You can't read it that way. When voting it's a clear yes or no, not how much of a chance.

That's an interesting read.

I voted No and Yes.
Without doubt JB is a worthy champion but I do think it will be difficult for him and Brawn to retain their titles.
It is quite possible, depending on driver lineup, there could be 4 teams challenging so that gives the possibility of 8 drivers being in with a shout.
With respect to Button, if Hamilton, Alonso, Vettel, Webber, Massa and whoever fills the seats at McLaren and Brawn, all have equal machinery it is hard to see where he could build up a lead.
I would have to tip Hamilton or Alonso but I'd like Button to prove me wrong!

Jenson Button is a worthy Champion. I didn't vote in the poll because it won't let me leave out the answer to the first question. No-one has any idea if he will win next year as well.

I can talk about what I hope to happen next year. I hope someone else will win it next year. Preferably someone from my country, or from Germany (Rosberg). If they can't win it... then perhaps Rubens. I hope he could have another shot at it. Just like Jenson, he would have been a hugely popular World Champion - perhaps even more popular than Jenson. Not trying to take anything away from Jenson, just recognising Rubens has a lot of fans and has been around much longer. It would be a good way to end his career, by winning. I would cheer for that.

He will be competitive next year. Interesting to note that they have been working on 2010 for a while now -- they have a separate design team for it. Jenson now knows what it's like to be gunning for a championship -- I think 2010 will be a great year for him.

Don't forget next year is likely to be as close to a Mercedes works team as you can get. I suspect there will be no shortage of technical resource for the team and for the almost bulletproof reliability to continue.

Whose gearbox would they use? Do Mercedes provide McLaren with the entire drive train or just the motor and KERS?

Cos the honda gearbox always sucked, dropping a merc/mclaren gearbox into their package would probably bring performance benefits alone.

Defend the championship ?
According to a certain reporter in the Post Race conference, the WDC is on a loan from Lewis to Button.
In 2010, Button will buy a casttle, bring the trophy in and lift the bridge to defend the WDC.

But seriously
F1 is not Boxing Belt or Americas Cup.
There isn't just one trophy changing hands.
In 2010 there will eb a brand new trophy in dispute.

Racing isn't a popularity contest.

Well Jense drove a great race in Brazil, absolutely. He's a lovely driver in a good car.

I just think next year the Brawn will be at best on a level with what Lewis, Fernando, Kimi and Seb will be driving. I think those guys are stronger in the head, more versatile with what they can drive, and especially better on a weekend where things go a bit wrong. Just as one example, look at Kimi's 5th place after all he went through.

I don't think Button will win next year, providing he stays with Brawn I don't think he will mainly because the other teams have caught up and should have a better car, but I can be proved wrong.

And of course Button is a worthy champion, he has the most points, I can't think why people are disputing the fact, I can't believe there are some people who still don't think that Hamilton is a deserving champion from 2008. Anyhow, roll on 2010.

who would know for sure? just for the heck of it yes/yes. Although it's going to be hard to bear another fruitless Ferrari year for me then. but i have to admit i am a huge ross brawn fan, if somebody can pull something like that off, than it is definately him.

These poll results are very interesting and more or less reflect the discussion we had at work today; everyone was pleased for Jenson as it was inevitable he'd win given the massive car advantage he had at the start of the season, everyone was just disappointed he choked a tad during the second half of the season when compared to his teamate and the other Teams when they caught up somewhat (saying somewhat because the Brawn is still a massively fast car as evidenced by Rubens' pole!).

Yes he won in style yesterday with some gutsy overtaking but he's not the best driver on the grid, nowhere near the top 3 and that's a shame

Next year I hope the WDC will be won by the best driver and not the best car but I have a feeling that will NEVER happen in my lifetime! Ah well, i'll just have to stick to BTCC to see the best drivers shine!!

And what, do you remember Buttons points score in the final part of 06??? It means nothing in the end...

I think Vettel will win it next year

Thanks for not putting words in my mouth ;)

2010 will be a Hamilton-Alonso fight . No more.

In races 8-16 of 2006 Jense was 6th in the no of points scored, same as he was in the year as a whole.

Of course points count. And of course a sample of races is only part of the story, but a sample of the 9 most recent races is quite useful if you're trying to predict the next 18. Bearing in mind how the championship uses points...

I think to be honest that it wouldn't have mattered what Button did this year, some people had already made up their minds about how 'worthy' he would be and have fitted their opinion of him as a WDC to their preconceived ideas. I'm sure they'll all settle down again if McLaren/Ferrari compete for the WDC next year as it'll all be due to the drivers and certainly not because they're the best cars on the grid...

QFT.

I don't know, he probably will be strong in 2010, but I think Ferrari, Mclaren and RBR will be stronger than in 2009, so it will be a lot more difficult, so I voted "no" for the first question, and "yes" for the second.

Funny isn't it - all the people who say the rules should be static, because it makes it cheaper etc. The rule changes let Brawn and Toyota, and even more so, Williams, be smart with less resource, and gave an outsider a championship winning chance.

Rule changes are key to stopping this big team heavy firepower approach from dominating.

If we want F1 to stay fresh and interesting, the rules need changing significantly every year, not leaving static, as most people keep saying.

For 2010, they could make tires 2x as hard and limit front and rear wing heights - too late to do more than that now.
For 2011, they could allow a unrestricted KERS - with standard reusable battery / capacitors - let the teams innovate in energy capture and release, and not become battery companies.
For 2012, they could allow some sort of ground effect back in.
For 2013, they could allow active suspension
For 2014 bring back turbos
For 2015 allow dynamic aero
etc etc

Limit the areas of possible innovation, to keep overall costs down, but every year, bring in some new area, to let teams innovate, and stop teams getting to entrenched, and keep the technology moving forwards.

problem is mclaren/redbull/ferrari have been working on 2010 car for longer and with MORE resources. I heard those teams have 750+ employees but brawn has around 450 so respource is stretched to the max so it points to possibly brawn maybe on backfoot next year

I hope not... can't stand him singing.

Interesting selection of people you think are better.
Heres a clue go check the average places moved up in GP that the person has finished in this year it will enlighten you.
Vettel averages 0.3 places improved per race Hamilton 1.3 and Button 1.6.
I still rate Hamilton as the better driver than Jenson but the figures at least for this year say Jenson drove far better than a lot of the people in your list.
Next year however i do not expect Jenson to start the season with the big (and fair) advantage in performance he had this year and would not be surprised to see him back to how he has been every year apart from this one solidly mid-field, with just brief flashes of what he really can do.

Stupid question, stupid thread. Circumstances are more powerful than talent. If Jenson has got the fastest car he might. So might all the other drivers.