Me too. I'm a big Button fan and obviously I'm hoping he wins the WDC again, but if Hamilton beats him to it then that's good too. At least Button is testing himself against the best and not running away to an easier/safer seat.

Is the height difference going to be much of a problem?

Alonso, Heikki, Leiws all about 1.72 - 1.74m, how tight is the McLaren packaging, and what compromise is required to squeeze in a 6-footer?

you hope.... so far ive hardly seen any huge fuss btw Button and Lewis fans....so far most Button fans seem level-headed....but sure its gonna get more heated once the season starts...

I still believe it'll probably be the most cordial banter we could have here btw fans of two top drivers in the same team

quite the contrary, I think they're probably the only group who's excited by this pairing.

Nah, I'm not British and am quite excited to see two top drivers in Mclaren again. I think this season will also solve any questionmarks I had over Button, so it will be fun to watch.

Guess the ""That's brave and I have to respect it," added Brawn." says enough.

nice to see were all feeling postive about this move.

i for one think its fantastic for a british team, and am really excited to see him getting into the mclaren at the season opening friday practice. its gonig be a great moment which it never felt like when heikki was getting in the car. i didnt expect anything of him to be honest. but button im on edge.

as a hamilton fan im gonig to say i thoroughly expect my driver to give him a stomping, thats just my fan boy talking, however for the good of the team and the sport in general i hope button comes out throwing his punchs and really gets to grips with the car and we can have a fantastic team instead of the lewis hamilton solo show out there

that said if button beats hamilton, ill take it on the chin and ill have a real respect for JB, theres no excuses bar video evidence of button doing a dick dastardly and tampers with lewis engine this is lewis' environment and the only thing to blame will be himself at the end of the year if hes beaten by button.

Seriously though I wish him all the best, next year he'll be walking into the lion's den, just ask Alonso!

but Alonso was the lion

Aye, that got humped by the monkey!

I think it's because he wears a full balaclava that covers his gob - so it sounds muffled, where say Lewis doesn't so it sounds a lot clearer

Probably not and you're right and the Brawn transmissions were just crap

Monkeys can be strong. A very small chimp is far more powerful than a 200 pound powerlifter. A 500 pound Gorilla can probably kill a lion with his bare hands ... no joking

Who's the underdog in this pairing? Clearly it is Button. Hence he has got far less to lose. If he beats Lewis, he will be hailed as one of the best and his reputation will go up massively. If he loses, as long as he doesn't lose by Heikki type margins, it will be seen as meeting expectations and he also has the excuse to fall back on that it is "Lewis' environment" as he keeps mentioning so often and it's also his first year at McLaren. Jenson really can take drive this season as if he's got little to lose. The only risk to his reputation is not if he gets beaten by Lewis, but if he gets beaten badly by him. And even then, he'll probably be forgiven if that happens in his first year as long as the gap is less in his second and third year.

Lewis' on the other hand must beat Jenson if his reputation isn't to take a beating. If Lewis is even matched by Jenson, it will be viewed quite negatively. If he's beaten by Jenson, then it will be a nightmare for Lewis. Lewis has never, ever been beaten by a team mate either in his short F1 career, or his very long career in motorsport so far. He's had team mates like the highly rated Rosberg, who he absolutely trounced even though they were team mates in a team started and handpicked by Rosberg's father. Then came Alonso, dispatched (just) in his rookie year. Then came the once highly lauded Heikki, the man Briatore claimed as the next Alonso, whose reputation is in tatters after being destroyed by Lewis. So based on this Lewis is expected to beat his next team mate, and any team mate that holds his own will be viewed in a very positive light. Also if Lewis is beaten by a team mate, it will be interesting to see how he handles it psychologically. He will either become even stronger as he systematically strives to improve even more and iron out his weaknesses. Or it will destroy him.

But I must say, that even though I think Jenson has little to lose by this challenge. It is still brave of him. But he also has the new regulations going in his favour and it may reward his smooth driving style.

Nice post. For me it's just a question of how big the gap will be. I see the probability of Lewis losing and being destroyed as 0.00 x 0.000, he coped OK with losing Euroseries in 04, after all, and with losing 10 races to Fernando, a loss to Jense will just see him head down studying his telemetry.

