I read on the BBC Sport website today that, among others, Renault boss Flavio Briatore, has stated that Jenson Button’s success this year is down to nothing more than the speed of his Brawn. Â
The outspoken Italian said that “Button is an indifferent driver unworthy of comparison to his double world champion Fernando Alonso.â€Â Â
Until now I have agreed largely with Briatore’s often comical outbursts, but I feel as a Brawn fanatic a huge Jenson fan that the Italian needs to be answered! I will answer Mr Briatore by briefly analysing Jen’s F1 career and considering his performance relative to the car he was in and his team mate… Details
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One of the crews favoured to take victory in the Bathurst RSL Club Rally of Bathurst on May 16 and 17, is a former winner of the event, Gareth Morgan-Thomas of Bathurst and his Sydney co-driver, Matt Ruggles.
The two day event that will start and finish in Bathurst, is the second round of the 2009 Pipe King Southern Cross Rally Series run by the Australian Motor sport Action Group (AMSAG), with Dave Aitchison as rally director.The event will cover 230 kilometres of competitive roads within the Sunny Corner State Forest, east of Bathurst.
Morgan-Thomas won the Bathurst RSL Rally of Bathurst in 2004 driving a 5 litre V8 Holden Commodore, and finished a close second in that year’s Southern Cross Rally Series, as he had done the previous season, 2003.
“You could say we lost that 2004 championship by only three seconds, because that was what we were beaten by, in the final round at Port Macquarie. We were beaten by a lack of tyres,†Morgan-Thomas said.
He sold his Commodore a short time after the 2004 series, and last year purchased a 1996 Subaru WRX STi that had won the 2004 Victorian Championship.
“It is unbelievable the difference between the Commodore and the WRX. The WRX is a maintenance intensive car, and you must spend many hours working on it between events, whereas the Commodore would seldom need a spanner on it.  Details
In 2008 Jenson could hardly buy a point with Honda (and believe me, they paid top dollar); he was labelled “washed up” at the tender age of 28. This season, he has won three out of four grands prix and been praised to the rafters for his “smooth” driving style and maturity.
Well which is it? Car or driver? Was Jenson really that bad, or indeed is he really that good?
The truth is that in F1 the car is the decisive factor. I couldn’t put a percentage on it but if pushed I would say 80 per cent car, 20 per cent driver. Put Lewis Hamilton in a Force India and they still wouldn’t win a race, although they might do a little bit better than they are now.
This dynamic is true of other sports. Ryan Giggs was yesterday named the PFA Player of the Year, but would he have won that title if he had not been playing for Manchester United? Probably not…Â Details
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The Times F1 Debate: Is what Lewis did any worse than Michael Schumacher’s shenanigans at Monaco in ’06?
STOP PRESS! McLaren receive suspended three-race ban
Bearing in mind that McLaren – or Martin Whitmarsh to be precise – will go before the FIA in Paris tomorrow where the team will be punished over the so-called “lie-gate” affair, I thought we should have a go at this comparison.
I was talking to a former Formula One driver about this the other day and he was arguing that what Lewis did in Melbourne and then Kuala Lumpur – deliberately trying to deceive the stewards under the guidance of Dave Ryan to gain third place at the expense of Jarno Trulli – was far less serious in comparison to what Michael did at Rascasse during qualifying in 2006…Â Details