Clear: Button was more ready in 2009 than Barrichello

In one of the most surprising seasons in Formula 1 history, Button and Barrichello were thrust to the front of the grid with the newly-formed Brawn GP, a Ross Brawn-fronted team that emerged out of the ashes of Honda.

The two had been struggling towards the back of the grid with Honda for the past few years, but knew they were onto a winner when Button put the car on pole ahead of the opening race of the season in Australia.

Button won six of the first seven races that year, before being forced to hold on towards the end of the year as Barrichello and Sebastian Vettel came on strong.

The Brazilian ended the year in third, 18 points adrift of his teammate and Clear, who sat on his pit wall throughout that season, said that Button was able to grasp the nature of the situation quicker than Barrichello.

“When the time came, I think Jenson was more ready," Clear told Beyond the Grid. "I think Rubens, Rubens probably wasn’t aware as early as Jenson maybe that it was all looking very strong.

“This comes back to the drivers’ psychology. This is probably the overlap of the old guard and new guard. If we talk about Max and Lewis and Charles, where again, they’ve taken it to a new level, Michael took it to a new level in the ‘90s and these guys now have taken it to a new level.

“Rubens was probably the last of that. Michael’s era and driver psychology, driver preparation was simply: ‘well I’ll go for a run a couple of weeks before Melbourne and I’ll do some sit-ups and then I’ll be fine’, if you know what I mean.

“The fitter drivers were getting fitter and fitter but it’s not just getting fit; it’s a whole mental preparation. It’s a whole getting your head into gear: ‘I need to be thinking about this. How do I approach the season? What are my short-term objectives, what are my long term objectives?’

“And this is stuff that other sports have been doing for a few years now. You look at the American sports have been doing it for 20 years and athletics has been doing it for 20 years and F1 is behind in these things and [was] catching up, so in 2009, the older drivers weren’t used to this as being a requisite. You were going to get found out if you weren’t absolutely on it at the beginning of the season," Clear concluded.