First of all, this thread was a break-off from the 2012 Monaco GP race thread. A statement was made there which although it was posted earlier it never got onto this thread. It was:
"he looked a notch above Button last year in Monaco, well at least until McLaren cocked up qualifying for him"
I did not remember that as being the case so I looked it up at
http://www.formula1.com/results/season/2011/855/6851/ where I found that Hamilton had quicker times in FP1 and FP2 (0.184 and 0.22 secs) whilst Button was quicker in FP3 (0.390 secs). As I said, that looked to me to be pretty equal overall, so I said so.
That started it. You came in having picked up what I said but not the sarcasm involved. I had used that since I thought it was just a tad silly for someone trying to have a pop at Button over free practice times which we all know are in the main not very meaningful.
You came up with the statement that Hamilton had been quicker in both Q1 and Q2. Tbh, the Q1 and Q2 times are also rather meaningless to the top teams, they just do what they have to to get into Q3. Drivers can cock it up in those sessions, but the don't get race points for them.
Another part of your statement that I found a little odd is that Hamilton drove better than Button because he picked up 3 places against Button losing one. It is actually more difficult to hold on to second place than it is to overtake the midfield drivers, plus there are circumstances to consider.
Button was unfortunate with pit stops, team tactics, the safety car and the red flag. There was a fair amount of discussion on this in the race thread,
http://cliptheapex.com/threads/2011-monaco-grand-prix-practice-qualifying-race-discussion One of the things brought up there was that Alonso was reputed to have said that he was going to have a big push on Vettel before the finish even if it meant one or both of them would be put out of the race. Had there been no red flag then it might have finished with Button winning by default. But of course, there was a red flag so nothing happened.
When we look at what happened with Hamilton we find that he did go from 9th on the grid to 6th at the finish. Two of the drivers who had been in front of him, Schumacher, Massa and Maldonado, did not finish, whilst Rosberg had a dreadful day, finishing two laps down. So Hamilton gained four places, not three. The anomaly is fixed by Kobayashi finishing ahead of Hamilton. So effectively Hamilton lost one place, just the same as Button.
So, have a nice trip to Monaco, I've only been there for a day visit not in a racing week. The tunnel is impressive to drive through even at normal speeds, the change in light intensity is quite large.