- 04 Jan 11, 04:22#232777
Hm, that juxtaposition of team rankings and his final rank is deceptive: e. g., in 2005 with BAR finishing in 6th it means that there were 10 drivers that year (teams ranked 1-5) that drove a better placed car than him, thus, his 9th rank is actually an indication that he outperformed at least one of those 10 drivers. Hence, if you take this into account, then there were only a few years (2000, 2001, 2008, 2010) when he underperformed - in 2008 the 18th spot actually is still within the car's performance. So, 3 years underperformance, the rest of the time he either outperformed the car or was just within the expectations.
Le coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne connaît point. 
I don't for one minute believe that Willi Weber's quote of Martin W would be verbatim. For me it's not significant either.
What is significant, and for me not surprising, is that Martin W was actually talking to Willi.
As person I think Jensen Button is OK, he's said a few silly things, but then haven't we all. I'm also happy for him that he won a WDC.
Having said that, IMO, he is not a good enough driver for a McLaren - the car deserves a better driver.
I'm a firm believer that you don't judge a driver by a race or a season, but over a career. Here's how Jensen has performed and how the car he was driving performed over his career so far:-
2000 Williams 3rd Button 8th
2001 Benetton 7th Button 17th
2002 Renault 4th Button 7th
2003 BAR 5th Button 9th
2004 BAR 2nd Button 3rd
2005 BAR 6th Button 9th
2006 Honda 4th Button 6th
2007 Honda 8th Button 15th
2008 Honda 9th Button 18th
2009 Brawn 1st Button 1st
2010 McLaren 2nd Button 5th
Jensen's raced 191 times for 9 wins (6 in one of the most dominant cars an F1 season has ever seen - the 2009 Brawn).
Take out his worst and best years and you have 156 races for 3 wins.
There's no malice in this, just putting it out there. I will also go on record and say that anyone earning a drive in an F1 car up to now is already a great driver.
Hm, that juxtaposition of team rankings and his final rank is deceptive: e. g., in 2005 with BAR finishing in 6th it means that there were 10 drivers that year (teams ranked 1-5) that drove a better placed car than him, thus, his 9th rank is actually an indication that he outperformed at least one of those 10 drivers. Hence, if you take this into account, then there were only a few years (2000, 2001, 2008, 2010) when he underperformed - in 2008 the 18th spot actually is still within the car's performance. So, 3 years underperformance, the rest of the time he either outperformed the car or was just within the expectations.

