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Jenson Button’s continued presence in Formula One was confirmed yesterday morning, much to the relief of his legion of British fans. Next year will be his 16th in the sport, and how much further he can continue to drive beyond 2015 remains to be seen. What is absolutely not in doubt though is that he has thoroughly deserved the 15 years of racing he has achieved thus far, alongside the acclaim, criticism and genuine affection in which he is held. |
That there is no broad consensus on Button – he is highly regarded by many while others see him as an underachiever – is broadly reflective, and instructive, of his career. He is definitively better than his detractors claim but has also been subject to the limitations of his own driving style.
It has been a long, old race for Button, and one different to many of his contemporaries. He had no careful nurturing under the wing of a top team. When taken on by Williams at the age of 20 in 2000 he had previously run only one season in Formula Ford (which he won) and one in F3.
A big step for a young driver and one for which he was self-admittedly ill-prepared. He had no experience working closely with engineers and developing cars – his brief until then had been to climb behind the wheel and go fast, which he had done with aplomb. In F1 he had to learn his trade as he went and, crucially, had to do so in uncompetitive cars. The drivers against which he is so often measured – Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen all had race-winning machinery beneath them within several seasons of their debuts.
After Williams came Benetton and Renault, with Flavio Briatore famously dismissing Button as a “lazy playboy” before replacing him with Alonso. It may have had the desired effect as after joining Dave Richards at BAR in 2003 he learned the importance of building a team around him, having his engineers work towards his style. The car was not great but it worked. He outraced the 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve that year, scored his first podium finish the next and with the team now owned by Honda, his first win a magnificent run from 14th in the wet at the Hungaroring in 2006.
Sadly it was a false dawn for the Japanese marque and Button was stuck trawling round towards the back in terrible cars for the following two seasons with a laudably cheerful stoicism that proved ultimately worth it when he took delivery of the championship-winning Brawn in 2009 that would emerge from Honda’s withdrawal.
That the car held such an advantage for the first half of the season, in which he won six of the first seven races before clinching the championship at the penultimate race in Brazil, has long been the caveat applied to his title. Which is unfair. He utterly dominated Rubens Barrichello in the same car, a driver who, having spent much of his career under the shadow of Michael Schumacher, was as hungry as any to prove he could be a champion. Indeed, a glance at recent F1 history reveals many drivers who had a title-winning drive but who did not make the distance: David Coulthard, Felipe Massa, Mark Webber and this year Nico Rosberg all had their chances, like Barrichello. Button took his and proved that with the right machinery he could be a worthy world champion.
Clicking with it was crucial, however. Button’s much-lauded smooth driving style, cornering by adjusting braking on entry and throttle on exit, with only minimum steering input, meant the car had to suit his style to perfection. Extremely sensitive to the characteristics of his ride under braking and on turn-in, if the car was not where he needed it to be, he struggled, particularly in qualifying.
This is where the comparisons with drivers such as Alonso and Hamilton have left him looking undercooked. Both wring the most from recalcitrant rides. Hamilton’s style in particular: heavy braking, heavy on the gas with huge steering input, has enabled him to take advantage when the car is not working to ideal parameters.
The pair shared three years at McLaren, during which Button performed superbly. Despite expectation that Hamilton would make him look average, he matched him, outscoring his team-mate in 2011. But Hamilton had the edge in 2010 and 2012, was the closer of the two to winning a world championship and now has two titles, the benchmark against which Button is often measured. Again, a trifle unfairly. Of the 160 British drivers who have competed in the World Championship, only 10 have won it. Button is a member of that exclusive club.
When he has the car working his talent is undeniable, a master of changing conditions, as he proved on his debut win, and in Australia and China in 2010, Hungary again in 2011 and at the absolute classic in Canada the same year – twice coming back from last place to take the win. But there were compelling performances in the dry, too, alongside his victories in 2009. Putting the BAR on pole at Imola in 2004 was an extraordinary lap while the compelling second at Monza in 2010, a masterclass at Suzuka in 2011 and dominance at Spa in 2012 all stand out.
As recently as 2013 Ron Dennis pointed out that Button was both intelligent and quick and compared him to Ayrton Senna. “In many ways there are similarities between Ayrton and Jenson,” McLaren’s executive chairman said. “The way that he conducts his life and his relationship with this team is right up there with some of the other great drivers who have been with us.”