I know this will sound a bit “knocking” and anti-Brit but I found it hard to celebrate Buttons championship win, in truth I would have been happier
with Vettel or possibly Barrichello taking the crown. Why, because I just don’t think he was the best driver on this years grid, I don’t even believe
he was the best car/driver package this year (once the whole double diffuser row had been resolved) To me he won the title because of the lead the
team achived when it did have a tecnilogical advantage and then he certainly had the balance of luck over the likes of Vettel, Webber, and
Barrichello.
Now I know the argument of “you make your own luck” but Button seemed to have a divine force shield this year, take Sunday, within 2 laps 4 cars had
gone off in front of him, latter his team mate takes a puncture. The race before the two cars in front of him take each other out, again letting him
scrabble a couple of points.
I’m not crying conspiracy just a remarkable run of fortune this season that prevented any of his challengers mounting any sort of challenge despite
Button’s poor second half of the season. I genuinely don’t even believe he was the best driver in his team! Take mechanical failings into account and
the positions would be reversed.
So yes I believe he is a good driver who took his chance but he is not a Hamilton, Alonso or Schumacher and I believe unless circumstances run heavily
in his favour again he will not take the championship a second time.
It also seems a shame that he his now, seemingly, using his new found title to leverage more money out of Brawn as he is yet to agree his new
contract, funny how he was seemingly more loyal when many were starting to question his ability!
[Edited on 20/10/09 by orton1966]
he did take a 50% pay cut at the start of this season when the team were up the creek, i think he's just trying to get some of that back. I think he's a good driver, but i agree no schumacher
It would appear he is the best driver in the best car because he won the championship
you cant class hamilton as any better
he is equally as good as Hamilton, a worthy World Champion.
He won more races than Hamilton did when he won the championship and more races than Vettel or Barrichello. So i my opinion he made his own luck by taking advantage of the situation at the beginning of the season when he had the better car in the field.
There's no great drivers in F1. Its all about the car now. Buttons proved it. Thats not a negative comment but there's not a Valentino Rossi on the F1 grid.
I'm afraid you are incorrect as Button is a fantastic driver!
You have to look at how smooth and precise he is. What impressed me on Sunday was that he took that smooth and conservative style and braked later,
slid the car more and was generally more aggressive.
In the right car next year and with a mix of his smoooooth and his new slightly more aggressive style, he will be quite a driver!
He has also got his head sorted as he is now world champion so I think he may be an even better driver!
Jenson is a better driver than Hamilton and has more character because he has lived a proper 'playboy' lifestyle, rather than Hamiltons
'cocooned' life.
But, Vettel is better than Jenson.
And, like it or not Alonso is the best of the current bunch.
he's a journeyman plain and simple. For all these years it was about the income.
truth will tell next year in seeing if he drives that hard for every race
Although im got a great fan of his i would say Alonso is the better driver at the moment.
Lets see how next years cars and drivers get on with a full tank of fuel.
Whatever the views, I can't wait for the last race. I think he will be out to enjoy it and without the pressure he has been under the last few
races it should be a good one.
Still a shame for Barichello though, of all the drivers at the minute I think he is the most down to earth.
Maybe next year Rubens....
Seems to me he scored more points than anyone else this year, what does that make him ?
It is just more proof that the car/driver combo is the most important thing. He is a great driver, and will win by a greater margin than Hamilton did last year. Hamilton just as clearly proves a great driver in an average car = nothing special. Button did go defensive too early in the title challenge, but Sundays race showed some true guts after months of overly careful driving.
Its simply not possible to say one person is better than the other, or even to compare current drivers to past drivers. Yes we can speculate and
discuss personal opinions, but you can't say he is worse. What you can do is take the race and championship results and see that we won races and
he won the championship, competing against all the other teams and drivers. And he came out the winner.
I will bet that there were fans of, say Graham Hill, who say that he deserved to win the '64 championship instead of Surtees. But in that year
Surtees was the overall winner. Same with Button this year.
After that I must admit I am over the (Button) moon 
that Jenson won. He has been my favourite driver for many years. He almost always has a smile
and sounds happy to be doing the job he is doing. Look at all the other miserable sods in F1. Hardly a cheery bunch.
[Edited on 20/10/09 by balidey]
Even though Brawn had the best car at the beginning of the season, Button made the most of it and beat Rubens. You can't say that it's all
down to a couple of lucky incidents - Jenson had Rubens beaten for the title before his puncture on Sunday, and had more than the measure of him over
the course of the year, which is what the championship is all about. ........
If Jenson had been muddling around the beginning of the season, and had won the last 6 races, he'd be being lauded as the best driver in
years......
quote:
Originally posted by vinny1275
If Jenson had been muddling around the beginning of the season, and had won the last 6 races, he'd be being lauded as the best driver in years......
