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.

 

[ExtremeNinja]

I wonder if his motivation is slightly different this year. He cam to McLaren to test himself against Lewis, who he regards as a better driver than himself. He has managed to do this during a period of adversity for Lewis but I think that he is realising that on a normal day he doesn't measure up. This isn't a slight on Jenson, who I regard as a fantastic driver, but I think it is the cold reality and one that he is aware of. I don't think he is rattled but I do think that he is somewhat despondent. In saying all this, I don't think that accounts for the margin, but perhaps some of his mindset.

 

[Il_leone]

Button has seen it all in F1 from being written as a no hoper not good enough to win races or world championship and labelled washed up to a world beater thanks to being the first to be a world champion to take more than 100 races to win a race and being the first to beat Lewis

I don;t think Button needs to get worried because anything now is a real bonus for his career and lifts his credibility higher

 

[racecub]

Just remember that his time last year Jenson had just driven a race that is widely considered to be one of the best drives in the history of the sport. If not the best it was certainly well within the top ten....

It was considered one of the best drives in history by Martin Whitmarsh, who is a little biased. Lewis was faster and may well have finished ahead of Jenson had Jenson not put him in the wall. He then crashed out Alonso as well. So crashing out two of your main competitors and being lucky enough not to get a penalty for doing so puts it way outside one of the best drives in history for me.
I think jenson should be worried, not necessarily because Lewis is beating him, he surey knew that was likely to happen, but because he has no idea why he has no pace. He says its not the tyres, because he surely cant be the only one struggling so badly with them, but he has no other answer. So I think he should be worried.

 

[Mephistopheles]

In your opinion he drove Lewis into the wall In your opinion he crashed out Alonso but not in the stewards opinion and not in the opinions of Lewis or Alonso, also Lewis was crashing into anyone who had a car on that day it was only a matter of time before he came to grief, and it is not just Whitmarsh who reckons it was one of the greatest drives he has ever seen there are many others who see it the same way, even Alonso was full of praise for him, and I quote "Jenson has something in these conditions that we don't and we had better learn how he does it."

If you want to rubbish Button then please do it on the thread that was specifically set up for that sort of thing.

You will find that I don't go onto the Lewis thread and rubbish his achievements in F1 so why do you come onto the Button thread and do it?

 

[Lewywo4]

Just remember that his time last year Jenson had just driven a race that is widely considered to be one of the best drives in the history of the sport. If not the best it was certainly well within the top ten..

If Jenson had driven to his win in 2011 from last place, without the aid of 6.......6 safety cars, that IMO would be considered as one of the best drives in the sports history, but with those safety cars, hardly quaifies that drive as the best, in the history of the sport.

 

[racecub]

Mephistopheles I wasnt rubbishing Jenson. I was saying FOR ME,the events in that race do not qualify it for one of the best drives in the history of the sport...not by a long way. Thats not rubbishing Jenson.

 

[Brogan]

You will find that I don't go onto the Lewis thread and rubbish his achievements in F1 so why do you come onto the Button thread and do it?

Driver threads are for all discussion related to a driver, good and bad.

All reasonable opinions are valid, no matter how much others may disagree with them.

 

[The Artist.....]

but lewis was low on confidence and was just trying to finish the race and get some good points.he took 0 risks,plus he treated the tyres like last seasons,i.e he drove too slow thinking he had to do that to make tyres last.

What a load of garbage. We've had it thrust in our faces by certain posters that Hamilton was compromised because "He wanted new tyres earlier as they were gone".... You can't have it both ways!


JB clearly outperformed Hamilton during the race in Melbourne. Something has changed which has made the McLaren not conducive to Button's driving - maybe it's the new high nose (Although by rights that should increase rear downforce)....

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Yep. Jenson had a different front wing set-up to Lewis in Canada which accounted for all of the miniscule difference in pace.

Everybody was being cautious with the tyres in Aus whereas now we can see drivers using the tyres.

 

[The Pits]

If Jenson had driven to his win in 2011 from last place, without the aid of 6.......6 safety cars, that IMO would be considered as one of the best drives in the sports history, but with those safety cars, hardly quaifies that drive as the best, in the history of the sport.

http://www.yallaf1.com/2011/09/20/formula-1-safety-car-all-the-facts-and-figures/

So far, the Safety Car has led a total of 49 laps, equivalent to 218.3 km. Of these, 140 km were accounted for by the Canadian Grand Prix. Indeed, the five Safety Car deployments during this race lasted for 45.7% of the race distance –

I guess you agree with Martin then

 

[Brogan]

Interesting article: http://www1.skysports.com/formula-1/news/22058/7808830/Just-why-has-Button-become-undone-

He decided he was going to take a new-broom approach to the Montreal weekend and had the team remove a key piece of what is described as 'electronic trickery' that had been on both cars all season. The team is very secretive about what it might be, but Jenson felt that the system may have been confusing his senses in the feedback he was getting from the car, and that this may have been causing him to make poor set-up choices.

For Montreal he would get back to basics and he also decided to forgo the new Montreal-specific rear suspension that would be fitted to Hamilton's car, which had less anti-squat built into its geometry. This would allow the Hamilton car to squat (under acceleration) and dive (under braking) a little more, mainly for the benefit of traction. But it would also mean the car wouldn't be kept in as tightly-defined a ride height window, with potential resultant aerodynamic losses.
...
So why was this much less of a problem for him in the earlier races? Jenson and McLaren would probably love to know the answer to that too. But there is at least one key rival convinced it has something to do with an FIA clarification made during the Chinese Grand Prix weekend regarding the McLaren's splitter aft of the nose.

It's believed McLaren was taking advantage of the production tolerance allowed for the floor - which has to be flat but which is allowed a few millimetres tolerance - by considering the splitter as part of the floor. The clarification put a stop to this. McLaren insists this had no serious impact upon the car's aerodynamic performance, but others are less sure. Could it have allowed just enough rake on the car for even Jenson to get the front tyres up to temperature? It's only a theory. But at the time of writing, theories were all even Button and the team had.

I've highlighted a couple of interesting points.

So the suspension was the same as before, it was Hamilton who had new suspension fitted.

I don't normally cross-post, but I'll also post this in the Button vs Hamilton thread so any discussion about the two drivers stays there.

 

[The Pits]

I think I approve of the approach, get rid of everything, and start again from scratch, the gearbox issues could not have helped though. I wonder how long things will take to straighten out given this approach though?

The rake comment intrigues me though, could this really make that much difference? or could it be a combination of things including the change to the nose?

One thing is for sure, Unless it is sorted PDQ, any chance he may have left of winning the WDC will be gone, if they have not already. from McLarens point of view, the WCC could also be slipping away if the form continues.

 

[Mephistopheles]

You know what Jenson sometimes life can be really tough but then there are the other times.

 

[gethinceri]

Maybe so, but what a hat!

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Yeah, its a monster!

 

[Mephistopheles]

ExtremeNinja Are you saying Jens's GF is a monster my you have high standards as far as the ladies go.

 

[Mephistopheles]

I wonder if that is the only monster she has her hand wrapped around how very rude please do forgive me....

 

[Mephistopheles]

I believe that Jenson Button is the most complete driver in formula one at the moment..

 

[ExtremeNinja]

 

[Mephistopheles]

I'm allowed my opinion ExtremeNinja after all I have to listen to people barking on about Lewis don't I