Embarrassment for Hamilton? The Reborn Button...

[chepoi]

can you please shut up!!!! shhhhhhh...........

[GrizzleBoy]

Honestly anyone who thinks Button is anywhere close to as good a driver as Hamilton in any conditions must have been hit in the head harder than Massa.

Wet or Dry, Michelins or Pirellis, passing or defending, Hamilton is far superior

So superior that Button managed to beat him pretty comprehensively last year. Not what I would call "far" superior at all. But of course, Button is "no where close to as good as Hamilton" is he?

Tbh, it was more like Hamilton defeated himself more than anything.

All Button had to do to get ahead was finish races while Hamilton was buy fighting with Massa and driving with reckless abandon.

If Lewis combines his speed with the mindset of getting his car home in one piece as opposed to "win! win! win! win everything! Gotta pass! Gotta win!", he'll put pressure on the new number one McLaren driver simply by finishing races as his car is obviously fast enough.

If it was the case where Button simply outdrove Lewis in head to head competition, then I'd say Button earned the right to be officially "better" than Hamilton.

As it stands, he basically beat someone who was driving like an imbecile at times and defeated himself way before Button had the chance to.

Like David Coulthard was saying to Jake Humphrey in the makeup room, you dont want to win against someone who's not providing competition, you want to win when everyone is giving their best, but your best was better.

This I think, is the proper season to judge the two in terms of driver skill and just watching Lewis' hands on the wheel, you couldn't rule out the possibility of him regaining his number one spot.

If he does become No.1 again, 2011 will be the year Jenson won because "Hamilton was a wreck on and off the track etc etc etc". At least in the media and general opinion.

If Button retains his dominance in the team, it will prove that he is indeed the better of the two in the team. The media are already pushing for him to be "the guy" this season and staying on top will solidify that.

[Maynard G. Krebs]

By that logic, any idiot who stomped on the gas pedal and stuffed it into the first corner fence would be better than anyone else.
Maybe Lewis would make a good drag racer.

Of course, being on pole does help his case just a bit.

[Websta]

Honestly anyone who thinks Button is anywhere close to as good a driver as Hamilton in any conditions must have been hit in the head harder than Massa.

Wet or Dry, Michelins or Pirellis, passing or defending, Hamilton is far superior

So superior that Button managed to beat him pretty comprehensively last year. Not what I would call "far" superior at all. But of course, Button is "no where close to as good as Hamilton" is he?

Tbh, it was more like Hamilton defeated himself more than anything.

All Button had to do to get ahead was finish races while Hamilton was buy fighting with Massa and driving with reckless abandon.

If Lewis combines his speed with the mindset of getting his car home in one piece as opposed to "win! win! win! win everything! Gotta pass! Gotta win!", he'll put pressure on the new number one McLaren driver simply by finishing races as his car is obviously fast enough.

If it was the case where Button simply outdrove Lewis in head to head competition, then I'd say Button earned the right to be officially "better" than Hamilton.

As it stands, he basically beat someone who was driving like an imbecile at times and defeated himself way before Button had the chance to.

Like David Coulthard was saying to Jake Humphrey in the makeup room, you dont want to win against someone who's not providing competition, you want to win when everyone is giving their best, but your best was better.

This I think, is the proper season to judge the two in terms of driver skill and just watching Lewis' hands on the wheel, you couldn't rule out the possibility of him regaining his number one spot.

If he does become No.1 again, 2011 will be the year Jenson won because "Hamilton was a wreck on and off the track etc etc etc". At least in the media and general opinion.

If Button retains his dominance in the team, it will prove that he is indeed the better of the two in the team. The media are already pushing for him to be "the guy" this season and staying on top will solidify that.

I think Lewis is better, but my point was that Button is very close to his level - not "nowhere close" as that other idiot said.

[CHT]

Nicole is back

[Mysticf1]

Button is really coming of age, he's really grown into a very competitive driver. All the better for F1

[beelsebob]

Having seen the way button drove today, I'm seriously tempted to go bet on him being WDC this year. The only reason I don't is that (of course) the odds suck now.

[Echo]

Still, Formula 1 needs Hamilton. IM NOT A RASIST, but we need drivers such as Lewis to be a "dark" childrens hero. [...]

On the record, Lewis Hamilton is bloody fast and in the end speed is everything. Say whatever about him but the fundamentals of Formula 1 is SPEED!

[PlatinumZealot]

I am a shamed Hamilton fan! What has Hamilton gone to? lol How could his pace in Q3 not convert to the race? Never mind he lost 10 seconds to Vettel after the first round of pitstops but he couldn't catch Button who was unstoppable today.

Hamilton has lost his speed? Or he just doesn't know to drive on these tyres? His pace was similar to Buttons after a few laps but why did he let Button eek out that 4 second gap? I hope it's only because Button is good at Australia.

[PlatinumZealot]

Having seen the way button drove today, I'm seriously tempted to go bet on him being WDC this year. The only reason I don't is that (of course) the odds suck now.

It's one race though. It might be a one off. Lets wait until the European season. It Hamilton keeps on Pole'ing he is sure to get some wins in the Bag. I don't know what is it that Button is doing with the tyres but it is working very well. These tyre conservation regs definitely don't suit Hamilton - once you lose by a big gap you will never make it back on sheer pace, only tyre life - and that aint happening against Button.

I look forward to Malaysia, a track that Hamilton has had bad luck at in the past. If he can turn things around there, he can do it more regularly on the other "normal" tracks.

Tracks were I think, Goes to Button with no question this year dry or wet:

AUS
MALAYSIA - abrasive surface
JAPAN
INDIA

These are just 4 tracks I can think of.. It does not look too bad for Hamilton.

[NathanOlder]

Definatley the Tyre situation in F1 doesnt help his cause. If Lewis was around 10 years earlier he would have more success.

Lewis' Style doesnt suit Pirelli rubber. Its not his fault, but its not an excuse. Its just the way it is.

Much in the same way, Jenson's style suits it.

Shows that Mclaren have the best driver combo. All situations covered, wet or dry, or a track thats easy or hard on the tyres.

I expect The title will go all the way, but Mclaren will win the WCC easily

[CHT]

Definatley the Tyre situation in F1 doesnt help his cause. If Lewis was around 10 years earlier he would have more success.

Lewis' Style doesnt suit Pirelli rubber. Its not his fault, but its not an excuse. Its just the way it is.

Much in the same way, Jenson's style suits it.

Shows that Mclaren have the best driver combo. All situations covered, wet or dry, or a track thats easy or hard on the tyres.

I expect The title will go all the way, but Mclaren will win the WCC easily

too early to write off RBR as the spec-B RB8 is still at its infancy stage of development. Considering the limited time they had with the car during the last 2 days of testing, to be able to turn up at finish 2nd and 4th is actually a big achievement for the team.

[raymondu999]

In a way the Red Bull still has data collection and understanding to be done - I don't think they've gotten the finer details of setups for the B-spec down solidly yet for example. But at the same time - while Red Bull are understanding their car McLaren is capitalising on their understood car for WCC points. I have to agree with McLaren for the WCC though I think the WDC wouldn't be as clear as such.

[Pup]

Its a fallacy to think that a car has more development potential just because it's slower. McLaren learned a lot this race, too. And they've got some go-fast bits in the works just like every other team.

[beelsebob]

They learnt things like "put enough fuel in the car"