Jenson Button

Arguably the best ever driver in mixed conditions, all his wins at Mclaren have come in those conditions. His last race win in the dry came at the 2009 Turkish GP.

Button is known for his smooth driving style and is normally seen in must races doing one less stop than his rivals for tyres.

Buttons also know to be a bit of a practical joker and will take part in anything fun.

Since his debut in 2000 Button has won the majority of hearts in this country. But what is your favourite JB win?

Mine has to be Hungaroring 2006, in argubly a midfield team and he won the race in those mixed conditions to take his first win. I can remember James Allen been in tears almost and that was the first race Anthony Davidson ever commentated on.
 
My favourite JB race wasn't a win actually, his championship deciding race in 2009, qualifed at the back with his team mate on pole and the championship slipping away he had the race of his career to fnish fifth and claim the championship.
 
His first podium in Malaysia was a pretty awesome race but for me I have to go for Australia 2010. Critics had undermined his championship by saying it was only because of the best car and after just one avergae result at Mclaren it was declared he'd never get anywhere near Lewis and never win another race. Way to prove them wrong JB.

I have to say my respect for Button's skills have really gone up since he went to Mclaren. Despite thinking he was a great driver I also thought that at Mclaren Hamilton would completely destroy him but Jenson has proven them all wrong by being consistantly within striking distance of Lewis championship wise finishing only 26 points behind him for the first season and being only 12 points behind him in the current season with the same amount of wins you have to admitt that Jenson has aquitted himself well at Mclaren. Add to the fact he has the likes of Alonso and Vettel to compete with too and you have to say Jenson has proven himself.

The biggest complement Button can take is the amount of insults he gets from hardcore Hamilton fans. The fact that its felt the need to talk him down obviously means he's upped his game enough to be seen as a true competitior - something that would have been laughable in 2008
 
Jenson's had a long and difficult path to where he is today, and it often seems that the struggle has done him good. Having achieved his lifetime's ambition, he comes across as an even more relaxed, level-headed and intelligent individual.

I didn't have him down as a future world champion in his early career, more of an under-the-radar Coulthard or Heidfeld type, but he's played the cards he's been dealt extremely well, took advantage of a great car when it came along (which his equally talented team-mate could not), and parlayed his championship into a seat in one of the top teams, where he is now continuing to impress and upset more fancied rivals.
 
My opinion of him is higher than that of any other driver in so many respects, except a racing drivers no1 perceived skill: raw, dry, speed.

I think Lewis is helping in that regard with every race though, since his relative pace (purely subjectively) is closer with every passing GP it seems.
 
Got agree with Galahad. Button spent the first years of his career playing at being a gentleman racer and playboy rather than doing the graft and, as a consequence, I always felt was much overrated. But cometh the hour, cometh the man and when given a car he could win in Button did it with aplomb.

The first half of 2009 was a pretty dull season if you weren't a Jenson fan, similarly 2011 for non-Vettel fans but you can't take away from him that when presented with the chance to win he invariably takes it.

Not the most exciting of drivers and many thought he would be blown away by Hamilton at McLaren but far from it. He's proven him self very worthy of his seat at the team.
 
I don't rate Button that highly as many do, and do find that his drives are a bit blown out of proportion as is his 2009 season.

But one race from him that got a lot of respect from me, was his race in Monaco this year, I would have liked to seen him have a go at Alonso at some point but didn't, but that race from him was a good one.

Oh and another race which I find quite underated, is Monza last year, that was a great drive from him, you could argue that McLaren may have cost him the race strategy wise, but hindsight is a wonderful thing.
 
Jenson was quite fortunate to have Lewis arrive in F1, as up until that point on just about every forum I frequented he was treated with utter contempt and hatred!

Anyone who had followed his karting career would have told you that he was WDC material and that he was one of the best overtakers in the business. His charges from the back of the field in karting were as brilliant, feisty and majestic as anything you could ever desire to see.

