Comments on: RD1’s views on Jenson Button. Again.

By: Williams4Ever

Williams4Ever — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:21:05 +0000

Grace – On topic of Loyalty –
a) Did you forget that Lewis/his Dad were two timing with Ron Dennis end of 2005 start of 2006 season. While Ron wanted Lewis to continue in Junior Formulae. The father-son duo entered talks with Williams, I suspect this move must have been instigated by Lewis’s “Very Close” Friend certain Nico Rosberg being announced as F1 driver for 2006 season by grove based team. If BMW had nibbled the bait, Lewis would have made debut with Williams and not McLaren
b) How is the public memory so short. If Lewis was Man enough and owned his letting Jarno pass story, Loyal Lewis rather preferred to through his manager and Ron under the bus. And does anyone remember his “sulky” interviews for quite sometime after that, where he was not committing anything to McLaren.

From his Williams-BAR-Williams-Honda Saga, I suspect, Button will be more loyal to McLaren than Lewis. The question is will McLaren pay him in kind, and how will Lewis Camp react, if Jenson develops good rapport with McLaren Management and starts delivering the goods?

By: Jim

Jim — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:23:58 +0000

I think you could make the second car radio controlled and have Pedro DeLaEmail drive it from the pit lane because so long as Lewis is number 1 the second driver is not relevant except to score points..which sadly Heikki could not do. Heidfeld will wisely got Brawn where he may actually matter. Jenson made a dumb move going to Macca and not sticking with Brawn because with Brawn he had at least the opportunity to be number 1 driver and could have finished his career on a high note.

By: ToneLoce

ToneLoce — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:53:36 +0000

I’m really interested to see how this pairing will turn out. I’m thinking by the end of the season Jens will wish he would have stayed put. Maybe for the first race or two they’ll be treated equal, but if Jens is not right up there with Lewis, the team will focus on Lewis.

P.S. Grace, thanks for keeping your column short. No offense to the others, but sometimes I just look at the other columns and don’t feel like reading that much!

By: Rich

Rich — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:08:52 +0000

I love the issue that Jenson is finding a new challenge, but I am also saddened that it caused so much dispute.

The Lewis – Jenson and who is the better driver debate? Obviously Lewis is statistically better, he has never had a team mate that has beaten him in F1. Just a year ago Jenson finished the season with 3 points and his over-the-hill team mate 11 points. Split this season in half and in the second half Jenson did not score any wins compared to his same team mate with two wins. Jensen is going to have to raise his game to keep the number 1 on his a second season.

It is fairly obvious that next year the two hot contenders are going to be Red Bull and McLaren. As NC has indicated that without the mobilising of cash into Mercedes (nee Brawn) through their selling of McLaren assets they could be suffering financially as their sponsorship folder looks small. Consequently I think they may only be fourth best team (sorry Kimi not prpably good to meet your standards). Ferrari has a lot of catching up, but it also has the resources. Personally, I still hold concerns about Felipe’s condition and potential to resume racing where he left off which was in the words of Joe Saward in reference to his team mate Kimi “been blown away for the last two years by Felipe Massa”. If Felipe is not fit enough and Kimi does not have an F1 seat next year would/could they draft the Iceman back in at Ferrari – if the car could win races it is possible.

At least there are two others who respect Nick as a driver (Grace I did not know you were one). I am always saddened when people trash a driver who has a good record of being better than their team mate like Nick against his team mates (which include Kimi, Felipe, Mark, JV and for 2 out of three years Robert).

As far as not seeing “improvement” in the BMW Sauber over the season – in the first 10 races they only got into the points on three occasions (one was the “lucky” Sepang podium). In the last seven races they got into the points on EACH occasion. Nick was unlucky at Singapore (with the grid penalty and Sutil incident), Japan where a rear wheel nut caused a 6 second longer pit stop (he would have been 4th otherwise) and Brazil where eight positions were gained within the first 20 laps (at least 4 would been overtakes) and he was lapping 0.3 second faster than Vettel. But those are the ifs, factually he scored points on four occasions in the last 7 races.

By: Negative Camber

Negative Camber — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:39:26 +0000

For my part, I am suggesting that Button’s talents and career may be wasted on McLaren. I really hope that’s not the case and that he really shines there but I fear Lewis may have other opinions and he is the teams guy.

I think Nick would be good as a complete package option at Merc and oddly I think he would have been a good case study for Lewis without fear of creating an Alonso situation at the team. Nick is even keeled and more apt to be a part of the team than others.

Timo and Sutil would have been good there for their careers but I am not suggesting that either are better than Button. I just think Button deserves to be at the helm of a competitive team after winning the title. He goes into this team as the #2 already but let’s hope h will raise the game and rise to the challenge he has opted for. He will have to bring a whole different level of skill and determination to beat Lewis and I am just not sure that is in him to do it. Lewis is a high bar to hurdle.