There is a little discussion going on in another thread about Jenson Button. Does he have an ego greater than his driving skills?

Well, as for his driving skills, Button is fairly quick, but usually unspectacular. He has the ability to impress sometimes though. His performances at Hungary and China this year are beginning to mark him out as a wet weather specialist, which is good going.

But his ego? The entire Honda team is well known for talking up its chances. When you think back to the roots, with BAR’s first season, they were telling everybody how they were going to win a race in their first season and all of that shit. They were actually one of the worst teams on the grid, mixing it with the Minardis.

Thing got even worse when it looked like the team had the potential to win a race, but could never quite do it. They had to go around convincing everybody that they were bound to win a race sooner or later. Nick Fry even pretty much said just before the start of the Japanese Grand Prix that he thought they were going to win that very race! Of course they came nowhere near to winning.

For a while, Jenson Button held the dubious honor of being the most experienced F1 driver not to have won a race. He was taunted about it during interviews for years. The media got a bit pissed off at him because British fans aren’t interested unless a Brit is winning a race — never mind the ‘plucky Brit’ image. F1 isn’t for plucky Brits, it’s for people with fucking humongous balls.

So Button had to always say he was capable of winning a race sooner or later, even when it seemed about as likely as Nick Heidfeld winning a race. It’s not a good thing to be really; patently lying about your talent. Let’s face it, a bit of skill was involved in his belated victory, but a great deal was down to luck.

So yes, Button maybe does have a bit of an ego. But here is the real reason why I think Button is an insuffrably smug scrotum.

Those BBCi adverts!

Oh man! How awful were they? Unfortunately (fortunately) I can’t find a video of it on the internet, but I have found the press release. It gives just a hint of what the advert contained:

As Britain’s youngest Grand Prix driver, Button travels at more than 200 mph mastering racing circuits around the world, so he knows the value of control.

In the latest BBCi television trails he will be using a different kind of control, the remote control, to navigate the BBC’s digital version of CEEFAX, gaining access to the latest news, travel, weather and sport on demand.

“I enjoy being up to date but I’m always on the go. When I’m racing I need to be completely focused, but when I’m out of the car I enjoy getting the latest news, sport and entertainment news, whenever I want it. BBCi on TV is the perfect solution,” said Button.

…

The BBC expects Jenson to push all the right Buttons for BBCi.

AAaaarghghgh! And we haven’t even got on to the advert yet. Button’s performance is truly wooden and stilted. But he was probably just embarassed by the horrendous script. If you thought it was bad enough that Gillette persist on trying to convince you that their new Mach Eine Million razor is just like a fighter jet, wait until you see what the BBC thinks BBCi is like.

Yes, BBCi is just like a Formula 1 car! So there sits Jenson Button, with a seedy grin on his face, pretending he’s having the time of his life on BBCi. “I always like to be in control… Great gear changes,” Button whimpers. Except he’s not holding a gear lever. Jenson, it’s a bloody remote control you tool! People trust this guy to race around circuits at 200mph yet he is confusing a remote control for a gearstick.

More on Midland: “The team has also unveiled its new livery, a combination of white, silver grey and red, which has been chosen to differentiate the team from others in the F1 field.” You mean like McLaren, BAR, Toyota and Ferrari?

This time, though, it wasn’t the car, but a manhole cover. It got blown off by a car and then Juan Pablo Montoya crashed into it. There’s always something new in Formula 1, isn’t there?

Anyway, the race was dead boring, apart from that bit where somebody locked up. Was it Barrichello? I can’t even remember. It was that exciting. Mind you, I was so tired from having to get up so early, so I wasn’t able to pay full attention.

The last race of the season is always the end of an era in some form or another. But many things will change between now and March. Today was the last time a V10 engine will be run (without some sort of rev restrictions) for a while. But we’re also saying goodbye to BAR, Sauber, Jordan and Minardi.

