Well it's by far the longest sector. Logical he loses most there.

I dont think being .4 off of Lewis is so bad when you realize that he's still the newcomer to the team. Pretty good starting point against somebody as talented as Lewis is. Will be interesting to see if he's able to claw down that gap over the season or not.

Yep looking like 2 years running now

I think it's pretty rough comparing the drivers at this very early stage of the season. It is simply too early to tell who will shine in either of the top four teams. Tomorrow will give us a chance to see just how each of the top drivers plan to go about dealing with race strategies for non-refuelling.

As for Hamilton v Button, most will agree that Lewis is a faster driver than Button. That does not mean Hamilton will score more points than Button, however. This season more than ever will require race craft and experience. Button has lots of both but Hamilton is a phenomenally quick learner. At this stage I really couldn't say who will have the upper-hand at the end of the season.




Really? All i saw was a car unable to deal with an absurd addition to an awful track where we were never expected to win. In fact I'm going to completely ignore the car's performance at this track and wait till Australia when we will see it on a real race track, not some backyard Ferrari test track.

Rofl 1 qualy session and all the bashers are out in force.

Button was saying that the McLaren tends to oversteer which he hates (and Lewis likes). Rosberg was saying that the Mercedes tends to understeer (which Schuey hates).

No big surprise I suppose that Jensens' old team have built a car that would suit him better than his new one. Personally I think Jensen has done well to be .4 off Hamilton in the first race, there's .3 between Massa and Alonso.

Button doesn't actually mind oversteer he said this pretty recently in some interview its understeeer he doesn't like, he like the front to go where he puts it.

There was about 4 races out of 17 last year where Rubens looked more impressive than Jenson, seriously what on earth are you talking about?

You think Massa is 0.3s quicker than Alonso?

Who knows, he might be, he might not be, only at the end of the season will we be able to say for sure.

I'm a little disappointed but then again it's the first quali of the year and the MAC doesn't seem fast on quali runs, but Jenson's pace on the longer runs is rather good. He didn't seem down so I think he's in good shape for the race, and judging by last year's race craft where he was extracting consistent laptimes and being aggressive, I think some good points will be our target.
Anyway, Massa beat Alonso, Rosberg beat Schumacher.

1 qualy session, the race hasn't even happened yet, get off your high horse.

And about the Button fan thing, i honestly whilst looking through this thread see very little "smug" or over confident Button fans, on the other hand i see many posts like the one you've just made from people supporting Lewis which just make themselves look silly and "smug".

So maybe the MP4-25 is a half way house, that none of them really suits

I think we should wait until race. And than another. And another. And make conclusion after this. But I think realistically no one expect Button to beat LH in his team. He could transform into David - good number two, because he has already won his title. What more he can asked?

OMG are you for real?

So… McLaren have not won a constructers title since 1998 and yet the reason they “may not” have a good car this year is down to Jenson.

After the Alonso “debacle” in 2007 it is fair to assume that the weight of the team was put firmly behind Lewis, and yet he won the 2008 championship by a whisker, and in the following year they produced a car which is widely acknowledged as a dog.

The concept and plans for the MP4-25 will have been well underway before
Button was even a consideration for the team, and yet in your world, the lack of one lap speed is down to Jenson “I’m just an Impediment” Button.

One thing is for sure – you are not a McLaren fan.
For one thing you would have more respect for their determination to “try” and
give both of their drivers an equal opportunity to succeed.
Yes I know they have failed in the past – but you have to admire them for doggedly sticking to that ethos.
The truth of the matter is – if – as you seem to believe- Lewis needs a team that will focus on his needs alone in order to succeed, then he needs to find a team which will function like Ferrari did in Schumacher’s day. Alternatively – you need to get a little faith
in both Lewis and McLaren and stop blaming someone who was brought into the team to help them win their first constructors title in 12 years.

As much as I am a Hamilton fan and I hope Lewis beats the pants off Button, I have to agree with the above. This was one qualifying and we still have the first race to go. I will reserve judgment.

I agree with the above too. Stupid decision to hire Button. And as the car lacked downforce even up to the end of last year, I am livid that they haven't sorted it out. There is something fundamentally wrong with the design of that car. Lewis deserves better.

If McLaren built upon that progress of the second half of last season, for this season (not 2008, 2007 or anything time before that) and left things status quo and did not mess around with a great team to bend over backwards for Button, I do not think Red Bull and Ferrari would have been that much fastest than the team, no.

Once McLaren started to release statements of team engineer moving, setting the car in neutral even though they knew exactly the type of style Lewis likes and meeting Jenson demands, I knew from there Hamilton would start out with a disadvantage which would also be a disadvantage to McLaren racing on a whole and seeing them further down the grid.

There is a lot wrong with that car and they took their eye of the ball for Button.

To the rest of your post, MEH!

Red Bull and Ferrari look like they have built a racing car, not a half way house to suit either of their drivers.

i agree that they should have put all their eggs in one basket to suit Lewis. It worked for MSC and Alonso. It should have worked if Kovi was not a useless driver the WDC and WCC would have been won. McLaren were leading both with 3 races to go. Whitmarsh openly said they would now be making the car 09 neutral so it wont suit either driver. They even had to get rid of Lewis old engineer and his team. That's just plain bs! No way Ferrari or Renault would have treated Schumi or ALonso like that. The problem is that McLaren are British and they wanna be PC and show they are above being impartial. I know this cuz i was as a student and they screw up their own people just to please outsiders who come to settle by showing they are not discriminating. Yeah sorry if I insulted British people. Just saying that I see about the British attitude.

