Yeah, and perhaps no man in the world would know the meaning of that more clearly than Brawn.

RB is a fascinating personality. Does anyone remember that time earlier in the season when, justnaked seconds after dominance of some race or quali, the BBC approached him with a microphone while he fiddled with an electronic gadget? They asked what race business was left to pursue at such a moment, and he confessed that he was trying to find out the latest soccer scores from Britain. Various travelers in the F1 circus report seeing him ensconced comfortably in coach seats of Easyjet as his team leads the championship.

Ross Brawn is a man who knows what’s important.

And for the record: I’m not entirely sure we should credit Lewis with much more leadership capacity than we do for his countryman Button.

His radio transmissions seem a lot more informative, if no less urgent. And of course, he’s the World Champion.

But much of the leadership that carried him there undoubtedly came from Ron Dennis, one of the brightest lights and most passionate personalities* the sport has ever seen. (It’s easy to imagine a control freak of Dennis’ caliber deciding that garage performance is too important for mere drivers to be involved in.) Whitmarsh may be showing that strength now: We’ll see. In any case, I’m starting to wonder if –only in this respect– Lewis has been riding a magic carpet.

* That was almost like Legard, wasn’t it?

You can’t exactly write a glowing report for any of the four Brawn and Red Bull drivers this year. All have excelled in some ways, only to disappoint in others.

I am unconvinced by Webber. I am actually a big fan of Webber, but he has actually disappointed me a bit this year. Vettel has won three races, and I can’t help but feel that Webber should have been able to do more with all his experience.

Vettel continues to impress, but has made too many mistakes to be considered the class of the field. I greatly look forward to seeing what he does in the future, because if he doesn’t win the Championship this year he will almost certainly deserve to win it another year. I find him an enormously impressive man. He was the first person younger than me to become an F1 driver, so he represents a bit of a “whoa” moment for me too.

Cridland makes a good point about Button’s struggle in the team leader role. It is no secret that Button has made heavy use of Barrichello’s set-up data this year, so he is clearly not the complete package, at least as far as set-up goes.

As for Barrichello, he is doing a good job just now but took far too long to take advantage of the superiority of his car, only hitting his stride when it was too late. Shame.

Kovi had one win which was fortuitous, and has never looked like repeating that.

While I take nothing away from Vettel, I am merely saying he has made a lot of mistakes this year & all his wins have been relatively easy – winning from pole in the fastest car (bit like Button, actually). He hasn’t exactly “raced” anyone to win, has he? Whereas in terms of actual racing & wringing the neck of the car, Webber has been in a class of his own all season.

Also, somebody somewhere was saying that Button may in fact not be a team-leading driver. The communications we’ve heard from the radio give that impression, certainly: The voice is always strained, and the tone is often disappointed: “Guys, I’ve got no front grip at all.” This might explain why Ross B is reluctant to cut him a big new check. Is there any better man in the world for pricing driver talent?

For all his youthful cuddliness, Vettel seems to have an intense desire to win on the track, and the will to make things happen in the garage as well. He never hides disappointment, but the tone in his voice always promises a long night for the mechanics while he explains where the problem is. We’re told that Seb V conducts his own negotiations without help from a manager. (This came to mind a couple weeks ago when Webber announced that without Flavio in his corner, he’d be cutting his own deals as well. Maybe the Aussie learned something from “the kid without experience.”) Vettel is a hands-on kind of guy.