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.
 
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He rarely takes responsibility for his own poor performances (usually the car) and anybody that is in a pretty shit position cruising (sorry understeering) around the mid field will take a much bigger risk than those with a decent position to protect so I think this weather guru stuff is a misnomer. Besided, most of the races are in the dry, I think perhaps being a master of dry conditions is more desireable rather than being opportunistic with safety cars and bad weather.

You don't get an "i've got no grip" reputation out of nothing, he's said it enough times that FOM can only play those messages from JB. True they all moan, but he does appear to have a distinct lack of variation in the gripes that are played.

He is good at making decisions quickly to suit him though even if not advised by his team - which is a good thing in my opinion. Some rely on their team rather than instinct too much - I much prefer the Alonso/Raikkonen approach.
 
I could pick fault with every single driver on the grid but as this is the Jenson Button thread I thought I would concentrate on the good points, whilst being fully aware that there ain't a person on earth who is perfect in every way and I include myself in that.....

Let he who is without fault fling the first insult....;)
 
http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/51174436

What a strange and contradictory set of quotes by Jenson Button.

He starts by saying that he is surprised that Lewis has described the responsibilities and freedoms at McLaren as being quite heavy and dismisses it and then goes on to talk about the shock of encountering the weight of extra responsibilities and pressures when he joined McLaren.

If you split his interview down the middle then he is saying two completely different things.
 
It was weird but I think he is saying that McLaren are a team that relies heavily on sponsors and a driver should realize and accept that, that is the case when he drives for the team and not moan about it...
 
Which translates as having a dig, which was also my interpretation. The thing is that Lewis didn't criticise McLaren, he praised Mercedes. I am certain that there is still a needle between these two drivers and more and more so it is apparent that the snidey remarks and catalyst comes from Jenson. I don't like it and I don't think it paints him in a good light. It's rather unnecessary.
 
It must be difficult being the British hope in F1, after an extremely successful rise to the sport, for someone from your own nation to then come along and completely put you in his shadow. I think the difficulty for him is borne of a resentment of this. There are minor parallels that can be drawn from Alonso's initial encounter with Hamilton as a reigning champion vs a rookie. Alonso seems to have come to terms with this and risen above it and I hope that Jenson can. It helps Alonso's case that he is much more on equal terms with Hamilton, in terms of ability, though. I do feel for Jenson but he must remain dignified and try not to be so political.
 
It's not like Jenson is calling press conference and telling them these things he is the one being asked directed and bias questions and his answers are being interpreted by the press I'm sure he would rather not be dragged into these things.

If the press asked him things like Was Lewis a good teammate or do you think Lewis is a good driver then Jenson would say yes, but there isn't much of a story to be had by asking questions like that is there...

Just remember this is just gossip to try and create animosity between the the two drivers and the fans, and that is how the press operates and always have done if there isn't a story then just bloody make one up out of nothing...

Lewis has never made a secret of the fact that he doesn't like doing PR work so what is the problem here?
 
Of course it's all gossip and media-filtered and sensationalised, which is why I have tried to boil it down to the essence. I have no genreal dislike for Jenson or even Lewis but Jenson is much more self-aware and media savvy. His comments are often more calculated and deliberate than some other drivers who, sometimes ill-advisedly, can speak straight from the heart. In this case he is politically towing the line. In my second link, this is something that Lewis claims to have felt restricted by at McLaren and something that Jenson refutes whilst doing exactly that. I don't mean to create a storm in a tea cup but this story will roll all season long and so I don't want to dismiss it either. There are other ways that Jenson could have made his position without having a dig at Lewis. Perhaps he could have said something along the lines of, "Lewis and I are two very different individuals and Mercedes and McLaren are two different teams. We both understand what it is to be a McLaren driver and I guess he just felt that he could fit better into a different environment". Instead what he kind of said was, "I don't know what he's talking about. It is not as Lewis describes at McLaren at all. I have been here three years and the way it is at McLaren is exactly as Lewis describes". Either he tripped himself up with his own statements and got a bit lost or he purposefully wanted to slight Lewis in his answer to the question. I suspect the latter and it is this that I don't find attractive or necessary.

I don't read much into the presses interpretations but have pulled out the quotes and made my own interpretations, which of course are subjective.
 

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