Formula 1 has definitely changed a lot since I started watching it about a decade ago now. The manufacturers now rule, so much so that there are worries that Ferrari can’t cope with the big spenders! The sale of Sauber, Jordan and Minardi is a sign of the times. Spiralling costs means that Formula 1 simply can’t be an arena for racers any more. Instead we now have anonymous teams run from smoke-filled rooms. I am sure that most of these manufacturers will have lost interest within a decade or so, if not sooner. Privateers are now drinks companies, and small teams are ‘B’ teams used as a testing ground for inexperienced drivers.

There is a significant privateer team left though (assuming we don’t count McLaren), and it’s Williams. Funnily enough Williams are moving away from big manufacturer backing to the more cosy Cosworth outfit, although I’m sure they would have preferred to have the big money behind them.

I am particularly sad to see Jordan go. That was a real fun team that brought a splash of colour in the nineties. This year it’s had all its life sucked out of it by anonymous Alex Schnaider and cross Colin Kolles. That team didn’t deserve to be called Jordan. Next year the name will be gone. Can you imagine many people supporting Midland though?

Later today I’ll post my roundup of the season.

Takuma Sato could be dumped by BAR a race early and replaced by Anthony Davidson.

Well, that was a good race! I think I’ll have to watch the re-run to try and fully digest it, and work out exactly what happened with everyone. The race was obviously helped by yesterday’s rainy session which meant that all the big names had to make their way up the field.

One person always seems to fall back from a high grid position. I am talking about Japan’s hero Takuma Sato. He’s not a hero, he’s an idiot. His stupid crashes are now becoming so regular that you can almost set your watch by them. Today’s victim was Jarno Trulli, who was so angry after the race that he suggested that the FIA should actually ban Sato from racing!

There’s no doubt about it for me — Sato is Formula 1’s most thoughtless driver at the moment. None of his “brave” driving ever works. He has scored only one point all season, in a car that (even if it isn’t as good as least year’s BAR) is really capable of better. Considering that 40% of each race’s entrants score a point, Sato’s record is inexcusable. If the FIA were to step in (unlikely, I would have thought), I wonder how quickly the idea of a Honda ‘B’ team will start to fizzle out? Even though he is a terrible racer, it is in Honda’s commercial interests to give Sato a drive because he is immensely popular in their home country of Japan. Apparently his “brave” driving style is popular with the Japanese. Well, Sato isn’t brave — he’s just stupid.

There was plenty of real bravery on the track today though. Isn’t it funny how races often seem to spice up when the Drivers’ Championship is done and dusted? The drivers are far more prepared to out their necks on the line and make the moves that will go down in history. Because of the mixed up grid fans were treated to the sight of Formula 1’s bright young stars, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Räikkönen, force their way through the pack.

Alonso had the upper hand at first. He made his way from 16^th all the way up to 8^th in just the first lap! Incredible! Räikkönen had been left standing, and all the attention was on Alonso. It seemed as though he had to pass Michael Schumacher several times. His race certainly wasn’t helped by the issue with Christian Klien when Alonso skipped the chicane, gaining an advantage. Alonso had to let Klien past as per the rules, but this turned into an exciting overtaking manoeuvre, as he got into the slipstream along the straight to pass him at turn 1.

Alonso was on a real charge, and he was catching up to Michael Schumacher. Just as he was about to get him at 130R he slowed right down. “Disaster!,” I thought. But he had to let Klien — who by that time was far behind Alonso — re-pass. Or did he? ITV’s Ted Kravitz reckoned that it was down to a miscommunication between the FIA and Renault. Not fair from the perspective of Renault and Alonso — but Alonso did not let the situation get him down, and we were given another chance to see Alonso catch Schumacher!

By this time Räikkönen had also caught up with Alonso, and we were treated — at last! — to the sight of probably the three greatest racing drivers in the world fighting it out over positions. In this situation Alonso really shone. It is difficult to judge how well Schumacher was doing — after all, it could just be that his Ferrari isn’t up to the job. Räikkönen, meanwhile, simply sat back and watched. Alonso’s move was spectacular. He took Schumacher on the outside of 130R, possibly one of the most dangerous corners in the world, at 150mph. Alonso was depending on Schumacher either being too slow or backing off to avoid an accident. Now that’s real bravery. Alonso took it all in his stride, setting a new lap record straight afterwards. What a driver.

