You've got to sympathise with
Jenson Button. Most of the time the only questions he is asked are out of the 'what do you think of Lewis Hamilton?' mode, when it's only a few years since rivals in the pit-lane were asking the self-same questions about his own prowess.
Do I think Button's career is on the skids? No, not really. If you factor out the succession of questionable strategic decisions, you're still left with the guy who racked up more championship points than any other competitor between the 2006 Hungarian GP and the end of last season. That sort of driving talent does not evaporate overnight; it remains present, even though the Honda RA107 makes it easy to conceal that reality from the outside world.
I think it says much for Jenson's strength of character that he remains stoic and philosophical in circumstances where lesser mortals would be throwing their toys out of the pram in big way. That said, unless Honda turn things round with a certain singularity of purpose which has been missing from their 2007 equation, quite what Jenson does at the end of 2008 is less certain.
Pondering his dilemma, I wonder whether he might be well advised to take a leaf out of the late
Ayrton Senna's book and start playing hard ball with his Japanese employers.
Docility doesn't seem to be doing the trick, so perhaps he needs to advise them in no uncertain terms that the time has come to pull their finger out. Senna had no qualms about telling the Honda
F1 engine department that they should be ashamed of the lack of progress they'd made over the winter of 1990-91 when it came to developing their new V12. His candour really galvanised them into action. It is possible that the mood with
Honda's current operation is too comfortable, so perhaps Jenson raising his voice and kicking a few wastepaper baskets about the place might start to register the seriousness of the present situation, which is pretty dire by any charitable standards.
