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[Hammer278]

Button to join 250 club in Bahrain

Jenson Button will join an elite group at the Bahrain Grand Prix as he becomes the fifth person to reach the milestone of 250 grand prix starts.

Button will join Rubens Barrichello, Michael Schumacher, Riccardo Patrese and Jarno Trulli in reaching the tally, though he still has some way to surpassing Barrichello's record of 322 starts. He becomes the first Brit to achieve the landmark after David Coulthard retired with 246 to his name in 2008 and Button admits he is still adjusting to being the grid's elder statesman.

"It's crazy, it feels like only yesterday that I was celebrating my 200th, with a win for McLaren in Hungary back in 2011," Button said. "It means I've been around for a long time! I'm very happy with my career, even though there have been highs and lows. One of the things I'm most proud of is the way I've stacked up against my team-mates. I've had 10 of them in 15 seasons, so I've needed to prove myself to the new guy sat beside me virtually every year. It's a very funny sport in that respect because even after everything you've achieved, you've still got to prove yourself time and again."

Button, currently in his 15th season in F1, also believes anything is possible under the lights in Sakhir.

"It's hard to believe that this weekend's race will be the 10th Bahrain Grand Prix - I won this race back in 2009, I've had lots of good performances here, and I really enjoy the challenge the circuit presents. You always feel like you can get a little bit more out of yourself, and the car, which makes it a difficult but rewarding track on which to drive. Things never stand still in Formula 1, and we go to Bahrain facing another new challenge: the circuit's first night race.

"It'll be interesting to see what sort of race we have under the floodlights - racing at night always adds to the atmosphere and sense of occasion, and I think this weekend will be no different. We've scored some useful points in the first two races, which was always our objective for the opening quartet of fly-aways, and I hope we can get some more points in the bag this weekend."

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What an incredible achievement.

[1Lemon]

I'm always shocked at the amount of starts Trulli had, and he only won one GP....In Monaco.... Where he held everyone up.

[What's Burning?]

An F1 career with 266 GP starts is impressive.

[LRW]

Is it though?

[CookinFlat6]

A journeyman career is impressive when it goes in beyond the stage successful sportsmen have quit at he optimum point of the performance vs results curve

I.e if you are really good, then you win a lot and quit when you slow down and are not the best anymore. If you are a journeyman you are happy to collect he cheque for as long as they will pay you because you have not had a period at the top of the game and have pretty much stayed at the average level for ever bar a few lucky blips

Or you are MS and had everything going for you for so long that you could continue to whip the youngsters and even come out of retirement to whip em somemore

Nevertheless a great achievement for Jenson - he got paid for 15 years where many others didn't

[Roth]

I saw his first practice lap at Albert Park. God that makes me feel old.

[myownalias]

Jenson must bring something useful to the table for Williams, Renault, BAR, Honda, Brawn and McLaren. Is JB the fastest driver? NO! Is JB the best development driver? NO! Is JB the most marketable driver? NO! But he does do most things well and brings decent results on [most] race days; he's like the complete package for teams when you combine speed, development and marketability. This is why he has been in F1 for 15 years; he wouldn't be getting paid $15m if McLaren thought he was useless as some people make him out to be!

[spankyham]

Lewis continues to go up in my estimation.

What I admire about this statement from Lewis is that, whatever his view of the troubles from their time together at McLaren, he has moved beyond it. No cheap shots, no innuendo, he just straight out compliments Jenson and points out some of his best attributes. For those who can "empty their cups", there is a lot to learn from this statement from Lewis

Lewis Hamilton, who raced alongside Button for three seasons at McLaren paid his own personal tribute to his compatriot.

'I have a huge amount of respect for Jenson, watching him come back every year, to have that motivation, because as you get older it gets harder.

'It gets harder to train, even for younger people, and every year it gets harder and harder to challenge, and how you spend your energy is different every year.

'Yet every year he is on it, focused, and especially this year as his dad's not with him, who has been with him all these years.

