Realistic 2015 Expectations for Jenson Button After Malaysian Grand Prix
People power.
It's not a phenomenon you would normally associate with Formula One, a sport which continues to struggle painfully in terms of fan engagement.
Embarrassingly late to the social media revolution—an official YouTube channel was launched in December 2005, yet didn't upload a video for over nine years—and brazenly taking the action from the heartlands of France and Germany to empty venues in South Korea and Bahrain, there is a clear divide between F1 and the public.
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In the modern era, fans are expected to shell out for pay-per-view television, to surrender to inflated ticket prices—those waving their flags from the grandstands viewed as mere decorations—and to put up or shut up.
How magnificent it was, then, to see the average F1 enthusiast play an active role in one of the most dramatic transfer sagas of recent times, one which resulted in Jenson Button retaining his seat to partner Fernando Alonso at McLaren.
Ahead of last October's Japanese Grand Prix, Button, to all intents and purposes, was a dead man walking.
Behind the wheel of yet another uncompetitive McLaren, the MP4-29, the 2009 world champion had established himself as the team's most reliable points-scorer, but he hadn't asserted his authority over rookie team-mate Kevin Magnussen, who had beaten Button on the one day the car was strong enough to reach the podium.
Indeed, on the eve of the Japanese GP, Button told the official F1 website how "there are always other options in life" and how nobody should "feel sorry for me" when, not if, he was replaced by Alonso.
Yet that race at Suzuka started something.
A fifth-place finish, in the wet conditions he has always thrived in, marked a seismic shift in momentum as Button embarked on a run of three top-five finishes in the final four races.
And as the results built up—fourth-place in Russia and Brazil, fifth in the double-points Abu Dhabi Grand Prix—what initially seemed like Button's last stand very quickly became a crusade. A campaign. A pro-Jenson movement.
The outpouring of support for Button, still one of the most popular drivers on the grid, was unprecedented. And as a direct result of this affection, the inevitable—the British driver leaving the sport after 15 seasons—soon became the downright unthinkable.
So when, on a cold mid-December morning, Button was confirmed to lead McLaren's new Honda-powered era alongside Alonso, it was not just a personal victory for Jenson but a triumph for the wonder that is people power.
After an underwhelming start to 2015, however, which saw the new MP4-30 suffer countless reliability problems throughout pre-season testing and run toward the rear of the field for much of the opening grand prix weekends, Button may be forgiven for wishing McLaren had put him out of his misery prior to that career-saving run of form.
He couldn't be blamed if he secretly rues the support that allowed his career to live on for at least another year.
And he may regret failing to push through the threat he made at Interlagos, where, according to BBC Sport's Andrew Benson, Button implied he might not sign a contract extension even if he were offered one.
Although McLaren's current lack of performance has, for now, ended any hopes of Alonso and Button emerging as modern-day incarnations of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, the team's gradual improvement between the Australian and Malaysian grands prix suggest the Woking-based outfit can salvage something this season.
While the season-opening race at Albert Park was merely a test of survival—and one Button, running at a reduced pace, passed despite finishing two laps down—the second round at Sepang offered promising signs for the 2009 world champion.
In his first competitive session against Alonso—the man who has in years gone by bullied drivers of the calibre of Giancarlo Fisichella, Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen into mere support roles—Button came out on top, out-qualifying the Spaniard by a 10th of a second, as per Formula1.com.
While neither McLaren driver is renowned for their one-lap pace, the fact that Button, who crossed the line seconds after Alonso completed his effort on a dry track, got the early advantage in the inter-team battle was significant, challenging the belief that the former Ferrari driver will have it all his own way this season.
Given the heat and humidity of Malaysia, the McLaren-Hondas were always bound to retire from the race, yet the fact Button was able to keep the likes of Red Bull, Force India and Lotus—three teams who, like McLaren, are still to run at their best this season—honest until the halfway stage was encouraging.
Indeed, both Alonso and Button described McLaren's race pace as a "nice surprise" to the team's official website, with the latter outlining his hope to "pick them off on a race-by-race basis" in the near future.
And that, for now, should be the team's main target.
If McLaren can make the same rate of improvement in the two-week gap between Malaysia and China as they did between Australia and Sepang, there is a possibility that the team will score their first points of the season at the Shanghai International Circuit, where the cooler conditions should be kinder to the Honda power units.
From there, it is unclear just what McLaren will go on to achieve this season.
Racing director Eric Boullier, according to Crash.net, said in pre-season that his team plans to make a leap in competitiveness when the European leg of the season begins at May's Spanish Grand Prix, which should provide a more accurate indication of McLaren's standing in the pecking order.
Should those updates prove successful, regular, solid points finishes should be the bare minimum and a top-10 placing in the drivers' standings should be on the cards for both drivers.
That might not be quite where Button and his army of admirers will want to be, but it would be a satisfactory return for a driver who for a long time looked as though he wouldn't be racing in 2015.
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