Several terms were tossed around when the announcement that Jenson Button would be joining Lewis Hamilton at McLaren, these included: ‘He’s entering the Lion’s den’ and ‘Hamilton will murder him’ – to quote two of many.
However, the 2009 world champion has surprised everyone, and taken two victories out of the first four races.
McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh though, wasn’t surprised by Button’s form, putting his superb performances down to maturity.
“I don’t think it’s a surprise – I think Jenson has done a fantastic job with the team,” Whitmarsh told ITV.
“He’s a mature World Champion, he’s got a lot of experience, he’s had a lot of tough times in his career and he’s clearly learnt from it.
“How he has conducted himself in the team, how he works with Lewis, how he operates out on the track is fantastic.”
Button took victory in Australia and China, both of which were wet races, and ‘lucky’ tyre calls by the Brit earned him his victories.
“Here we are four races in, and he’s won two of them,” added Whitmarsh. “No one who’s watched those races could say anything other than that he thoroughly deserved to win them.
“They were ‘driver wins’ – races where the driver had to make the difference, and he did make the difference.”
