I never said he would be a coward, I said the detractors would have said he was.

Well he could survive that.

You dont just take on a challenge that you probably cant win just cuz somebody might call you a coward.

It coulda gone one of two ways:

a)His detractors call him a coward.

b) His detractors get the satisfaction of seeing him getting beat and having all their preconceived feelings 'justified'.

I'd say having people call him a coward is the lesser of two evils.

The only way Button is going to get through this without tarnishing his reputation is if he miraculously pulls of the feat of matching/beating Lewis.

Your saying what was already said earlier. The point I was making is that the detractors will bash whatever decision he took. Personally I wouldn't view his reputation as tarnished even if he does get beaten, to me it's enhanced because he has taken up the challange that was on offer. There have been many drivers who have shied away from pitting themselves against the best.

Well sure, props to him for taking up a challenge.

I just happen to think its a bit stupid on his part.

I mean, imagine your friend wanted to fight somebody three times his size. Would you applaud him for his bravery or would you try and tell him that he's being stupid?

I don't understand the question: Did he make the right call?

What do you mean ?
That instead of calling Ross, Jenson called Ron and just said straigh away: "I'll hace for you next year" ?
I think somebody messed with Jenson's mobile agenda.

Totally different situations.

In this case we have Brawn who may have lucked into a good car and with (up to now) fairly limited resources, may not repeat this next year, and on the other side you have Mac. They could just as easily get it wrong, but they have a proven history of providing good cars, and being able to improve throughout the season. Do you take the Brawn route because the internal competition is less, or the Mac route with the added risk?

Yes.

He's a World Champion and he has a financially strong long-term contract with one of the most winning teams in the history of F1 and maybe the best team in turning a season around and always produce a winning car. Nobody expects him to beat Hamilton in Team Hamilton so he has a lot to win and not too much to lose.

He's secured himself the best or second-best chance and the best available chance at this time to stay in the winners circle in F1.

So - he's in for a big challenge that is a big motivation factor, he's gotten himself into a winning team and he is in the best position bar Ferrari to cash in on his WDC-title with side deals.

Beforehand there were two ways of looking at it. On one hand, it was stupid, leaving the team that was built around you after several years of hardship to move to a team built around Lewis, with the added problem of having to beat Lewis in the same car. On the other hand, Brawn couldn't provide the stability and glitz and glamour that McLaren can - he's won the WDC now so maybe he's not so fussed about winning another and instead just wants to enjoy the racing.

With the Mercedes buyout though I think he's made a huge mistake. The arrival of Mercedes will now give the team the stability that put McLaren ahead. They now have the advantage of the engine being designed to perfectly fit the car, instead of being a customer engine that slots in. The team already revolved around Button, so he could have been the face of the return of the fantastic Mercedes name to top line motorsport. And with Ross Brawn controlling the show, it really could have been Button/Brawn/Mercedes as it was Schumacher/Brawn/Ferrari a few years ago.

Just my opinion, and it could be way off the mark, but unless he really steps up his game, he hasn't yet showed anything (even through this year) that would imply that he can beat Lewis Hamilton in the same car. I'm looking forward to see what he can do though

You may luck into a decent midfield car, but I dont think you can luck into a title-winning car.

If Mercedes turns out to be a new great team, and Mclaren fail to build a better car than them next year, then Jenson is not only gonna look stupid for switching teams, but he's also gonna have the issue of getting his butt handed to him by Lewis.

And sure, there's a fair chance that the Mclaren will be the better car to be in. Problem is that even its capable of winning the title, is Button any closer to winning it in the Mclaren when Lewis is alongside him?

Here's my problem with concluding that Lewis will definitely beat Jenson: we just don't know that much about Hamilton. All we know is that he matched Alonso in his rookie year (quite impressive) and mopped up Heikki for the next two years (not quite so impressive). That's it. We have very little data to work with, so assuming it's a lock seems silly to me. Had Kovaleinen been impressive at Renault before he came to McLaren that would be one thing, but he really wasn't (surprising because many of us thought he would shine in F1). So to me this whole Button to McLaren thing is going to tell us an awful lot about Lewis, and in my opinion we're going to find out that he's not Senna (in fact, Senna wasn't even the Senna most people have in their memory).

