Weblonsilton vs. Vettel

[Chad Stewarthill]

Which confirms my point number "one" in that post, i.e. Button had "bottled" it a fair amount. It also confirms that Barrichello was more happy with his new break material.

Ray, may I wear my 'Mr Pedant' hat for a moment, and say that in the UK we spell it 'brake'? The word 'break' has an entirely different meaning.

Back on topic; if Button, with all his years of experience, could 'bottle' it that much who's to say that anyone else, including Vettel, isn't capable of doing the same under such pressure? Stranger things have happened at sea.

 

[teabagyokel]

Four ... Brawns got over-hauled by more than 2 teams (RBR, McLaren, Toyota, BMW and possibly Raikkonen in the Ferrari and Force India at the fast circuits)...so you often found Button not in the Top 4 on the grid...It's hard, this year, to see Vettel qualifying as far down the grid as Button started to do.

I think that is at the crux of the matter with comparisons with 2009. (Not to mention that Jenson actually won the title!) There is not the same level of competition throughout the field as there was in 2009. Currently there is a clear top 6 cars. In 2009, towards mid-to-end of the season it was getting really competitive.

Thus neither Barrichello, Webber or Vettel were able to really prevail over the other two and they were dropping points to others too. There were 13 drivers to stand on the podium in 2009 [Button, Vettel, Webber, Barrichello, Raikkonen, Hamilton, Trulli, Glock, Heidfeld, Massa, Fisichella, Alonso and Kubica] compared to 8 in (the more similar) 2010 [Webber, Alonso, Vettel, Hamilton, Button, Massa, Rosberg and Kubica].

Now, can anyone see Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren falling behind Mercedes, never mind the rest?

 

[RayInTorontoCanada]

I think that is at the crux of the matter with comparisons with 2009...Now, can anyone see Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren falling behind Mercedes, never mind the rest?

Thanks...and, no!

Especially as Mercedes are just about to (or rumoured to be about to) concentrate more and more on 2012 (as is probably prudent).

 

[Slyboogy]

Mercedes stopped development last year and went faster in 2010, as "they understood the car", same might happen again as this car from the start seems like a mystery to them...just like the Ferrari was at the beginning of the year.

 

[RayInTorontoCanada]

Mercedes stopped development last year and went faster in 2010, as "they understood the car", ...

It's true. At times you can 'tweak' the performance of a car after reaching a 'stable' 'base line'.

The exact thing you mentioned also happened in 2009 with Raikkonen's Ferrari F60. The F60 stopped being up-graded mid season...and after Massa was sidelined, Ferrari focussed on Raikkonen exclusively and tweaked the car around his liking...and you saw his performances go up. He scored 38 points after Germany (2nd most only to Hamilton whi scored 40) with Barrichello scoring 37 and Button 27.

So...You're right...Sometimes when you keep changing the 'base line' every weekend with new developments, you don't necessessarliy have a 'stable' enough 'benchmark' in order to 'tweak' and 'optimise' a given up-grade.

Having said that, I can't see Mercedes out-developing Adrian Newey's team in 2011.