I voted for button to win in spain......AND in monaco

[lebesset]

I suppose that somebody had to ...don't remember who put up the quiz but I suspect that I was the only vote for him

but I seriously thought he had a chance !

in the previous race the team put him on a 3 stopper ; unfortunately they changed it during the race to a 3.5 stop strategy by bringing him in when there was still life in both of the first 2 sets of tyre so that his last set was a disaster [ to get him out into clean air was the explanation ] ; nevertheless he finished in the points , albeit a minute behind

I was fortunate enough to be able to watch [ TV ]all the practise sessions in spain , and it seemed to me that button could make better use of the tyres... ...especially the superhard ...than anyone except maybe the RB's and for that reason would go for a 3 atopper despite the horlicks the team made of it in the previous race



MODERATOR...COULD YOU PLEASE MOVE THIS TO GENERAL CHAT PLEASE , SORRY FOR THE MISCLICK

so I voted for twinkletoes on that basis , and who knows what would have happened if he had not bogged down at the start , the leaders went at it hammer and tongs and button still was only 36 secs behind despite being 10th at the end of lap 1

anyone got a record of how far behind button was after 3 or 4 laps ?

when button went to McLaren I didn't see him putting hamilton in the shade , but expected him to be close behind ; maybe with his ' keep the wheels in a straight line ' style the new tyres will play to button's strengths

probably not at monaco , but I expect to see button on the top step this season

[wesley123]

He is realy gentle on the tires, that is good, iic he stopped one time less last race for example, there it was a good 20 sec he saved with that. but he needs to be quicker for it to pay off.

[Just_a_fan]

Button's "be gentle with the tyres" doesn't help him against a guy who is quick enough to make a pitstop up on him. Hamilton stopped one extra time (so that's +20s) and still finished 35s ahead of Button. So he was nearly 0.833s a lap quicker than Button (55s over 66laps). Button was held by traffic following a poor start so that needs to be factored in but even so I doubt he'd be 20s quicker than Hamilton/Vettel whilst nursing his tyres.

With the tyres as they are I think his "I'll be gentle and they'll help me win" approach to the tyres isn't going to be very helpful.

If Pirelli develop the harder tyre to give more life but only a bit of pace deficit then that might play in to his hands. But currently that doesn't seem too likely because it will mean they develop a Bridgestone-style tyre which the FIA doesn't want.

[lebesset]

well , I don't believe this !!!
30% of people think button will win a race this season ...I thought I would be a voice in the wilderness!

and having watched both thursday sessions and listened to the tyre wear discussions on the BBC I think , despite my previous comment , that he has a real chance in monaco

1 stop !!!

btw , just a fan , I have been trying to find out how far behind he was before he was able to overtake on lap 5 , nor how far he was behind at lap 47 [ the first 3 all changed to primes about then so that you could see their relative performances in the last stint ] ; would be interesting to know who won a 62 lap race !

[marcush.]

being able to carry the tyres is surely a bonus when it comes to pitstop window size,but I doubt he should try to do his races with less pitstops.
for example bad start ...being last in the queue I really doubt a long stint will help you at all.You need to dive into the pits as early as possible to get rid of the people that are really able to hold you up.So Early stop knocked back ,yes but enables you to go at your speed as early as possible.So when the train of cars is finally diving into the pits you have already done 3or 4 laps at Your speed and should be easily in front of the whole mess and back on target.

[PlatinumZealot]

He can win, but his style is heavily dependent on the mistakes of his rivals.

[Richard]

Of course he has a good chance of winning at some point. He's a proven race winner and is in a race winning car, it simply needs the dice to fall his way. There are enough races in the season for things to work out for him, perhaps an error by others or fortunate timing with the safety car or weather.

To be topical in the Monaco weekend, we once saw Panis win at Monaco. So it is fair to say that every driver in a top team has a chance of winning at some point in a season.

[lebesset]

big thanks to richard leeds , who has posted up all the statistics to enable my assessment of what happened

as we all saw , button bogged down at the start , pushed to the outside , and ended the first lap in 10th place 6.504 seconds behind ; by the time he was able to make an overtake on lap 4[ no DRS , bunched traffic etc ] he was over 12 seconds behind

to try to assess his strategy I made the assumption that he had an average start , couldn't overtake anybody off the start , but able to keep his 5th place ; on that basis he would have been following the front 4 some some 17.5 seconds slower on his older tyres before changing for the last stint , but needing a pit stop less ; so not a great deal in it other than the start , especially considering the overtakes he had to make

if he makes a 1 stopper in monaco ?[ I am convinced someone will if not him ] ; if he can do that he would take the lead when they made their second stop ; they would then be quite a lot faster , but overtaking at monaco is an oxymoron !!!!

[Mr Alcatraz]

Of course he has a good chance of winning at some point. He's a proven race winner and is in a race winning car, it simply needs the dice to fall his way. There are enough races in the season for things to work out for him, perhaps an error by others or fortunate timing with the safety car or weather.

To be topical in the Monaco weekend, we once saw Panis win at Monaco. So it is fair to say that every driver in a top team has a chance of winning at some point in a season.

If the chips fall his way he can win. Albeit there are at least 4 better pilots on the grid!

[PlatinumZealot]

I think Button can really win this one!

[lebesset]

well n smikle , you have more confidence in the McLaren strategy than me ; in spain it was a no-brainer for button , but in turkey they had to decide and ended up doing neither a long strategy NOR a short one

I can see it happening again!

I saw an interview with button in which he was asked about this year's strategy ; he said you had to leave it to the team because you no longer had any idea who was doing what !

must have been easier in bridgestone days when all you had to do was decide when to change from soft to hard

[Richard]

If the chips fall his way he can win. Albeit there are at least 4 better pilots on the grid!

The first few chips have gone his way. All it needs is a good start and the narrow street will do the rest .....

[lebesset]

4 better pilots tazio ,I don't see it that way ; it all depends on the characteristics of the car

in the RB I would see button followed by vettel as best
in the McLaren hamilton followed by alonso

frankly I thought button did exceptionally well last year in a car that didn't really suit him ; he won by craft , not outright speed
this year the car is somewhat nearer to him , but has not had the best of luck , and unless you have the fastest car you always need that

when I was a small boy , [pre-TV ] my parents used to take me to the cinema , and if there had been a GP the previous week the newsreel would show some highlights [ remember newsreels?... younger members can google ] I quickly became a fangio fan , and was always disappointed if he wasn't leading ; my father would say ...don't worry , he will be the one with fuel and tyres at the end ...he will win ....and he generally did !

button has that capacity , can't compare the outright speed ..different generations

I am not saying button is a jim clark , never was before or since in my opinion ; he had fast but fragile cars which he rarely drove flat out ...nobody could beat him in an equal car , he was virtually flawless

[Richard]

If the chips fall his way he can win. Albeit there are at least 4 better pilots on the grid!

The first few chips have gone his way. All it needs is a good start and the narrow street will do the rest .....

Vettel has a poor pit stop ... another element fallen into place for Button

[Richard]

Safety Car - another piece falling into place