Brawn: I too doubted Button talent
JENSON BUTTON finally silenced his doubters by clinching a maiden world championship on Sunday, but his boss Ross Brawn has admitted that he too needed to be convinced of the Englishman’s ability.
Button failed to realise youthful promise during his first nine years in F1, winning just a single grand prix from 155 attempts and being written off as a perennial also-ran.
But this year the Somerset racer has been a revelation, claiming six of the first seven races as debutant team Brawn GP left their more established rivals trailing.
Button’s blistering start to the year laid the foundations for his title triumph, as well as Brawn GP’s success in the constructors’ championship.
Their achievement is the culmination of two years’ work together, as both were at Honda before the manufacturers withdrew their financial backing at the end of last season.
But Brawn has confessed he did not know whether Button would be able to reach the very top when they first joined forces in 2008.
“You don’t until you work with somebody,” he said. “You have a superficial opinion of them and in 2004 he was giving us a hard time at Ferrari. We had a sensational season but he was always there nipping at our ankles. He impressed us then. But until you work with people it is difficult.”
Doubts remained even once the pair started collaborating at Honda, where Button finished a career-low 18th in the championship last year.
The Japanese car giant’s withdrawal proved a catalyst, however, with Brawn salvaging the core of the outfit, redesigning the car on a much lower budget, and rebranding the team – all with staggering results.
“Last year was very difficult for me to work with Jenson because of the poor equipment we had,” he added. “Lots of guys in the team who I respect said: ‘Stick with it because he is exceptional’. And I think going through this experience of the terrific first half and the very tough second half of the season is going to be quite a development in Jenson’s character.”
Brawn was forced to slash Honda’s workforce to keep the team going, and admits they face a struggle to defend their title against their more established, richer rivals. However the raft of cost cutting measures set to take effect in F1 provide hope.
“It is tough. Undoubtedly, this car was born with a greater resource than we have now,” Brawn said.
“I cannot deny there might be a hiccup in that process when the other teams have more resource than we do for a while, but everyone is coming down to our size. So within a year or two, the size of Brawn GP will be the size of F1 teams.”
WHAT THEY SAID:
JACKIE STEWART
“Brawn have done an amazing job and Ross is a master. But it takes a driver to get the job done at the end of the day, and Jenson did it. Well done to him.”
DAMON HILL
“Jenson’s the playboy champion with the winning smile. He got accused of not taking it seriously but I think he showed everyone how serious he is inside.”
LEWIS HAMILTON
“He did an incredible job this year. I’m not going to take anything away from his championship but I definitely plan on taking it back from him at some stage.”