Jenson Button

Arguably the best ever driver in mixed conditions, all his wins at Mclaren have come in those conditions. His last race win in the dry came at the 2009 Turkish GP.

Button is known for his smooth driving style and is normally seen in must races doing one less stop than his rivals for tyres.

Buttons also know to be a bit of a practical joker and will take part in anything fun.

Since his debut in 2000 Button has won the majority of hearts in this country. But what is your favourite JB win?

Mine has to be Hungaroring 2006, in argubly a midfield team and he won the race in those mixed conditions to take his first win. I can remember James Allen been in tears almost and that was the first race Anthony Davidson ever commentated on.

 

[Lewywo4]

I wonder if other drivers feel the same way as Jenson, and complained about the Singapore GP as being too tough of a race for him, because of it being too long?

http://thef1times.com/news/display/04487

 

[Vortex]

John Watson said in FP1 when asked if they’re asking too much of the drivers as it’s the longest race and its hot and humid and half way through the season: So what? They’re racing drivers, if you want to treat them like little babies and wrap them up in cotton wool then send them back to kindergarten. They’re racing drivers, get on with it.

Crofty said: Rosberg made the point on hearing Buttons comments that if Button wants to quit 5 laps from the end that’s fine by him.

Watson: Well I think that’s the best response. laughs

 

[Lewywo4]

Crofty said: Rosberg made the point on hearing Buttons comments that if Button wants to quit 5 laps from the end that’s fine by him.

 

[Lewywo4]

John Watson said in FP1 when asked if they’re asking too much of the drivers as it’s the longest race and its hot and humid and half way through the season: So what? They’re racing drivers, if you want to treat them like little babies and wrap them up in cotton wool then send them back to kindergarten. They’re racing drivers, get on with it.

Crofty said: Rosberg made the point on hearing Buttons comments that if Button wants to quit 5 laps from the end that’s fine by him.

Watson: Well I think that’s the best response. laughs

It seems as though Mark Webber doesn't share Button's concerns, and agrees more with John Watson view.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/formula_one/15015576.stm

 

[The Pits]

I kind of understand what he is saying, but it probably did not need to be said, certainly in the public domain.

It would be interesting to know how many drivers agree with the sentiment though, regardless of what annyone has actually said.

I thought Nico's response was brilliant!!

 

[Il_leone]

Jenson is one of the fittest drivers on the circuit. He's done the full distance 3 years in a row now so its a not a problem for him. Plus he prepared himself for it already .

Most races are demanded to be 200 miles or 2hours long. Singapore is even tougher than Malaysia and its the additional circuit bumps that are causing problems.

Yes F1 is suppose to the test of man and machine but at the same time no one wants to see drivers suffering serious dehydration problems or cramp under these conditions. I do remember Trulli in 2008 race getting out of the car sweating absolute buckets .

Having said that the drivers should be grateful there are not using manual gearboxes which would have made it even more harder than the semi automatic finger flicks they use now

 

[gethinceri]

Of course Nico responded like that. Jenson will be ahead of him, he'll need all the help he can get!

 

[RayInTorontoCanada]

Looks like Jenson is in an optimum position to out-score Hamilton again.

Lewis, unfortunately, won't have the use of all 3 sets of Super-Softs.

Degredation will be high and the ability to take care of the rear tyres in what will be a very long, time-consuming race will be critical.

On the surface of things all the Jenson supporters will look at his qually time and be extatic about him "out-qualifying Lewis"...but, in all honesty, qually was effectively a dead heat between the two and, on top of that, we know that Lewis was compromised on the re-fueling and he never was able to get his second run in as the circuit got quicker.

Nevertheless, Jenson starts on the cleaner side and will have more Super Softs at his disposal. His confidence should be sky high going into battle tomorrow.

It's a shame that the artificial Singapore curbs have errant bolting because Lewis' race prospects now look compromised as a result of the Q2 punture he acquired on one of them.

It will be a minor miracle if Lewis out-scores Jenson at Singapore. An opportune Saftey Car might help.

Lewis could use a little bit of "luck"... but then again Jenson could say he didn't have any at Silverstone or Nurburgring.

I'm hoping for a McLaren win. The two will need to have a lot better starts (or re-starts in any SC scenarios) than they did in Italy, though!

 

[gethinceri]

Ray me old love, please explain "effectively a dead heat"
How do you know that an errant bolt caused a puncture?

 

[RayInTorontoCanada]

Ray me old love, please explain "effectively a dead heat"

Button 1:44.804 (3rd)

Hamilton 1:44.809 (4th)

That's basically/effectively a dead heat or Even-Stevens qually time. At least to me.

