Johnny Herbert: I hope this isn't the end for Jenson Button, a true champion

Final corner: Button may be approaching the end of his F1 career
Mark Thompson/Getty Images
Johnny Herbert25 September 2015

Regardless of his future in Formula 1 after this season, Jenson Button fully deserves to be called a great.

There are those who say he only won the world championship because he was in the best car in that Brawn in 2009, but the same could be said of Lewis Hamilton, Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna. The list goes on.

It’s part and parcel of being a great driver, ensuring you’re in a position to get that sort of drive and Jenson had — and still has — all the attributes to warrant that.

In fact, his title-winning year showed the mark of a true champion. He had a flying start to the season, but the team didn’t have the money to develop the car like their rivals, so that gargantuan lead was eaten into.

But when it mattered most, when the pressure was at its greatest at the Brazilian Grand Prix, he drove one of his best-ever races to sew up the title, the mark of a true champion.

2009


 The year Jenson Button won his only Drivers' Championship

Hamilton is generally regarded as the quickest man in F1, but Jenson showed repeatedly that he could beat him and out-strategise him. Take his first McLaren win at the 2010 Australian Grand Prix, where it was Jenson and his engineer’s decision to change tyres when he did which effectively enabled him to win the race. He made those sort of key decisions a few times.

And with Fernando Alonso alongside him, Jenson has had some very good races, even though McLaren are further back than they’d like to be.

Clive Mason/Getty Images

Do I think it’s a dead cert that this is the beginning of the end for Jenson? I hope not, because I still feel he has a lot to offer both McLaren and F1 as a whole.

Logically, you’d think McLaren-Honda will improve. Okay, that’s not a given, but it’s a pretty fair assumption to make — and his experience would be invaluable in helping to take them back up the grid.

The sensible choice were he to be leaving F1 would be for Jenson to have announced it here in Japan, the country his wife hails from and almost a second ‘home’ race for him. He’s not done that and so I’m none the wiser.

I was saying to the other guys at Sky that we need to get a body language expert in to read him when he’s talking about next year.

I remember for me there came a point where I was no longer enjoying it. That’s when I knew it was enough.

If he’s got to that point, that’s a big thing and such a stance is usually irreversible. I hope for Jenson — and the sport — we’ve not got there yet.

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