And if Herr Mosely had had is way with the medals idea, he would have been champion back at Spa
Its not just the driver that wins its not just the car and its not just the team its the whole package for the whole year. I really wish I could drive
anywhere nearly as good as this driver, hes been around a while waiting in the wings and this year he and his team have done it! nobody should knock
them for it. noone did better this year and thats what counts
Ray
I am happy with anyone else except Hamilton.
Dissapointed though due o the early advantage.
i would have liked Rubens to win it as he never got it and he deserves it
Jenson is better than Rubens, he proved that in the first half of the year they both had the same car. As for the second half the pressure got to
Jenson, not much but enough for him to tighten up in qualifying, and you could tell because during the race he nearly always went better than Rubens
to pick up them valuable points.
He may not be a MR M Schumacher but he proved he can drive in Brazil.
Was Damen Hill great?,
Did Mansell win it only when he had by far the best car?,
Would Schumacher have won all those championships if he had a worthy team mate who was allowed to compete with him.
Would James Hunt have won if Nikki Lauda had not missed some races?
Lewis was very lucky last year , and completely fluffed it the 1st year.
Did Kimi win it in style, or stumble over the line with some good fortune?
Has anyone won it who were not in the right car?
[Edited on 20/10/09 by Surrey Dave]
As someone said, if he had messed up at the start and won the last 6 races, he would have been a "hero". In my eyes hes a fantastic driver
thats just not had the right car.
However it does show how much its about the car/team which is good for the sport. Gets more people involved and the team can feel proud.
Although i think vettel is the best of the pack at the moment, Button isnt far behind.
[Edited on 20/10/09 by eddie99]
Up until the very last race I had button down as a good driver but not a world beater, head to head in identical cars I think Hamilton would edge it ,
Im not a hamilton fan either ..
However the last race I thought he was superb, brave and determined and full of confidence .
Really pleased for him, think next year will be a whole new game and dont expect him to figure that highly.
As for the whole salary debate etc ... Button has wlaked away from huge pay offs, taken pay cuts all to be the number one in the world ... having said
that he stil earns more in one week than most of us earn in a year !
Pretty much had same opinion as original poster untill the race in Brazil. Button was pretty amazing there.
Though I really hope Vettel would win :/...
I think its fair to say we "English" dont like an English winner do we ?
You wins the points you takes the crown - simples.
Im really chuffed Jensen won it. Properly deserved. Its hard to say who the best drivers are. In my eyes anyone who can get an F1 car round those
circuits must be gifted. Jensen may not be the most aggressive of drivers but he surely must go down as one of the smoothest of all time.
For me the other champion this year is Ross Brawn. Giving the first credit to the 200 unlucky people who were made redundant in the winter for their
part in developing such a great car showed real leadership quality in my eyes. He must have some great leadership skills keeping the team focussed
despite their woes.
I do feel sorry for Rubens though. Would have been nice to see him win in Brazil. He strikes me as one of the nicest drivers. Comes across as a real
gent.
I disagree (who, me!? ).
Jenson drove beautifully for the first half of the season and destroyed his team-mate (who was on an equal footing). Nuff said!
Your sentiment seems to me to reek of the 'British-Thing'... conditioned to castigate our winners and celebrate our brave-losers.
By your logic we should compare Button and (for example) Hamilton by HOW they won their WDC's... in that case, Lewis is not a deserving winner as
he won with less race victories, but more crucially, he only won because another team cheated! Had Renault played by the rules, then Massa would have
been the 2008 WDC.
You can only compete against the drivers who line up in your era and by making the most of your machine... JB did both and won! Well done lad!
the chaps that take part in F1, there are probably at least 5 that could be the world champion.
the only way to tell who is the best is to have them drive the same car under the same condtions. That would mean one driver on the track at any time
and somehow ensure the weather and track conditions are the same for all drivers, not easily done.
Until then it is pure speculation.
I am glad that he won. So there 
Valentino Rossi would knock spots of all of them
a great car. thats it...
HE DUN GR8 GR8 CAR GR8 TEAM I LUVD IT YER M8 N1
quote:
Originally posted by DarrenW
simples
quote:
Originally posted by Jon Ison
I think its fair to say we "English" dont like an English winner do we ?
quote:
Originally posted by David Jenkins
Well, this Welshman thinks that he did very well!
"Has anyone won it who were not in the right car?"
Not since 94.
quote:
Originally posted by designer
"Has anyone won it who were not in the right car?"
Not since 94.
Whilst I understand that everybody is entitiled to their opinion, at the end of the day Button had more points and the team did a better job than the
rest, which ever way you look at it (as did Vettel in post race interview).
As for Rubens winning, he started from pole and went backwards a fair rate of knots, so only has himself to blame.
As for Vettel, his time will come, especially as he has had the fastest car for most of the season!
I'd like to say that Button, wether I like him or not deserved, his championship, he was the best this year, and although I thought he was going
to blow it right at the end, he really raced Brazil, it was nerve wracking watching him do what he had to do, when he had to do it.
