Formula One / Ralph Ellis / 01 October 2009 /

Former champion Villeneuve says it's all in the head but [1.2] title favourite lacks belief. Is Jenson going to fluff his chance of glory?

Now here's what ought to be the best value bet of the decade, never mind the weekend. Jenson Button, leader of the World Championship standings, still driving one of the quickest cars on the grid, is [12.0] to win Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix.

You should be trying to remember where the deeds to the house are so as to raise as much as possible to back that, shouldn't you? Except you're not. And you won't. And you probably still won't even if it slides out to [120.0].

Button could well have taken Lewis Hamilton's title as the world's top Formula One driver by Sunday night, and doubtless Brawn will try to organise great fanfares if he does so. Yet sadly his assault on the pinnacle of his sport has turned into anything but a triumph.

After racing away at the start of the season when his new Brawn car had the technical edge on the rest of the grid, he's been stuttering ever since. When it was all new, and he was getting his first taste of sitting behind the wheel of a competitive Grand Prix machine, he was full of macho and daring. His drive in Monte Carlo was absolutely brilliant, going to the edge of each barrier in a flawless and fearless display.

But whatever happened to the bloke who scorched his way to six wins in the first seven races? In the second half of the season he's suddenly adopted the persona of a little old lady on her way to church on Sunday morning. If he was on a motorway he'd be hugging the middle lane at 60 miles an hour, occasionally attempting to overtake a caravan.

And it's no surprise to learn this morning that he "needed a cuddle" from Brawn's chief executive Nick Fry to get him through last weekend's Singapore Grand Prix. His qualifying was awful, ending up 12th on the grid after a final lap full of mistakes, and his eventual fifth place owed plenty to Fry's ability to pick him up.

"I went in and gave him a cuddle, and after that he was more focused on doing something in the race," Fry has told today's papers.

"On race morning he was optimistic about what he might accomplish and he carried it off."

Well that's not strictly true. He got fifth place, and if you want to count that as the hallmark of a champion then fine. I know for sure that Hamilton wouldn't have been happy with it last year. He only ever wants to win, and has given his bellow Briton a fantastic lesson in determination and drive in the second half of the season when he's pulled out every trick to force what's no more than a decent McLaren not just onto the podium but to the top of it.

Button's now [1.2] to win the drivers' title, but I'm still laying that because he has yet to show he's got the guts to finish the job. He's even had advice today from Jacques Villeneuve who reckons he's being too nice to his Brawn team mate Rubens Barrichello. The Canadian won the 1997 title after one of the sport's most acrimonious scraps with the equally ruthless Michael Schumacher, and fears Button lacks the winning edge. "The title is won and lost in your head," says Villeneuve. "If you don't believe, it won't happen."

Button clearly doesn't yet believe. And until he does, why should the rest of us?


Five things you might not know about Jacques Villeneuve

1. Born in 1971 to a famous motor racing family, don't confuse his dad Gilles, who drove F1 cars, with uncle Jacques who is one of only three men ever to win the CART championship, the Indianapolis 500 and the Formula One world title

2. Although born in Canada he was raised in Monaco. He was 11 when his father was tragically killed during qualifying for the Belgium Grand Prix

3. He was 17 when he got his first racing licence - it was granted in Andorra because he was still too young to be given one by the Canadian authorities

4. At different times he was engaged to Dannii Minogue and then American ballerina Ellen Green - but eventually married Parisienne girlfriend Johanna Martinez in 2006. They have two boys, but divorced this year.

5. He's always been into music and wrote lyrics from a young age, before eventually paying to release an album in 2007 called Private Paradise. It sold less than 1,000 copies!

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