By Phil Huff
February 9 2003

F1 pundit (and ex-driver) Mark Blundell believes that 2003 will be Lucky Strike BAR Honda driver Jenson Button's make or break year. F1 pundit (and ex-driver) Mark Blundell believes that 2003 will be BAR Honda driver Jenson Button's make or break year.

Talking to British tabloid The Sunday Mirror, Blundell says that the BAR new boy must prove himself this season.

"Jenson has had three years in Grand Prix racing and this is the year when he needs to perform," says Blundell. "He's driven one or two tremendous races and shown improvement, but he's had 51 Grands Prix in some decent cars and he's still not been on the podium. I had 61 races, some pretty awful cars and three podium finishes. At some stage you have to put results on the board and I think Jenson has reached that point."

Of course Blundell isn't the only one that feels Button needs to prove himself, the English youngster's team-mate, former World Champion Jacques Villeneuve, is also demanding an improvement from the man that some claim to be the Anna Kournikova of F1.

"Jacques is going to be hard to beat," says Blundell. "You don't win championships unless you've got something about you. Jenson will have his work cut out dealing with one of the strongest team-mates he could have. If he can handle it and beat Villeneuve, hats off to him. If he can't, the questions will increase.

"Without doubt the psychological warfare between the two has already kicked off. Jacques has had his backside kicked by Dave Richards, but I don't think he'll worry about Jenson.

"Whichever way you look at it, this is going to be a big year for Jenson," says the former Brabham, Ligier, Tyrrell and McLaren driver.

Source: Pitpass.com