I know its a bit presumptuous to assume that Jenson Button will become the Formula 1 World Champion for 2009 but after this afternoons win at the Monaco Grand Prix, which he led from start to finish, Button has now opened up a 16 point lead from team mate Rubens Barrichello, just six races into the season, that is championship form in anyone's eyes.
Those who are new or don't really know a lot about Formula 1 will be thinking, roughly, the same as me, how has Jenson Button all of a sudden come good?
Button has been on the F1 scene now since 2000, when he started his fledgling career with Williams. Since 2000 Button has been with Williams, Benetton, Renault, BAR and Honda, and in his eight seasons with those five teams he managed to collect one win, in 2006.
This season alone Button has managed five wins from the opening six rounds of races in 2009, not bad considering that Button and the rest of the Honda team were resigned to the fact that they may not have a team to work for this season, after Honda decided to pull out of the Championship following the financial crisis that has affected so many car manufacturers across the world.
Ross Brawn, the former Ferrari and Benetton supremo, though, saved the Honda team, and seemingly Button's career, when he decided to acquire the team, which he was team principle of anyway.
Formula 1 bosses have been doing all that they can to try and change and make Formula 1 more competitive and a closer run thing. For years the Championship has been dominated by the likes of McClaren and Ferrari, with Renault having some recent successes with Fernando Alonso, but these changes that have been brought in by the F1 bosses have had an opposite effect, in the sense that McClaren and Ferrari are not dominating, but have had no effect in the sense that one team is still dominating the proceedings.
Jenson Button has had many a critic in his career, and has up until now never shown his potential under his previous teams, but this year, Button and his Brawn GP have adapted the best to the new rules, and Button now has a car that he can compete with and show what he is made of.
Button fans are obviously enjoying this new found success and have known, since Button came onto the circuit, that given the right car he would be able to compete with the best on the grid. But with all these changes that have limited the performances of World Champion Lewis Hamilton and the Ferrari boys, if Button is to continue his form that he has shown so far this season, will his title be merited, as arguably the best drivers in previous years have been unable to compete due to the rule changes?
The old philosophy from football of you can only beat whats put in front of you can be applied to all sports, even F1. Button has had the luck of having a car that can compete and win races, a car that he has never had before, and despite the fact that the usual names of McClaren and Ferrari aren't keeping up to pace with the Brawn GP team, should not take too much away from Button's achievement.
There will always be some people in F1 circles who will question the merit of the title should Button win the Championship in November, and in some aspects, this year is a poisoned chalice for whoever wins the title because of the amount of chances that have been made and implemented for the first time this season.
Button looks odds on to win the title come November but should anyone else be able to take the title from Button and the Brawn GP team, they will have to go along with the fact that they have won the title under contrasting circumstances to the likes of Alonso, Hamilton and Raikkonen of previous years.
An imaginary asterix will be placed next to '2009 World Champion Jenson Button'*, winner of a changed championship.
No comments:
Post a Comment