St. Devote was right about Button
 

I know fizzicist rated Button highly (and while I'm at it, just WHERE did fizzicist go?) but after seeing him lose to Fisichella at Benetton, and later struggle with the recalcitrant Honda (even Rubens was beating him), I've been very surprised over the last two season with how well Button has gotten on at McLaren, and in particular how evenly matched he is with Lewis. Perhaps the difference now is that while earlier in his career he had a few bad cars, McLaren always gives him a good one. Granted, he's not as consistent a qualifier as Hamilton, but he more often than not maximizes his races.

I used to think the absolute best were Alonso, Hamilton, and Vettel, but now I can honestly add Jenson to the that list.

I agree. He is so smooth during the race that if he could be a little more aggressive in qualifying he could be a serious challenger for a few wins.

Agree.

I remember after that good first season at Williams seeing him lapped 2 or 3 times and way behind Fisichella at Benetton. I thought he wouldn't find a drive the following year, but then outperformed Trulli in 02 and a good building season at BAR got him back into contention. I then thought he was a good midfielder. Like Panis or Trulli.

Then obviously 2004 was a great season for him so many podiums but no wins.

Then Honda went downwards and I thought around 2007 or 2008 he may fade away.


Then 2009 and the way he used the great car he had to win 6 races and beat Barrichello completley overjoyed me as I always followed him closely.

But as you said 2010 and 2011 have really shown he is up there now as one of the very best drivers in F1.

A great guy and great driver who is impressing me more and more each race, lets hope he can challenge for the title one more time at Mclaren

I never thought I would say it but indeed he is proving that he's more than a match for Hamy, something I didn't think would happen.
He's winning the intra-team battle this season and there are rumors that the many in the team prefer him instead of Lewis for his cerebral racing.

If Mclaren give him a car on par with a Red Bull next year, which I admit will be a struggle he should be able to win a few races and maybe challenge for the title. Although I think if the Red Bull and Mclaren are matched Vettel would still win the title.

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Jenson has improved his racecraft quite a bit IMO. It seems his ability and confidence has gone up as he got into the good cars. Being consistent and racing the whole race rather than racing for the second should keep him ahead of Lewis this year.

He is a very good driver, but he seems a lot more confident now. I am impressed!

Jenson has proved many of the doubters wrong with his racecraft and proves he was an excellent choice for McLaren. Lewis is having his worst season since entering the sport and is making mistakes that are throwing away valuable points. Jenson is consistent and is able to take advantage. Hats off to him and I hope his performance continues for the rest of the season. Part of me hopes he beats Lewis on points this year as it will be the kick up the rectum Lewis needs right now.

He is certainly proving that he is a fantastic racer, there is no doubt about that. But once has to realise that Hamilton is having a poor season by his standard and is only 9 points, I think, behind Jenson in the championship. It's not a lot. Credit where credit is due to Jenson but once Hamilton gets himself together I can see Button being owned by him again. Jenson is a fantastic racer but I don't rate him on the same level as the top 3 and to do so I feel is getting completely carried away over a few good performances.

Yeah, that's how I feel, Henners. I was less than impressed with Lewis yesterday in the race. He was caught napping and couldn't pass Schumacher. He needs a kick in his rear end to get him into gear again and Button finishing ahead of him in the championship might be exactly what he needs.

I admit too he's much better than I thought and I'm quite pleased to see him beating that spoiled brat so nicely.

I personally thought Button was driving really well already in BAR around 2004-06, but perhaps didn't get enough credit for it. Back then it was said that Top3 drivers on the grid were Schumacher, Alonso, Räikkönen and others were a long way behind, so Button was unfairly left in shade. I have to say that while in recent years Button has seemed to struggle in qualifying at times, then in that one-lap qualifying format we had in 03-05 suited him better and he looked quite impressive also in qualifying trim. But maybe without a championship winning car and a proper team-mate comparison we never saw, what he is really made of. I am also wondering if Button was ever considered by Ferrari/McLaren during the mid-noughties.

At Honda in 07-08 he either seemed to drop his head or struggle to adapt to the difficult car at times, so that's how he became somewhat questionable. Incredible to think that his F1 career almost seemed over after Honda pulled out... and we might have seen him winning only one race instead of many more he has got afterwards.

As for comparing him to the very best... certainly the inconsistencies of Hamilton currently help, because I think he would struggle to match current Vettel/Alonso on points, who relentlessly take everything out of the car every race weekend. But Button is consistent himself too, so he wouldn't be far behind. He has been better in qualifying this year compared to 09-10, when he at times failed to make it to Q3 in a car that was clearly capable of doing it. There is one more iffy aspect about Button's racecraft - race starts, where he may lose several positions due to being cautious. But once he is up to speed in race trim, he seems to be capable of lapping as fast as anyone, especially with the new tyres. That qualifying and race starts count for less in modern F1, helps too, as he has been able to make up many places on several occasions after being well down on lap 1 (Barcelona, Nürburgring, Spa, Monza).

Come on now.http://www.motorsportforums.com/imag...s/rolleyes.gif

fizzicist is probably too busy looking after his 2 year old son just now http://www.motorsportforums.com/imag...lies/smile.gif.

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Button would have been 20 plus points ahead of Lewis if it wasn't for his two mechanical failures.

Yeah, there are plenty of if's and but's on both sides. If McLaren had sent Hamilton out for one run in Monaco qualifying he may have been on Pole and run the race etc There has been bad luck on both sides but it's an especially off form season for Hamilton. This is blatantly obvious. He is clearly not at his best right now.

Well, at the risk of being accused of blowing my own trumpet.....Told you so!!!! http://www.motorsportforums.com/imag...ies/tongue.gif http://www.motorsportforums.com/imag...ies/tongue.gif http://www.motorsportforums.com/imag...ies/tongue.gif

Seriously, it's a bit false comparing Jenson to Lewis as they are totally different drivers. It really is a case of Senna vs Prost at McLaren.

Jenson will always be precise and pick up good points and Lewis will always be more of a true racer pushing the limits. They are not mutually exclusive but both have excellent qualities and make up the strongest pairing on the grid even.

Perhaps some of the other teams will realise that rather than employ a Lap Dog who defers to their #1 driver like Massa did for Alonso at the weekend, perhaps it's better to have two drivers that compliment each other and cover all bases. Jenson and Lewis are the Ying and Yang that make up a perfect pairing.

I said some time back that Lewis is the one you'd pay to watch, but Jenson is the one you'd pay to drive for you.

I compared them to a latter-day Senna and Prost: one is spectacular and blindlingly quick, a megastar on and off the track, but prone to mistakes and lapses of judgement. The other sometimes fails to even register on the radar until you look at the timing screens and realise that he's quietly been getting on with the job and bringing home the trophies.

For a team like McLaren they balance each other out perfectly.