Button wouldn't have gone to partner Lewis if he didn't win the WDC.

As he did, he want's to beat Lewis in the same car.

Would Lewis have risked going against Jenson in a Brawn?

I doubt it.

"Risked"?

What would he fear "risking"?

He risked going on double WDC in his first season in same car, and beat him.

FYI, those guys car most about having capable car, and Button obviously thinks (or maybe has some insider info) that Brawn won't be so strong next season.

Taking Snapshot:

Jenson Button: Did he make the right call?

- Poll Started:
19th November 2009
- Snapshot Date:
23rd November 2009

Poll Result:
Did he make the right call to go to McLaren?
Yes [ 127 ] ** [47.92%]
No [ 138 ] ** [52.08%]

Total Votes:
265

At the moment still many people think he didn't make the right call, and I agree to it. BUT... that's just what we all think based on prior history/experiences/knowledge blabla...

But the poll question will be answered itself next season and beyond. So we'll just have to wait and see.

This bugs me, he did not beat Alonso. He scored the same amount of points. That does not mean he beat him.

I dont agree with Fernandos attitude that year, or Hamiltons at times but when Alonso or Lewis fans say x beat y, or y beat x it does bug me because that was not the case.

I frankly was pleased it ended in equal points because the Alonso/Lewis bashing would have been so much worse!

velgajski1 - Lewis did not risk it. He had nothing to lose. He was expected to lose against the best driver at the time. Besides that he had no choice. He wanted in on F1, Mclaern offered a place, what was he supposed to say? "No, I dont want to go against Alonso"?!

Regarding the topic: If Button is sincere about his motivation to go to McLaren (challenge himself), he has made the right call - even if he gets beaten severely by Hamilton. How can you fail when you set yourself a proces goal instead of a outcome goal?

He was ahead of FA all season and ended above him in the official listing. No matter how you want to cut it, he beat the man that many said would end his career before it even started.

Not the wrong decision, unless you use your own factors to decide rather than his own. Think it's amusing that people are often criticised for shying away from a challenge and then when some do they are criticised for not taking the easier route.

I also think it's funny that because of a few below average performances people write off the whole of the second half of the season and forget the first half. I'd like to think it's just a case of the last few races carry most weight, but then they were some of the best.

I know what you mean about the challenge aspect. Some people are never happy!

The more I hear about MS potentially going to Mercedes the more I think that they were only offering Button a 1, maybe 2 year contract to tide them over until Vettel becomes a free agent, which given their probable capture of Rosberg shows their primary interest in german drivers.

Yes he is easy on tyres, he will many races due to one stop strategy

I voted yes because it appeared that he went from being the star at Honda to a hindrance at Mercedes - either that or the negotiations with Brawn were handled spectacularly badly. At McLaren he'll be warmly welcomed, not only as a Brit WDC, but as a quality driver who'll be good from the team. Can he beat Hamilton? I seriously doubt it, but if he can push him hard he'll be worth 10 Kovalainens. I think the mechanics won't particularly mind his girlfriend frequenting the garage either.

The rule changes should play into Button's hands - as they would have into Raikkonen's, had he been more interested in driving.

It's all arbitrary, even if he'd beaten Alonso by one point, would it really reflect a more clear cut performance gap than one more podium finish?

Perhaps Button feels he has finally shown he can be champion and for a new challenge he will show how patriot he can be by becoming a lapdog for Hamilton.


Otherwise, no.

A fair fight?

People say it's not a fair fight at McLaren because it's built around Hamilton. and why would it be a fair fight at Brawn as it's been very much Button's team?

I've always thought that Button has made bad career choices during his career...and this continues the trend.

The choice between driving for a factory team with a team principal who has won 13 world titles since 1999...or to move to a private team (as #2 driver) which has won two titles in the same period.

Surely its a no-brainer?!?!

Or look at it another way, that's all Ross is - team principle, not like last year where he was the big cheese

Ross answers to Germany now and it's quite clear ze Germans dont rate JB

Good decision imo, if Siverstone can be saved, it should be absolutely bouncing next season

Ross is still technical director as well...and decides race strategy.