Case closed, as far as I'm concerned.

I may not be a fan of his, but to deny that Lewis is a special talent is getting a bit desperate at this point.

Well if the rumours are correct, he'd only have had a chance of one year at Mercedes before being turfed out for Vettel i.e. a best case scenario of a shot at the title in 2010 and then no drive afterwards. As it is he's got a sustained 3 year chance of driving at the front at the grid, which if he doesn't compare well to Hamilton he's only got himself to blame.

For one, if Red Bull can put together a strong car for next year(I see no reason why they couldn't), I'm not so sure that Mercedes is going to have the 'lure' to get Vettel in the first place.

Second, as I said earlier, Jenson's chances at winning another title aren't looking that good alongside Lewis. I'd say a better bet would be to stay at that other team(ya know, the one that just won him the WDC with an awesome car), and hope for a superior car to get his title. There's really no shame in doing that. You gotta do what you gotta do.

Not enough for me. Too small of a sample. It's not like Alonso hasn't been matched before... but I don't see anyone saying Jarno Trulli (2004 before the mysterious dropoff) is the second coming of Ayrton Senna.

And there are a lot of "special talents" in the sport. Most of them are, actually. But the reality is that outliers are extraordinarily rare in sports, and even apparent ones are more about image than a big gap in talent. Not a romantic notion, and hence not a popular one, but that's the real world for you.

Proof of Hamilton's talent is the way he drove this year - the way he hustled the car along (when it was clearly slower than almost everything else) is something JB simply can't do.

Lewis has proved that he can drive a perfect car really fast, and a less than perfect car almost as fast. Button has proved he can drive a perfect car fast, but wasn't so good with anything else. To me that's all the proof necessary, but I hope he can be a decent match.

Indeed. Most points in the second half of 2006 season. First non-Ferrari driver in WDC at 2004. Truly atrocious results.

Did he make the right call?

Assumes it was his to make.

In my opinion, whoever comes of second best next year at mclaren, his carrer will be ruined.

And i just hope it isn't hamilton

That is pure and simple rubbish.

I don't think this year proves anything other than that he was able to stay motivated. We don't know how good the McLaren was compared to the opposition at different points of the year. For all we know he had the best car sometimes. The only reference we had was Heikki, and that just doesn't tell us much because we don't really know how good he is either (again, a small sample of data).

I just want to say people expect Button to be beaten not because Hamilton is the 2nd coming, it's because he's Jenson Button. When Ross Brawn was trying to sign Alonso, people said pretty much the same about how Button would compare to Alonso.

what do you mean? I don't think it will tell us more than say being paired up with Heidfeld or Webber. It's hardly one of the most telling teammate comparisons in F1.

The OP got the question wrong

He should have asked:

Did the Hamiltons make a mistake in not vetoing Button joining like they did with Raikonnen??

Methinks yes. And so will they when Jenson kicks Lewis "Little shorty" Hamiltons behind next year

[FormerF1Driver mode]
Perhaps, but since its a common fact that Hamilton is the best driver in history of F1, Button might have problems with him.

But if Button succeeds than he will be best ever.
[\FormerF1Driver mode]

Sounds familiar. In fact I'm sure a similar thing was said about him sticking with a certain team for many years before he got a WDC with them. Also that he'd be 'stuck' there as no big team would touch him after Buttongate... He's got his title, he's reached his goal, now he wants a challenge.



But he didn't want to do that, it's nothing about shame. He's gotta do what he's gotta do based on what others think? He's achieved what he set out to achieve many years ago. Some people want to do it all over again, as much as possible. Others decide they want to take an opportunity, a challenge, a risk.

Some people prefer to wish they'd done something rather than wish they hadn't (the safe option), others prefer to take their chance as they'd hate to think I wish I'd done that. Button has the latter.