Sports

Tuesday October 20, 2009

Button and Brawn cap great run to come out tops

SAO PAULO: Jenson Button defied his critics and made a boyhood dream come true on Sunday as Britain’s 10th Formula One world champion.

Written off by some in recent years as an overpaid one-hit wonder with playboy tastes, the Briton capped an extraordinary season with a title that ranks as one of the sport’s most astonishing turnarounds.

The 29-year-old Brawn GP driver lined up in Australia in March with just one win under his belt from 153 starts but with a dominant car that he would go on to describe as “outrageous“ and a “monster“.

He went on to win six of the first seven races and laid the foundations for a championship that would elevate him to the same level as the likes of compatriots Nigel Mansell and Lewis Hamilton.

Starting 14th in Brazil, with closest rival and Brawn team-mate Rubens Barrichello on pole position, the title seemed destined to go down to the wire in Abu Dhabi on Nov 1.

Instead, a fifth place for the Briton, a late puncture for Barrichello and Sebastian Vettel finishing out of the top two handed Button the title.

The boyhood dream had looked impossible at the end of last year when Honda announced they were pulling out of the sport, leaving Button and Barrichello both wondering where their careers were headed.

After his first season with Williams as a 20-year-old in 2000, a debut that promised great things, Button put his name to an autobiography entitled “My Life on the Formula One Rollercoaster“.

Neither he, nor father John who attends all his races as a jovial presence in the paddock, could ever have imagined the peaks and troughs that lay ahead.

Frank Williams had summoned Button, whose parents are divorced, to their first meeting by calling him on his mobile while the youngster was in a pub with friends. He swiftly made an impression.

Williams remains a strong admirer.

“I think he would without doubt be the most gentlemanly winner, with pretty much zero rough edges,” he told Reuters earlier this month.

“A regular nice guy who never throws a wobbly.

“He’s a gentleman, a well-balanced individual.”

The youngest driver to score a point until Germany’s Vettel came along in 2007, Button left Williams at the end of his first season to make way for Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya whose arrival had been pre-arranged.

He moved to Benetton, later to become Renault, but fell out of favour with team boss Flavio Briatore and made way for Spaniard Fernando Alonso.

Moving to BAR, which then became Honda and ultimately Brawn under the leadership of Ross Brawn, Button finished third in the championship in 2004 and secured a first, freakish, win in Hungary in 2006.

Along the way there were contractual disputes that cost him and Honda many millions when he wanted to extricate himself from his obligations to Williams in 2005, and questions about his lifestyle.

Then the slide began. The 2007 and 2008 Hondas were pitifully uncompetitive and Button was left trundling around among the backmarkers. Many felt he had squandered his talents, seemingly destined to join the ranks of nearly men.

Honda’s departure could have killed off his career, instead he took a massive pay cut and revived his prospects in spectacular fashion.

With a Mercedes engine in the back of a car that Honda has lavished time and money on, Button started the season by leading a commanding one-two in Melbourne – the most successful debut by a team in 55 years.

In the space of one afternoon he had scored more points than in all of the previous two years.

“I don’t need to poke anyone in the eye about what they’ve said about me in the past,” he said then, savouring his success with lingerie model girlfriend Jessica Michibata.

“I’m just happy to be here and I’ve worked bloody hard to be here.” — Reuters

Results

1. Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 1’32:23.081, 2. Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber +00:07.626, 3. Lewis Hamilton (Bri) McLaren-Mercedes 00:18.944, 4. Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault 00:19.652, 5. Jenson Button (Bri) Brawn-Mercedes 00:29.005, 6. Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 00:33.340, 7. Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 00:35.991, 8. Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Brawn-Mercedes 00:45.454, 9. Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Toyota 01:03.324, 10. Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita)Ferrari 01:10.665, 11. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Force India-Mercedes 01:11.388, 12. Heikki Ko­­valainen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes 01:13.499, 13. Romain Grosjean (Fra) Renault 1 lap, 14. Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1 lap.

Retired: Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams-Toyota 41 laps, Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams-Toyota 44 laps, Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 50 laps, Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 70 laps, Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India-Mercedes 70 laps, Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 70 laps

Overall standings

Drivers: 1. Button 89 pts, 2. Vettel 74.0, 3. Barrichello 72.0, 4. Webber 61.5, 5. Hamilton 49.0, 6. Raikkonen 48.0, 7. Rosberg 34.5, 8. Trulli 30.5, 9. Alonso 26.0, 10. Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 24.0, 11. Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 22.0, 12. Kovalainen 22.0, 13. Kubica 17.0, 14. Heidfeld 15.0, 15. Fisichella 8.0, 16. Sutil 5.0, 17. Buemi 5.0, 18. Bourdais 2.0,19. Nakajima 0, 20. Piquet 0, 21. Kobayashi 0, 22. Liuzzi 0.

Constructors: Brawn-Mercedes 161.0, 2. Red Bull-Renault 135.5, 3. McLaren-Mercedes 71.0, 4. Ferrari 70.0, 5. Toyota 54.5, 6. Williams-Toyota 34.5, 7. BMW Sauber 32.0, 8. Renault 26.0, 9. Force India-Mercedes 13.0, 10. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 7.0.

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