Is Jenson Button the next F1 great?

[freud]

The buzz in the paddock is none other than Jenson Button. His blistering performances at Bahrain and Imola and astonishing car control has yet again hinted that he is a great in the making. Ross Braun certainly thinks so.. and I agree.

Is Button the next Ayrton Senna or Alain Prost?

[Inigo Montoya]

You mean the next Michael Schumacher?

[Snrub]

There's no question that he's one of the top F1 drivers, but people in F1 jump to conclusions when one guy's in a fast car and does well. Button is this year's Kimi. By that I mean someone who's clearly talented but gets massively over hyped because he beats people primarly due to his car.

[devil racer nz]

Maybe if we had Webber and Button together at Williams next year we might get a clearer picture

[Wrex]

Although I think Button is far above average, as soon as names like Prost and Senna get mentioned you will loose me.

One of the top drivers in F1 - Yes

A 'Great' - only time will tell.



There are certainly options more suitable than 'Great' and 'average'.

[Mags]

Originally posted by Wrex
Although I think Button is far above average, as soon as names like Prost and Senna get mentioned you will loose me.

One of the top drivers in F1 - Yes

A 'Great' - only time will tell.



There are certainly options more suitable than 'Great' and 'average'.

ERHEM, no.

To be the "next" Senna, you have to drive your heart out every single race, and win every time, even if you do not podium.

Button isn't there yet. I don't even think there is a driver in F1 out there today that equals him.

[Led ZeppF1]

Originally posted by Snrub
There's no question that he's one of the top F1 drivers...

I also wonder: why there is not available that he is one of top 1 drivers?:confused:

[freud]

Inigo.. there are at least 2 or 3 drivers as good or better than MS in the pack now. Just that they dont havea car/package as good as him. I wouldn't go there.

Wrex.. well when Prost first came into the scene, they thought he's good. I think Button had an explosive entry into f1 and did exceptionally well in his first year. Afterwards he did not have the equipment to show his metal until last year.. and now the heroics of this season. Could anyone have predicted in december 2003 that Button would be second in championship after 4 races?

Again, when Ross Brown says that Button is a future great of formula one who will win multiple titles, means a lot. Ferrari is eyeing Button for a drive if T.German.F. retires (who knows, may be after 2004). A friend of mine (who is a mechanical engineer at maranello) asked me why is Schumi doing his jump of joy after every race this season? I said because he is too excited that he's going for his 7th title. The maranello guy said 'No, its because he's retiring at the end of the season and he wants to show his fans at each track his trademark'..

I was tightlipped.. what more can I say but I wouldnt be surprised if I see Button alongwith Rubens at Ferrari in 2005.

[Mags]

And WHAT is this murmrer I hear about him coming into Sports Car racing?? Ferrari wants to destroy THAT series, too???

[Mark Webber]

I like JB but NO

[Wrex]

Originally posted by freud
Inigo.. there are at least 2 or 3 drivers as good or better than MS in the pack now. Just that they dont havea car/package as good as him. I wouldn't go there.

You really need to add "In your opinion" (or "In your misguided bias opinion" to retain some credablilty)

Originally posted by freud
Could anyone have predicted in december 2003 that Button would be second in championship after 4 races?

Not at all, but I dont see how 4 races makes him a 'great'. IIRC Coultard lead the championship last year, was he 'great'?

Originally posted by freud
what more can I say but I wouldnt be surprised if I see Button alongwith Rubens at Ferrari in 2005.

Would'nt knock me off my chair either. When Michael does go, Ferrari will be willing (and more than able) to pay top dollar for the lastest champion in the making, be that Button, Webber, Alonso or whoever.

But Ferrari would'nt be that clever would they, afterall they are paying the 4th best driver in F1 the most money?

[CATMAN]

JB is a born winner! His only problems have been F Williams and Briatore. Check out his pre F1 racing CV.
Ferrari have history with Brit drivers. But if I were Jenson I would be looking elsewhere or sticking with BAR Honda as Ferrari are coming to the end of their turn at the top.

[Glen]

I think there is plenty of ground between those two options - that's the trouble with fan's thinking... so black and white. I'm not voting because there aren't any sensible options. Button could easily score a WDC, but "the next great" is a much bigger thing. I think Alonso probably has a bit more of everything.

[Glen]

Originally posted by freud
Inigo.. there are at least 2 or 3 drivers as good or better than MS in the pack now. Just that they dont havea car/package as good as him. I wouldn't go there.

How's the weather in Cloud Cuckoo Land, freud?

[Attila]

freud you believe what Ross Brown has said about JB but you do not believe what he said about TGF?? That is quite interesting.

JB is a good driver, probably better than average, but not great. In my humble opinion he is still about 0,3-0,5 s off MS's, Prost's or Senna's pace. I know that this is pretty subjective, but as I said it is only my opinion. With a perfect car he is up there, but when there is a little malfunction all the three mentioned before would kill him.

