Jenson Button's Troubles

Jenson Button's struggles in his McLaren have been one of the defining issues of this season so far.

Button was second in the championship in 2011 but this year, starting from the fourth or fifth race, he has struggled - and he doesn't seem to know why.

The answer is tied up with another of 2012's central themes - the difficulty many teams have had understanding how to make the new Pirelli tyres work with their cars.

Button has a very particular driving style and so far he is having trouble making it work with this year's Pirellis.

We'll come on to the tyres in a moment, but first let's compare Button's driving style with Lewis Hamilton, his McLaren team-mate.

Most drivers of high-performance cars rush up to the corner, stand on the brakes at the last minute, 'stop' the car, turn it and then get back on the throttle. It's exactly what Hamilton does.

Button, by contrast, will brake more gently and turn in a little earlier while simultaneously braking - something the Pirellis are not great at - before taking more speed into the apex of the corner, and be gentler with the throttle on corner exit.

He makes a more blended corner, and it means he needs a car that is balanced for a longer distance mid-corner.

Button's problem has been getting the right amount of grip from the tyres. It's not a unique problem for him, but he has probably been suffering from it more than most.

This year's Pirelli tyres are very different from last year's. They have been deliberately designed to have a narrow working-temperature window, the idea being to make it more difficult for the engineers and drivers to get the most out of them.

What happens is that the grip will continually improve as the tyre gets towards the working window. But if it goes above it, the grip level deteriorates. So there is a sort of artificial on-off switch.

In qualifying, the difficult thing is to get the front and rear tyre temperatures evenly balanced. It's easy to get the rears up to temperature simply by spinning the wheels. The fronts are a different matter.

Many of the teams will have been playing with the tyre blankets - which heat up the tyres before they go out on to the track - to try to solve this.

It's not easy, because how the blankets are used, at what temperature, and for how long, can have a massive effect on the behaviour of the tyres.

But that can only ever be part of the story. How the driver drives the car out on the track is at least as important

Hamilton's style - braking late and hard - is one good way of getting the front tyre temperatures up.

Being nice and gentle on the tyres, as Button will naturally be, means you don't get the temperature in these Pirellis, and his desire to turn and brake at the same time is counter to the way the tyres want to be used.

Button is not the only driver whose natural style is to do this - Ferrari's Fernando Alonso is one of them. The key difference, though, is that the Spaniard has adapted.

Whenever I watch Alonso on the track, I see someone who modifies his driving style from lap to lap.

He has done that throughout his career, adopting different driving styles depending on the needs of his car. What's more, he can do that within two or three laps.

A lot of people do that, but I don't think Button does. He has his way of driving and that's it.

That's not being critical - it's just the way it is. Rubens Barrichello was the same. Some need specific things; others adapt.

Throughout his career, Button has been among the very fastest of drivers when he is in a car which reacts well to his driving style.

But when he's not happy with his car, he has been far less effective. He's not as adaptable as some of his rivals.

Solving Button's tyre problems will not be easy - but there are things McLaren could do to make life easier for him.

If they would focus on getting a car that reacts better to Button's characteristics, Hamilton could still use it. But if they build a car that reacts to Lewis's characteristics, Jenson can't use it.

Some might argue that the tyres should not play such a big role in the outcome of races, or individual drivers' careers.

This is an argument that has been used this year in another way.

The fragility of the tyres means drivers always to some extent have to drive within the absolute limit of their cars. Some argue that cheapens the sport and reduces the difference drivers can make.

I don't agree, for two reasons.

Firstly, if you look at what Alonso has achieved this year in a car that is nowhere near the best, it's obviously completely untrue to say driver skill is not making a difference.

Equally, though, is driving within the limitations of your equipment not part of racing? I've seen it through many years - think back to the 1980s when there were fuel restrictions. It's part of the discipline. I'm not sure it's ever been different.

F1 is a team sport. The driver and the team work together to make the car work as well as possible and then it's up to the driver to get the most out of his equipment in the race.

