well done that man

So Jenson Button has been crowned F1 World Champion 2009.

It was a cracking race. Interlagos (Brazil) usually is a cracker, with incidents a plenty and the sort of circuit where overtaking is a very real option.

And Jenson had a truly great drive that pretty much put paid to the criticisms that have been floating about. Whilst I wouldn't really count myself as properly critical, I've certainly thought Jenson's performance had gone off the boil a bit in the last few races.

It's one thing if your car is a bit crap or deosn't suit the circuit when everyone else's does, it's quite another when your team-mate, who's in an almost identical car, is regularly beating you in qualifying and during the race.

It's difficult to know quite what the issue was - a desire to play-it-safe that resulted in over-caution, or a loss of nerves or confidence generally, but Jenson's really not been actively winning the championship so much as others have been failing to catch him up.

But he put an end to such criticism this last weekend with a stellar drive and some excellent over-taking manoeuvres. I mean, he didn't win, but after a another dismal qualifying he did a really good job when it counted and got the points he needed. So many congratulations to him and the team, who've become the first new-entrant team to win the constructor's championship in their first year (I bet Honda are really kicking themselves).

Oh and speaking of qualifying - that was a dismal effort. I mean, it was exciting and interesting (they've really cracked qualifying this year - as Eddie Jordan pointed out, it's often been better than the race itself) when the cars where out, but it took 2 and 3/4 hour to get through 45 mins of actual track action.

From what Bernie Eccleston said the implication was there's no contingency plan in the rules for when something like this happens. In theory, they just keep going until it's finished, but what if it ends up getting dark?

I thinkt hey need to sort that out.