[Don K]

Let's take a look at the youngest half of the grid:

1. Christian Klien;07-Feb-83
2. Fernando Alonso;29-Jul-81
3. Gianmaria Bruni;30-May-81
4. Felippe Massa;25-Apr-81
5. Zsolt Baumgartner;01-Jan-81
6. Jenson Button;19-Jan-80
7. Kimmi Raikkonen;17-Oct-79
8. Giorgio Pantano;04-Feb-79
9. Nick Heidfeld;10-May-77
10. Takuma Sato;28-Jan-77

Alonso, Button and Raikkonen have shown some very good results. But they did it in good cars.

6 Of the other 7 drivers seem to be as good as their car allows them to be.

So I would think that if one of those 9 drivers first gets a seat in a real top team after this year, he might become the next dominating driver in F1.

Raikkonen has a good chance: McLaren will probably get back to the top. They snatched him away from Ferrari, so Ferrari might still be interested in him.
Button has a good chance: BAR is improving, and he has possibilities at Williams.
Alonso has a good chance: Renault is improving, and they already were the 4th team.
Sato has a good chance: BAR is improving. Furthermore, he is the only Japanese driver on the grid.
Massa has a good chance, because Ferrari wants to bring him.
Heidfeld might have a chance, because of whatever is left of his previous connections with McLaren/Mercedes.
Klien might have a good chance, because he is very young (more than 3 years younger than Raikkonen, 2 1/2 years younger than Alonso, 6 1/2 years younger than Webber, ...)
Bruni and Pantano might have a chance, because they are new. If they show good results this season, each of the top teams might sign just to prevent the other top teams from signing them.

-----------

Apart from these nine young talents, I think it's too early to discard Webber, Montoya, Ralf, and even the older drivers (like Trulli, Da Matta and Fisichella).

[Glen]

I'd imagine that several drivers could get a very very similar single lap time - more or less to th full potential of the car. where veryone loses out to Michael is in terms of mental strength, which manifests itself in many crucial ways: he can salvage a result from very unpromising circumstances; his car development and analysis is second to none and he never relents on that work; when called upon he can produce an entire race of near-qualifying pace laps; he instinctively knows when to pick his moent in a race or in the season to make the difference... etc. In all of those things and more he is absolutely without peer, but in terms of just doing one quick lap, as I say, there are likely several (Button included) that can do similar things on their day.

[BootsOntheSide]

I think Jenson's first few races this season have merely underlined what he proved by beating JV so comprehensively last year, and by generally having the bette rof Ralf and Trulli before then - he's a very good driver. He still has a bit to learn, but there's nothign to sayt aht he isn't a future world champion.

Out of Jenson, JPM, Kimi, Webber and Alonso, there is a lot of talent, and they could win 8-10 titles between them. I think the next era will be far more imrpessive than the days where Michael and perhaps Mika were the only 'greats' on the grid, and as such, winning 3 or more titles will be a big task. Kimi or Alonso might have the best hope of that, being younger.

[gert]

I think it will depend upon his future teams. I can't see him winning a WDC with BAR, so he 'll have to move on. If he picks the wrong team, he could end up being a good driver, get some wins without ever being regarded as GREAT.

But what is the right choice? He seems not to want to go to Williams, maybe rightly so. Ferrari? Is that the correct choice? What will happen there post-MS? Will Byrne/Brawn/Todt/Luca-the-italian-guy stay, or will they too call it a day when MS has had enough?
If so, Ferrari may be not be the right choice either...

Let's wait and see...

[ASCII Man]

Yes, but its not like Ferrari are sitting on their arses and don't bother thinking about the future, i'm sure they're working on finding and training suitable replacements for Todt, Byrne, Brawn and Di Montezemolo.
So maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to join Ferrari in a post-TGF era?

By the way, i didn't vote as the options presented are way too simplistic.


Oh, and Boots,... Comprehensively, my ass!
I'll happily admit that Jenson did beat Jacques, though absolutely not comprehensively beaten.
Jeez...

[XJR14/WSC95]

There is only one driver on the grid today that can be compared to Senna and Prost, and there is only one driver on the grid today that can say that at the beginning of his career he has out raced both those two greats on the same race weekend, and it isn't Button.

[ASCII Man]

Lauda?
Although i'm not sure if he still hangs around the grid nowadays...

[N I Tram]

XJR, if you mean Schmacher at Portugal 1993, forget it. Prost only needed 2nd for the title and raced conservatively for that, and Senna was miles ahead of Michael when his engine failed.

[Mattracer]

You're totally flattering him whn Senna and Prost are mentioned.

Good driver doing a good job in an unlikely car aginst fairly feeble competition while Ferrari runs amuck, more likely. I voted no.

[Mattracer]

Originally posted by Inigo Montoya
You mean the next Michael Schumacher?

Argumentative...