It must be getting tricky at Brawn GP’s HQ right now, what with their two drivers being at the sharp end of the World Drivers’ Championship fight, 14 points apart.
Certainly, if you’d have told team boss Ross Brawn at the beginning of the season that his team would be on course for both the WDC and Constructors’ Championship titles, he’d have been chuffed to bits.
But now he finds himself in an odd position, having to manage both of his drivers into the final two races of the season, not wanting to show favouritism to either.
Jenson Button* must be thinking that Brawn has his back over Rubens Barrichello, the latter expected to leave the team at the end of the season. But Ross has publicly stated that he won’t be giving either of them preferential treatment.
And why should he? On paper at least, he looks likely to come away with both titles, which will assure his team’s future, and confirm them as a force to be reckoned with.
However, the same thing happened back in 1986 when the Williams duo of Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet were scrapping over the title, and had it all to play for going into the last race at the Australian GP.
Then, a third driver had clambered back into the title running at two races to go, and that man was McLaren’s Alain Prost.
Prost snuck in to take the crown at the last race, after a puncture took Mansell out and Williams pitted Piquet early to check the same wouldn’t happen to him.
And more recently in 2007, you’ll recall Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso (both with McLaren at the time) were title favourites, with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen trailing on points at the last race.
But again, as in ’86, third-placed driver Raikkonen eventually won out for the title.
Will it be a case of history repeating this time around, with Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel – who played a blinder at the weekend to keep himself in the Championship – running away with the Drivers’ crown?
If that were to happen, Ross Brawn will wish he’d backed one of his horses earlier in the season – most obviously Button, after his six wins from seven races – to assure his team of the title.
Yet as I mentioned a few weeks ago, Barrichello’s form at his home track in Brazil is somewhat appalling, so luck, once again, may tip in Jenson’s favour. Unless, of course, it tips in Vettel’s. Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of humour…
Who’s your money on?
*For Button to win the title in Brazil, here’s what needs to happen:
Jenson 1st
Jenson 2nd
Jenson 3rd
Jenson 4th and Rubens no higher than 2nd
Jenson 5th and Rubens no higher than 2nd – in that scenario, assuming Vettel wins, he and Rubens would be 10 points behind with less wins than Button, so neither could take ithe title in Abu Dhabi.
Jenson 6th, Rubens no higher than 3rd and Vettel no higher than 2nd
Jenson 7th, Rubens no higher than 3rd and Vettel no higher than 2nd – again they’d be tied 10 points behind Button.
Jenson 8th, Rubens no higher than 4th and Vettel no higher than 3rd
Jenson 9th or lower, Rubens no higher than 5th and Vettel no higher than 3rd
button only has himself to blame if he loses
Looking good for Brawn, Vettels pretty far out, with engine shadows holding over him. Go on Jenson!
Jenson Button winning the F1 World Championship is the same thing as Mexico or Turkey to win the FIFA World cup… Im sure Jenson is a top bloke and so on, but he is not a top driver. Mediocre driver. But F1 is hardly about driver talent anymore, its just about the cars and money (sponsors paying 45mil. to get rid of a World Champion at Ferrari, only to replace him with another one?). The whole sport is a complete farce nowdays.
Fortunately there is the WRC and touring cars to watch for us who like to watch proper racing.
I don’t remember well, but I heard in the Latin American broadcast of last race that Kimi was 17 points behind Hamilton in 2007 with two races to go, while Vettel now is 16 (one less) behind Jenson with again two races to go… If this is true, that means that it was more unlikely that Kimi won the championship in 2007 than Vettel winning it now.
I really can’t see Button losing the championship at this stage for the following reasons:
1.His car has been ultra-reliable all season, so a DNF due to car trouble is highly unlikely.
2.Even if he does have minor problems with car set-up/tyres etc, you can still bet that he will quite easily pick up some small points because even a badly balanced Brawn is quicker than most other cars out there!
3.He’ll probably play it very safe and with all his experience and the fact that he hardly ever makes mistakes, I really can’t see him getting a DNF through a mistake but of course, with all those rookies out there, there’s a tiny chance he could be taken out again if he qualifies low but unlikely.
Having said all that, i’d love to see the championship taken down to the wire and the last race and with Vettel somehow snatching the championship! I have a feeling it will all be over in Brazil though.
Button can’t handle the pressure; and that is just sad.
On that evidence, the doesn’t deserve to get the title purely on the back of his early season form when the rest of the big teams were struggling with the new rules.
For me; he has to get a podium in both the final races for him to really deserve it.
Right now, purely for the spirit he’s shown, I’d prefer to see Vettel win it. Button’s been moaning too much.
