Head To Head Jenson Button vs Lewis Hamilton

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If LH knew from the start that he was on a two stopper then what he has accomplished on these years tyres is truly astonishing considering how tricky they have made life. To beat his teammate despite his handicap and despite opting for the hardest strategy by far is a clear indicator of the relative abilities of both on a dry track with no safety cars or incidents. JB may have had an off weekend but this is entirely a result of an inability to adapt himself to the various compounds available this year. In the last stint on primes he couldn't keep up with his team mate on older tyres

Despite LH starting from the back and having a delayed pitstop he comfortably beats his teammate by superior tyre management
So, can we now say that McLaren have obviously developed the car to help Lewis and not Jenson? Jenson couldn't get the car balanced all weekend, yet Lewis got the setup he enjoys nearly straight away. Does this mean that there is a conspiracy within McLaren to make Jenson slower? Going by your posts, I guess it must, but if I went by what I could see with my own eyes, I would just say that the upgrades massively helped Lewis, but did not do Jenson any favours.

I really hope McLaren figure out the issues by Monaco and that both McLaren drivers can get cars they like rather than just one of them.
 
Whilst we here Jenson on the radio talking about set up not being right I'm not sure it mean Mclaren have developed the car towards Lewis just that Mr Button is struggling to find his sweet spot. One min its the rear the next its oversteer. We have seen Jenson struggle this way before with car's in certain races whilst his team-mate doesn't seem to have the problem. There were a few occasions in his championship year where he couldn't find it and Barrichello had it right. I personally think its down to a confidence and form thing.

Be interesting to see if he can pull it back at Monaco as he's usually on form there
 
I think its a lot to do with the tyres, thats whats causing such big variabilities and a small window for setup, guess JB wishes he spent some laps at Mugello on the tyres
 
RasputinLives - I agree, my post was a slightly sarcastic reply to cook as when the boot was on the other foot, he was screaming about favouritism towards Jenson by Whitmarsh. Sorry it didn't come across well enough.

I agree with your post and that Jenson does struggle to find set-up sometimes. Lets hope they get it right for both drivers in Monaco. :)
 
JB himself says the tyres are not allowing him to find a good setup
"I need to find a set-up that suits me better as I feel like I have pretty poor grip at the moment."

Button, though, is not expecting a quick fix as he concedes his biggest problem at the moment is managing his tyres.

"To work out why I was slow, that's a bit trickier," he told the Telegraph.

"Normally I'm good at looking after tyres. I can't do that at the moment. I'm struggling with the car. It's not an overnight fix, which is worrying.
 
RasputinLives
I agree with your post and that Jenson does struggle to find set-up sometimes. Lets hope they get it right for both drivers in Monaco. :)

I find that hard to believe as the day before quali Hamilton had tipped him for pole. Whether it was a ploy to massage his ego and lure him into a false sense of security no one knows. Having listened to Hamilton's post race comments about him being too hard on his tyres and how Jenson is better at it, I think a new phase of inter team battle battle is starting to emerge and maybe the relationship is no longer as open as it used to be. If we are led to believe that there's transparency in sharing setup info, then Jenson should've by no means been so far behind on Saturday, especially going by recent quali laptime margins between both drivers. Or maybe Jenson just couldn't be bothered to get his finger out..
 
It might LH data be that there is transparency but JB is simply not flexible enough or has a wide enough window of fusefullness to make use of this data. The car is obviously to generic for JB and he needs a car designed just for his window of effectiveness. Plus he doesnt seem happy with the tyres at all.

JB was faster thn LH in practice so there was nothing major wrong with his car or setup, its just the effective operating window of the tyres and JB dont coincide much
 
I find it interesting that JB is clearly really struggling with this years tyres and LH seems to have worked out how to get then working

Yet JB didn't think a chance to spend a few hours in the car at Mugello was worth his time whereas LH wanted to go and apparently was even offered to pay his own way and turn up anyway
 
Ah, great attempt to ignite a round of bickering instead if concentrating on the thread topic, please count me out

If however you are interested the team said this in an interview I truly can't be bothered to dig up

'We offered him to go under his own steam to Mugello' or words to that effect
 
If you are going to make such statements then you really ought to "be bothered to dig up" your sources. Otherwise, you're probably best advised to say nothing.
 
Anyway, back to the initial point. I think Jenson is particularly struggling with heating up his tyres. It's kind of ironic that his ability to not overheat tyres is what makes him such a good tyre manager, but these new Pirelli's in cooler temperatures - like we've seen in Spain, the wet weather of Malaysia and some other Quali/Practice session - really need to be "switched on". What happened in Spain must concern Jenson as he struggled throughout his stints, particularly at the back-end of them, when he is usually brilliant. He even had to have an extra run on some softs which he didn't struggle as much on. Considering most of the season is run in cooler European weather, Jenson may not have such strong race pace in the middle of this season; a massive worry considering his quali pace.
 
Not starting bickering just trying to keep it light because I didn't want to have to do this:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/mo...on-Button-to-Mugello-baffles-Mark-Webber.html

which I think is where you got that info from and point out that Mclaren said if Lewis wanted to go he could if he paid his own way - not that Lewis offered to pay his own like you suggested in the way you wrote it. Therefore Lewis had the chance to go if he wanted to but went with the team choice.
 
Anyway, back to the initial point. I think Jenson is particularly struggling with heating up his tyres. It's kind of ironic that his ability to not overheat tyres is what makes him such a good tyre manager, but these new Pirelli's in cooler temperatures - like we've seen in Spain, the wet weather of Malaysia and some other Quali/Practice session - really need to be "switched on". What happened in Spain must concern Jenson as he struggled throughout his stints, particularly at the back-end of them, when he is usually brilliant. He even had to have an extra run on some softs which he didn't struggle as much on. Considering most of the season is run in cooler European weather, Jenson may not have such strong race pace in the middle of this season; a massive worry considering his quali pace.
I hope they figure it out before Monaco. If McLaren can figure out what Jensons issues are, then we will be in for a tight battle between team mates. If not, then Lewis will be too far ahead by the time they do figure it out.

I might have a bias towards Jenson, but I want to see him battle for it against his team mate as that is the sole reason he went to McLaren in the first place (which tends to be forgotten by a few here), so he could measure himself against the person who is supposed to be the fastest driver (over a single lap) in F1. Also McLaren at full strength would be a great thing to see..
 
I totally agree. In fact I think Ferrari and Red Bull have to sort out there problems sharpish too, as Lewis' form is looking pretty ominous. If Lewis really has the pace to put this Mclaren consistently on the front row, then it will not be good enough to turn up to races sporadically with race winning pace, which you'd have to say is all any of these teams have proven.
 
I wonder at Jenson agreeing so wholeheartedly with the team about the drivers not going to Mugello. I know its a different track but the issues with tyres will be similar. Especially in the wake of last weekend and Jenson's inability to turn his front tyres on. Id have thought extra testing would have been a good idea. Had he done this his late switch to(Brembo is it?)brakes on Sat morning, in an effort to get heat in the tyres, might not have rendered the car so undrivable to him, he could have practised on those brakes.
 
Jenson had no option to make big nosies about not needing to go to the test due to the fact that he was never going to be able to go after Mclaren has agreed the PR event in Hungary. He's never going to say anything other to the media because thats the party line. What he really thinks we don't know.
 
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