After a rather embarrassing 113 attempts, Jenson Button secured his first ever Formula 1 win on Sunday at the Hungarian Grand Prix. But, as victories go, this one was definitely worth the wait.

Despite starting from 14th on the grid, Jenson drove like a man possessed and stormed up the field to 2nd place in real swashbuckling fashion. Then, as he was pushing Alonso and looking like passing him, the Spaniard suffered rare car trouble and was forced to retire leaving Button free to drive home for the win.

However, we should not be fooled into thinking the victory only came as a result of Alonso’s retirement. The way Jenson was driving there was every chance he would have caught up and overtaken the world champion anyway.

For Button the win should finally lay to rest the demons which have haunted the English driver since he burst onto the F1 scene several years ago, full of promise and potential.

Despite finishing on the podium numerous times, the fact that he had never managed to win a race had led many observers to start labeling him a failure, another one of those great British nearly men.

With the jinx finally broken, this could very well signal a new beginning for both Button and the Honda team. So often, in these situations, after the first win many more follow as confidence grows – the floodgates open.

Obviously the victory has come far too late for this season’s championship but, provided Honda maintains the standards they set this weekend, the future is certainly looking much brighter than it has done for a long time.

As far as this year’s title is concerned, the Hungarian race pretty much left things as they were. With Alonso retiring, Schumacher had a good opportunity to close the gap, but when he too pulled out with just a few laps to go, the chance was lost – although a later disqualification did end up giving the German a single point.

There are now five races left and 10 points separate the two main contenders so it could, pretty much, go down to the wire.

On a personal level I don’t really mind who wins now. I just want to see Jenson build on Sunday’s performance so we have someone British to cheer on next season…

Sol Campbell

When I first heard that Sol Campbell was leaving Arsenal I remember thinking that he must have something big lined up. After all this was an England defender at the peak of his game with buckets of international, European and Premier League experience behind him.

It had to be, I thought, either a major move abroad or a complete retirement from football – something spectacular must be on the cards.

And these feelings were reinforced when the player himself insisted a couple of weeks ago that he needed to move overseas to further expand his career and achieve new goals.

At that point, his motives for leaving Arsenal seemed sensible.

However, today this particular plot has been spectacularly lost.

By the time you read this, Sol will probably have signed for either Manchester City or Portsmouth.

Now, my geography is not particularly great, but as far as I know, neither of those clubs could really be classed as overseas. Maybe all those years at Spurs and Arsenal has clouded Sol’s perception of the British Isles and he is under the illusion, as so many others in the capital are, that there is no life outside London.

But more likely, I think, is that Sol quit Arsenal and sat back expecting the calls to flood in from the likes of Real Madrid, Milan and Bayern only for the phone to stay silent.

And now, with the season just a few days away, panic has set in and he has decided to lower his sights just a little to ensure he isn’t still sitting by the phone when the season kicks off.

Believe me, I am not trying to be disrespectful to either City or Portsmouth. They are both decent teams with excellent managers who should both put in decent performances this season.

But, let’s face it, to go from Arsenal with a new stadium and Champions League football to a club which will probably finish mid-table is a major step down in anyone’s opinion.

At best it is a bold move that will offer him a new challenge. At worst it will signal the beginning of the end of a career that probably had a good four or five years at the top left in it.

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