Part of the reason some of the smaller teams have featured at the front this year is that it's not always the big teams who get this right.

You could go to a track with the Red Bull and not have it set up properly and be slow. Get it right, and it's quick.

This year, the lap-time difference between the cars in qualifying and the start of the race is about two seconds more than it should be, taking fuel weight into account.

For some drivers, it is more than two seconds, for others less. For me, that difference is determined by which teams have got their cars set up best and which drivers have worked out how to drive within the tyres most effectively.

Is that not what F1 should be all about?

Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/18669094

I find it amusing that people fall over themselves making excuses for JBs poor showing recently but do not do the same with other drivers on the grid. Most notably Schumacher and Hamilton. Especially on the BBC.

The suggestion that Mclaren change the car to suit the slower driver is quite frankly ludicrous. The suggestion that he has also been one of the fastest drivers when he's had the package is also false.

People need to stop making excuses for JB and tell it like it is, he isn't as good as the Beeb, Brundle and co have made him out to be. Same with The Finger who needs a car a second faster than everyone else to win or dominate races

Belgarion of Riva wrote: Same with The Finger who needs a car a second faster than everyone else to win or dominate races

Like when he won in the Toro Rosso you mean? The hyperbole around Button elsewhere is equally annoying as the vitrol Vettel receives. He has won in a slower car. Wasn't too long ago he was being dubbed 'the lapper' as people thought he couldn't overtake. It then became pretty clear that it was more to do with not having the oppoutunity too rather than not being able to.

I agree with you on Button though. He has been a long way back from his teammate this season, and that's in a team were no one driver is favoured over the other. That's usually a pretty telling sign for me of a driver's ability. If McLaren's pit crew had been so amatuer this season, Button's woes may be highlighted even further as Hamilton would be even further in front.

How many races did he win in a Torro Rosso? Where did he start on the grid? What were the weather conditions on the day?

I'm sorry, I do not believe The Finger (aka The Lapper) is a great driver. When he can't disappear into the distance, he doesn't win races.

Can you think of any race where he's demonstrated supreme race craft or a race where he has overcome challenges like Alonso just did to win.

In F1 sometimes a car you would least expect to win a race does, it's happened in the past and will happen again.

Vettel has won 2 championships but is no way as good as is made out to be.

Belgarion of Riva wrote:How many races did he win in a Torro Rosso? Where did he start on the grid? What were the weather conditions on the day?

I'm sorry, I do not believe The Finger (aka The Lapper) is a great driver. When he can't disappear into the distance, he doesn't win races.

Can you think of any race where he's demonstrated supreme race craft or a race where he has overcome challenges like Alonso just did to win.

In F1 sometimes a car you would least expect to win a race does, it's happened in the past and will happen again.

Vettel has won 2 championships but is no way as good as is made out to be.

Alonso pretty much said this when he rated Hamilton above Vettel (and quite frankly said he was the best out there). And what's he to know ?

Agree with most of what you say Belgarion but for me the tyres now play TOO much of a role. All you ever hear is tyes this and tyres that from start to finish over a race weekend. They should be something that has to be managed over a race distance but not to the point where a driver daren't race and instead relies on DRS.

To emphaise my point I watched an old clip on youtube with Hamilton-v-Vettel in GP2 days and the wheel to wheel racing was brilliant. This went on for lap after lap before Hamilton finaly got thru. No worries about following too close to another car, no worries about late breaking or sliding the car into or out of the corners - just wheel to wheel action. Contrast this to Melbourne this year when after losing 2nd place to the safety car Hami had to drop off Vettel about 2 laps after the restart because he could feel his tyres falling away in dirty air and had to tip toe home robbing us of a grandstand finish GP2 style.

Also speaking of tyre management its arguable that 'the cliff' in this years tyres is unmanageable because a driver cannot feel it coming. Sure they can feel and manage the degradation but they are then walking on a false bottom. This is what happened to Hamilton in Valencia and it cost him big time.

