The race for the World Drivers Championship is heating up. Over the next few posts I will attempt to cover the 5 drivers currently in contention and why I think they will, or won’t, win the championship.
Jenson Button
After years slogging it out in the lower half of the grid last season Jenson Button finally won the WDC. Last year with the BGP001Jenson finally had a car that was capable of winning the both the drivers and constructors championships. Who can forget the way Brawn rose like a phoenix from the ashes of the now defunct Honda F1 Team. However, it is important to realise that the car that Jenson, and indeed Rubens, was driving was not a Brawn car it was a Brawn car built with Honda money during Honda’s final season in F1.
Jenson won the first six races of last season and the second half of the season the performance of the BGP001 was lower than expected in comparison to its rivals. Brawn no longer had the money needed to develop the car in as aggressive a manner of some of the other teams and thus suffered. There is the argument that Jenson winning the title was down to the car and not the driver. Whilst I agree with this to a certain extent I think the car accounts for a decent proportion of a team’s ability to win any of the titles. Without a competitive car the driver stands little chance of winning races and ultimately the drivers and constructor championships.
I quite like Jenson’s boyish charms (and no this does not mean that I fancy him or think he is cute) but something just doesn’t sit right with me. I can’t put my finger on what it is but there is something. Undoubtedly he is a talented driver. He is one of the best drivers in terms of tyre conservation but his downfall, in my eyes, is his apparent inability to driver around a car’s issues. How many times have we seen the ‘great’ drivers drive around a car’s problems. Jenson has to have the car set up perfectly for him in order to allow him to race his best. However, drivers such as Alonso, Hamilton and Schumacher are able to drive the car over and above its limits, even if it isn’t set up 100% how they would like it.
Jenson is in with a chance to win this years championship but I somehow don’t see him achieving it. Granted this season he hasn’t been outclassed by Hamilton in quite the way that most people thought he would be. But is he in the same league as his team mate? Not quite.
Very good And I agree about JB can't drive above the cars limit
ReplyDeleteSteve London
Very good analysis. An interesting perspective on JB that I understand but don't completely support. To me JB seems a very smooth and flowing driver and doesn't seem to be able to rough handle the car. So we may just be using different ways of saying the same thing. All the best and enjoy the race this weekend. Mike
ReplyDeleteLets not forget, that even at the beginning of 2009, the Brawn was not as dominate as the Red Bull has been all year so far. The Red Bull has been the fastest car since before the start of the European season in 2009.
ReplyDeleteYet, Jenson won 6 out of the 7 first races, and kept it in the points thereafter, with the spirited drive in Brazil to seal the 2009 WDC. Most people will say Vettel is a better driver by far, yet in 2009 and now in 2010 he has failed to deliver where JB did.