The unsung Englishmen

LONDON, England (CNN) -- With the British newspapers full of stories about Lewis Hamilton after every Grand Prix, you could be forgiven for thinking that there was only one Englishman racing in Formula 1 in 2007. In fact, there are three English drivers on the grid this year.

After winning his maiden Grand Prix in Hungary last year and outscoring every other driver in the second half of the season, it seemed like Jenson Button's time had finally come. All he needed was a car capable of running at the front in 2007 and he could challenge for the championship.

Unfortunately, Honda's 2007 car failed to live up to expectations. Nervous and lacking in grip, the Honda RA107 was a disappointment on every level. Suddenly, instead of challenging for race wins, Button found himself struggling to break into the top fifteen, fighting an ill-handling car and racing for nothing more than pride.

In this kind of situation, you could perhaps forgive him for letting his head drop, for giving up and just trying to get through this nightmare season as quickly as possible. But that isn't Jenson's way. Instead, he has held his head high and pressed on with the job of racing with admirable grace.

His opening laps at the rain-drenched European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring earlier this year were majestic. Wet weather is always the great equalizer, and Jenson is one of the very best drivers in the rain. From 19th at the first corner, in just two laps he made his way into 3rd place and was rapidly catching Fernando Alonso's McLaren until his car aquaplaned out of control under braking and into the gravel.

His race this weekend in Turkey was another sterling performance in adverse conditions. After having to take to the sliproad to avoid hitting Jarno Trulli's spinning Toyota at the first corner, Button lost several places but drove strongly to finish 13th. In a race thoroughly devoid of overtaking interest, he made an excellent pass on David Coulthard and fought with fellow Englishman Anthony Davidson in the Super Aguri.

Davidson also had plenty to be happy about in Turkey. After some shaky qualifying performances earlier in the season, he comprehensively outshone his more experienced teammate Takuma Sato, with a superb lap in the second qualifying session. He only just missed out on the top ten in the end, qualifying 11th ahead of drivers in far superior machinery and equaling his career-best qualifying performance.

It was a timely reminder of just how good a driver Anthony Davidson is. After years on the sidelines as a test driver for Honda, the chance to race for the fledgling Super Aguri team came in the nick of time.

Davidson made his mark in F1 in 2004 at Monaco during Friday practice, where as BAR-Honda's third driver he posted a lap than was beaten only by the dominant Ferrari of Michael Schumacher, and he continued to impress throughout the year as the quickest of the Friday drivers.

However, the expected promotion to race driver for the Honda team never came, and many thought Davidson would forever remain one of F1's "nearly" men until Super Aguri came calling.

The step up to race driver proved to be a tougher challenge than expected as he struggled to adapt to racing after a number of years away from competition, but he seems to have conquered these initial problems and as his performance in the Turkish Grand Prix showed, he and the Super Aguri team are now punching well above their weight.

Both Button's and Davidson's performances so far this year have been eclipsed by the media attention surrounding the success of Lewis Hamilton. No column inches will be devoted to the drivers who finished 13th and 14th in Turkey, no champagne celebrations for their hard-working mechanics, no silverware for the trophy cabinet.

But don't forget about the unsung Englishmen of F1. They may not be winning in 2007, but their time will come. E-mail to a friend