Button to McLaren: Why the Fuss?
November 20th 2009 01:23
Jenson "Needed a fresh challenge".
It’s a move that has polarised the F1 community. Many say Jenson is indebted to the Brawn team, and his decision to leave is downright unsportsmanlike – a sharp reversal of perception one year ago. Others believe that Formula 1 is a smash-and-grab sport, and that Jenson is well within his rights to pick and choose who he offers his driving services to.
Alonso's 2006 decision draws parallels with Jenson's
For both Jenson and Fernando, money was mooted as a key motivator – but both drivers strongly denied that. And we should probably believe them. Loyalty is just not part of the F1 dictionary, at least not for the successful. Drivers are, and must be, selfish. Fernando said it was nothing personal when he left Renault in 2006, he was just doing what he needed for his career. The fact he was welcomed back in 2008 only to leave again shows that teams don’t hold these sorts of grudges. Drivers are employees – strategic partners – rarely friends. It is not in anybody’s best interests to stick around for a ‘sense of duty’. At the end of the day, no matter how good a relationship a driver has with a team – their contract will always remind them: it’s just business. Alonso may not have won the championship with McLaren in 2007, but he came a hell of a lot closer than he would have at comfortable, friendly Renault.
Does this mean that Jenson thinks that the success of Brawn, now Mercedes, was fleeting? Perhaps. Button and Brawn won the title in the first half of the year – the last part of 2009 was a scramble to keep up with the new pace-setters – McLaren being one of them. Nothing is certain in F1, and Jenson of all people knows that, but trusting instinct and seizing opportunity is what successful drivers, and people in general, do.
Perhaps most importantly, we as fans should celebrate Jenson’s tenacity. The move has not only added another layer of intrigue into the already insanely silly season. The McLaren battle in 2010 will be an absolute thriller, make no mistake. The two most recent champions squared off in a struggle for not only the title itself – but the admiration of a nation flush with motor racing hysteria. It’s a mouth-watering prospect.
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