Jenson Button—Who's That?

Jenson Button.

Remember him?

You can be forgiven if you answered no because it does seem as though he doesn't exist anymore, what with the meteoric rise of Lewis Hamilton and the meteoric fall of Honda. Cast your minds back, if you will, to 2004. A regular podium finisher and, especially after coming from 13th to second in the German Grand Prix.  He was being touted as the next home grown world champion.

But since then, his good performances have dried up. He is frank and forward about his situation and described his 2007 season as "a total disaster", adding "I'm not going to hang around finishing 14th."

So, what has gone wrong?

Well, every finger points to the team. They got rid of David Richards, replaced him with Nick Fry. and it's gone downhill from there. Richards has leadership skills. He knows what he wants and he knows how to get what he wants.

On the other hand, Nick Fry has done nothing significant except stand in front of some TV cameras and tell us that he is doing his best. He, to me, seems to be a major architect of Honda's downfall.

We know that Jenson is still driving very well, because he is man-handling that dog of a Honda to positions that it just shouldn't be in. An experienced race winner like Rubens Barrichello can't get it into the places that Jenson can. Even in 2006 when Button brilliantly won the Hungarian Grand Prix he put himself in the position to inherit the victory when Alonso retired, albeit with the field levelled through rain.

Since Hamilton has burst onto the Formula One scene and become the British publics darling, Button has been forced from the limelight. He has also been unfairly criticised by the likes of Nigel Mansell who said, "Jenson should have won more races, he has under-performed and that is down to him. He had the opportunity and he didn’t take it - there won’t be any more."

But, is Jenson completely blameless for this? If he wasn't so loyal to Honda, maybe he wouldn't be in this situation right? Well no actually. In my opinion he's done what anyone else would have done.  With Honda you really expect the best. Plus what other drives are there?