Its not as if Mercedes will have suddenly neutered him!

I don't understand why people here think the team did not want Button. They did, and they'd have paid him much more than McLaren to stay.

IMO Button left because despite taking a huge pay cut, Ross Brawn did not give Jenson a cut of the profits that Ross made. Which were very much due to Button winning the championship. And Ross himself probably got 150 million ... and MB paid 180 million for only 75% of the company. Button felt peeved and so he left ... I voted he made a mistake, but on consideration of how Jenson didn't get any of the purchase financial benefits - despite taking a huge pay cut in order to assist the team - in his position I'd have left too.

I can't change my vote - but Jenson - good move afterall!

Three scenarios:

- Button beats Lewis [probability 10%] - If Button can acheive this it will be a good move. A great move. It will move Button into the top echelon of drivers.

- Button matches Lewis [probability 20%] - Still a good move. Being ranked equal with 'Walk-on-water' Lewis Hamilton is definitely a compliment.

- Button gets beaten by Lewis [probability 100%] - Obviously not a good move. It will tarnish his reputation, big-time. Especially being the reigning World Champion.

The buyout money angle is interesting... but I think there's more to it than that.

Button was dominant early on, as we all know. But when he started having trouble getting heat in the tyres, I don't think he received the support he expected. From the talk at the time it seemed like it was a "we'll play with the setup" response, which just isn't good enough IMO. Meanwhile, the team seemed to be making every effort to support Rubens, possibly to alleviate his whining and to give him the chance at the championship he never really had at Ferrari (I'm convinced Ross had some guilt about this). If I were Button, this would rub me the wrong way, especially as to how the season is perceived now by some fans. Had Brawn made significant changes to the car to fix this problem, Jenson would have likely won the WDC "in style" rather than by picking as many points as possible each race. Looking at McLaren making just such an effort for Lewis even though the championship was out of reach must have set his thought process in motion. The motivation Brawn has given is that they were shifting their design focus to 2010, which sounds reasonable. But by slightly tarnishing JB's WDC and making him appear to have had a weak second half, they thought they had weakened Button's bargaining position (they probably assumed Kimi would take the McLaren ride before they finished negotiating with Jenson). Adding insult to injury, they sign Rosberg first. While Nico may end up a top driver in F1, Button already is. To sign him and then play hardball with Button over money seems like a bad miscalculation. Sign your "A" driver first, and then sign the "B" makes much more sense. I don't believe the money really ramped up from Brawn until after Button was looking very seriously at McLaren. Too late. Button went for performance, and I think it was the right call. McLaren should be able to give him the tools he needs to compete with Lewis, even if that means developing the car in two directions at once. Brawn would not.

As far as predicting how his battle with Hamilton will go...

If McLaren produces the best car on the grid, I think Button will beat Hamilton and win his 2nd WDC. He really does seem to be able to extract that last bit of performance out of a great car.

If McLaren are very good, but say a bit off the pace of Red Bull and Ferrari (or Mercedes), it will come down to whether Lewis can be more consistent than he has in the past. If he can avoid throwing away points he should have a pace edge on Button in this scenario (though I'm curious about race pace- none of Button teammates has been able to demonstrate better race pace than him to date). If Lewis does make mistakes, Button's consistency will make this very tight.

If McLaren come out with a dog of a car, the development path is likely to move towards Lewis and two paths are unlikely (there's a big difference between refining and totally reworking). This is the worst case for Button, as he will struggle with a car made for Hamilton.

Truth be told, nobody knows.

If you're JB, you go to Mclaren, give it your all, hope that you're on equal footing, make your millions, and enjoy your time at the the top of motorsport.

If it doesn't work out, well there's always a new opportunity around the corner.

Either way, for sure, it's a great move for JB.

Not a bad thing having two British WDC's on the same team.

I'm sure all of England is all agog about it.

Should be a verrrrry interesting motor race.

Fixed %

I've pegged Button as the new Coulthard.

That was just a joke, really. But I honestly do think it'll happen, with very little doubt in my mind.