Big Up for the Button!
We all know what points make
You can winge that Brawn had an unfair advantage at the beginning but turned out to be a stroke of genius by Brawn. Barichello was driving the same
car and just could not compete with Button.
Vettel may be the more consisten t driver at the end of the season but so what ist about the Whole season, The Whole Team & The Driver.
Which makes Jenson a worthy WORLD CHAMPION like it or not
As for Rossi he's a god on two wheels......end of
[Edited on 20/10/09 by bmseven]
Good on him for winning it, he's clearly a worthy champion as he won it without AFAWK cheating.
But I think it's fair to say he's not a top tier driver. He's clearly no Alonso, Hamilton or Raikonnen. If he was that good then
he'd have been recruited by a better team years ago- I'm sure Ferrari, Mclaren etc. are more capable of spotting top drivers than us
armchair experts are!!!
An interesting article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8312844.stm
EDIT: and I'd like to add: a lot of you are praising Button for overtaking enough to get from 14grid to 5th in the race. But Hamilton went from
18th grid, spun out on lap 1 and still was on the podium!!!!
Hamilton for 2010!!!!!
cheers,
James
[Edited on 20/10/09 by James]
just read the article above,
couldn't agree more. Makes a change to see a journalist write something worthwhile.
As far as I'm concerned
Well done Jenson
best driver and best team this year won
GeorgeM
You're all missing the most important detail: -
Barrichello is Frasier Crane!
Lol!
Well, I do like Hamilton and have followed him since F3 and GP2. However. I do think that Button deserves the title and that he is a good driver. I think that they have completely different attitudes and driving styles but that helps F1 in its attempts to be interesting
To sum up, in recent years Kimi shouldn't have won his title, Hamilton should probably have won that year & not last when Massa should have
won, this year it could only realistically have been JB or Barrichello, because everyone else took to long playing catchup.
At the start of the season JB had some blistering drives & some phenomenal overtaking moves - remember the one on Vettel - b4 the pressure started
to bite & he just went off a tad in quali, he's still made some blistering overtakes in the latter half any of which could have cost him the
championship, the guys got balls - large ones i would think!
Reubens however had by then woken up & has probably driven the best season ever despite his age (although I don't think he's as old as
either Damon or Nige were when they became champions).
It's a bit like saying Tim Henman was rubbish - I'd be more than a tad surprised if anyone on here could beat him & the same goes for
JB
Well deserved I'd say, been driving rubbish cars for years (& still took more points than anyone else in the latter half of the season with
Honda about 3-4 years ago) - he's also human & knows how to enjoy himself.
Best current driver in F1? Hamilton by a country mile I'd say - Kovvi is not the slouch he appears to be he's actually v. good, but shows
what the McLaren is capable of in an "ordinary" drivers hands!
Alonso's quite handy when not having a tantrum & Vettel is brilliant & still getting better! Kubica & Mark Webber are also pretty
damn quick as is Nico Rosberg.
Nico & Jenson in the same team next year which looks likely should be entertaining!
Lastly - why do we Brits always want to build 'em up just to knock 'em down!!!???
All the f1 drivers are roughly equal, they are all very good, and it's been 99% about the cars and or hiding your cheating^H^H^H^H^H^Hstrategy
for the last 10 years.
Button deserves to be world champion because he scored more points than anyone else which is the only objective measure. Any other measures are
about as fair and objective as X-factor or the public vote in Strictly Come Dancing.
The only way to really tell who's best is to run the entire championship with everyone in the same cars with car and pit-crew selected by lottery
at the start of every race - and that ain't going to happen is it.
what F1 needs is a Valentino Rossi type. Someone who can draw fans while been so good even when not using the best equipment.
Interesting comment from Hamilton - when he was in karting he wanted to be as good as Button! (he'd just won 30-odd races in a season).
[Edited on 20/10/09 by David Jenkins]
There isn't one named after Hamilton or Barichello
lol
Anyway, as someone said earlier, there is a lot of "near the line" cheating in F1 now.
Even Hamilton, although a fantastic driver, still got caught and with the rest of the fiasco and dirty tricks, it's nice that Button and the
Brawn team came through.
Even though Schumacker (spelt right?) won loads of world championships, I always wonder how he would have managed with the current rules. You only
have to watch some of his races to see his style and I am sure that he would have been penalised many times.
[Edited on 21/10/09 by tendoshingan]
quote:
Originally posted by tendoshingan
lol
Anyway, as someone said earlier, there is a lot of "near the line" cheating in F1 now.
Even Hamilton, although a fantastic driver, still got caught and with the rest of the fiasco and dirty tricks, it's nice that Button and the Brawn team came through.
Even though Schumacker (spelt right?) won loads of world championships, I always wonder how he would have managed with the current rules. You only have to watch some of his races to see his style and I am sure that he would have been penalised many times.
[Edited on 21/10/09 by tendoshingan]