Who is Jenson Button? Where is Alex Zanardi?

bob jennings' WORLD O' RACING 03/21/2000

Who is Jenson Button? Where is Alex Zanardi?

1997 and 1998 champion Alex Zanardi at Road America in the1996 CART race

Bob Jennings

I bet Alex Zanardi knows who Jenson Button is. He's the 20 year-old Formula Three driver from Britain who put Zanardi out of a job for the 2000 season. Last season Button won three events in the respected 16 race British series. A number of Formula One drivers have come from British F3 competition including Ayrton Senna. Button impressed Williams F1 technical director Patrick Head and Zanardi depressed him to the point that the Italian was unceremoniously given the boot after one season in favor of Button. To say that Zanardi's return to Formula One was anything less than a miserable failure would be an understatement.

Zanardi's season with the Williams team was an even bigger disaster than Michael Andretti's aborted move to F1 in 1993. At least Andretti scored a third in his final race at Monza. Zanardi didn't score a single point throughout 1999. There are some parallels for Zanardi with Andretti's dismal F1 experience. Both drivers went to F1 teams, which were on their way down from a long stay at the top. Much to Andretti's misfortune he was paired with Ayrton Senna at McLaren. Zanardi's teammate was the previously erratic Ralf Schumacher. Zanardi might not have looked so bad if Schumacher hadn't picked last season to mature as a driver and give a good enough performance to emerge as current "number one" driver on the Williams team.

I expected Zanardi to perform okay in his Formula One return. Zanardi started 25 F1 events in a part time role during 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1994. The Williams - Supertecs were questionable for 1999 but I anticipated that Zanardi would display some of the talent, which made him the number one driver in CART's "post-Indianapolis era." Think about it. Alex Zanardi kicked ass in CART for most of the three seasons he raced in the series. If he'd remained in the U.S. he almost certainly would've been CART champion in 1999 too. Instead he made a ton of money to go to Europe to run F1 but ended up making a fool of himself. I don't know about you but for me it brings into legitimate question the driving talent currently in the CART series. If a CART driver as superior as Zanardi gets beaten up so badly in F1 what does that say about the general quality of the other drivers?

In fairness I think Zanardi is a good racing driver but he apparently became "spooked" by the treaded tires and smaller width of the current Formula One car and I think its shabby but typical that the Williams team never gave Zanardi a chance to redeem himself for 1999. In some ways I think Alex Zanardi was another in a long list of drivers who received raw deals from the Williams team like Nigel Mansell, David Coulthard, Damon Hill and Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Actually it would please me to read tomorrow that Alex Zanardi had accepted a ride with John Menard or someone like that for this year's "Indianapolis 500."

What of Zanardi's young replacement Button? They were saying during the Speedvision telecast of the Grand Prix of Australia that Button is the youngest driver from Great Britain to have started an F1 race, surpassing Stirling Moss in that category. It was also reported on Speedvision that the Grand Prix of Australia was only car race number 35 for Button. All of his other experience came from racing karts.

It's surprising to me that Button has achieved celebrity status in Britain and he's made only Formula One start. In fact I can't recall any new driver coming into F1 and receiving so much attention. The exception may be when already established CART stars like Michael Andretti, Jacques Villeneuve and Alex Zanardi joined the series or possibly when "little brother" Ralf Schumacher came to F1. Maybe it's the look-alike but slightly more modern Union Jack design on Button's helmet that reminds the Brits of Nigel Mansell and turns them on.

Germany's Nick Heidfeld has been called the "next Michael Schumacher" for a couple years. Last season Heidfeld won four races in the FIA International Formula 300 series and was the series champion. F3000 is the primary stepping-stone series in international racing these days and it would seem that Heidfeld would've drawn as much attention as Button. However Heidfeld went basically unnoticed during the Grand Prix of Australia on March 13 while making his F1 debut in a Prost - Peugeot. Heidfeld qualified in position 15, two places better than his teammate Jean Alesi who is the most experienced of the current group of F1 drivers. Button qualified in position 21. In the race Heidfeld finished ninth two laps behind and the last car running at the finish.

The week preceding the F1 opener in Melbourne former F1 driver Martin Brundle who was Senna's great rival during the 1983 season in British F3 expressed strong concern for the safety of other drivers with Button in the race. Current F1 driver Mika Salo expressed similar doubts about Button's legitimacy to race in Formula One.

In the race however Button looked good in his white Williams - BMW with dark blue trim (what a great looking F1 car). The 20-year old passed five cars on the first lap of the race. He was running comfortably in sixth when the new BMW engine in his car let go and he finished tenth. After the race Button's performance received praise from Jackie Stewart, Stirling Moss, Jody Scheckter and more importantly two of his employers Williams technical director Patrick Head and former F1 winning driver Gerhard Berger who is in charge of BMW's Formula One program. Therefore it appears that Jenson Button's Formula One debut in the Grand Prix of Australia was something of a success or at least perceived that way by some important people.

At the end of last season I was excited about Formula One. There were some interesting scenarios being played out in F1 that were unexpected and somewhat intriguing. For instance Eddie Irvine's shot at the World Championship going into the final race at Suzuka was fun and definitely something new, which is a rare commodity in modern F1. However other than some new car-engine-driver packages there was little for me to be excited about regarding the 2000 Grand Prix of Australia.

The action in Melbourne was essentially a variation on the same stale F1 story line we've watched the previous two seasons. It was Michael Schumacher and Ferrari versus the McLaren - Mercedes duo of Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard.

