Why did Button get an F1 drive?

[esorniloc]

OK think back to the end of 99/ begining of 2000.

Williams ran Ralf and Zanardi in 99, but Zanardi left after 99 leaving a seat for 2000 at Williams. It was clear that Montoya was coming for 2001, so it was a 1-year drive and Williams let 2 young drivers `test out' for the drive Jenson Button and Bruno Junqueira.

In the end Button got the drive and Bruno was the test driver and raced in F3000 winning the title. Why did Jenson get the drive over Bruno? Was it just because he was faster or was there some other factor?

Since then Jenson has had some bad years in F1 till this one and Bruno has raced in Champ Car finishing 2nd in the championship twice and currently leads the standings. How different could it have been if Bruno had got the drive instead of Button?

[Red]

Why not? It looks to me like it was a wise decission. Too bad they didn't keep him in team.

[Kicking-back]

Frank Williams believed Jenson had more potential, particularly as Bruno had driven the car all year while Jenson hadn't.

[Dani Filth]

the fact that he was british also counted

[Super Tourer]

Button got the drive for a mix of reasons. IIRC he was slightly faster than Bruno on the day, but Willams also saw the talent that Jenson had at a young age, it was a brave gamble, but JB fared well against Ralf.

As for since then, the 2nd year in F1 is always difficult, look at how Alonso is going this year compared to last (his 1st year back in F1 racing after testing and with a top team) and more so in relation to Trulli.

First year in the Renault was tough for Jenson, he didn't gel with car and didn't have the experience to work with a difficult car, he found the Williams much easier to drive. In his 2nd year at Renault he started to get on top of it and seemed to be really on it during the 2nd half of the season.

He fared well last year against JV, and this year has matured well, so in fairness it's only been one 'bad' year since his debut, largely due IMO, to inexperience.

Would Bruno have done any better, who know's. We can't compare CART to F1 , so although Bruno has been a front runner in CART it doesn't neccesarily mean he would have performed as well as or any better than Button in F1.

[Snrub]

I think one can compare CART to F1 due to the talent flow between the two series. I think Frank made the right call with Button over Junky.

[Kicking-back]

Junquiera's been good in CART but not outstanding.

History backs up the original decision.

[Snrub]

I agree, Junquiera is fast and consistent, but he's not the sort who's going to be going faster than your typical world class driver in a given car.

[Gaz]

Junq's very average in my opinion. If you look seriously at the CART field over the past 2-3 years its very, very weak. You only have 2-3 real quality drivers in there (everyone decents jumped ship to IRL) and Junq still can't win it despite driving for arguebly the best team (Da Matta won the title with them 2 seasons back). He gets involved in too many incidents and just doesn't have the outright pace. He would have been nothing more than an average F1 driver and would probably be either extinct from F1 by now or battling in a Jordan or Minardi seat.

Button on the other hand is now arguebly one of the top 5 drivers in formula 1 and is having a wonderful year. All those people who say he's only had 1-2 good season talk absolute tripe. The only bad season he had was in 2001 when he was driving a very weak Benneton car against a driver who had driven for that team for a long time and had been used to driving a bad car. Button had never before in his career been in a situation where he was driving a poor car and having to turn up every weekend noing he had no chance of even claiming a points score, never mind a win!

He outdid Trulli during his second year at Renault and then comprehensively outdid JV last year. He's now letting his talent do the talking this season and is the only guy there race after race trying to take it to Ferrari.

[Fogelhund]

IF Junquiera was as good, or even close to Button, somebody would have acknowledged that by now and hired him to run F1. Since being hired by Williams, Renault and BAR have seen fit to have him as a driver. I suppose it shows that these teams all agree that Button is better then Junq, who has had no such offers.

[Knowlesy]

Originally posted by esorniloc
How different could it have been if Bruno had got the drive instead of Button?

Very different. And a lot worse by far.

[Raven]

I'd say he would have done better than Jenson.

Bruno is a lot better than you all think. He won the F3000 championship ahead of not only Minassian but also Webber and Alonso.

During the actual tests for Williams Junqueira impressed more than Jenson with more consistency and better average lap times over longer runs, better technical feedback to the engineers. I think there was an article floating around sometime in 2002 where Patrick Head says he would have preferred to see Junqueira get the nod, but it was ultimately Frank's decision.

When he went to the states and found his feet in 2002, most of the Ganassi team were saying he was as quick as Montoya and smarter with it too.

[Knowlesy]

Well I'm sorry, but I can't imagine Junqeira qualifying third at Spa 2000. Considering Junqeira was pretty used to the Williams set up by then and Jenson was a newbie, I have to say I would have given Jenson the nod......more scope for improvement, more potential.

The fact that Junqeira is washed up in Champcars says it all.....that series was very good, but it is past its best days at the minute......

