entirely. Before this season, I was rather critical about Button who didn't seem focused enough to be a champ. His hability to develop or set up a car has always been suspect, and his lay-back attitude didn't win him many fans either. I think that he was extremely lucky this year, to have a car that was 'head-and-shoulders' above the competition at least for half the year, and he made the most of it. When the technical advantage left Brawn, Button was again an 'also ran' with no particular spark, easily outclassed by veteran Barichello. At Brawn (Mercedes GP now) or McLaren next year, I don't think he will shine again. Hamilton is definitely a superior racer!
Well look at it this way, you have a WDC in your pocket, your going to a team where every man and his dog thinks Hamilton rules the roost and probably does, what a chance to show the world that you can climb a mountain, and have bigger ambitions. I don't get the Button bashing really, why didn't Rubens outclass Button at the start of the season, or doesn't that count.. To me it was quite plain to see, Button backed off towards the end because he knew he had enough in the bag...and he did. Look back at the races and JB did alot of overtaking, in Brazil he was excellent.
Button is a WDC. Don't let the bashing get to you. It is the ultimate measure of a F1 driver and the dividing line between the haves and eternal have-nots.
My post shouldn't really be read as Button bashing. I am quite pleased to see him capture the WDC and fulfill his life long dream. I'd never claim he didn't earn it either. My point was that he benefitted from a very unique set of circumstances that surely aided his domination during the first half of this season, moreso than any change to his driving style or overall abilities in the car. I don't think the stars will align again for him in such a way, regardless of who he is driving for, and while he may well earn some podiums next year with McLaren he won't dominate the top step like he did this season. Also, my point about him never being a top driver stands. Perhaps early on in his career some may have predicted greatness, but it didn't really materialize until he had the best car in the field. How many races did it take him to even get his first win? Maybe he was just as much a victim of circumstance in those previous years as he was the benefactor this year, but I never saw the flashes of brilliance many others did. >8^) ER
Let us not forget the ownership history of Brawn GP: Tyrell BAR Honda Brawn Mercedes This is a team that has quite a history in F1 with some of its current members dating back to the Tyrell days. Flash in the pan or not, Brawn can lay claim to being drivers and constructors champions in their only year of GP competition.
Well, it's not really the World Champion title that matters to me, but how difficult it is for a driver to get it. Some year it's not really a reflection of the best racer; this year it wasn't as far as I was concerned. Button was immensely helped by the superiority of the Brawn for half a season, after that, he just faded. I suppose that sums him up: in an average car, he is not remarkable at all. We have seen him for many seasons at Honda!! Rubens is a good journeyman at the wheel of a car, not outstanding but constantly trying.
I think a large part of why Jenson is considered unexciting is because he is a very smooth driver who doesn't make mistakes. He is not a Mark Webber or a David Coulthard who is always crashing into everyone. He is not a Sutil or Trulli who is often spinning off because they overcooked it. People assume he just isn't giving it his all... but he has done better than some pretty good teammates... he did that buy just not trying? Of course not. He's just smooth and a very clean driver who makes very few mistakes. I smile at the dichotomy of drivers who try vs. drivers who do just enough. The same folks who defend Massa for being so bad in the rain and spinning out by saying that he was just trying very hard are the same folks that criticize Lewis for crashing a few races ago near the end. And on the other side, if Button does just enough to win, he's a lucky SOB who didn't deserve the WDC. I disagree... I think he's a smart guy who knew what he had to do. And honestly, his drive at Brazil was one of the all time best drives in F1 I can remember. He definitely has the heart and the skill. He did have one of the best cars for a large part of the year... but sometimes being really good is making it look easy, and Jenson made it look easy this year, which is why he's a very worthy WDC. If you look back at the list of WDC winners, there are no names of hacks on that list who had no talent (other than J Villeneuve ). Jenson deserves to be on that WDC winners list. I would love to see him in a McLaren stacking up against Lewis. He'll get his ass kicked, no doubt, but he'll do a HELL of a lot better than Heiki, and will be a lot closer than some think
Some excellent points above. Jenson is another Alain Prost in his approach. Boring as all stink to watch but very effective. This type of driver very rarely gets any love from the fans but make no mistake, Button is in no way lucky to be champion. I've been in racing a long time and everyone has their share of good and bad luck. The really smart have a way of getting more good luck than bad. Let us not forget that Button was smart enough to slash his pay in order to race a Brawn this year and ended up WDC; something Kimi could have been again at the wheel of a McLaren had he not been so greedy.
I never said that WDC winners could be bad, but some inherit the title by sheer luck or circumstances one year, when they weren't the most deserving in the field. Keke Rosberg won it one year with only one win; most of the other competitors had turboes that kept breaking whilst he had a reliable car scoring at almost every race. Not impressive. Alonso's first title was brought by a change of rule forbidding tyre change: the combination between his Renault and Michelin tyres was perfect for these conditions. As for Jaques Villeneuve, believe me, he was hot property when he arrived in F1, from Indy racing, where he was champ and won Indy 500. Williams isn't in the habit of choosing 'no-hopers' ! I think he qualified on pole at his first GP, led it and finished 2nd to Damon Hill. He won the next one I think. He was WDC the following year. What destroyed Villeneuve's career was a move from his manager to form a team around him (BAR) to get more money since Williams wouldn't increase his retainer after the WDC year. BAR was an uncompetitive team, with a bad car, but plenty of (tobacco) money. For years Villeneuve pedalled that junk at the back of the field, loosing all his skills, but laughing all the way to the bank !! When a proper car came along (BMW), he was off-shape and not competitive anymore. A tragedy in my eyes. That's the same kind of deal that wrecked Emerson Fittipaldi's F1 career: he left McLaren to form its own team - Copersucar. Plenty of sponsorship money cannot compensate for a bad car. Never ...
