Button to leave BAR for Williams

[dkmech]

Ha ha ha.

What a naughty boy he is.

I do see where he is coming from. Williams is likely to be better than BAR in 2005. I do however think it a bit cheeky to leave BAR now that they were doing so well. And its amuzing that noone even thought of that, while normally there's rumors everywhere.

Thats going to be one pissed off BAR team.

Should Jenson have left BAR for Williams? Vote now.
Votes cost 25p, ask permission from whoever pays the bill.

[jon bda]

IIRC he was still contracted to Williams...they've just been waiting for him to come good while out on loan...

[MD]

Well I think its good, so will the comapny I work for seeing as they are a large sponsor of the williams team

m@

[TiG]

I think its appaling myself, BAR has given Jenson a damn great season, if i was a member of the BAR team i'd be well pissed off at his decision to move... of all the teams i hate in F1 i probably hate williams, the most, plus they quite frankly let Jenson down when they dumped him out of the team to put Montoya in Jenson's drive.

IS it me or does he need a little reminder of what happened just a few years ago!!.

I've become a rather big fan of BAR this season, they've provided excitement and enterainment imo, i'm going to follow them as a team and all i hope is that Sato just gets a little bit more consistency and i think we could see some rather interesting races next year

TiG

[dkmech]

I am beginning to think more and more that this is going to bite him on the arse at some point. Even if Williams will be better than BAR next season, but his future employment may be under threat if he is considered disloyal.

But then again if he is fast other teams may not care too much.

[TiG]

i don't think williams will be faster than BAR tho, the BAR looks pretty good imo and certainly hope it continues. Jenson would have won the race last time round if he had actually started third on the grid...

TiG

[Gordy]

Well that one came well out of left field lol. I don't think anyone saw this coming David richards has got to be fuming.

Have to say I hope jenson doesnt get burnt by this. I see BAR say they still have the driver under contract but why fight it , if the driver wants to leave you have to let him go.

[Stoo]

Heard it on the radio this morning, David Richards was pretty steaming and very upset (along with the crew at the factory)..

It seems like a rather large mistake TBH, BAR have really been on the up this season and to treat the team like that really won't do him any favours in the future.

*Unless* this is purely something to do with Williams trying to shake them all up a bit, which would be seriously unsporting..

[Gordy]

Heard it on the radio this morning, David Richards was pretty steaming and very upset (along with the crew at the factory)..

It seems like a rather large mistake TBH, BAR have really been on the up this season and to treat the team like that really won't do him any favours in the future.

*Unless* this is purely something to do with Williams trying to shake them all up a bit, which would be seriously unsporting..

Williams want the best driver in their cars and jenson is one of the best drivers out there at the moment. Combined with the fact he has a contract with williams of some undisclosed description makes perfect sense to me.

BAR had the option on jenson for a further 2years but they havent signed him yet which leads me to believe BAR were dragging their feet over something.

[Lead_Head]

Williams want the best driver in their cars and jenson is one of the best drivers out there at the moment. Combined with the fact he has a contract with williams of some undisclosed description makes perfect sense to me.

BAR had the option on jenson for a further 2years but they havent signed him yet which leads me to believe BAR were dragging their feet over something.

I agree with what you've said here...

I think it's more of a sidewards step at the moment for Williams, and its gonna cost BAR loads of money, all the design work geared for Jenson will have to be scrapped / re-looked at for the new driver.

I think in the end it will come good.

[dkmech]

and its gonna cost BAR loads of money, all the design work geared for Jenson will have to be scrapped / re-looked at for the new driver.

Erm? Not really. If it makes a car faster - doesn't matter who the driver is. Differences to car between drivers are in set up and maybe if occasionally only one of new thing is available.

I do think Williams may be better than BAR next year, but I don't think Jenson made the right move. Although everyone forgot about Montoya spending a year with Williams after announcing a move to Mclaren, announcement which was questioned. So maybe Jenson will be alright after all.

[spazman]

Its the biggest mistake he will make, where have williams been this year?

[Vimeous]

Daft bugger.
Still I do wonder if Williams had a clause in Jensens contract that may mean it wasn't entirely Jensens choice to make.
It frustrates me greatly because I want to see Honda beat BMW, I believe Jensen was BARs best chance at success next year and I abhore the Frank Williams treats all the drivers out there. Ever since I've started watching F1 Williams have never been consistant or fair with their drivers. It's my worry they'll treat Jensen in exactly the same way.
I totally agree that he's now damaged stock (after all that unsigned BAR contract may be because Jensen himself has been dragging his heels), and will be looked upon very warily for a good few years to come.

All that said, despite all this negativity, there's a great deal of light at the end of this tunnel. It is clear Ralf and Montoya want to drive like mad but have little interest in car development (at least what drive they had has gone). At BAR Jensen has proven he works well in an environment of change and he can be part of significant progress.
With Webber alongside we're going to see some serious rivalry (my hope is they don't end up hurting each other and throwing their chances to do well back to Michael), but hopefully a friendship as well. Both are firey when they want to be (Jensen vs Jacques; Webber vs Everyone) and they both drive hard and skillfully into the bargain.

One last point.

The last two British World Champions were behind the wheel of ..... a Williams.

[TiG]

Yep but then again how many different manufacturers has won the world championship in the last 20 years, by my count 4

Ferrari, McLaren, Williams and Bennatton (sp?) - Let me see how many drivers have we had in ferrari erm let me recall erm none (no irvine doesn't count heh), MR SLOWTARD in McLaren with a machine that dominated for years and still didn't win fk all. Hill who should have won it twice.... (williams)

Its still a blooming mistake, Jenson was as far as i'm concerned was Mr nice guy, even if its not all his fault, he's going to lose some of that image if you ask me and that will hurt him more in contract negotitions imo...

TiG

[Lead_Head]

Erm? Not really. If it makes a car faster - doesn't matter who the driver is. Differences to car between drivers are in set up and maybe if occasionally only one of new thing is available.

Your forgetting that different drivers have a different driving style. BAR would of been working towards building a car which suited his driving style.

Look at Sato, his driving style is vastly different to Button's, which caused the controversy about Sato always breaking down.

What about the steering wheel? All the controls and gizmo's would of been designed for Button, as well as the seating position, pedals positions etc... It's going to cost time, and as we know... time is money.

[dkmech]

Your forgetting that different drivers have a different driving style. BAR would of been working towards building a car which suited his driving style.

Look at Sato, his driving style is vastly different to Button's, which caused the controversy about Sato always breaking down.

What about the steering wheel? All the controls and gizmo's would of been designed for Button, as well as the seating position, pedals positions etc... It's going to cost time, and as we know... time is money.

I think a faster car which doesn't suit your style is still better than a slower that does. As for steering wheels and pedals - thats peanuts compared to everything else. I really don't think they will be worried about any of that. Also developmentwise - if a car gets 1% more downforce its good for all drivers. If the engine is 0.5% more powerful and a touch more drivable its still gonna be good. I don't think they will develop the car any differently when they know that a new driver is coming. Its the fact that they are losing a good driver AND he is giving them a slap in the face as thanks for all that they've done.

As for williams - i don't think they had any contractual options on button. And i can understand why they snapped him. Buttons management might've wanted to go for the big bucks and the proven team and might've pushed him. If that is the case he may not be too comfortable with the decision. i don't think williams are culprits here though.