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Button got the drive for a mix of reasons. IIRC he was slightly faster than Bruno on the day, but Willams also saw the talent that Jenson had at a young age, it was a brave gamble, but JB fared well against Ralf.
As for since then, the 2nd year in F1 is always difficult, look at how Alonso is going this year compared to last (his 1st year back in F1 racing after testing and with a top team) and more so in relation to Trulli.
First year in the Renault was tough for Jenson, he didn't gel with car and didn't have the experience to work with a difficult car, he found the Williams much easier to drive. In his 2nd year at Renault he started to get on top of it and seemed to be really on it during the 2nd half of the season.
He fared well last year against JV, and this year has matured well, so in fairness it's only been one 'bad' year since his debut, largely due IMO, to inexperience.
Would Bruno have done any better, who know's. We can't compare CART to F1 , so although Bruno has been a front runner in CART it doesn't neccesarily mean he would have performed as well as or any better than Button in F1.
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