If Button is made to look ordinary by Lewis, is there actually going to be this 'new opportunity waiting around the corner', though? F1 is a fickle business, and short memories mean that drivers are largely rated on their recent accomplishments more than anything. And I dont see Button as the type that can impress in any situation, meaning he's prone to bad streaks, which he cant afford against Lewis, who will not have these sorts of 'bad streaks'.

I think Button is risking much of his recent reputation boost. He's on a high right now, and it could very well be over quite quickly if he doesn't compare to Lewis favorably.

All this talk of what will happen between Button and Hamilton reminds me of previous years gone by whereby Button was criticised for suggesting wins were on the cards (this time last year) - it happened. That Button would never win again after Hungary, and he'd never be a WDC - they happened too. In fact, whenever Button proves something wrong, it seems something else is found that he 'won't' do until he goes and does it. F1 has shown not to count anything out, particularly this quickly.

Great post.

IMO Button was team favoured for much of the first half of the season. And IMO when Ross Brawn knew he had won the title (RB is one able to accurately make such a judgement IMO) then he equalled things up quite a lot. If he had of left things the same, then Button would certainly have won much more easily IMO and appeared a much better driver.

Thoroughly agree, with you and Melbourne Park. It also seemed to me that Brawn went all out to help Rubens become better and Button... well he had the big lead and would have had to sort it out himself. Also it really did feel that Button was doing too well for his contract negotiations in Ross' point of view so any help Ross could have making him look slower was certainly not out of the realms of possibility. It's like the contract negotiations started hard as the championship looked 'in the bag' and the second half of the season started. I think Ross took a huge and rather arrogant gamble on Button and in the end got precisely what he deserved.

Let's also not forget that when they lucked into a really fast car they AGAIN managed to DEVELOP the car slower as the season went on and had to revert back to the earlier version. Apparently all is still not totally sorted in the Honda R&D department and whether anything works is still a bit crapshoot. McLaren is a bit safer bet in that regard.

Two top British drivers win one championship each and then go to race in a top British team together

I know it may sound really great but that's really not good.

Not bothered either way about these two but I think its a dead cert that LH will beat JB all hands down. Button will only take points off Hamilton if and when LH makes mistakes.

Why the hell not?

I'm not sure if it was the right call but it sure as hell is a ballsy one.

JarnoA said Lewis wouldn't risk going against Button in his team. When Lewis arrived at Mclaren it was Alonso who was designated to be #1. Lewis went against Alonso who was designated to be next big Mclaren star. Why would anyone think he would be afraid of Button in same situation?

I think Jenson is going to learn that McLaren is Lewis' team, not his. IMO, regardless of ability, I think Jenson has a tall order in trying to win over the team so he can get equal treatment.

can I ask a question ?

Why will button be tarnished if he doesn't blow Lewis in to the weeds ?

Rubens was a firm 2nd to Schumacher for his time at Ferrari and (far as I can recall) never won a race on his own merit. Yet Rubens isn't viewed as tarnished ? If things had fallen slightly differently he could of been WDC this year and hes had praise for the way he's driven.
And the guy is carrying on, as the oldest guy on the grid with possibly the team that has the most hardcore "racer" attitude.

So if Rubens isn't tarnished why will Button be - even if he does get beaten ? I'm sure there are other examples of drivers that have been beaten by their team mate and haven't been "tarnished" or had their careers destroyed.

For what its worth I think on the whole Lewis will be quicker, but Button will be a great no. 2 who will put in consistently strong performances which (if the car is underneath them) will let McLaren win a WDC - something Heikki was unable to give them. WOuldn't surprise me to see him outclass Lewis every so often.

I agree that Merc would of dumped him ASAP for Vettel, I also think he wasn't seeing commitment from Merc - stands to reason that they'd back Rosberg more.

It wouldn't surprise me to find that Merc bought Brawn so that they'd have more freedom and choice over who fronts the teams - McLaren obviously had the final say and I don't think Merc liked it.

Because then all his detractors will say that he was silly to think that he could even beat Lewis in the first place.

If he hadn't gone they would have called him a coward.

