The announcement that Jenson Button will partner Lewis Hamilton at McLaren next season is a dream come true for those on Fleet Street. However, they fear it may prove to be a nightmare for Button...
'Jenson Button may just have made one of the least wise moves in recent Formula One history. Maybe the charming Englishman, who thrilled us at the Brazilian Grand Prix when he clinched the World Championship with a swashbuckling drive, will settle into McLaren Mercedes and put Lewis Hamilton in his place. But it looks a long shot at best and, at worst, his decision to change teams could mark the beginning of the end of his career.
'Button is a fairly sensible individual. Yet somewhere along the line his head has been turned and McLaren have taken advantage. For them the "Frome Flyer" is a great move. They will not seriously expect him to trouble Hamilton, but his signing makes a mess of Ross Brawn's plans. It gets him back for luring Mercedes-Benz away from Woking, Surrey, and it gives McLaren a good-news story with their all-English "dream team". This is not to forget that McLaren's real target for next year was not Button but Kimi Raikkonen, who, it was confirmed yesterday, is now Brawn's first choice to replace Button.
'While McLaren were talking up their new signing, there was dismay at the team formerly known as Brawn GP, who made Button's maiden World Championship possible. There is no doubt that some at their headquarters in Brackley, Northamptonshire, believe Button has kicked sand in their faces in return for their efforts and there is anger at the way he has walked out, largely over money. It may be that these feelings run strongest towards Button's management team rather than the driver himself, but there is no doubt that the most controversial deal involving British drivers in Formula One for many years has left a trail of bad blood behind it.
'There are always pros and cons for any sportsman when it comes to moving teams but the landscape in this case looks heavily tilted against Button. Perhaps the many paddock judges who have underestimated him are wrong and he will show us, once and for all, just how good he really is when matched with Hamilton.' - Edward Gorman, The Times
'The debate on just how good Formula One star Jenson Button is seemed to be ended a month ago when he inherited the crown from Lewis Hamilton, but as they go head-to-head the real answer will not be known for another year.
'Button has taken a huge gamble on his reputation by moving into the Hamilton house that is McLaren .
'Forget the myth being pedalled that McLaren can handle the big partnerships - remember the strife between Hamilton and Fernando Alonso recently and the war between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost as team-mates?
'Alonso, double world champion, versus Hamilton the 2007 rookie on and off the track. Only one winner - and it was not Alonso, who is no slouch when it comes to hard talk.
'Button has matured into a fine driver with a smooth style, but his critics point to his performance after winning six of the first seven races when he needed the points cushion to reach the title.
'Nothing can take away his world title but beating Hamilton in 2010, no matter where they are on the grid, will be real proof of pedigree.' - Bob McKenzie, The Daily Express
'The partnership of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton holds great promise, for as long as they are both happy.
'On paper, this is a perfect scenario for all concerned as the team from Woking in Surrey celebrate having the two most recent world champions on board, both of them British. But Martin Whitmarsh, the team principal, will have his work cut out ensuring the McLaren ship steers clear of potentially choppy waters.
'Whitmarsh is no stranger to controversy, having been faced with the so‑called "Liargate" scandal within weeks of taking over team leadership at the beginning of the year. The fact that he subsequently presided over an impressive comeback as the team put the controversy behind them and, at the same time, turned a bad car into a winner, leaves Whitmarsh qualified to deal with any discontent that may threaten to boil over as the 20‑race season follows its relentless course.
'The most obvious assumption is that Button will be ill-at-ease, at least initially, within a team that Hamilton has rightly made his own during the past three seasons. However, while the McLaren management may bend over backwards to ensure Button has parity, Whitmarsh may need to keep an eye out for restlessness emerging when he least expects it from the opposite side of the garage. Hamilton has been the de facto No1, a role assumed in 2007 as he dealt with Fernando Alonso with surprising ease. He may have to become accustomed to a change in his perceived status.