There were some twists this time in that Schumacher qualified closer to Hakkinen and Coulthard than he did last year in Melbourne. Like the 1999 race in Australia, both McLarens fell out of the race. Unlike last year Schumacher finished and took his first F1 win in Australia, which was career win 36 for the German.

I watched qualifying from Melbourne and it appeared that Schumacher was on a flying lap in the closing moments that might've knocked Hakkinen off pole. When Coulthard spun in turn 15 the session was immediately halted and Schumacher's "flyer" was wasted.

Hakkinen made a good start in the race with the Coulthard almost dutifully following the World Champion. I like David Coulthard but I'm beginning to wonder if he's ever going to get to the top. DC seems like a genuinely classy guy and he's a good racer but he lags behind Hakkinen in an obvious way. It's like Coulthard has all the technical makings of a winner but his competitive fire doesn't always burn as hot as it should.

Schumacher's Ferrari moved into third at the start of the race, while new teammate Rubens Barrichello dropped behind Heinz-Harald Frentzen's Jordan - Mugen Honda into fifth place. Later Schumacher claimed he was in control while following the McLarens. "I was able to follow the McLaren and wasn't pushing," Michael said after the race. Schumacher's implied comments that he was basically allowing Hakkinen and Coulthard to run in front pissed off Ron Dennis who characterized the German's remarks as "hot air." Who knows?

The McLarens were both out of the race by lap 20. The new Mercedes V10 engine is said to smaller but slightly less powerful than the engine, which carried Hakkinen to his second consecutive driver's title in 1999. Pneumatic valve problems in the new engine struck the McLaren team on Saturday when Hakkinen lost an engine in morning practice. The same failure resulted in Coulthard's retirement from the race on lap ten and Hakkinen's problems nine laps later. Suspicion is the trouble are bad seals used on the pneumatic system.

With the McLarens out Schumacher was essentially handed the win. He was 16.5 seconds in front of Frentzen with a seemingly clear road ahead for the remaining 38 laps in the race. The excitement on lap 45 when Barrichello passed Schumacher for the lead was a false alarm. Barrichello was having problems getting by Frentzen's Jordan so Ferrari put Barrichello on a two-stop strategy reasoning that a run on a light fuel load would improve Ruben's chances. The strategy worked. Frentzen dropped out on lap 39 with gearbox problems and the light load in the second Ferrari enabled Barrichello to catch and pass Schumacher one lap before making his second pit stop and taking second place.

Michael Schumacher has said that he realized the first day he tested his latest Ferrari that he had the car to win the World Championship. He calls the car the best Ferrari he's driven. I agree with everyone else that Schumacher is tops in Formula One right now. He's been the best since Ayrton Senna was killed in May 1994. Schumacher certainly deserves a third World Champion and everyone wants to see Ferrari win their first driver's World Championship since Jody Scheckter did it in 1979. Maybe this is Ferrari's year?

However I have to see it to believe it. Until Schumacher absolutely shows me that he can consistently beat Mika Hakkinen and the McLaren - Mercedes my expectation is that the Finn will become the first driver to win three consecutive F1 titles since Juan Manuel Fangio. I don't think Hakkinen is as complete a racing driver as Michael Schumacher but he's close and until I see otherwise my assumption is that Hakkinen and McLaren are still in the Formula One "zone."

Obviously Ferrari and McLaren still rest alone on top of F1. However Frentzen and new teammate Jarno Trulli both ran reasonably well in Australia and based on what I saw the bright yellow Jordan - Mugen Hondas are solid (right now) number three among the current teams.

Since the competitive nature of the Grand Prix of Australia didn't offer much in the way of intrigue I speculated on what was new in Formula One in the year 2000.

Although the Jaguar team isn't really new since it was Stewart - Ford in 1999 and most of last year's personnel remain, enough changed to catch my interest. Has there ever been a Jaguar Formula One car? I don't think so. Sure it's really the Ford F1 car but the Jaguar R1 racers are painted in a striking electric green color scheme with big cats and the word Jaguar all over it. So it works for me. The car is a green Jaguar this season even though it was a cream white Stewart - Ford with blue tartan plaid trim in 1999 and in 2001 it may have blue Ford ovals plastered all over the chassis.

I like this team for a couple reasons. For one, it was created by one of my all time heroes Jackie Stewart. For another it has two British drivers and I like both of them. Nothing would please me more than to see Johnny Herbert achieve success in Formula One. I also enjoy Eddie Irvine who is a one of a kind character in contemporary F1. Irvine is a good driver although not necessarily of championship caliber. He came damn close in 1979 though - didn't he? I'd like to see Jaguar move into the upper echelon.

Things didn't go well for Jaguar in Australia though. There is a problem with the oil pump on the Cosworth C2 engine. The problem plagued the team in off-season testing. In the race Herbert was out after one lap with a clutch problem. Irvine went out on lap six after he spun to miss an accident.

The race in Australia marked the return to F1 of two of the really big names from not that long ago. BMW was back with Williams and Honda was back with the BAR team. Neither Williams nor BAR appear ready to challenge yet but they both had impressive beginnings with their new engine partners. Ralf Schumacher finished third in the neat looking white and dark blue Williams. Jacques Villeneuve scored the first F1 points for the BAR team with a fourth and teammate Riccardo Zonta finished sixth.

Let's see what happens Sunday in Brazil.