Button poised to switch to McLaren..

[bpsorrel]

Story here: Button poised for McLaren switch - Autocar.co.uk

Does anyone else feel he's displaying bad form here? After all, this time last year he was unemployed effectively and Brawn gave him a drive. Sounds like he's forgetting very quickly who gave him the great opportunity after so many poorly performing years....

 

[st4]

MB are buying Brawn.

http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/news/78726-mercedes-leaving-mclaren.html#post873373

 

[bpsorrel]

Own goal for Button then....
Edit - just read MB didn't want him, so now it all makes sense!

 

[Gridlock]

Well, the chances of the 2 announcements being unrelated are, hmm, fairly slim?

 

[andy_k]

I don't think it's bad form on Button's behalf. Last year, he dropped his salary to half of what Honda were paying him as Brawn didn't have the budget to pay him.

This year, he played a major part in the team winning two world championships.

He probably went into negotiations with Brawwn thinking that he was worth a bit more than a pay rise which would have left him earning about 60% of what Honda were paying him two years ago.

Of course, he probably had no idea of the deal with Mercedes which will very probably put two German drivers in the cars which could be a reason behind the deadlock at Brawn - maybe they were stalling whilst working on the major deal and never had any intention of negotiating properly

 

[bpsorrel]

I agree - knowing about the MB buyout puts a different slant on it now.

 

[flango]

We also might see another British Driver in the mix next year too. If the F1 rumour mill is to be believed then Anthony Davidson will be driving for the Manor Motorsport F1 team. But watch this space as the Manor Motorsport entry is likely to become the Virgin F1 team fully financed and backed by Virgin. Rumours are that Branson was upset when Brawn refused his offer to buy into the team so he has gone and got himself another team. They will be a bit of an unknown and using Cosworth engines under current rules probably not that competitive, however the car is designed and built by Nick Wirth who has a good pedigree, so 2010 could be an interesting year in F1.

 

[rossyl]

The new Merc Team that has purchased Brawn is an all German team.

The drivers will be Rosberg and Heidfeld - both German's.

Button has been forced out.

 

[Gridlock]

The beach towels are on the pit lane wall, it appears.

 

[Mr E]

The new Merc Team that has purchased Brawn is an all German team.

The drivers will be Rosberg and Heidfeld - both German's.

Button has been forced out.

It's still all undecided - and Haug's comments:

"This will be an international team for Mercedes-Benz is a global player. If you look back in our history we have very often been criticised for not having a German driver, so we were always open and we took the driver decision always together with McLaren. This will be the same in the future. We want to have the best ones and we definitely do not want to have the pure German team - it's an international Silver Arrows team and we want to have the best drivers in the car."

Haug has also stated that Brawn remains in charge of driver negotiations.

 

[BlackC55]

Button and Hamilton in the same team is fantastic news. Maybe jenson can show Hamiltonm how to drive and behave.

 

[Sp!ke]

The news probably explains THIS

 

[Gridlock]

Sod that, I want to see the fist fight between Mr Button and Mr Hamilton when one thinks the other's son is getting "1st driver" status..

 

[MrMotul]

I personally think that the only benefit for Button moving to McClaren will be financial. Hamilton is a far superior, naturally talented driver than Button and I think moving to a team where Hamilton is No1, will only re-affirm what has happened to Kovalinen and Alonso in the past, Button would be No2 in the team and that does note bode well for our World Champion,

Just my opinion though

 

[BlackC55]

I personally think that the only benefit for Button moving to McClaren will be financial. Hamilton is a far superior, naturally talented driver than Button and I think moving to a team where Hamilton is No1, will only re-affirm what has happened to Kovalinen and Alonso in the past, Button would be No2 in the team and that does note bode well for our World Champion,

Just my opinion though

Do you really think that?

Button is better than Hamilton?

I think that he is. We will just have to see what happens in 2010. Did you ever see Hamilton overtake like Button? Have you seen how smooth Button is compared to hamilton?

 

[flango]

I personally think that the only benefit for Button moving to McClaren will be financial. Hamilton is a far superior, naturally talented driver than Button and I think moving to a team where Hamilton is No1, will only re-affirm what has happened to Kovalinen and Alonso in the past, Button would be No2 in the team and that does note bode well for our World Champion,

Just my opinion though

If Jenson goes to Mclaren there will be no No1 & No2 driver, how can the current World champion be a No2 driver?

As regards driving ability well all the F1 engineers love Jenson he is so gentle with the car it makes their life so easy, there is not a more fluent and joined up driver on the circuit, Jensons cars take hardly any punishment at all with his driving style. Lewis on the other hand whilst being a very talented driver hammers the car to within microns of failure and sometimes beyond his race engineers have a very tough time on the circuit. Raikkonen also has a very similar style to Hamilton. So I'm pretty sure which driver the Mclaren boys would like to see complete the line up for next year and he doesn't come from Finland.

 

[Dryce]

Button is better than Hamilton?

I think it's an interesting contrast - Prost vs Senna

I think Hamilton is faster than Button under most conditions. But I think what was demonstrated this year is that Button in the right machinery is one of the few drivers who can (a) actually overtake and (b) put in the mid-race laps when they are needed.

Would I as McLaren want Button on the team next to Hamilton. Difficult.

Personally? I would like to see Nick Heidfeld or Kubica in the McLaren. Or Raikonnen. I'd prefer Button to stick with Brawn.

 

[MrMotul]

I would like to point out that I think Jenson is a fantastic driver and a worthy world champion, but in my opinion, he is not in Hamiltons league. In some ways, putting them in the same team would show us who is best, being that they would have the same cars underneath them but I would like to see Jenson stay with the team that got him where he is today. Ross Brawn has, in my eyes, done a remarkable job and I feel he should get to keep the world champion as part of a world championship winning team.

 

[LTD]

I'd like to see how Hamilton would react in a different team from the one that he has grown up with.

Jenson might just upset Lewis' comfort zone a little.

 

[Mudster]

Funny how people think Hamilton is that much better than Button.

I'm really interested to see the two in the same vehicles, Button won the world title by not throwing his car into the wall/barrier/gravel trap......

Hamilton lost the world title by doing just that.

To finish first, first you have to finish and during 2009 Button scored points in every race bar one in which he was taken off by another car.

How many times during the season did Hamilton drop the car through trying too hard?

Button reminds me of Prost and I think now he's got the monkey off his back with the first title he'll relax and drive with less pressure on him.