Button man of the year for Alesi
Apart from Sebastian Vettel who dominated the 2011 season to claim his second world championship title, Jean Alesi believes that the best driver was Jenson Button.
This weekend in Brazil, Jenson Button secured his 12th podium of the season by finishing in third place behind Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel. The British driver thus cemented his position as runner-up in the world championship behind Vettel.
The McLaren driver had an incredible end to the season – securing 8 podiums in the last 9 races of the year. According to Jean Alesi, the 2009 world champion is indeed the man of the year because he was able to make the most of his car in all circumstances.
Aside from Vettel, who did an absolutely incredible job, the title of man of the year should go to Jenson Button. I wasn’t surprised by his performance, because he was a world champion, but the way he managed to be there every time, even when he struggled to set up his car properly, to score big points was very impressive, Alesi said in an interview published by Group Lotus.
Button has the reputation of being a gentle driver with his machine and having difficulty attacking, but for Alesi, the McLaren driver has shown this season that he is a complete driver who knows how to adapt to new developments.
He also made some very beautiful overtaking maneuvers, so he was aggressive when necessary and gentle when he needed to be, adapting to the Pirelli tires faster than most of his rivals. What a mature performance, and it’s even more impressive when your teammate is Lewis Hamilton and Jenson is still new to the team.
Alesi even believes that this 2011 season was even more accomplished for Button than the 2009 season during which he won the world championship title with Brawn GP.
« I think 2011 was even more impressive than the year he won the title, given that he didn’t have the best car and his teammate was Hamilton,» added the former F1 driver.
