The Button Question?

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GUEST said:
In my view Jenson did get a few digs in at Lewis last year and could be accused of kicking a man while he was down. The comments about taking his side of the garage out for dinner, having a bigger say in this year's car, his bubble and his overall paly demeanour with MW was designed to wrestle the team from Lewis into his clutches. It would have worked but for his lacklustre performances of late.

He wasn't alone of course, there were many up and down the Paddock, some of the BBC commentaors and the F1 hacks that were glad to see Lewis apparent downfall - humbling even by the stand up guy, Jenson. How many times have people commented that Lewis is not worth a bigger contract than Jenson as Jenson is just as good if not better? How many have suggested Mclaren get rid of Lewis and pair Button with an uspstart.

If some of you have followed his career you will know that he is an up and down driver that struggles when the car is not perfect. He was good in the Williams - not as good as Ralf mind - he was rubbish in the Bennetton. Good in the BAR with the false fuel tank, rubbish with the later iterations. When the car is not perfect he is not that great - when it's in his window he is peerless. Nothing new there guys.

My opinion is that he gap between the drivers is too small nowadays. Being 2/3 tens slower than lewis now translates to missing out in Q3 or starting a few more places than Lewis. Jenson has developed the car in the wrong direction trying to close the gap. Funny how he is now going to use Lewis' set up as a baseline when he was considered the superior developer.
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There is considerable merit in what you say and certainly in exactly identical cars, if this is even remotely possible, Hamilton will always extract more performance from it than Jenson.

Although I do believe the pairing of Hamilton and Button to be the best on the grid and for McLaren.

Interestingly McLaren have stated they have identified the negative issues with the detail of Jensons set-up in Canada and are expecting better results at Valencia.
 
McLaren still dont have the answers for Jenson so they have resorted this. The irony is that they couldve worked on this at Mugello.

"I guess the first thing you do is set up the car like the other car, and that's what we'll do initially," the 2009 World Champion confirmed. "There will be settings that Lewis prefers more than anybody else does because that's how he sets it up.

"I won't be as quick as him on those settings, but then we can work from there and find a set-up that works for me."
 
TheModestMatt said:
McLaren still dont have the answers for Jenson so they have resorted this. The irony is that they couldve worked on this at Mugello.

"I guess the first thing you do is set up the car like the other car, and that's what we'll do initially," the 2009 World Champion confirmed. "There will be settings that Lewis prefers more than anybody else does because that's how he sets it up.

"I won't be as quick as him on those settings, but then we can work from there and find a set-up that works for me."
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I don't understand this season, last year Button did well on high tyre wear, this year should be the same.... but Lewis seems to have understood the tyres and is now on a par with Jensen.
So that means, Lewis is faster in quali and in the race.... Unless it rains.
 
I think this year there is a fundemental difference between drivers managing the tyres and the car being tyre effecient through set up! Lewis's performance in Spain is a prime example! We all know that Lewis's natural style is not focused around tyre preservation but he was able to do a far higher race stinit mileage than any other driver whilst maintaining a reasonable pace - although not front running pace. Similiar points can be taken from the Lotus and Sauber in Canada!

I personally think it is more about the natural charachteristics of the car, the set up and then how the driver races - hence the term sweet spot. Whilst I would not want to inferr that the techies dont understand, but I think there is an element of pot luck in both the original set up of a car for the race weekend and how the track developes! Just my opinion and based purley on my personal observations.
 
according to alguesuari, the problem with button's tyre wear was that they misinterpreted the problem.

button thought it was a problem with warming up the tyres, and so changed things to get more heat into them.

however, alguesuari says it was actually a problem with over-heating, and so their changes only made it worse. a valid theory it seems to me, don't know how he knows this though, and quite a large error from mclaren if thats the case.

source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/18529174 near the bottom
 
Drudeboy said:
according to alguesuari, the problem with button's tyre wear was that they misinterpreted the problem.

button thought it was a problem with warming up the tyres, and so changed things to get more heat into them.

however, alguesuari says it was actually a problem with over-heating, and so their changes only made it worse. a valid theory it seems to me, don't know how he knows this though, and quite a large error from mclaren if thats the case.

source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/18529174 near the bottom
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Sounds like bollocks to me. Their telemetry would show if there were issues with heat in the tyres so they'd know if the issue was too hot or too cold. That the team and someone independent are giving different answers also doesn't help!

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/100515

This suggests McLaren/Button have fixed the problem. Doesn't say how or what they have done, so just looks like some PR speak before an event in the hope that he will go better.
 
TheModestMatt said:
McLaren still dont have the answers for Jenson so they have resorted this. The irony is that they couldve worked on this at Mugello.
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An excellent point. If the problems are specific to Jenson, with respect to Paffett & Turvey(?) they can't find the answers for him.
 
allsaintchris said:
An excellent point. If the problems are specific to Jenson, with respect to Paffett & Turvey(?) they can't find the answers for him.
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It makes you wonder if it was just dodgy reporting but the way it seemed only Hamilton was keen to go to Mugello. If Button knew he was struggling with set up why not push to go to Mugello?
 
BrightLampShade said:
It makes you wonder if it was just dodgy reporting but the way it seemed only Hamilton was keen to go to Mugello. If Button knew he was struggling with set up why not push to go to Mugello?
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Well Mugello was after Bahrain where if Jenson hadn't been unlucky with a puncture/car failure he would have finished 5th and been the joint leader of the championship. Sure it was the first sign of troubles but he probably wasn't too worried about it then or thought it was track specific.
 
Smithers said:
Mclaren seem to think that they are getting arounf JB's issues, but I would have said that after Lewis's comments and looking at JB's long run times they are least half a second of the pace!

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/100567
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He has changed back to his preferred brakes. This is what I was talking about after the Canadian Grand Prix, as I believed it was a major factor in his troubles.

Button prefers a softer brake set-up than that afforded by the Carbon brakes –which require a higher operating temperature and bite very suddenly. They go against his natural driving style. Conversely, the Brembos give more 'feel', allowing more finesse, although perhaps ultimately less powerful.
 
cosicave said:
He has changed back to his preferred brakes. This is what I was talking about after the Canadian Grand Prix, as I believed it was a major factor in his troubles.

Button prefers a softer brake set-up than that afforded by the Carbon brakes –which require a higher operating temperature and bite very suddenly. They go against his natural driving style. Conversely, the Brembos give more 'feel', allowing more finesse, although perhaps ultimately less powerful.
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He sounded pretty dour on the radio in free practice, seemed he'd lost all ability to brake without locking up the fronts.
 
According to Mark Hughes;

"Perhaps there are more things on his mind at the moment even than getting out of his downward spiral of form. There were even whispers of the 'R' word at the weekend"
 
Smithers said:
According to Mark Hughes;

"Perhaps there are more things on his mind at the moment even than getting out of his downward spiral of form. There were even whispers of the 'R' word at the weekend"
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Whats the "R Word", surely it's not retirement?
 
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