Article: 2013 Driver Line-ups, News & Rumours | Formula one

Agreed. Despite the Mr Nice Guy, he is very much more determined than he sometimes appears. For this reason, I feel compelled to reply to BIL's post:

I'm responding to this at face value: i.e. as if you really mean it. I very much doubt Perez will beat Button this coming season.

 

Just my opinion. I just get the feeling Button is under estimating him. If Button doesn't improve his qualifying performances then he is in trouble.

 

I think Button will be under more pressure next season, and will definitely come under more scrutiny. Last season if he was beaten by Hamilton it was much of a muchness (relatively) because of who his team mate was. This season he's going to be expected to beat Perez which may turn out to be harder than expected. I look forward to hopefully seeing Button thrive next season, and be right in there in a even title race

 

Yes, I agree with both of your posts, BIL and BLS.

But despite your valid points, I do not think Perez will pose a threat to Button in his first year at McLaren.

 

You can never say never, I'm sure Alonso didn't see Lewis as a threat!

I would just like to respond to BiL's statement of Jenson being "cocky"? I view this as a perception and not a fact and one which is probably linked to the user name. If Jenson being happy at being competitive at the back end of the season is deemed cocky, then there is a whole host of other drivers that would be classed as "cocky" - Lewis being one of them.

 

Yes I know Lewis is cocky. As for Jenson, he just thinks that he will carry the team to another world title. Now maybe he can but he didn't have as much reliability, pit stop or race incident problems as Lewis last year and despite having one of if the not the fastest car on the grid he still managed to finish behind Lewis in the drivers standings.

If he is the driver to win them the next world title then I will congratulate him but I just can't see it. He then also says Perez will struggle to compete for the championship next season because of his inexperience which I think is a little disrespectful. Button is a very good driver but I don't think he is the driver to carry the torch so to speak.

 

Ah I get you now BIL, that was the same kind of attitude Alonso was giving Lewis when they teamed up, would love to see some fireworks!

 

I think that Button's attitude smacks of a guy calling the shots and enjoying it.

He'll be feeling the pressure next season - no doubt about that - but I think he trusts his Mclaren team to fix the problems more than Lewis did. That's got to count for something?

 

I agree he got completley outperformed by Lewis who I think on the whole was excellent last year and demonstrated why many a driver fears him on the grid. I think all sensible fans would recognise that Jenson underperformed last term (total contrast to the previous season), but he did have his fair share of incidents even if some were self created. I think given his 2011 season (and his 2009), and his highs of 2012 against Lewis (who is considered one of the best/fastest) I would say that JB is more than capable of leading the team and a title charge - but being capable and actually deliverying are two different things.

In relation to quotes of what each driver has said, remember in most cases we only get the sound bites - I refer to the comments in relation to Perez challenging for the title - the full article doesnt read as a negative towards Perez, in fact far from it. I just dont see Jenson as being cocky, believing that he is the No1 and will trounce his team mate. I think its just a perception from some based on his demeanor - but every individulas preception is their reality - and I note that I judge other drivers less favourably based on my perceptions, likes and dislikes.

 

What happens if he takes the wrong direction on setup again? How long will he realise and then how long will it take to recover? I hope he succeeds because he is a nice guy and a good driver but I just can't see it working.

 

That's the million-dollar question. I think the fact remains that at Mclaren last season we once again saw a team where they could only get the car working for one driver at a time. As has been mentioned Perez is similar to Button, which means that there's less likely to be an inter-team battle for set-up.

To be honest I think that Mclaren might have dropped the ball by letting Hamilton leave and keeping Button instead. I think that they could be set for a Williams-esque decline if they're not careful, they certainly should have done a lot better last season with the resources at their disposal. The thing is though... Button on form is unstoppable. That fact remains. I think that if there's a flaw then it's with Mclaren.

 

I don't remember seeing him concerned about being Button's teammate last year. Could it be that he's realised just how much influence Jenson has in the team? Maybe he knows he won't be getting what was promised (driver equality).

 

By the way I made a mistake when I said Bianchi will be going to Wroom. He's not Ferrari's reserve driver anymore

So maybe an announcement could be made soon. Di Resta has already had his seat fitting so I don't expect Force India to wait more than a week before announcing their drivers.

 

Possibly, but I think Lewis gave a few bits of "advice" to Perez when he signed up for McLaren, and those bits of "advice" is how Jenson (the driver) acts within McLaren and now Perez is ****ting bricks. Also in that chat with the BBC he keeps saying: "(I think) I will get along with Jenson, (I think) we will work well together etc..." he is sounding timid and uncertain already in my opinion if he's talking like that, if he was confident he would say things like ("I'm certain, I know, I'm confident///we will work well together.") Whitmarsh seems ok with Perez and looks to be trying to relax him a bit when he first enters the McLaren complex, but Perez seems uncomfortable with Ron and Jenson "circling him" (if) he starts to **** up.

Maybe Jenson does have more power than we are believed to see, they have got better over the years speed wise since Jenson joined; 10-11-12 and probably why Lewis left, McLaren were being guided by Jenson while Lewis' inexperience cost him in there I believe. At Mercedes Lewis is able to guide the car direction more to his liking without interruption of a more experienced driver in the way.

**Also did anybody see Perez's tweet directed at Di Resta? Saying it was the results that count not the money etc...

 

Couldnt see it mentioned above but Petrovs manager claims they have yet to find backing so his Caterham chances are looking slim and may be out of the running. The last I heard Senna's sponsors didnt want to back a small team so maybe its down to van der Garde?

 

There running out of well funded drivers then!

 

Looking more and more like Senna will end up at Caterham next year then.

 

Ha, that's brilliant. Perez has just gone up in my estimation

Heikki??? Please???? If it's no seat, or driving for free, he'd probably do that?

 

I think I read something about Mike Gascoyne and Caterham being less than impressed with Kovi for moaning about them so much.
It seems Kovi is well out of the running there.

 

I think when you mouth off about deserving a seat at a better team and then they dont want you, you're always in a very bad position. I'm amazed Di Resta has got away with it.

About the Caterham seat there's so much conflicting stuff. Dutch media dont sound confident on VDG, While Petrov and Senna's funding situation is reported differently every week. Really tough one to call.