Regarding WDC's, I am not sure the "most worthy driver" even wins a majority of the time. It takes a great car to win, so there were a lot of drivers this year who just didn't have the car. But that's no different than other years - remember the two WDC's Alonso won. Schumi had a horrible car those years, and the second year he came close. Alonso coasted for much of the first year he won because he had a big lead over Kimi... but neither Kimi or Schumi had the car to beat the Renault that year, despite putting in some much more exhilirating performances. Regarding JV, I couldn't disagree more. I remember reading an article where even his own engineers said that the williams of that year was so good, that they were surprised he wasn't way faster. He wasn't the victim of a bad manager, he was the victim of no skill. He got his ass kicked at BAR by every single teammate! If a good driver in a bad car loses his skill, why did Button win the WDC this year? Why did Alonso shine even at Minardi? No, JV never had nearly as much skill as he or his fans thought he had. That's why he can't get a drive in F1, even though he obviously wants to be in F1. He got extremely lucky that one year at Williams - the Williams was by faaar the fastest car, way faster vs the competition than even the Brawn was at the start of this year. JV thought he could have his pick after he won the WDC - he went to BAR and sucked. He sucked bad. Real bad. He got his ass kicked by Salo, he was barely able to beat Zonta, he did better than Panis one year then was matched by him the next year, and when Button arrived, he schooled him like a redheaded stepchild. Zonta and Panis are like the Alex Yoongs of F1 - these guys were never rated, and JV was struggling to reliably beat them. That's why JV got ditched and nobody was interested in picking him up as a driver, despite his claims that he was in talks with various teams. Nobody rated him other than himself. The comparison with Button is interesting because when they were in equal cars with equal chances, Button demolished JV. Notably, JV has done nothing but continue to fail after leaving F1 as well.
Excellent post and right on the money, I read somewhere that when Gilles was at Ferrari there were some people telling him they would start TEAM Villeneuve back in the early early 80's as well.
Mike to be fair to JV(a guy I don't like by the way), he did just as well against Damon Hill who won the championship in 96 with JV in his Rookie year fighting him all the way to the season final. He beat HHF pretty well in his championship year (97) as well as his final year at Williams in 98. As far as the BAR years the only teammate that was as fast or faster than him was Button, but he never demolished by him. Zonta nor the others came close to him at BAR, and he was just as quick as Massa at Sauber. As far as Alonso in 05, once he firmly had the WDC in the last two races he firmly beat KR. As far as 06 he should have won it earlier without the assistance of the FIA regarding Mass Dampers and penalizing him each time they had a chance to help Ferrari.
I am certainly not writing Ross off. I am just saying that the 'Brawn F1 Team' could be accurately described as a 'flash in the pan'. The team was around for just 1 season and in that season they were champions. A brilliant flash in the pan and surely a never to be repeated feat?!
You have apparently not heard of the awesomeness that is USF1? They'll kick everyones asses for sure...
Agreed. I followed JV through Atlantic and CART and was excited when he moved to F1. I think Jacques' problem was he turned into a prima donna. He conquered every level of racing at an unbelievably fast rate, including F1 where he almost won the title as a rookie and took it in year 2. For whatever reason, at that point he turned his career into a game of how much he could get while doing the least. Teams didn't want him because of his ridiculous limits on PR appearances, and he had unusual preferences in car setup that didn't mesh well with development or team dynamics. I remember reading how he liked his throttle set for only 1.7 cm of travel! I think there was also an element of blackballing for a while after his dealings with Pollock. They caused quite a stir by buying one of the great names in F1 before that was considered de rigueur. They talked a big game about how they were going to take the sport by storm but threw good money after bad embarrassing themselves. Then Pollock was seen as double-dipping the budget by giving Villeneuve raises to increase his own % payout. I really believe the establishment of F1 resented their nouveau riche attitude and turned their backs on JV for the most part.
Clearly I despise JV having said that, he didn't fight Damon Hill all the way to the finale, Hill had already wrapped it up before the last race. Hill also had 8 wins that year, twice as many as JV. It was more like Button and Barrichello this year - there was a point where they were close, but it wasn't a dead heat through the season - Hill laid the wood to JV that year, and it was only because he had more retirements that JV was even close. Yes, he beat HHF... but come on, we're talking about HHF! He beat Zonta the first year, and was pretty much on par with Zonta (actually did worse than Zonta) the next year. He beat Panis in Panis' rookie year with the team, but he pretty much was equal the next year (JV had 1 more point) even though Panis had 3 more retirements. When Button arrived, he almost tripled the # of points JV got, and this was after JV talked a big game about how he was going to teach the noob Button a lesson. The next year he was thrown a bone by Renault who let him drive the last 3 races and he was embarassingly off the pace. I have never seen a driver who people made more excuses for than JV... I don't just mean here, but everywhere. He had one lucky year at Williams and scored a WDC in a car that was by far the fastest, and against his teammate Frentzen, who has always been remarkably bad. He went from that one win and had failure after failure, despite being given chance after chance after chance. And when he got his comeback shot in one of the top cars, he just couldn't do anything at all - he looked like a washed up old hack. IMO JV has had more chances and more breaks than just about any other F1 driver, and has done less with more opportunity than most. I wouldn't mind seeing him back in F1 with USF1... the quality of the team and car ought to be a pretty good match to JV's level of talent
+1 I see he has begun a 'fitness' regime for his F1 return. Heck if he comes back, I might as well too! we could have an 'Over the Hill' corner, Mr E could preside.
I'm sure you're right, but surely a team as awesome as USF1 will be around for many, many years to come so they will not be a flash in the pan. TBH I'm not convinced that USF1 have even found the kitchen, never mind the stove or the pan!
