Jenson Button- Brains and Brawn.
“Jenson Button is good right?” – If someone had asked me that 5 years ago I’d have laughed in their face until they cried. That’s because in 2008 Button finished 18th overall in the driver’s championship and he’d only ever won one race in his F1 career. (Hungary, 2006)
Schumacher: “I won more than that in my first three years.”
Button: “I’ve only ever been DQ’d for one race- they threw you out of a whole season.”
Sure, Button had a good year in 2004- he got plenty of podiums and finished 3rd in the driver’s championship but that was it. He actually put some of his success in 04 down to having a pretty serious crash the year before which left him in a coma for a short while:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCz95TWBDWI
Rosberg got a lucky escape in that same place- it’s a pretty tricky part of the Monaco circuit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qanWre32o6c
Button’s current team-mate Perez ended up with a crash there that combined both Button and Rosberg’s scares:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mPYqRqPesg
Thankfully he was alright afterwards, though he did recieve a concussion and a sprained thigh.
Anyway, everything changed for Button in 2009 when he joined Brawn.
Seriously look at the lust in Button’s eyes here. What they had was special damn it!
Brawn were a one-year super team who at the end of that year became Mercedes and instantly went from the best team out there to the F1 equivalent of those really annoying vans in GTA San Andreas.
My game references could probably be more up to date
but NO! SAN ANDREAS WAS FUCKIN’ AWESOME!
Button was insanely lucky in ending up with Brawn- as it was a new team, no one really knew quite where they would be and the big drivers of the time were already signed up with other teams which meant that Button and Barrichello got the seats and struck gold. I don’t consider Barrichello lucky in this case though because I think he’d earned the seat due to his previous wins and because he drove for Ferrari for so long. It’s pretty hard to say that Button really deserved it considering his terrible season the year before.
Anyway, from race one the Brawns were unstoppable with Button getting on the podium for the first seven races- and six of those times were first place finishes! Button made good use of the car and it fit his style and as a result he won the driver’s championship that year thus making him the driver that everyone wanted to sign. Button then left for McLaren- a very smart move and he has been a championship contender ever since, a vital part of the McLaren team, and thus one of the most celebrated drivers on the track. Imagine for a moment if Button hadn’t got a drive with Brawn- I’d say that he wouldn’t even be in F1 now had that been the case.
While Button’s driving style doesn’t interest me much, he is certainly a great driver and I’d say one of, if not the best, currently on the roster when it comes to taking care of tyres. He also seems to be a pretty decent guy and I’m pleased that he is still in the sport. Just wanted to say that in case it seemed like I was suggesting he didn’t deserve his success- I think he did, but that doesn’t change the massive part that luck played in him achieving it.
Nico Rosberg- Brosberg (you know, cause “When Will I Be Famous?” is simply exceptional.)
So this probably seems like a strange name to see on this list, after all- Rosberg has had it pretty damn tough the past few years, especially in the past two races with him taking pole in them both but not being able to do much with it because THEY STILL HAVEN’T FIXED THE DAMN MERCEDES. I’ve been a Rosberg fan for a while now and the fact that I’m a big Schumacher fan (stop hissing) is part of this. I never subscribed to the claims that Schumacher had lost his touch when he returned to F1- it was pretty clear to me that he was the same driver with a terrrrrible car who did some very stupid and dangerous things and was generally a massive prick- but he always had been. I knew that it was the car rather than him losing skill that basically made his return to F1 massively shit. Now, Schumacher and Rosberg were pretty much side by side throughout the two years that they were together and this didn’t really show that Schumacher still had anything as Rosberg hadn’t really been successful before joining Mercedes. Rosberg’s luck started when Schumacher left and then reached its peak when Hamilton joined. Rosberg and Hamilton had been racing each other for years and Hamilton has a championship to his name and is considered one of the fastest drivers in the sport today. I think this is lucky for Rosberg simply because I think Rosberg is the better driver and I think that he can now show it by being in the same car as Hamilton. If Rosberg can seize the opportunity and become the dominant force in Mercedes then I can see him having a very bright career in the future. Also, the Schumacher fan in me would like to point out that if Rosberg does indeed outclass Hamilton this season then it is fair to say that Schumacher may very well have done the same thing had he shared a car with Hamilton during his return considering how neck-and-neck Rosberg and Schumacher were.
I KILL YOU HAMILTON, I KILL YOUUUUUU!!!
Anyway, I think Hamilton’s (smart?) decision to move to Mercedes this year is a real stroke of luck for Rosberg as it allows him to be compared to a champion who is in his prime as opposed to one that people will simply assume has lost his touch. I’m not a fan of Hamilton’s personality (not one bit) whereas Rosberg seems to be pretty good so I wish him well for the season.
Adrian Sutil- Law Sutil
With this season being his return, Sutil’s assault conviction has already been casually mentioned in our ears near enough every damn race. They are always, understandably, rather vague about what happened though.
That would be the guy’s neck after Sutil sliced it with
a broken Champagne glass.
Now Sutil claimed that it was all an accident- I’d love to hear how he explained accidentally breaking a glass and then trying to slice someone’s neck with it, he slipped and fell I guess!? Anyway, regardless of what one thinks of the situation or of Sutil as a person, there can be no doubt that he is damn lucky to be driving again- how many jobs, particularly in the public eye, would allow you to return after you’ve done something like Sutil did? Force India really stuck their neck out in taking him back on… shhhh, that was just an accident…
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