It would be of little surprise if Jensen Button’s favourite song is Aloe Blacc’s ‘I Need A Dollar’ – if the Briton were to ask for a dollar of every individual who has written him off, he would be a rich man.
Not that he’s poor, especially having recently signed a lucrative multi-year deal to remain at McLaren for the foreseeable future.
As far as Formula One world champions go, Jenson Button’s status is underrated as anybody’s in the sport’s history.
Button all but repaid the faith with a commanding victory at last weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix, his third of the season.
It was a race that saw Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel clinch his second consecutive title, and Button consolidate his second place in the standings.
He had stunned just about everybody by becoming world champion in 2009 after practically being out of a drive twelve months’ earlier, following Honda’s untimely withdrawal.
Many put it down solely to the reincarnated outfit’s (Brawn GP) supposedly unfair early season double diffuser advantage.
To cap it all, Button’s equally surprising move to McLaren was met with even more pessimism, the general consensus being that 2008 champion and fellow Briton, Lewis Hamilton, would end his career.
Button’s 2010 campaign was solid, if unspectacular, adding two victories – both in torrid conditions, to the six in his championship season, though many still claimed that Hamilton had his measure.
If anything, his first year at Woking was more about bedding himself in to the starkly contrasting dynamic to that of his BAR/Honda/Brawn days.
Now, with Sebastian Vettel basically a certainty for the title from round one at Australia, and confirming it in Japan, Button has established himself as the best of the rest, thoroughly outperforming his team-mate, especially in the second half of the season.
Whilst Hamilton has found himself before the stewards at every other race for some sort of misdemeanour, Britain and Germany aside, Button has been frequenting the podium on almost every occasion.
His drive at Canada was mesmerising, fighting off collisions with team-mates, penalties, and climbing through the entire field, sensationally overtaking Vettel after a rare error on the final lap.
Again, people put it down to dumb luck that Button was there to pick up the pieces when his home race came to a premature end through no fault of his own.
A loose wheel nut, and at Germany due to engine failure, and his victory had been all but forgotten.
Since then, the fact is that Button is a clear second, if not close to matching Vettel when it counts.
Button saw off another skirmish with his team-mate at Hungary, climbed through the field to third at Belgium, came home a comfortable second in Italy, before being cruelly denied a shot at victory in Singapore in the dying stages due to backmarkers.
Finally, and most recently, he delivered perhaps his most complete drive to date, not just this season, but in his career, at Japan.
Victories in his championship season aside, Button had otherwise triumphed only in inclement weather, but there was nothing inclement about the weather in Japan.
At a track which Red Bull and Vettel have practically owned in recent years, Button dominated the practice sessions, and missed out on lining up on pole by the barest of margins.
He need not have worried, after surviving a moment with Vettel off the line, he drove a measured race, timing his stops to perfection, and holding his own under increasing pressure from Alonso and Vettel in the dying laps.
If Button can’t be taken seriously after that, he never will be.
A world title and fourteen victories doesn’t magically present itself as often as Vettel raises his right index finger, and Button has seized every opportunity where there hasn’t been one to leave his mark on the sport.
There is every chance now that McLaren will look upon Button from next season, if they haven’t already, as the nucleus for success in years to come.
Button will be the proton and Lewis Hamilton the electron of the relationship, as he continues to endear himself to NASCAR.
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