Mansell backs Button for future success
Mansell backs Button for future success
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Tuesday, 25, Apr 2006 09:39
Former drivers' champion Nigel Mansell has backed Honda's Jenson Button to claim his first win in Formula One in the near future.
The 52-year-old, who became world champion in 1992 with Williams, the team which Button rejected to join Honda, believes the 26-year-old has what it takes to become a massive force in the sport.
Button had expressed confidence prior to the season that he was ready to claim his first win but has endured a difficult start to the campaign.
However, Mansell believes he has what it takes and once he breaks his duck, he will go on to be a superstar.
"I've no doubt Jenson will get the monkey off his back this year and by the end of the year, he'll have won at least one race and hopefully a number of them," Mansell told the BBC.
"Jenson with the right car has got to get it together and I think a win should only be just around the corner."
Button has collected 13 points in the first four races of the season but has suffered from reliability problems which have undermined his campaign.
He was on for a good finish in the Australian grand prix before his engine blew up on the final lap, while a pit-stop blunder in the San Marino grand prix at the weekend confined him to seventh place.
Mansell admits that Button hasn't been helped by his car but that there is no doubt about his quality.
"Honda's reliability has come into question and the set-up of the car is suspect in certain times of the race," Mansell added.
"But he's like a number of F1 drivers that on his day and in certain parts of any race he's fantastic and he just needs to give it 100 per cent all of the time."
Mansell returns to the track this weekend in the Grand Prix Masters series in Qatar.