Deserving Winner

Jenson Button will be a deserving Champion should he clinch the title this year.

There has been a lot of chatter on blogs and forums that have suggested the contrary.

I do not agree with them for three reasons.

Firstly, Jenson had an absolutely brilliant start to the year. No-one could have asked for any more than what he achieve - and there are a few drivers on the grid that would have been unable to achieve the same level of consistency, pace at timely stages of the Grands Prix and controlled aggression. His team-mate Rubens Barrichello for one.

Secondly, the way that Button has driven since that storming beginning has arguably been just as commendable. He was undoubtedly extracting the maximum performance from his car at Singapore and Hungary when Barrichello was unable to match him during the Grand Prix. Equally, his racecraft and race-pace in Japan this past Sunday was also very impressive, adding vital points to his haul.

Of course his qualifying performances have been suspect at times, but you don't get championship points for pole position.

Finally however, and perhaps most importantly, if Button doesn't deserve the championship then who does?

Of the four contenders this year, Button has made the least mistakes while under the most amount of pressure. His only DNF at Spa-Francorchamps was due to another driver.

However, Vettel made a critical error in Melbourne when he could have let Kubica past instead of trying to finish ahead in a car that was shod with failing tyres. At Monaco, he was on for a good points finish when he binned it at St. Devote.

Webber made less mistakes than Vettel, but quite often found himself just fractionally behind Vettel on pace, such as at Silverstone and in China.

Barrichello was poor at the start of the season. He could have won the championship this year had he done better earlier on, but he played bumper cars in Melbourne, and avoided the podium for the next three races while the Button was racking up the points.

Of the other drivers we would normally expect to be at the front, only Lewis Hamilton looked sufficiently motivated over the entire season - but he threw away too many points and brought the sport into disrepute in Australia. Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso and Robert Kubica at times looked despondent and uninterested, perhaps with some justification.

But Button should not be judged on the mistakes of the drivers he was competing against. If that was the case, then we would have to re-evaluate numerous champions past.

Button has been the best driver over the course of the season and he would be a deserving champion.