The drivers’ championship may be tight, but at least for Brawn’s sake the constructors’ championship is just a formailty at this point. If I’ve got my sums right, the only way they can lose the constructors’ championship is if they do not score a single point in the next two races, and Red Bull finish 1-2 in both. In that case, Red Bull would take the championship by half a point.
I don’t care who wins this years champion ship at lest it’s a Brawn driver.
Is it Jenson’s fault that none of the others drivers/teams were cutting the mustard in the earlier part of the season and he (like any sensible person) cashed in?
Don’t get me wrong though, I do believe there are better and more talented drivers on the grid but that does’nt mean he should’nt have been in this position.
And why is everyone going on about him not being able to handle pressure, just the fact that he’s still got a comfortable lead over his closest rivals is a good indicator of how he has handled the pressure.
I hate Button. He is not a proper driver… He just has a good car… That’s why he’ll probably not keep in the best team next season…
Remember the lap with the reasonably priced car? Jason did 2 secound behind Hammilton…
Button was brilliant at the beginning, he still hasn’t put a foot wrong. He’s been conservative, but Hamilton was the opposite and lost it in 2008. It would be nice to clinch at a classic track like Brazil so that Abu Dhabi’s pay to play event is a formaility.
Correction, Hamilton in 2007.
button win this year, cant wait for next year should have a decent mclaren vs ferrari battle want to find out who mclaren gets to partner hamilton
The engine issue (my prediction) will be Vettels’ downfall which is a shame.
If that’s the case it’ll go to Button.
But all 3 drivers are deserving.
i reckon vettel has a clear shot at winning, he now has the eye of the tiger & hes going to eat jenson up, if jenson freezes hes in real trouble.
Good thing about team Red Bull though is that now they have one guy to fully focus their hopes and resources to maybe take away the title from team Brawn ( if circumstances let them )…
If betting odds would be placed by predictions in this “forum”, I’d be getting very nice odds for Barrichello
Please describe situation on which is based your opinion about JB not dealing with pressure??
If you mention last results then if its so then where is Rubens? Has same pace so obvioulsy its the car. brawn is lacking money to improve it and thats it.
By my opinion JB deals pressure more than well. Havent seen that he has done any mistakes during the race. But guys like Rubens, Vettel, Massa, Hamilton have done several impressive mistakes.
Button better when this title, because I am sure it will be his last chance to be this close in his career. He got some luck this year because the FIA crippled the big dogs, Ferrari,McLaren and BMW, with the new rules. They suffered a this year giving Button a chance to rein. But now they are catching up, Brawn is not looking as dominant as they were earlier this year. 2010 is going to be very devious year. More teams, more battle, More CRASHES!!! Ohh yeah, one more thing. Kimi stop talking all that bull crap. You know you are going back to McLaren, to rub it in Ferrari’s face!!! Hammy and Kimi, sweet!!!! McLaren 2010!!!!
I agree with Mussashi up to a point.
JB is playing it TOO safe, so that’s the problem.
He is not racing any more, he’s going for the title, and sadly those are not the same things any more.
But I think that he deserves the title and I definitely can’t say that for Hamilton’s last year title.
And Louis is REALY the champion of the mistakes and reckless starts.
Though, Massa (especialy on the wet)and Rubens are pretty good amaking mistakes too!
On a different subject.
Nelsinho will test a NASCAR TRUCK! How convenient, the biggest crashes on earth are in Nascar…
Oh boy, you will shine there!
Jenson will secure the title in Brazil – If I would be him I would try it in an aggressive mode this time.
And yes, it will be his only chance ever to win it.
Is he cracking under pressure? Not cracking, his is just trying too hard for making no mistakes…
Vettel and Barrichello can try as hard as they like, but as long as Button doesn’t crash or his car doesn’t break down it is not going to happen.
That being said, I simply can’t resist typing that Button is going to be the most boring championship winner in years. His success is based on just a hand full of good races, the rest of the season it was very tiring to watch him go round and round and round and round…..
Therefore I wouldn’t mind Vettel or Barrichello taking it.
As unlikely as it is for him, my money’s on Vettel to win. He seems better than the Brawn drivers on raw pace. And he’s been the most consistent of the 3 recently. But it would have been a whole lot easier without what is now the unnecessary drive-through in Singapore.
Also I think Button will crumble like Hamilton in 2007 at the last 2 races. We’ll see…
i was looking on the internet and i found this really well put together video of f1 2008 its worth a watch
thing jenson button is good driver but need to more point in race when start lower on the grid
JB had the best car and got the best out of it at the start of the season that is the only reason he is looking at the Championship he hasnt shined during the rest of the season. You have to think Vettel has to be worth a punt
i wonder how Button would like to spend the rest of his F1 season if he knew he had no chance of winning this year.
Great blog as for me. I’d like to read more about that theme.