Ask Nigel Roebuck: April 14

Dear Jonathan,

I think there's a lot of difference between Button then and Button now, quite honestly. It's fact that Jenson made an extremely good impression in his debut season, with Williams in 2000, but I wasn't alone in believing he went distinctly off the boil quite for quite a while after that. For one thing, he made a phenomenal amount of money in a very short time, and I don't think that did him any favours - in terms of his career, anyway. For a time, there were many more toys than points.

I confess I've always been equivocal about Fisichella. I think he's a superb driver, with wonderful style, but I've never been convinced he's enough of a racer. When he's on the road, Felipe Massa is extremely quick, of that there's no doubt, and he's also in the spring of his career, rather than the autumn. When I asked one major team owner about Fisichella last year, he said, "Nigel, if I'd wanted him, I'd have signed him five years ago..."

Without any doubt, moving to BAR has been the making of Button. He has flourished professionally with David Richards, and relishes the 'team' atmosphere. For the first time, BAR has produced a thoroughly competitive car, and Honda, too, has reawakened after a long period in the wings. Coincidentally, Jenson is a number one driver for the first time, and making an excellent job of it. It was only to be expected that he would have the upper hand over Takuma Sato, frankly.



Dear Michael,

What's that old saying about, 'There are none so blind as those that will not see'? As I've said before, if I knew the answer to your question, I'd be running F1, rather than writing about it!

It is a fact that the leading players in F1 have been way too complacent, way too arrogant, for way too long. Four or five years ago, I suggested to one of the team principals that it was a long time since we'd had other than a processional race, and might it not be a good idea to look at ways - technological and otherwise - to improve the situation. "Oh, yeah?" he hissed at me. "Look at the f****** TV figures!" In other words, we're all right, Jack.

He's a little less cocky these days, and so are most of his colleagues.

Part of the problem is that what the teams - and, particularly, the manufacturers - want has nothing to do with what spectators want. The manufacturers, for example, are adamant about the retention of traction control - to them, it's non-negotiable - but ask any fan worth the name, and he'll tell you that what he wants to see is not traction control, but throttle control, with the tail skipping out occasionally when the driver applies a little too much power. It's what Mario Andretti inimitably calls, "The educated right foot".

There are signs now that, from Bernie down, they are beginning to realise that F1 has behaved like an elitist club for far too long, and that large sections of the racing public have had enough of it. So there is an acknowledgement that things have to change, and one can only hope that improvements materialise before much longer.



Dear George,

I think Villeneuve would have won it, that Didier Pironi would have won it, that Alain Prost should have won it! Both Keke Rosberg - who did win it - and Niki Lauda competed superbly against the turbos with their Cosworth-powered cars, but how the title went to a non-turbo driver I will never quite understand. In part, of course, it was because no driver won more than two races through the whole of that season.

Hard to believe in the context of today, is it not?