You also say that he finished ahead of Webber in F3000......true. But Justin Wilson also did that and his career is on a minor stall at the minute.

And besides, Justin has impressed me in Chmpcars this year far more than Bruno.

[Raven]

Champ Cars may not have the same depth as it once did but Bruno, Paul Tracy and Sebastien Bourdais are all world class drivers. Carpentier, Vasser and Jourdain featured strongly in CART for a number of years and are still around, plus there are also new stars coming through like Allmendinger and Hunter-Reay.

Bruno is currently leading the ChampCar points championship and he's hardly beating a bunch of nobodies.

Every year since 2001 people keep saying he's not up to it, but come the end of the year it's a different story. Remember how he blew team mate Kenny Brack into the weeds in 2002 after everyone had predicted differently.

[Kicking-back]

The drivers Junqueira is beating are not top class.

Bourdais might be one day.

Bruno's advantage comes from regularly finishing - and the bizarre Champ Car points system. He's not spectacularly quick.

And beating Brack's not an indication of being a superstar.

Jorg Muller did that back in the day, and I don't see anyone claiming he's a great lost talent.

[Gaz]

Raven - What has junk won? He may be highly rated by him/her or whoever and may be currently leading the standings but he's been in that series now 3 years and has won...nothing! Tracy is the only decent driver in that field...Bourdais is very average, won the 3000 title thanks to Enge being thrown out and during a very average year for the series driver depth wise!

Carpentier has always been average as has Jordain. They are both OK on their day, but their day comes along very rarely. Allmendinger and Hunter Reay are OK but they still have a lot to learn. If he was beating Castroneves, Franchitti, Weldon, Dixon, Kanaan etc then yes I would go along with that!

At the test he may have been slightly quicker than Button but note the word SLIGHTLY! He had miles more experience that Button so should have had more pace and should have been more technically aware. It was due to the fact that Jense got so close to him that Frank could see he had more potential! And Patrick Head has always been a huge fan of Jenson which says a lot in my opinion.

[Mr V]

Originally posted by Gaz
Tracy is the only decent driver in that field

Thats because the field is so weak, 11 seasons to win the title, then it's only because 2003 saw the weakest line up in CART ever.

[Raven]

Patrick Head's vote was for Bruno though.

Statistics are not all you should look at when asking 'what has he won?' He won the F3000 championship over Webber and Alonso. He was the only driver to win the F3000 championship in David Sear's 2nd team 'Petrobras Jr'.

Brack was the championship favourite going into the 2002 season and Bruno destroyed him. Scott Dixon also joined the Ganassi team and couldn't match BJ's pace. Statistics are like miniskirts, they look nice but hide the most important parts!

For the record what have Kanaan, Franchitti, or Wheldon won? Nothing as big as an F3000 championship.

Fisichella hasn't won much in F1, but he does keep beating all these hyped up young drivers - Ralf, Wurz, Button, Sato, Massa...

Just bring 'em on I say, Bruno will come good whatever the scenario

[Kicking-back]

Fair enough, but Jenson is better!

[Raven]

Originally posted by Mr V
Thats because the field is so weak, 11 seasons to win the title, then it's only because 2003 saw the weakest line up in CART ever.

People had been saying pretty much since he first came into CART that if Tracy knuckled down and put in a consistent season he could win a championship. Just to look at Paul you can tell he is in a lot better physical condition than he was 5 to 10 years ago. This reflects in his driving.

[Kicking-back]

Tracy is in arguably the best team/car in the field - and there is by no means the strength in depth CART had in most of his seasons.

[Raven]

Agreed that Champ Cars doesn't have the same depth anymore, but look at it this way:

IMO Michael Schumacher's best championship was 2000 and he only needed Mika Hakkinen as a great challenger to make him a great champion. It wouldn't have mattered if the rest of the field that year were made up of Mazzacanes and Yoongs.

[esorniloc]

Originally posted by Gaz
What has junk won?

1997 Sud-Am F3 champion (6 race wins)
1999 International F3000 race win
2000 Int F3000 champion (4 race wins)
2001 CART (1 win Elkhart Lake), IRL (indy 500) Qual 20th Race 5th
2002 CART 2 wins, 2nd in the series. IRL (indy 500) Pole and DNF.
2003 CART 2 wins, 2nd in the series.
2004 Currently leading the OWRS (no wins), IRL (indy 500 Q4th, R 5th).

OK, its not the greatest record, but its not that bad. What has Button won?

[Kicking-back]

Yes it would - that would have devalued the achievement for both him and Mika - they didn't finish 1-2 at every race!

[Kicking-back]

Originally posted by esorniloc

OK, its not the greatest record, but its not that bad. What has Button won?

Unfair to make that direct comparison of anything since 2000 - because JB has been in F1 since then.