I think it's a real risk for Jense that he will be Heikki-esque though. Heikki did score about half Lewis' points after all, he wasn't all that bad really, that's 4th when Lewis wins, or 6th when Lewis is 3rd - only 2-3 cars in between.

I'm looking forward to this battle and whilst at this moment in time I expect Lewis to beat Jenson, it would be foolish to think otherwise when you take into account that 2010 will be Hamilton's fourth season with McLaren and that Button will probably take some time to settle in at the team.

However as mentioned above, the new rules in 2010 should suit Button's driving style more than Hamilton's but I feel that Lewis has improved alot as a driver in 2009 especially in the tyre managment area. The only area I expect Lewis to really dominate Jenson in is in qualifying trim but as long as Button stays as close to Hamilton as possible in qualifying then I feel that they will be an even match in race conditions.

Hopefully they will both work well together and not have the same kind of fall out as Alonso did in 2007 but with Ron gone, I think its highly unlikely.

Maybe facing Lewis at Mclaren is more achieveable then staying at Mercedes and facing Michael Schumacher if he comes.

Thas some shit I would pay to see and then probably wish i hadnt.

search Youtube for "animal face off gorilla" to see something close. It's computer generated (and a bit cheesy) so you won't be disgusted afterwards.

Nah....he's a F1 driver, they all know how to protect their fragile egos.

Get real. Jenson is no rookie. What are we talking about giving him a first year. Jenson is one of the most experienced drivers on the grid!

If he performs anywhere close to Heikki's level, he should be fired immediately. But I hope he won't, because Mclaren really needs to win the WCC again that Ferrari has been winning for all these years.

This made my day!

for all British fans its a win -win situation i think.
why?
well if Lewis finishes higher ( as i think) well its still a brit
If Jenson finishes higher well we have two top runners.
It cant be bad when you support McLaren and you have two brits to follow too.
But sorry i do think no way Button is good enough ( too many years of always being second to his team mate to ever be great( but he is a British WDC got to love that))
Either way its a British mentality not a hot headed one so lets see whch team has the most sparks flying i dont think it will start with an M

Sorry but 7 seasons out of 10 he's beat his team mate (which included a former WDC)

Not bad going IMO

3 out of 3 is better dont you think?

Lewis is a fantastic driver, he did fantastically well to be level on points with Alonso in his rookie season, but Heikki isn't exactly going to give you sleepless nights is he

You're right about it being a win win situation though, although i'll be pulling for JB next season, i'll be happy for Lewis if he wins the championship

He gets a lot of flack of people for no reason and despite what some people say about him being arrogant i just think he's confident and is a good bloke

but thats why i say its a win win situation in the end we will both support the same team ok we will want our own drivers to win but in the end the best will win, if its JB congrats to him and you i just dont think so but either way we win and with the back up of the other driver wcc should be nice as its long over due

How annoyed would we all be if another team wins? lol


Heres hoping by putting all of GB's eggs in 1 basket we have a fast basket!

wouldn't it be a nightmare for jenson if brawn have the best car next season LOL and nico becomes WDC lolzz

it's always a real possibility which makes his decision bizarre.
but we still don't know who's driving the other car, could be Schumacher going for his 8th WDC

It can always happen, but obviously everyone in paddock believes we'll see stronger Mclaren and Ferrari next year, so if he is aiming for better car - Mclaren is best bet he could get at this point.

It's a multi-year deal. If the Brawn is hot stuff in 2010, what about 2011?

Lol, slightly offtopic: Don't underestimate cats, they are far more superior in evolution than apes. They are quicker, have better reflexes and vision and they have sharp nails/teeth to hunt much bigger preys than themselves.

Apes are more intelligent. That counts for more than hardware.

Depends which apes. Or do you mean the humanape?

Cats only need 1 succesfull throat bite.

We've got our very own David Attenbrough

Thanks for the compliment So from now on it's Sir Lewis for all you guys!

What's it got it's foot around there

Spare a thought for Fernando if that happens. He could have had that drive this year too.

With Jense I think Fry's idea has something in it, that he went to visit the MTC from Brawn's motley collection of industrial units and was sold on the spot.

