Monday, May 20th, 2003  
 

Jenson Button has received noteworthy praise after finishing fourth in Sunday's Austrian Grand Prix.

Former team boss Sir Frank Williams, who gave the 23-year-old Englishman his F1 debut as a teenager three years ago, said Button's form on the A1-Ring was 'first-rate.'

Williams admitted initial concern after the Frome-born youngster switched from Grove to Renault in 2001 and 2002 that it simply 'wasn't happening for him.'

He adds: 'And then I was watching Jenson's progress from the start of this season with more than a little interest.'

Button moved to the BAR-Honda team for 2003 to be paired with feisty, aggressive and - above all else - speedy Canadian Jacques Villeneuve, who won the 1997 title in a Williams.

Sir Frank says of Jenson's form alongside Jacques: 'He has clearly started working together with the team and he has come on strongly.

'That drive in Austria was a first-rate performance.'

Brackley chief David Richards extolled Button's pace after duels with Ferrari ace Rubens Barrichello in Austria as 'impressive,' and his fourth-place 'well deserved.'

But he says Jacques Villeneuve was 'equally strong, or stronger' than his English cohort in a nimble but technically fragile 005 contender.

Richards said of Villeneuve's electrical woes, which cost him a lap with a pitlane stall: 'He was denied a very, very strong finish.'