'Even so, he is still there, still working away, and I take my hat off to him. He's a great athlete.

'I can only hope and dream I get to have as long and as successful a career as he has had.'

Source

[LewEngBridewell]

I'm always shocked at the amount of starts Trulli had, and he only won one GP....In Monaco.... Where he held everyone up.

I thought that was quite a decent, action-packed race. And Trulli's win came as a massive relief, especially seeing as Michael Schumacher had won every single one of the previous races for Ferrari!

[CookinFlat6]

Great tribute to Jenson from Lewis

Hamilton said: 'I have a huge amount of respect for Jenson, watching him come back every year, to have that motivation, because as you get older it gets harder.

Pays tribute to his ability to remain motivated to continue racing

'Even so, he is still there, still working away, and I take my hat off to him. He's a great athlete.

congratulates him on his Heptathlon efforts for charity

'I can only hope and dream I get to have as long and as successful a career as he has had.'

And although Lewis has had much more success in a shorter time pays tribute to the amount of time Button has spent achieving his own success, and hopes he will extrapolate his success rate if he stays in that long

Lewis is careful to avoid commenting on Jensons abilities as a racing driver or as a teammate. And no tweeting of telemetry.

All Jensons good points are highlighted, and he will receive similar praise from everyone else in the paddock as he truly deserves it after 250 races at he top

[Hammer278]

I'm always shocked at the amount of starts Trulli had, and he only won one GP....In Monaco.... Where he held everyone up.

I thought that was quite a decent, action-packed race. And Trulli's win came as a massive relief, especially seeing as Michael Schumacher had won every single one of the previous races for Ferrari!

That race Trulli won was incredibly satisfying for me, because I was an underdog supporter of Trulli and also with how his teammate's race ended.

[CookinFlat6]

Just goes to show the 2 routes to staying in F1 as long as possible and without being amongst the best

Trulli always qualified better than the car and developed skills in keeping faster cars behind during the race - hence the Trulli train

Button always qualified worse than the car and developed skills at waiting for faster drivers to fall off the track ahead of him

Both fantastic testaments to prolonging careers in F1 where others would be sacked for not performing at better and better levels each season. Amazing achievement in a series as ruthless as F1

[1Lemon]

Just goes to show the 2 routes to staying in F1 as long as possible and without being amongst the best

Trulli always qualified better than the car and developed skills in keeping faster cars behind during the race - hence the Trulli train

Button always qualified worse than the car and developed skills at waiting for faster drivers to fall off the track ahead of him

Both fantastic testaments to prolonging careers in F1 where others would be sacked for not performing at better and better levels each season. Amazing achievement in a series as ruthless as F1

So you're saying button was able to stay in F1 for 15 years because he just sat behind them and waited for them to crash?

[CookinFlat6]

Both drivers lasted 250 races without been the fastest or best over takers in the race. This season for example Button has not overtaken anyone on track yet is third in the table. Normally the fastest drivers are best but it's not all about speed or overtaking
Button and Trulli prove this and hats off to them - professional career drivers

[bud]

Lewis continues to go up in my estimation.

What I admire about this statement from Lewis is that, whatever his view of the troubles from their time together at McLaren, he has moved beyond it. No cheap shots, no innuendo, he just straight out compliments Jenson and points out some of his best attributes. For those who can "empty their cups", there is a lot to learn from this statement from Lewis

Lewis Hamilton, who raced alongside Button for three seasons at McLaren paid his own personal tribute to his compatriot.

'I have a huge amount of respect for Jenson, watching him come back every year, to have that motivation, because as you get older it gets harder.

'It gets harder to train, even for younger people, and every year it gets harder and harder to challenge, and how you spend your energy is different every year.

'Yet every year he is on it, focused, and especially this year as his dad's not with him, who has been with him all these years.

'Even so, he is still there, still working away, and I take my hat off to him. He's a great athlete.

'I can only hope and dream I get to have as long and as successful a career as he has had.'

Source

Jeez Lewis he's not that old