No more wildlife talk please, can we keep to the topic at hand?

His other foot or ...? No we don't want to know.

2010 will be the year of the teambattles.

McLaren and Ferrari will be back at the top next season. Didn't both start working on their 2010 challengers somewhat earlier than they traditionally would? Brawn couldn't work on their 2010 car as far as I know due to funding issues and due to the fact that they were fighting for the championship.

I'll be amazed if McLaren and Ferrari aren't at the sharp end of the grid next season.

Button for me has made the right decision in terms of teams but I'm not so sure from a drivers perspective as Lewis owns that team practically.

Bit of a loaded and null point to say they ONLY need ONE successful throat bite. An ape only needs one successful throw of poo. I thought this was about a silverback Gorilla versus a Leopard.

To qualify the ape intelligence thing, here's a weaker class of primate, a monkey http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS0yDC64Mec

There are different kinds of muscle fibers. In simple terms, there's a ratio of strength ones to precision ones. Humans evolution has required precision over power for tool making etc. The other great apes have a bigger need for brute strength. That's why pound for pound a chimp could tear you apart. There's a video of a juvenile orangutan female versus a sumo wrestler in a tug of war somewhere, and the orangutan just casually pulls the guy over who's giving it his all.

PS. LOL at Jenson vs Lewis -> Ape vs Feline

I know the leopard is the biggest cat in the gorilla habitat but we all know how big the silverback male is. a lion against a baboon is also unfair. so a male silverback gorilla against a lion or siberian tiger should be fair and interesting as they are borth the highest in their class.

So it's: Jenson vs Lewis -> Ape vs Feline ?
I say Lewis is the black panther, but which one suits Jenson?

Or maybe Lewis (black panther) vs Jenson (snow panther).



VS

If the racing was great i would be happy after all i supported MClaren this year but was still happy brawn took the titles.
Racing first team and driver second.

well id say jenson was the ape, maybe not as talented in raw ability as lewis but hes got the years and experience under him that makes him very formidable. whilst im not a JB fan in that i support him as my driver, i do realise he was underestimated after the Honda debacle and not until brazil did he show his real talent and experience. the car wasnt the best yet he showed some amazingly good manouvers. that drive really showed me that when he needs to he could step it up a notch.

i still think lewis is going to beat him, but its definitly going to be a great year for mclaren as long as the car is there. the only person on the grid id trust to be as consistant as button would be heidfeld but i think button is faster and therfore its the best of both worlds. thew top pace setter in lewis who can learn a thing or two from an experienced button.

i believe lewis will come out of this even stronger as 2007 he learnt a great deal from alonso but then 2008 i think he had a sloppy year as heikki just didnt offer lewis anything in learning or competition. 2009 was a year that lewis was taught a thing or 2 by the car, and 2010 will be hamilton in blistering form with a partner who can push him.

I think Jenson will really show what he´s worth next season. He´s slightly superior to Hamitup in probably every respect and I expect to see him edge out Ron Dennis´s love child by the end of the year.
Unfortunately though, both McLaren drivers will have to play a supporting role to RBR´s new superstar, who will, IMO, trounce the field in Michael Schumacher like fashion.
Mac should still do well in the constructors championship however, because both their drivers, are quite consistent and can get their cars home without too much drama.

It's widely accepted that Vettel is inferior to Sutil.

Vettels fast in front and in the wet but beyond that I am waiting for this superstar.

As to Jenson superior in every respect, I've not ever seen anything to suggest anything either way, neither better or worse, so this year will be the test, unless you have some actual evicence to go on

I´ll start with,

1) Experience. Unquestionably.
2) Defending a championship lead. Irrefutable.
3) Performing in a sub standard car. Conclusive.
4) Overtaking. Regarded as the best in the business.
5) Leading a team. Led Braun to the constructors title this year, something Hamitup has not done with Mac in 3 years.
6) Driving ability. I grant you, this will be very hard to prove until next year, so we will just have to file it under, my opinion, for now anyway.

The only area I might make an exception is wet weather driving. Lewis is second only to Vettel in this department, but it will be interesting to see what Jenson is capable of in a Mac in the wet. (see what I did there. )