Formula One news

The 'gorilla' on Button's back

England's Jenson Button will probably fail to win his hundredth grand prix in a six year career at Shanghai on Sunday. According to the British 'Mirror' newspaper, this winless statistic is not so much a monkey on the 25-year-old's back, but a 'massive gorilla'.

BAR-Honda principal Nick Fry, however, is keen to put a metaphorical arm around the team's lead driver as the 100:0 ratio becomes real in China. "I don't think there are any monkeys on Jenson's back," he told British newspapers this week. "The monkey is on the team's back to provide a good car." Fry thus admitted that the '007' model is 'clearly not the best car' in 2005-spec pitlane.

The British media have grabbed the significance of JB's 100:0 statistic because no world champion in the history of the sport has passed his hundredth grand prix without winning a single race.

Scotland's Sir Jackie Stewart, for instance, competed in just 99 grands prix -- but won 27 times and collected three drivers' titles. Fry insisted: "I see no reason why Jenson can't be champion in the future. It's our job to give him the equipment."

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