Nobody thought that McLaren was even an option for Button until it just before it was announced. Almost everyone assumed he was going to stay with the team where he won a WDC and WCC with. Staying with the team where you won a championship with does not make anyone a coward. I suppose, according to you, it would have been a lose-lose situation for Button no matter where he went.

That's not fair to Rubens, he definitely won races on merit - Hockenheim in the rain, Austria '02, Silverstone...Rubens wasn't allowed to win on merit many times though.

Anything can happen this year. I agree that I think Hamilton will outpace Button, but Button won't go away he'll plug along scoring points (if he learned anything from Rubens that has to be it). And that is what McLaren needs.

IMO, I don't think Jenson has to blow Lewis into the weeds. I think if they are pretty close in speed & race pace, then that will be respectable.

Very different situation. As a rookie he had absolutely nothing to lose... he didn't have a reputation to protect, and frankly even had he been outclassed by Alonso it would have merely been what was expected.

Think about the comments on this board for a second. Most people are expecting Hamilton to outpace Button, who is clearly no slouch. That's a lot of pressure, and the only way he meets those expectations are by easily and thoroughly beating a WDC. Frankly I don't think that's likely, so his reputation will take a hit. Not necessarily a bad thing, mind you. The current expectations for Hamilton's career have him pegged to accumulate Schumacher numbers but with the flair of Senna. That's really not fair to him.

When next season is all said and done, Lewis likely won't be subject to such an unfair expectation, and Jenson will have won over a few of the (non-rabid) fans on this board.

Sure he was. He was once considered to have incredible potential. Until he got destroyed by Schumacher, whereby he was shown to be no better than 'good'. Which is exactly the situation Button is facing right now.

And yes, Rubens did have wins on merit at Ferrari against Schumacher. And I'm sure Button will be able to match/beat Lewis on occasion, but I dont think it'll happen very often.

My take on this is that it is a gutsy move by JB.

One thing i haven't seen much commenting on is the pressure on Hamilton. It's 'his' team, so he will be expected to beat JB, and as many here and in the media are portraying, Jenson is gonna be beaten by Hamilton, therefore JB has less to lose than Hamilton.

IMO the pressure will be on Hamilton next season - how will he cope with the media expectation that he is gonna easily beat JB?

One thing is for sure - during the time they spend together at McLaren, both drivers reputations will be cemented one way or the other.

As a side note, (bit of baiting for either camp if you wish to call it that ), when these 2 were last on track fighting for position on the final lap of a GP, who held it together and who binned it?

NOTE - the last comment is not be taken too seriously.

After matching Alonso, I dont think he's gonna feel all too threatened(pressured) by Button.

He just needs to do what he does best - and thats to drive fast as feck.

And he's a cocky little SOB, so I dont think he'll have a doubt in his mind that he can beat him.

He will get equal treatment at start, that's for sure. Many forget that it was Alonso, not Hamilton that was viewed as Mclaren #1 at start of 2007. Hamilton was just a talented kid, while Button is WDC - why do you think Mclaren won't treat him well?

Alonso may have been the #1 driver at the start of 2007, but Lewis was a "McLaren" driver way before he entered F1.

My point was - you don't choose your team based on teammate, but rather based on car (and money of course).

Although McLaren did cut holes in the sides of the floor, which was a desperate and probably unproven idea!

Well the money a driver earns is directly related to his reputation as a driver. And if you know you're gonna lose against a teammate, then your ability to demand more money is going to go down the drain.

As far as the car goes, this just makes it more confusing, considering Button is leaving the team that just won the WDC and WCC and into a team whose car was only 'race-winning' on certain tracks(and possibly only in Lewis' hands). He's going to need a very strong car if he wants to win races again next year. He'll have to contend not only with a very talented teammate, but likely also tough competition from other teams like Red Bull and possibly Ferrari, both who have drivers who I rate higher than Button.

Sometimes, I think its best for a driver to just stick with a team that he knows can build a superior car that will enable him to win races/championships much easier.

Its definitely ballsy of Button. But the line between ballsy and stupid can be very fine....