It didn’t end there though. Somehow Alonso lost time after the pitstop — probably down to traffic as the ongoing Räikkönen / Schumacher battle which even saw the drivers pit simultaneously was on clear track (other that each other, of course). This meant everything for Räikkönen’s race, as he was able to pass Schumacher into second place, whereas Alonso had it all to do again. He eventually forced Schumacher into a mistake at the chicane, and Alonso was able to pass him into turn 1. Who says Formula 1 cars don’t overtake enough? There was plenty of action along the pit straight alone. Alonso later also took Webber in a similar fashion, even taking to the grass to get by.

Webber, incidentally, had a great race, finishing in 4^th — and that’s not just down to qualifying, as he started from 7^th. This is good for Webber, as I always feel that he has never quite lived up to the potential — or is that just hype? Meanwhile, Antonio Pizzonia got himself into yet another accident, spinning off at Degner. Remind me again why he finds it difficult to get a permanent drive? In terms of the car, though, this is promising for the future competitiveness of Williams.

As the race was drawing to a close, Giancarlo Fisichella was leading an uneventful race for him, thanks to his luck in qualifying yesterday. When I flicked over to BBC Radio Five Live during the adverts on ITV, they were saying that Fisichella had the race in the bag. How wrong they were.

Räikkönen caught up quickly with Fisichella in the closing stages, and Fisi was rattled. He seemed to be scared of Räikkönen — more than once he too a defensive line into the final chicane when he didn’t need to. Martin Brundle said he was defending his position from air. Ironically, this defensive driving is what eventually caused Fisichella to lose the race. Because of the line he was taking, he was compromised all the way down the pit straight. Then, as the final lap was beginning, Räikkönen was able to get into his slipstream and took him into turn 1, where we had seen so many overtaking manoeuvres.

What a race! We saw the bravery of Fernando Alonso. But the real story of the day was the sheer speed of Kimi Räikkönen. Don’t forget that Kimi started 17^th on the grid. He is becoming a bit of a specialist at coming through the pack. He did it spectacularly at Hungary this year (he was first on track where it’s probably the worst place in the world to do so) and at last year’s Belgian Grand Prix. Still, nothing comes close to this spectacular drive. Ron Dennis was clearly overjoyed with the result, even though Renault re-took them in the Constructors’ Championship. It’s just as well Räikkönen can do this — given the fragility of the car that he’s driving it’s a very useful skill to have.

So a great race for the ‘new guard’ then, but a terrible one for Japan itself. The Japanese fans, at a circuit owned by Honda, must have been licking their lips as it was a dream Japanese lineup with Toyota and (BAR) Honda annexing the front row. It was a pyrrhic victory though, as Ralf Schumacher’s Toyota was on extremely low fuel; his race resulted in an unspectacular eight-place finish.

Button’s BAR, meanwhile, once again slipped back. This seems to be a trait of the BAR now. Often Button has managed to get that car up to a decent grid position, only for the car to be uncompetitive during the race. It is Honda’s ambition to get a win, especially at Suzuka. They had a special engine in the car, and they didn’t care what penalties they would incur if the engine were to blow up. But it was still not enough, and that car simply did not have the pace to keep the big boys, or even Webber, at bay.

Meanwhile the sister Toyota and BARs tangled together — that was the Trulli / Sato incident. Surely, though, the future must be good for Honda and Toyota. BAR have been there or thereabouts for quite a while now, and I think in the right circumstances they are due a win. The car needs to be up to the job of propelling Button to the top step of the podium though.

It was a reasonable weekend for Red Bull Racing aswell. Christian Klien qualified 4^th in the qualifying lottery, but his lap was skillful and solid. He outqualified David Coulthard. I rate Klien quite highly now. He didn’t quite translate his qualy performance into a race result, but there is reason to be optimistic. Coulthard, however, did manage to finish 6^th — a solid result.

All-in-all, a great race with plenty of talking points. I can’t wait for the season-closer in China now!