So many people to this day wonder how he got into F1 so quickly and was touted so highly, on the back of what could be described as an average F3 career and no F3000. Well fortunately, a lot of people in the know followed his early career and knew what he was capable of. Had Jenson joined a powerful Williams team and not one in decline and not had to endure a miserable time with one corrupt Fabio Briatore, he would have stamped his name on a top line drive and have contested multiple WDCs early in his career.

In 2005 he was the fastest most reliable driver for the whole season, without that ridiculously dominant and pesky Ferrari he would have won the WDC at a canter.
 
In 2005 he was the fastest most reliable driver for the whole season, without that ridiculously dominant and pesky Ferrari he would have won the WDC at a canter.

I think that was 2004. Button looked like he had a career of wrong place, wrong time. Williams had to have Montoya, Button had to cope with Flabio. Off to BAR, beat Villeneuve, but Ferrari too quick. Coming force, though, now Honda. Brilliant at end of 2006, but 2007 car slower than 2006 car...

It looked like his career was over but then BAM the BGP001 comes along and he's a World Champion in a McLaren, rather than an ex-Next Big Thing in a Lotus or in Le Mans.
 
Looks like the Gods that dealt him a poor hand ended up dealing him a very good hand.

The wheel came full circle. Perhaps there was a World Championship or two in Jenson when he arrived on the scene. Half of it's fulfilled in a round about manner.

When he arrived in 2000, the scene was lacking depth in terms of top fight talent. Now there's a good deal of it.

I rate him 4th best driver in F1 currently and I put him in my Top 10 (around 7th or so) in the decade 2000-2009. Not too bad for a guy who did his best to blow up his career following his rookie season.
 
Jenson was quite fortunate to have Lewis arrive in F1, as up until that point on just about every forum I frequented he was treated with utter contempt and hatred!

Anyone who had followed his karting career would have told you that he was WDC material and that he was one of the best overtakers in the business. His charges from the back of the field in karting were as brilliant, feisty and majestic as anything you could ever desire to see.

So many people to this day wonder how he got into F1 so quickly and was touted so highly, on the back of what could be described as an average F3 career and no F3000. Well fortunately, a lot of people in the know followed his early career and knew what he was capable of. Had Jenson joined a powerful Williams team and not one in decline and not had to endure a miserable time with one corrupt Fabio Briatore, he would have stamped his name on a top line drive and have contested multiple WDCs early in his career.

In 2005 he was the fastest most reliable driver for the whole season, without that ridiculously dominant and pesky Ferrari he would have won the WDC at a canter.
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What got Jenson the drive ?

An impressive junior career with kart titles and Formula Ford Festival winner ( which only him and Senna have won and be the F1 world champion. FF has been won by people like Webber and Herbert as well. He beat the king of karts Giorgio Pantano (- a man Alonso called "Invincible" and was Nico Rosberg's kart idol with a poster on his wall ) in the European Super A tilte in 1997

Ron Dennis presented the MClaren Young Driver award in 1998 and said he can be in F1 in 3 years- he 's the only winner to be world champion. Incidentally this is one award Lewis did not win amazingly

To further underline his credentials he won the British GP F3 support race in 1999 and was battling Sato and Hynes who had the more powerful Mugen Honda engines in their car to his Renault powered Dallara. Lack of sponsors and opportunities meant he was not sure of going into F3000

An impressive testing with Prost included options to drive for the team in 2000 but the call from Frank when Zanardi quit was his ticket to F1 although he was surprised by the demands of F1 initially

The reason he was treated with contempt and hatred was the British media hyped him as the next Senna even and was one the youngest to ever start a GP. Also the years at Benetton/ Renault did not help when he was dealt a harsh lesson of being back of the grid and accused of being a playboy - a bit rich when your boss is known for scoring with supermodels and manages your teammates to earn his slice on the side.