I remember a Grand Prix where Villeneuve, Frentzen and (I think) Schumacher set the exact same time to a 1000th of a second. It was 3 drivers on the very same time. Never happened before, never since. [See EDIT below]

How do you know that an errant bolt caused a puncture?

Brogan - owner of this site - provided a link.

* * * * *

EDIT:

Qualifying

PosNoDriverConstructorTimeGap
1 3

Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault .....1:21.072
2 5

Michael Schumacher Ferrari ....................1:21.072 +0.000
3 4

Heinz-Harald Frentzen Williams-Renault 1:21.072 +0.000

4 1

Damon Hill Arrows-Yamaha 1:21.130 +0.058
5 9

Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.369 +0.297
6 10

David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.476 +0.404
7 6

Eddie Irvine Ferrari 1:21.610 +0.538
8 8

Gerhard Berger Benetton-Renault 1:21.656 +0.584

 

[Josh]

Yes F1 is suppose to the test of man and machine but at the same time no one wants to see drivers suffering serious dehydration problems or cramp under these conditions. I do remember Trulli in 2008 race getting out of the car sweating absolute buckets .

This is off topic, sorry, but didn't a driver faint after the race in 2008? Or am I mistaken with a different race?

 

[landogeorgelewis1]

Believe the driver was Heikki Kovalinen that fainted in after a race in 2008 can't remember which one though.

 

[The Artist.....]

Interesting fact for you all about JB....

This season has been the first season in which JB has won races in both the first and second half of the season...

He has won races in 4 of his 12 seasons. In 2006, he only won 1 race, in 2009, he only won races in the first half, similarly in 2010, but in 2011, he has won in Canada and Hungary, rounds 7 and 11 of a 19 race season.... Ok, it's not very interesting really!

 

[RayInTorontoCanada]

Jenson's having a "pretty good" year only because Lewis has been involved in too many incidents. [You could say that one reason why Lewis is having this kind of year is because Jenson's upped the pressure.]

Having said that, what would Jenson's year look like if Lewis was having a "normal"/"regular" year?

That McLaren had more than 4 wins in it so far in 2011. So even though Lewis "could" or "should" have won more than 2 races, one can say Jenson "could" or "should" have won more than 2 races too.

To be fair to him, Jenson lost points at 2 races which were not his fault...but he needs to qualify the car higher (generally speaking) if he's to get fully on to terms with Lewis once Lewis starts having a "normal" run of the green.

When/if Lewis starts being the Lewis of 2007-2010 again and Jenson doesn't qualify better, he (Jenson) could be in trouble.

 

[teabagyokel]

I agree with Ray (but don't tell him !)

I'm not sure Jenson will be "in trouble" though. I think he is doing what he's meant to be doing.

Lewis is appointed as the talented yet temperamental number 1 driver. Therefore when he's doing well, he should always be slightly ahead of Jenson (Fig 1)

However, when he's busy playing bumper cars with Felipe/Mark/Michael/Kamui, then Jenson's job is to stay exactly where he is and continue to be consistent (Fig 2).

That's why the McLaren driver partnership is very, very good for a Constructors Championship. Given the right car, they win either way.

Jenson is behind, but not far behind, Lewis. Perfect!

 

[cider_and_toast]

The very problem that Ferrari have got, Massa is behind Alonso by too much. That's why the chaps in scarlet are looking to hire JB

 

[teabagyokel]

Yeah, the alternative is either the Ferrari model:

Or the Red Bull model:

 

[no-FIAt-please]

Just read an article on ESPN where Jenson talks about the best strategy to win a title but the interesting bit is later on. He says that he is happy when Hamilton wins and that he acknowledges that in a bad car Hamilton is generally better. This took me by surprise as I've often found Button quick to make excuses but he's gone up in my estimation there for his humility.

Here's the link for anyone interested...
http://en.espnf1.com/mclaren/motorsport/story/60439.html

 

[Bill Boddy]

One man's excuse is another man's reason.

 

[RayInTorontoCanada]

He says that ...he acknowledges that in a bad car Hamilton is generally better.

In "bad" Hondas Barrichello was often 'better' than Button...but when the Honda/Brawn was hooked up into Jenson's narrow window of liking, then it was no contest.

Senna was similar in relation to Prost. Senna was generally faster over 1 lap and faster when neither had optimized the set up. But, according to most McLaren insiders at the time (like Jo Ramirez (who was a friend of both)), Prost was untouchable when he had a set up he loved. Even Senna couldn't touch him.

Trouble is drivers never love their set ups in the majority of cases - there's always some thing that's not 'optimal'.