Jenson Button still can’t get over Spa
Jenson Button admitted he is still mad at Sebastian Vettel and the accident the German caused that cost Jenson an irreversible damage to his hopes of defending the drivers’ championship at Spa Francorchamps.
Sebastian Vettel was trying to attempt an overtaking manoeuvre to pass the world champion but lost control and forced the well-positioned Button in 2nd place out of the Belgian Grand Prix. This was the latest addition to Sebastian’s growing line of impulsive moments as the German has been struggling to control his nerves.
Jenson Button began his journey in Formula 1 in the year 2000 after joining team Williams as their full time driver. Jenson has had his vicissitudes in his 10-year career in the sport. The British impressed the teams and spectators as he scored 12 points to secure the 8th place in the drivers’ standings with Williams that was not a very reliable team back then.
Benetton offered Button a spot after his contract with Williams expired. The world champion struggled with Benetton but managed to score some decent results after Benetton became Renault in 2002 as he scored 14 points to secure the 7th place in the drivers’ standings. The 30 year old left Renault to join BAR in 2003 for 3 years and hoped that the team will lead him to his destiny.
However, Jenson struggled with the team in his first year with the team but managed to recover miraculously in 2004 as he secured an impressive 3rd place in the drivers’ championship with 85 points after scoring 10 podiums and a pole position.
The car was not up to the mark the following year restricting the British from performing at his best. Jenson scored 37 points to secure the 9th place however, managed to impress the officials at team Honda with his abilities and joined the team in 2006. After joining Honda, Jenson was able to score 3 podiums in his first season with them to score 56 points, securing the 6th place in the drivers’ standings. This was not a bad result as compared to the two following this result.
The years 2007 and 2008 were the worst two seasons for the world champion as he was able to secure 15th and 18th places respectively. The 33 year old finally left the team after 3 disastrous years and decided to join a new team Brawn GP lead by Ross Brawn. This proved to be the best decision in Jenson’s career as the team helped him win the championship and phenomenally secured both constructors’ and drivers’ titles. He scored 95 points with the help of 6 wins, 9 podiums and 4 pole positions to win the title.
This was enough to impress one of the best teams in the sport McLaren and earned Jenson a seat alongside former world champion Lewis Hamilton. Jenson is currently in 4th place and is still in the chase for the title.
Button is now trailing his teammate Lewis Hamilton by 35 points in the race for the drivers’ title and admitted that he still cannot get what Vettel was thinking during that manoeuvre.
"My thoughts haven't really changed. At the time, I was pretty confused by what Sebastian did. Now, I still think what he did was completely unnecessary. He didn't need to pass me at that point, and I wasn't making his life difficult, so his car shouldn't have been on such a knife-edge when he hit me”, stated Button.
The most frustrating thing for the British is the fact that he has lost a considerable amount of championship points, as he believes he would have finished on podium if Vettel had not crashed into his car. The world champion still believes he can catch up as there are 150 points up for the grab however, it cannot change the fact that he is 35 points behind Lewis.
“Anything's still possible, but at this point in the season you've got to take every point you can, and the incident in Spa certainly didn't help”, he added.
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