I think they should have left everything the way it was, kept relationships the same and got Button to catch up, now McLaren have put themselves in a sitution where the team have to catch up to two strong racing outfits that will get stronger themselves, Lewis has to build up new engineering relationships and Button has to catch up like he would of had to do anyway.

If everything was left in the same order and the team was not moved around to help Button, the whole racing outfit would have been as aggresive as ever and this would have been more beneficial to Button. He has been walking on cloud nine for how many weeks talking about how he feels at home, which is all fine, but what about the racing?

If Button was made to work a little harder, he would not of had that rude awakening of qualifing in 8th place, with Lewis feeling overwhelmed with 4th and Whitmarsh shocked at Red Bulls pace, because they would have all been fighting it out for pole.

McLaren's problem has been too much change and not the right focus, and that is evident with the whole of today's result.

jenson was more then a match for lewis upto qualy and jenson we know still not comfortable on 1 lap (yet) and then having a problem with the car (during qualy) i hope they find what it is, as i dnt think he would of been that far back from hammy.

So was Heikki...... .

Something tells me they will find absolutely nothing wrong with the car.

Heikki was a match (and a lot more sometimes) upto and including qualy. Hopefully today provides some scope on just how good he was over a single lap. Obviously, the races were a different matter...but Heikki's raw speed was awesome

Yeah i agree. I remember what you said about a week or 2 ago, how you could forsee a lot of car complaints from Button this year, and i guess it has already started. Funny how he says there was something seriously wrong with his car on the last run, yet he was consistently 0.5 slower than Lewis on every signle run he made.....

It is neither here nor there, the point is McLaren have taken their eye of the ball and they are now lagging behind Ferrari and Red Bull.

My season won't get on the way if Hamilton beats Button tomorrow, my season gets on the way once Hamilton has a competitive car to get on and do the business.

I would also stress, Hamilton does not look bad, Button does not look bad, McLaren have egg on their faces, they have produced a $...hit car.

The only problem with the car is that its not a Brawn

Every year before the start of the season I buy a bottle of champagne. The first race win by Lewis I will crack it open.

I've just put it in the fridge. I'm feeling special about tomorrow!!!

What qualifing laps did you watch. In Q1, Q2 and Q3 Jenson was off-pace.

edit: If MS gets better over the season, I can see Mercedes beating Mclaren in the WCC if Jenson doesn't improve.

You better reserve that part of the fridge for a while yet I think.

you missed the word upto

You're right about that - most Button fans, in fact most fans full stop, are pretty cool. Unfortunately there's been one or two really obnoxious button fans lurking around that have probably gotten the backs up of some Lewis fans (myself included). It's unfortunate then that there tends to be a bit of backlash.

The gap was quite consistent:-

Q1 = 0.374s
Q2 = 0.461s
Q3 = 0.455s

Bearing in mind he only just managed to qualify for Q3 he couldnt afford to hold back

I see a lot of people surprised at how Jenson has been a clear second best to Hamilton today in terms of ultimate pace but I don't see it as surprising at all. Clearly the car isn't working the best and isn't as compliant as either driver would like in the slow middle sector - slow corners being Button's speciality. It's almost a cliche by now, but today's performances from the two of them back up the theory that Hamilton is able to extract a lot of speed out of almost anything whereas to access Button's top level of speed he requires more specific handling characteristics with his car. I imagine their pace in qualifying will be much, much closer in other races where the car's handling doesn't look to be so much of a handful.

I think most people already though that

More than a match... when it didn't count. We'll see how the race goes.

I'd put it in the cellar, mate. Could be worth something in a coupla years....

Nice one!

As a fellow Lewis fan, I admire your optimism (and wish I shared it a bit more)... you never know though I guess... shit happens in races... we could see a crash pileup that clears Lewis's way

oi you!

NOT just yet!

Anyway, that was the sector times in qualy:

HAMILTON.....30.409.....61.248....22.944
BUTTON........30.487.....61.446....23.091

Interesting is that Lewis beat him mainly in the sector that is MP4-25 Achilles heel. Maybe this corroborate the theory which said that Lewis can cope with a car not 100% perfect and is more adaptable than Jens.

I could not have worded it better myself. Button was second best in Q1, 2 & 3, then had the cheek to blame the car. I believe at some circuits it will be close. But their will be some where he just isn't fast enough.

After 1 qualifying session the sky is falling in some peoples mind.

Lewis showed today that he can work with the car when all is not going well & we saw that Jenson needs optimum set up to perform at his best.

All is not lost here though there's the race tomorrow I believe Lewis & Jenson will perform well tomorrow. Lewis I think will be on the podium

S2 is twice as long and he gained 1 tenths in the other sectors. Perhaps he is slight better in S2 but not as much as those numbers suggest.

I have faith, mate...just couldn't resist a wisecrack...

Actually, he lost most in S3.

Not really S2 makes up 53% of the lap and Button loses 47% of the gap in S2, so i'd say he's losing time to Lewis all round the track

Yes...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend any fan of Jenson most of whom are pretty decent. But as you said there were some Button fans last year who were very very unpleasant, especially with regard to Lewis Hamilton, and it did get my back up. In fact, at the start of last season I was actually cheering for Button, until the non-stop gloating of certain Button "fans" (who now appear to have left/been banned from the forum) turned me off him.

That said, I still don't think that Button is really World Champion material and I imagine Lewis will give him a spanking this season...but at the end of the day he is World Champion and no one can take that away from him...

Poor Jenson. It is going to be a long season for him, with lots of 'car problems'.

Trolls dont leave they just stay away when things dont go there way, wait till Button beats Lewis and you'd feel the full wrath