Everyone has something to say about Jenson Button this season. But possibly the daftest yet has come from former Formula 1 driver Derek Warwick, talking to Crash.net:

“I think Jenson will win the world championship, but what’s disappointing for me is that he’s allowing his team-mate to out-qualify him.”

The idea that Button is “allowing” Rubens Barrichello to outperform him is ridiculous – not to mention dismissive of Barrichello’s achievements. I’m not even sure what Warwick is trying to say. But he gets better:

“I would never, ever allow my team-mate to be quicker than me, and that’s what’s happening.”

It’s not a matter of allowing your team-mate to be faster: it’s inevitable that, at least some of the time, they will be.

But, for the sake of it, let’s check Derek Warwick’s claim. Did Warwick ‘allow’ his 1981 team-mate Brian Henton to finish 10th in the Italian Grand Prix that year, when Warwick failed to qualify for the race? No, of course he didn’t ‘allow’ it, but it happened. Similarly in 1985-7, when he was outperformed by a team-mate in the championship.

Warwick has been described as the best “best F1 racing driver never to win a Grand Prix” – did he ‘allow’ that to happen?

I’m not having a go at Derek Warwick specifically. It just annoys me that such phrases are bandied about, and they mean absolutely nothing.