Comparison with Lewis having an off season last season and Jenson being in the middle of one now don't really add up. Lewis' 2011 season was a result of incidents not a lack of fundamental pace or performance which can't really be said about Jenson this year. Even with all the bad luck Lewis has had this year he is still ahead, and by a good margin too. Spain GP qualifying fuel incident, replacing his gearbox, the crash with Maldonado, more bodged pitstops than I can count, puncture in Germany, poor strategies dictated by McLaren (Kuala Lumpur and Monaco off the top of my head). Jenson has beaten Lewis on performance once this season in Melbourne. Other than that the qualifying head to head speaks volumes. Even with all the incidents and mistakes Lewis made last year you could never have accused him of being slow whereas this season Jenson simply has. One second plus differences in qualifying, beaten from the back of the grid in Spain and lapped in Montreal.
Guys… Button is not stupid. Far from it. He knows the difference in points and the number of races left. He also knows what he needs to do under various circumstances. Most of all, he knows the important difference he can make in Constructors' points. However, it has never been the way of McLaren to dictate to drivers when there is a mathematical possibility of both of them winning the Drivers' Championship. Answering daft questions in front of a microphone invites one to have some sport… Common sense will prevail.
Very valid point, Lewis in general didn't lack fundemental pace in 2011 where as Jenson seems to have since the fly aways in 2012. However, I find your posts very one sided, and factually incorrect. Jenson beat Lewis on pace in China (and if it wasn't for his poor pit stop he may have challenged Nico for victory) and was also ahead of him in Sepang until he ran into the back of Karth - so to say he has only had the pace once all season is wrong. Doesn't take anything away from your underlying gist which is Jenson has been very poor and at present is certainly a contender for worst driver of the season, given machinery and status!
But what's worse? Occasionally crashing and getting a guaranteed 0 points or occasionally being slow but having about 2-4 points. Button's bad season is being worsened by the fact everyone is so close together. If it was like this last year, i'm sure Hamilton would have had the same problem.
If you have speed and crash, at least it shows you have the speed to win a race. If you plod around getting 2-4 points it means you will never have the speed to win. If you beleive the mis-hype of Jenson being mechanically sympathetic/tyre carer etc then he would have excelled in the late 80's & early 90's when you could win a race by not stopping or being more careful with your machinery and wait for others to break. This is 2012 and speed rules. The tortoise and hare scenario no longer works in modern F1. When reliability was no where near as good, you could do that. Jenson in say a
Its worked OK the last few years, perhaps because you are severely underestimating his pace based on about 6 races rather than the rest of his career.
Until 2009 when he jumped into a Brawn which was the class of the field at the start of the season when he won everything, his career was pretty unremarkable even with the equipment he had. He does not have out and out raw pace and can't turn it on like Alonso, Vettel, Hamilton etc, so if things are not going 100% his way he cannot fight around it.
With regard to the ongoing discussion about Jenson Button⦠This concept of 'raw pace' is very easily misunderstood. I'd like to say that actually, he does have 'raw pace'. Very much so. However, Button's version of it comes with a very hefty price-tag. Please read on⦠There is no other driver on the current F1 grid â including Alonso and Hamilton â who can 'carve' a turn with such a minimum of lateral wheel slip (known as 'slip angle'*). What I mean by this is the ability to go around any given corner at the highest speed with optimal steering input, i.e. staying just under the point at which wheel slip exceeds about 8% to 12%, depending upon tyre compounds and temperatures. This is both a strength and a weakness, for in order to do it consistently throughout a race, car set-up must be incredibly finely balanced; and it is here where Button is often seen to struggle. His relentless search for perfection means that, when compared to others, he can appear all-at-sea when things are not quite right because almost all other drivers ride out some of the imperfections of set-up with a compromise which generates more slip-angle. For comparison, two drivers in particular are worth noting, both of whom love to generate slip-angle but in very different (completely opposite) ways: Hamilton and Alonso; the former preferring oversteer (slip-angle at the rear); and the latter, understeer (sliding the front). Button's recent problems have been because he has gone the wrong way on car set up. This is drawn into far greater focus than normal when compared to a team mate such as Hamilton, whose ability to ride out such imperfections with massive slip-angles will see him ahead (so long as tyres cope with such abuse!). In part, this also explains subtle differences in the lines they take. The bottom line is that deliberately using slip-angle to overcome deficiencies in car set up is not Button's natural driving style, with the result that he will be out-paced when things are difficult; but when things are 'just right', he will have others scratching their heads at what looks impossible, since no one else can carve turns quite like him. - - -o0o- - - *Slip angle: An analogy can be drawn with a skier who is able to carve turns without throwing up snow, thereby maximising the efficiency equation of the conversion of energy into speed throughout the turn.
Interesting how any article involving either Jenson or Lewis gets turned into a 'who is better' debate, seriously I do not get why anyone who is British and loves F1 would not support both drivers and see that they are both immensely talented in their own ways Neither is the 'perfect' driver, both have obvious flaws and when push comes to shove Hamilton is probably more exciting to watch because of his overtaking skills but I support both as they are British world champions who seem like decent guys. Just wish a few more were the same
Total Tosh! He did remarkably well in his rookie year and in 2004 when he was the only one capable of taking it to the all dominant ferrari with schumacher at the helm! And in 2009 the Brawn was far from the class of the field - it was the joint fastest with the red bull in the initial stages (probably 3 or 4 races) and then the Red Bull was the class of the field with the Mclarens finding pace later in the season. 2010 was a strong year and 2011 was a very strong year. The years inbetween were in pretty poor cars and I dont think anyone could claim otherwise - so to claim he has only shown pace in a dominant car is factually incorrect.
I'll sum up what i've learnt from this thread; Hamilton fans: Button is terrible, he's slow, and has a stupid beard Button fans: Hamilton is too error prone, he crashes, and has a stupid beard. Button is his own man, if he wants to talk to the media, then it's his call. He's known for being outgoing.
In Button's defence, it is also worth noting that he gave little Villeneuve a lot more than he bargained for when in a poor car, probably leading to the latter's exit from F1 – although I should add that Villeneuve ought not be classed with Hamilton.
