Poll Should Button now take a supporting role to Hamilton

[teabagyokel]

Button isn't going to make up 78 points, is he?

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

One more Hamilton win, I think, would probably be the tipping point.

 

[Viscount]

Not if Hamilton's leaving.

 

[F1ang-o]

Lewis has never said he wants No1 priority...just parity
Whereas JB has said that having a clear No1 is the way to win..
Some wins that leave a nasty taste.....
IMO LH wants to win ....but only because he has beaten all the all other drivers......Honestly.... is it inexplicable in F1......?
Some want to win ...whatever & however
Some want to turn out the light at night...dream...re-live the moment they did it......not by any underhand behaviour or help...
Plays ...Frank Sinatra................'I did it My Way'....
I would be gutted if LH leaves Macca............I cannot envisage him driving for any other team....
I cannot vote on this poll...because I don't believe in team orders........just ...justice & remembering you are in a team & you do not hold up your team mate......when it is not to the team's advantage..
In other words you are not a selfish

 

[Jen]

Goodness me F1ang-o! Even Frank Sinatra had competitors.

 

[Mephistopheles]

I never took you as the sort to stir the shit Brogan

 

[Jen]

Button isn't going to make up 78 points, is he?

And Hamilton had not beaten a team mate at Monza before - always a first for an optimist.

 

[F1ang-o]

Goodness me F1ang-o! Even Frank Sinatra had competitors.

Glad you picked up on the important part of the post.....

 

[Jen]

Sometimes it is hard to tell, but glad I got it right this time

 

[Brogan]

I never took you as the sort to stir the shit Brogan

Just highlighting how things can change so drastically from race to race.

Spa - Hamilton retirement, Button win.
Monza - Button retirement, Hamilton win.

 

[The Pits]

And there may well be more twists yet.

I think that it is simply a matter of circumstances, and what your view of "supporting" really is. I think that people feel that it entails far more than is reasonably practicable, whereas realistically, I think that in real terms, position swapping etc is rare outside Ferrari.

From my point of view, I believe that McLaren are far more likely to win the wc. Than Hamilton to win the wdc,so I would start by stating any decision that is made should not risk wcc points in any way. Secondly, a "do not attack" would be far less intrusive than a "let him pass" order.

Let's be honest here, how many times has the latter been an issue? I believe the former has been in play a few times however.

Also, as has been stated, it will depend on everything which is going on behind the scenes, which we do not see, for example, if Lewis has handed in his resi, and following the tweet, how disposed will the team feel to further his cause in the wdc by imposing team orders?

I personally think that team orders should not be used, nor will it make a difference, I do however expect a few races where not attacking is noticeable.

I also expect this debate to rumble on regardless of anything, with some thinking that Jenson should now start supporting Lewis title charge for next year, and some saying that Lewis should park sideways across the grid to give Jenson a headstart.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Lets be honest how often is it going to come up over the remaining races as far as I can remember today's race is the first time that Massa has been told to move over for Alonso and that is after 12 races and even then Alonso could have passed Massa without any team orders so personally I don't even think the situation will arise....

 

[cider_and_toast]

Hamilton should keep on concentrating on racing, keep his head down, bang in the laps and get the results. As he has shown this weekend, it doesn't matter one fig what any one else does when you bang the car on pole, make a good start, have a trouble free race and speed the car home to first place. What Button, Alonso or anyone else does between now and the end of the season is irrelevant if Hamilton has more weekends like this one.

 

[Andy Karter]

No he shouldn't and he shouldn't be obliged to either. Better to finish as high as he possibly can and help win the WCC. If Lewis gets the WDC in the process so much the better.

 

[Brogan]

Gary Anderson of the BBC has this to say on it:

But there are 40-odd points between Hamilton and Button, and McLaren are going to have to start making tough decisions pretty soon about whether Button should start sacrificing his own results to help Hamilton's title bid.

The big problem with that is the situation between the drivers, as well as the question of whether Hamilton is leaving for Mercedes next year, as it appears he may well do.

It does not matter to McLaren whether Hamilton wins the race and Button finishes second or the other way around, because the team will still get the same points in the constructors' championship, which is what most teams care about most.

The drivers care about their championship but if push comes to shove I'm not sure McLaren will make the decision to back Hamilton in the drivers'.

So that might have to come from the drivers, and their relationship does not look like it is in a position where Button will help Hamilton out.

To summarise, he doesn't expect McLaren or Button to help Hamilton's title bid.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/19545870

 

[F1ang-o]

No change there then

 

[Quintessentially]

I was more surprised by some of the personal attacks Gary Anderson resorted to.

but he seems in the last little while to have lost the person he used to be.

Seriously.

 

[cider_and_toast]

That's very emotive langauge to say that it is a personal attack from Gary Anderson. I don't see it as any such thing. I think he's making a comment that has been widely noted by most motorsport journalists as far back as the middle of last season.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Nothing annoys me more than someone taking a piece of text or a sound bite and using it completely out of context the press do it all the time, it doesn't take much effort to take what someone says and edit it to make it sound the exact opposite of whet meant...

 

[teabagyokel]

MEPHISTOPHELES ANNOYED BY EFFORT

When asked by Apex Sport Journalists Mephistopheles said "Nothing annoys me more than [...] effort".