Problem was 2004 was seen as the best chance for Jenson to win races and he did not and then his career did not move forward not helped by the fact BAR/ HOnda were run by the incompetent Nick Fry under Honda HQ. Flashes of his talents were there but he did not make the most of it so everyone thought. Some people were rubbishing Jenson not being in the same league as Alonso , Schumacher or Raikkonen at the time

When Lewis came the attention moved away from Jenson and he almost became the forgotten man as Lewis stole the headlines.

Jenson's credibility has gone up not only because he was brave enough to be Lewis' teammate which has been justified with the return in his performances which are better than people like Montoya, Berger, and Kovalainen when they were at MClaren.

He's also made Mercedes look really stupid in the same process which is probably more satisfying for him. I can't help but think if he was in the Red Bull he would be closer to Vettel than Webber is right now and probably would have romped to the title last season
 
Even more ironic that Lewis should start two places further behind Vettel, and finish ahead of both and on the podium!

I have to say though that Mclaren were clever enough to switch their cars to get rid one set of tyres under the SC...I can't remember if they both hit Fisichella at the start which meant they were always dangerous later on

Vettel was a wimp in that race..he did not pass anyone apart from BArrichello coming out of the pits and relied on running a long first stint and using the Red Bull's superior speed to get further up
 
I have to say Jenson's best win had to be Canada..I've enjoyed all his wins...I had a hunch he might win in Hungary given it was going to rain and if Vettel made a shoddy start he was always in contention.

Australia was sweet because after Bahrain everyone said he was Lewis' whipping boy and it was down to the car and some even rubbished him he was not going to win in Melbourne. What was satisfying was when he outqualified Lewis and when he came into the pits and went out again he skidded off and everyone was thinking what an idiot..then he did some fastest laps and threw everyone off their strategy.

China was better because instead of coming in he stayed and proved again to be superior and had it not been for the SC he would have won by a mile and again outqualified Lewis

I love Canada because when he limped back into the pits with a damaged tyre after clashing with Alonso everyone was talking about a terrible race for him and Mclaren. Then as the circuit got dryer he was moving up and up the field until he tagged onto the back of Schumacher and Webber. Where Webber failed he disposed of Schumacher in one attempt - and then went after Vettel like a heat seeking missile absolutely homing in on him in no time. Vettel could not respond and then Jenson was in the DRs zone..there was a feeling Red Bull / Vettel were panicking as the last lap started. I was waiting for his overtake in the DRs zone and DC spotted Vettel hit the white line and spun round. It was a great feeling that Vettel cracked under pressure - pity there was no gravel trap to embed him which would have made it sweeter.

He has not won a dry race yet for MClaren but both times the strategy went against him but both occasions he proved he was a class driver on the day
 
All Button's wins have been in 2009 OR in the wet. (or in 2009 and in the wet).

However, the one day he should have changed that was at Monza last year, but it was not to be. Alonso did a pretty good job there too.

Button's best drive. Got to be Hungaroring 2006 or Montreal 2011 for me.

There'd have been every reason for him to settle for 2nd in Montreal, but he kept going. But to bring the car home from 14th, and keep your head after 112 failures, in the wet, that's special.
 
I am glad Jenson finally has his own thread

Always a driver with top potential, he has taken a tortuous and for his fans, sometimes frustrating route.

If he could turn it on at will he would be a great however he seems too laid-back and complacent at times needing incentives to show his talent

He looked like the real deal years ago and kind of faded, recently he is learning a bit more about the benefits of testosterone from Lewis and is content with himself and his ability.

He is, with his experience of non competitive cars needing to be brought home unscathed, the ultimate number two. Or maybe number one and a half

I like his non sneaky on track battles with Lewis where it's man on man, no fuel saving misunderstandings
 
Personally, i think JB's best drive was actually a race he didn't win! The German GP in 2004 was a masterclass in overtaking and fast driving, despite the handicap of having to drive one handed for most of the race! - How many other drivers have had to come from the middle of the field (following a grid penalty) to finish second - especially with everything else falling to pieces around them!
 
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