Button - a deserving champion

It's very nearly been 24 hours since the 2009 F1 Championship was settled, and Jenson Button was crowned as Britain's 10th World Champion.

There are some people who say he does not deserve the title but to be honest, who out there did more to deserve it? The answer is nobody.

Winning six out of the first seven races, a record that betters those of Senna, Mansell and Schumacher, formed the foundations of his title challenge. And despite a mid-season blip which saw both Red Bull drivers and his team-mate Rubens Barrichello start winning races and picking up podiums while Button struggled with a string of poor qualifying sessions.

But over the course of the season, he has won the most races and scored the most points. You can't argue against that. Button has scored more wins this year than Hamilton did last year when he won his title.

Barrichello was the better driver over the second half of the season, buoyed by his victories at Valencia and Monza; his first for five years. But his terrible luck at Interlagos continues. His 17th race in his home city, and he has still not managed better than 3rd despite three pole positions.

Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber in the Red Bull's had fast cars but were hampered by poor reliability with the Renault engine not being as consistant as Brawn's Mercedes. Vettel will surely be a champion one day, he has time on his side as well as supreme talent. But this was Brawn's year.

A team which in December did not even exist. A team who didn't get to test the car until three weeks before the season. A team which had to lay off 200 staff to survive. A team which had to redesign part of the car to fit the Mercedes-Benz engine.

It is a brilliant story. This is only the third time since 1998 that a team apart from Ferrari or McLaren has won the Drivers and Constructors championships.

Even in the height of the Ferrari dominance in 2004, Button was 'best of the rest' finishing 3rd in the championship with 85 points and plenty of podium finishes.

The last two years he has been hampered by having two of the worst cars in recent F1 history but this season he got a competetive car and made the most of it. While Barrichello struggled with the anti-stall system which ruined many a race for him, Button charged off to victory after victory at the start of the season.

And despite the Brawn not having the advantage it did at the start of the season; as Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari close the gap, he got the points he needed to ensure his points lead was never seriously eradicated.

To crown his championship, a charge from 14th on the grid to a 5th placed finish at Felipe Massa's chequered flag with some feisty overtaking manouvers which showed the world he is not a conservative driver. When he needs to, he goes for it.

And he's got his reward.