“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…”
It has to be…Jenson Button
There were plenty of drivers up for the award this weekend; Sebastian Vettel drove flawlessly to win, Michael Schumacher brought out the old tricks to fend off Lewis Hamilton, while further down the grid Bruno Senna scored his first points of his career and Jaime Alguersuari went from 18th to 7th. All good drives, but not our best.
We’ve given it to Jenson, who is in the midst of a purple patch of form right now. At the start he wasn’t as quick as he’d like to be – falling to 7th into the first chicane and running 6th behind the safety car – as the laps ticked down it was clear the Frome flier had a plan up his sleeve.
In the early stages the focus was mainly on the Hamilton vs. Schumacher fight, but Jenson was closing on that battle at a rate of knots. Once Lewis had finished his go at the German legend, Button overtook his teammate to attempt a pass on the veteran German – and succeeded first time. 5th to 3rd while making a fool of his teammate. Next up, Fernando Alonso.
12 months ago the race victory was determined by the pitstop times of Ferrari and McLaren. The race for position was decided on track this time, both stopping at exactly the same time, and the Achilles heel of the Ferrari’s poor use of the prime tyre. Button passed the Spaniard, and second was his.
Mr. Button – please keep qualifying off the front row of the grid. It makes Sunday that more exciting for us at home!
