“Hot Rod or Hot Dog” is our regular post-grand prix column where we review all of the driver performances in that race. As part of the process, one driver is declared as Badger’s “Top Dog”; it’s not necessarily the winner and, to be honest, it could be for anything, even driving the safety car.
It has to be…Button
Honestly, about half way through what seemed like hours (oh, hang on, it was hours), while we were waiting for the GP to restart we were going to give the prestigious Top Dog Prize to Bernd Mayländer, the safety car driver. In fact, we were quite looking forward to doing it.
Imagine our chagrin, therefore, when the race restarted, and Button turned in one of his best performances ever. Spoil sport.
We’re not going to mess around giving you a blow by blow account of his race – quite simply, it would take too long (and you can read it here). However, to recover from an accident with your team mate, a slightly wrong call on tyres, a collision with Fernando Alonso, a drive through penalty and five other pit stops to come through to win is, you know, very impressive
Whenever races descend into chaos, Button always seems to manage (whether or not it pays off afterwards) to keep his head. He may not have the outright speed of his team mate, but he’s able to think while doing, always a valuable skill.
It turns out he can keep his cool afterwards as well; the accident with Hamilton, whatever you think of it, was impressively (and swiftly) dealt with. Is anyone else getting the impression they might just actually like each other?
His driving at the end of the race, on a drying track, hunting down Vettel at over a second a lap before the last safety car was simply brilliant. He then proved that if you push hard enough, Vettel can make a mistake. He’s human after all.
At the BadgerGP event at the Sports Cafe in central London, those who stayed to the end were rewarded by the sight of the entire Badger team out of their seats, fists pumping, cheering Jenson to victory. Days don’t come much sweeter than that.