The tyre situation is a farce. Personally I would do away with the use 2 types of tyre rule, make durable tyres and let the racers race.

I would also ensure that double floors, flexi wings and blown diffusers and off throttle diffusers are permanently banned. Anyone found to be breaking those rules should be stripped of any points achieved.

Let them race and we'll sort out the men from the boys and the racers from the lappers

I'll reiterate what BoR has said, Monza was a freak race, nothing more.

The tyre rules do need changing, let the driver choose the tyre that works better for them and race on that tyre all race. Whats the reason behind the 2 tyre rule - to level the playing field?

I agree that the "add ons" for these cars should be more strictly scrutanised as RB are constantly pushing further than the boundries allow - every year there's something on the RB car that is being objected to. Its tiring.

Monza was not the only stand out result for Vettel. He took a team averaging around 14th in 2007 into the points, and kept them there in 2008. STR finished 6th in the Constructors in 2008. The following season Vettel left for Red Bull and STR finished last in the Constructors.

In his first season with Red Bull he finished 2nd in the Championship behind Button, despite the arguabley faster Ferraris and McLarens on the grid and a lot of early season unreliability from the Red Bulls. Red Bull finished 2nd in the Constructors in 2009 (Vettel's first season) having finished behind Vettel's STR the season before.

Call Monza 2008 a freak all you like. Vettel has gone on to prove that it wasn't quite.

Red Bull had the fastest car in the second half of the 2009 season (Brawn had just enough in the bag from the first half to cling on). Because of the double diffuser Ferrari and Mclaren in particular were basically nowhere.

The Brawns and RedBulls were the class of the field in 2009. The Mclaren was useless and Ferrari stopped development mid season to concentrate on the 2010 car, so I'm a bit confused where you've pulled that one from.

I asked a simple question. Can you name one race, just one, where Vettel exhibited racecraft and turned a horrible situation on track to a race win. Just one

The Red Bull was not that great in 2009 either. It had plenty of relaibility problems and Vettel in particular was in danger of running out of usable engines by the end of the season. Hamilton had 4 pole positions in the final 7 races of 2009 - converting only 1 of those into a race win. Their car was nowhere near as bad as being made out.

In answer to your leading question, nope there aren't any where he has won a race although asking whether he has done something that a veteran of the sport has done is a bit churlish don't you think? Vettel has plenty of time on his side, but the RB8 is not built with slicing through the field as priority. It's one of the worst in the field in the dirty air and can not outpace many cars in a straight line so overtaking oppourtunities are more restricted.

However, no matter what Vettel achieves people will always point to something that he hasn't done. Each driver has their strong points, and invariably their weak.The irony is, I don't even like Vettel. But the downgrading of his achievements is getting pretty tedious.

The MP4-24 was initially terrible - more than 2 seconds off the pace out of the box. It improved massively when Mclaren finaly managed to bolt a double diffuser onto it midway thru the season. But it was still not in the league of the 'double decker' Red Bull and Brawn cars designed from the ground up and it was largely flattered by Hamilton who I believe also won at Singapore.
That said this thread has now gone way off topic.

SteveG wrote:this thread has now gone way off topic.

It always does when it come to analysing JB, that's why I could'nt be bothered contributing because it always ends up talking about Brawn in 2009 and that has been discussed to hell and back. The fact is without an ultra-competitive car and perfect setup, Jenson is sadly a midfield runner.

John wrote:
Jenson is sadly a midfield runner.

Too kind IMO.

Edit: There's little to debate re Jenson, hence why this thread has gone off topic. He was just in the right place at the right time in 2009.

liverbnz wrote:

John wrote:
Jenson is sadly a midfield runner.

Too kind IMO.

That was me being nice about JB's abilities, it doesn't happen too often.

Wow, you guys aren't exactly impressed by the all conquering JB. It appears you've not been watching BBC's coverage.

JB is the man as far as they are concerned. They've hyped him up so much, he started believing it. Reality has set in