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 am not saying Jenson is the cause of anything. I am saying that the lack of somebody else, or focus from the team when they have had that somebody, has caused McLaren many woes.

the first time it became apparent that Jenson struggles to find setup and good balancve in a car was through the beginning of 2012 up until this point: http://www1.skysports.com/f1/news/12479/7832670/button-to-copy-hamiltons-set-up

The latest is his recent admission that they need somebody else in the team to fill a void of knowledge and capability in the same area. He must be talking about car development input and setup because he himself has scored no points over the last few races. It's obviously not a statement about results.

 

[Mephistopheles]

He never said they need somebody else to fill the void, that is pure assumption reinforced by the way the article is written it doesn't even say what question Jenson was asked and if we don't know that how the hell can we interpret the answer?

That article could just as easily been headlined "Jenson Say's Magnusson is a Fast Learner" but that wouldn't have been provocative enough would it...

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Eh?

"Kevin is inexperienced, and although he is learning quickly, there is a still tenth or two [not] there from him not having as much information or experience as we should have."

Plain as black and white. We are slow because we don't have enough depth of experience in the team. Well he is the most experienced driver on the grid. Why should he be looking to any teammate to provide the experience unless he feels unable to provide the required quality through his own experience?

 

[teabagyokel]

Jenson Button has not caused McLaren to get slower.

 

[Mephistopheles]

There you ago again, saying that a team is all about one driver...

 

[racecub]

But he hasn't helped them get faster. That McLaren was fast at the start of the season., now it's been overtaken by a number of teams.

 

[sushifiesta]

Mephistopheles

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Let me put it another way. On evidence, McLaren have been unable to build a car that can compete with thier rivals when thier main source of driver feedback has been from Jenson Button. The cars have always got quicker through the season but have fallen back in these periods in comparison to their rivals, hence they have been respectively slower. Jenson Button is not solely responsible for this, but by his admission, the team is missing out on potential speed in the car through a lack of quality information, experience and input from the drivers.

 

[Mephistopheles]

I'm bugging out of this stupid argument before the fun boy three arrive....

 

[ExtremeNinja]

I had to Google Fun Boy Three. Apparently they were a pop band in the 1980's. I don't know what relationship they have with Jenson Button. This is getting surreal.

 

[Josh]

Perhaps it is not Jenson Button who is at fault but the people back at the factory? Maybe we can blame Sam Michael? He seems to take the blame for most of it anyway.

It's a very silly idea that the failure of a team in a team sport is because of one person.

 

[ExtremeNinja]

I agree. But what Jenson is saying is that one of the reasons that they are not where they should be is because of the drivers. He points to his rookie teammate's inexperience despite his own extensive experience. There are many factors, but it is Jenson himself that apportions some of the blame to the driver line-up. Incidentally, Jenson does not choose the driver line-up. He chooses to be there on invitation, as does Kevin. So, Jenson is not to blame for anything. However, if McLaren want to fix their woes then, from the statement made by Jenson, one of the areas they might look to improve is in their driver line-up. Jenson is part of that line-up. His statement is therefor a bit of a shot in the foot.

 

[gethinceri]

Well I think he's a lovely boy.

 

[Mephistopheles]

I had to Google Fun Boy Three. Apparently they were a pop band in the 1980's. I don't know what relationship they have with Jenson Button. This is getting surreal.

Yes they were and they were also a joke especially when they got together with Bananarama, just like this argument is a joke..

 

[ExtremeNinja]

No. It's not a joke. We are expressing differing opinions. I am not joking. When someone disagrees with you it does not make it a joke.

 

[teabagyokel]

Jenson Button has not caused McLaren to get slower.

 

[Mephistopheles]

It is when the argument revolves around a driver being responsible for a teams demise, without the team a driver would be sat on the grid in his underpants and without a driver a team would have a very nice car to look at.

A team doesn't employ hundreds of specialists of mechanical and aerodynamic ability and run 24 hour wind tunnel tests costing millions and buy powerful computers to interpret the information and us CFD and thousands of hours on simulation and then say to a driver we haven't got a clue what we are doing you design and build the bloody car, Brundle said on Sunday that with the telemetry the team has more of an idea how the car is performing and what it is wrong with it than the drivers does.

That type of garagista mentality may have been relevant back when the mechanic used to drive the car home after the race but it is completely irrelevant these days and especially irrelevant at a corporate company like McLaren.

Do you believe that Chapman gave a toss what the driver thought and for that matter do you believe that Newey gives a toss what the driver thinks, because I reckon he didn't and he doesn't..

 

[The Artist.....]

ExtremeNinja

By the same argument, Hamilton must have made McLaren go slower in 2009. After all, he had hauled the heap of shit up to third place in the Australia race, but by Silverstone, the cars were about 16th and 17th at various points of the race. Since Hamilton had been there before, it must have been down to him.

See, it's possible to talk crap about anyone!

Hamilton did not make the McLaren go slower in 2009, just as JB is not currently making the McLaren slower now.

Just think about it for a minute; if you have two different drivers with experience, you can bolt on two different setups and they can effectively feed back about both set ups - leading to two set ups being tested. If you have one driver with experience, and another rookie (who may not have as much experience), this leads to only being able to potentially trust one driver's input, meaning that you may only be able to effectively test one of those setups! This is what JB was talking about in the interview.

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Yes. Once again. Jenson is not making the car slower.

 

[Lewywo4]

Will Button join Villeneuve at the start of the 2015 season in Rallycross?


http://www.pitpass.com/51576/Button-looking-beyond-F1