'If Button's smooth driving style gains him the upper hand now that refuelling is banned, Hamilton's discomfort may be exacerbated by Button's side of the garage uniting behind their man after struggling with two very different drivers, one of whom, Alonso, barely gave them the time of day.' - Maurice Hamilton, The Guardian
'For anyone who doubted Jenson Button's willingness to take a risk, now is the time to keep silent. The decision of the new world champion to join a team dominated for the past three years by Lewis Hamilton represents a terrific gamble for Button, and the prospect of the two Englishmen carrying the numbers one and two on their McLarens next year is a particular stirring prospect for British fans, adding a keen edge of anticipation to the season.
'Both men are accustomed to getting the better of their team-mates. In 2007 Hamilton, then a rookie, drove the reigning world champion Fernando Alonso out of the team altogether, and more recently dismissed the efforts of Heikki Kovalainen. Soon after Button joined the BAR-Honda team he sent Jacques Villeneuve, another former champion, sliding towards retirement, and finally took his title at the end of a fierce struggle with Rubens Barrichello, his Brawn GP team-mate. What decisive factor, then, could have prompted Button to hazard his reputation by measuring himself against a man who is generally reckoned to possess the sort of gifts that will one day entitle him to a place among the all-time greats? Apart from the McLaren team's long record of success at the pinnacle of the sport, the immediate offer of a three-year contract, at £6m a year, may have played its part.
'Button might have earned as much next year by remaining in Brackley with the renamed Mercedes-Benz team, but the enthusiastic welcome of McLaren's team principal, Martin Whitmarsh, may also have been significant when contrasted with the seemingly more restrained overtures of Nick Fry, Brawn GP's chief executive, who now has Norbert Haug, Mercedes' sporting director, at his elbow. For any sportsman, there is nothing quite like feeling wanted.' - Richard Williams, The Guardian
'You wouldn't want to dampen any national fervour surrounding the first British one-two champion Formula One combination since Graham Hill and Jim Clark drove for Lotus in 1968 - especially when the new McLaren team-mates Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button stopped short yesterday only at nicking their fingers and announcing themselves official blood brothers.
'It's a thrilling scenario that has the No 1 drivers of 2008 and 2009 duelling hand-to-hand in cars of beautifully engineered parity. But who really thinks that in grand prix racing, of all places, we might just be seeing a perfectly restored concept of pure racing?
'Certainly we haven't enjoyed too much recent schooling in the idea that such a possibility was on the horizon - not at any point, you have to say, since the late James Hunt more than three decades ago declared that the contribution of a driver to grand prix success had been reduced to around 10 per cent and was going down a little more with each new engineering or aero-dynamic wrinkle. Nor did Sir Frank Williams more recently strike a blow for competitive independence in the cockpit when he declared that choosing a new driver was "a bit like pinning the tail on the donkey". Now, after a few days of hectic negotiation, we are told that the idea of a level track for high-powered team-mates has finally been created. For the moment Formula One will just have to excuse a degree of pit-lane cynicism at the possibility of more smoke and more mirrors.
'Let's be honest, if reigning champion Button displayed a rare amiability under the intense pressure that enveloped him in the second half of his winning season - and ultimately produced a drive of genuine authority - he is still an inhabitant of arguably the most ruthless and egocentric place in all of sport: the Formula One drivers' room.
'There the unbreakable concept is that the winners are not always those who drive, as former champion Jacques Villeneuve once put it, "out on the edge, making their own rules", but are most vigorous in enforcing their rights as their team's No 1 driver - and who make most fuss at the first hint they are being compromised. Who is No 1 at McLaren? Who is the designated thoroughbred - and who is the donkey?' - James Lawton, The Independent
'Jenson Button has been warned that he has stepped into "a lion's den" by choosing to join the phenomenon that is Lewis Hamilton at McLaren.
'But the 29 year-old countered by saying that life was about challenging oneself and added that he was looking forward to "painting Formula One's circuits red, white and blue" alongside his team-mate and compatriot for many years to come.
'Confirmation that Button would join forces with Hamilton in the first pairing of British world champions since Graham Hill and Jim Clark at Lotus in 1968 produced an electric effect on the sport. Opinion was divided on whether it was brave or foolhardy on Button's part.' - Tom Cary, The Telegraph
