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In what is probably the most exciting season of Formula One since the 80’s, it is great to see the media actually spending some time covering the sport, as opposed to noting what colour socks David Beckham is wearing during training for LA Galaxy…

Not to be outdone with ITV bagging britains last F1 world champion, Damon Hill for their F1 commentary, the BBC have managed to catch up with Britain’s last-last F1 World Champion Nigel Mansell (presumably in the 19th hole of his golf course). Never one short of an opinion Mansell has commented that Button is ‘past it’, and that McLaren should not have allowed the spat between Alonso and Hamilton to become public.

Pot… Kettle?

Nigel Mansell was 39 when he won the crown, after spending many years in a very competitive car. Granted his failure to win the world driver’s championship was not always his fault, but when he did win it, he won it in a car which was way ahead of the field, not just ‘competitive’ as the BAR-Honda was.

I’m not comparing Button to Mansell, in fact I would say that Mansell was the better driver than the much-overrated Button, but for Mansell to criticise Button for not winning the world driver’s championship when he was driving a car that eventually placed 3rd in the constructor’s championship is a bit far-fetched.

Button’s faith in the Honda team must be very stretched, especially when the Williams car that he burnt bridges to leave is probably the 4th best on the grid. If he had stayed with the Williams team, he could be pushing for podiums, not languishing behind the ‘customer’ Honda team. But at 27, I’d say his career is far from over. He needs to do a lot of work to restore his reputation before any of the front-running teams would look at him again.

The BBC does have a habit of jazzing up stories and stretching the context in which they are written, so perhaps I am being hard on Mansell’s comments, but I think the point he is trying to make can be summed up in this one comment:

But he was far better years ago than he is now because he was hungry then.
He’s got a great reputation for partying and that’s taken the edge off it. He’s a typical example of too much, too soon.

And that I’d agree with - Jenson needs to get the eye of the tiger back.

As for the McLaren tiff - Was it not Mansell who was very public when he was not happy with the team, or his teammate? even alleging in his autobiography that when he was teammates with Alain Prost at Ferrari, his car was switched with Prost’s, because for some unknown reason his car was faster. Mansell the one who announced his departure from the Williams team (and Formula One) in 1992 at a press conference, even before consulting the team?