Could not going to testing have compromised Jenson Button?

[PlatinumZealot]

I think the other teams have just gotten much more into the mix. The Saubers are knocking on the Q3 door, so are Williams, the Force Indias, and MASSA too! Button was only 3 tenths down on Hamilton in Monaco. That's probably the normal gap between the two but nowadays every last hundredth counts, and you gotta be adaptable to these ever changing Pirelli tyres. We have seen so many times where Button loved the Balance in FP1, hates it in FP2, Loves it in FP3, hates in Q3, the race etc. He is like a lilly, too easily affected by outside changes.

In regard to the New nose, it might be tempted to blame it, but the higher nose is supposed to be favourable to Jenson since it's supposed to move the centre of pressure rearward, more to his style. However, maybe the Pirellis have just thrown any aerobalance tuning out the window.

[GrizzleBoy]

Hmm it seems his quali times have been just under two tenths slower when they were close and about half a second when they werent.

As you say, with the margins getting so tight, you just dont get any leeway if you're not fully "there".

As far as the nose goes, I still think it's strange how he's been unable to dial in his car to at least reach Q3 since they put it on the car.

I know it's supposed to favour his style by getting more aero efficiency on the rear of the car, but the fact of the matter seems to be that he is (at the moment) incapable of utilizing whatever benefit it may be giving in terms of setting up the car or understanding how it affects the car.

Then again, we still have tomorrow to see how his setup actually affects the race.

[Nando]

I think the nose might play a part. It really doesn´t seem to give any form of performance enhancement from the outside and i almost banked on them bringing the low one to Monaco in order to get the CoG as low as possible.

Who knows if the slightly lower CoG would aid the Pirelli´s massively around here?
And visibility,

[myurr]

I think the nose might play a part. It really doesn´t seem to give any form of performance enhancement from the outside and i almost banked on them bringing the low one to Monaco in order to get the CoG as low as possible.

Who knows if the slightly lower CoG would aid the Pirelli´s massively around here?
And visibility,

The benefit is it directs more air down under the nose which is then channeled down and around to the rear of the car. The team knows if the slightly lower CoG would aid the Pirelli's massively, and have judged that the aero benefits out weigh the CoG losses. Teams don't guess, it's all analysed and calculated to the nth degree.

[Nando]

The benefit is it directs more air down under the nose which is then channeled down and around to the rear of the car. The team knows if the slightly lower CoG would aid the Pirelli's massively, and have judged that the aero benefits out weigh the CoG losses. Teams don't guess, it's all analysed and calculated to the nth degree.

Frankly i would have believed you but since they started out with a low nose then just developed a higher nose mid-season just say they probably do not know that much.

Surely they have simulated both things before the season, then chosen a path to go on but they just changed philosophy in Spain or whatever it was.

Everyone said "Mclaren has tested both options they feel low nose is the best one etc" turns out they are having second thoughts.

[GrizzleBoy]

Well, another race in after the nose change and Button is still wading in a heavily fogged marshland with no exit in sight.

As each GP goes by, I cant help but feel that button would not be so literally lost in the woods (I know its not literally but it sounds dramatic, leave me alone) in terms of setting his car up to at leaast get into Q3 comfortably had McLaren actually tested their new nose further than just doing a single run in Mugello over the few days they were there.

[Shrieker]

So... You guys are saying he's basically choking ? Well, to be honest, that awfully reminds me of someone I happen to know closely. Me.It happens to me(or let's say used to) in iracing. When I'm in clear air I'm with the fastish guys, but when someone's around I'm not so good. Could it be happening to Button ? While I can't rule it out %100, I most definitely wouldn't expect it from a driver who competes at such a high level. No, I don't think it's the case, his problem should be something else.

[myurr]

Well, another race in after the nose change and Button is still wading in a heavily fogged marshland with no exit in sight.

As each GP goes by, I cant help but feel that button would not be so literally lost in the woods (I know its not literally but it sounds dramatic, leave me alone) in terms of setting his car up to at leaast get into Q3 comfortably had McLaren actually tested their new nose further than just doing a single run in Mugello over the few days they were there.

Correlation != causation. Given Canada's limited running where they also changed the rear suspension geometry from Friday to Saturday, I'd say that whilst it doesn't look great we should give him the benefit of the doubt that it was just an isolated bad weekend. If the trend continues in Valencia then we can say it's definitely him.

Edit: It's worth noting that he was still around 0.3s off his team mate in qualifying, a margin he's had throughout most of the season. So his raw pace wasn't far off where it usually is, his setup was just utterly wrong for tyre preservation in the race which was probably compounded by the differences in track temperature between Saturday and Sunday.

[GrizzleBoy]

I would call it an isolated bad weekend, if it wasn't the third in a row.

[myurr]

I would call it an isolated bad weekend, if it wasn't the third in a row.

In qualifying he was his usual 0.3 seconds off Lewis, in the race it was the first time he's been that far off the pace. He's certainly not on top of his issues, whatever they may be, but it would be unfair to judge his progress based on that unusual weekend.

The point remains though that we have no evidence that it has anything to do with the nose on the car, nor that going to that one test would have magically solved all the issues that they have been unable to get on top of over a period of weeks covering 3 race weekends.