“How Can a World Champion be Underrated” – Daniel Ricciardo on Jenson Button

Recently on Twitter, Daniel Ricciardo named his five most underrated F1 rivals in ‘Dan’s Diary’. Among the likes of Jules Bianchi, Marcus Ericsson, Roberto Merhi and others, he even name-dropped Jenson Button. The Australian driver highlighted several excellent Button performances, predominantly in the 2011 season, where he became the first teammate to beat Lewis Hamilton.

The 2007 and 2009 World Champions spent three seasons as teammates at McLaren-Mercedes. Ricciardo believes that the 2011 season highlighted Button at his finest moment. This was when he soundly beat Hamilton by 270 points to 227. He even took victory in one of the best F1 comebacks ever.

“How can a World Champion be underrated?” Ricciardo said. “Well…hear me out. Jenson had some big years in F1, but I think 2011 when he was team-mates with Lewis Hamilton at McLaren and beat him fair and square – that’s no easy feat as we all know – was what gets him onto my list.”

Why did Daniel Ricciardo rate Button so high?

The Renault driver also noted that Button often had the measure of Hamilton on ‘real’ circuits like Suzuka. Even his race pace was extremely admirable and 2011 showed Jenson Button in his prime.

Ricciardo also hailed Button’s approach to Formula 1 racing and heaped plenty of praise for his dramatic Canadian GP victory. To this day, many still regard it as one of the best Formula 1 races of all time.

He added: “Jenson did it different to most of the others, too. He had a good crew around him, was low-key, low-maintenance and just a silky, smooth operator.

“He’s still the best I’ve seen in those not-quite-wet, not-quite-dry conditions, that sketchy weather. And that win in Canada 2011 – two races before I started my career, actually – was one of the best F1 races ever.”

In addition to being a very quick driver, Button is also one of the most easy-going and friendliest people on the grid. A number of peers highly respect Jenson Button in F1 circles. Even Lewis Hamilton holds Button to high regard and were fierce rivals at McLaren. Jenson Button last raced in F1 in 2017, when he filled in for Fernando Alonso.