You are right....I think some Ham. fans have just been too pissed off with remarks of folks like Timba who over the last months keep going on about Jenson's silky smooveness and his superior race craft and how Lewis will chew his tires etc...and cant wait to dig in.

But when you look at Jenson's performance on its own, he did ok... atleast much better than some of Heikki's going backward in races.

Its only in comparison to Lewis that he looks a bit bad, that wasnt necc. unexpected...but I say I still see signs if we improve the car, Jenson will be capable of achieving 1-2s in the race with Lewis ....and being much more of a threat to the Ferraris and Red Bulls than Heikki could

I'm sure that at some point in the season we will get the opportunity to compare Lewis and Jenson on race pace, and quite possibly Lewis will turn out to be faster.

But that didn't happen today, so what's the point of pretending that it did?

lol.... come on now

yes, at some point both guys were stuck behind traffic in the races

but if you didnt see enough evidence of Lewis being faster today then you never will

Its posts like this that encourage lots of gloating after race weekends

As a Mclaren fan for many years, i must say iam disappointed by the Maca fans here who are putting Button down. Granted, he has never been my favorite driver nor do i expect him to be as quick as Lewis. If Alonso a two time WDC, could not beat him as a rookie, do you guys expect Button to beat him when he has had three years experience and on his first race? Give the guy a chance, judge him after five or six races...we need to encourage him not belate him after one race. We want our drivers to do well for constructors and the journey ahead will be long and tough. The only request i would have for Jensen is to stop blaming the car ALWAYS.

And who laid off Lewis when he started with 50% less downforce, KERs and without the double diffusers, his haters torn strips into him, didnt not acknowledge the unbalancing system of the KERS and did not acknowledge being without the double diffuser meant he was more challenged as a driver with 50% less downforce too.

In their eyes he was a rubbish driver, even though he still pushed the car beyond its limits, remained the late braker, gave it his all in wet races and found himself on the podium before the fantastic team building transformation of the car.

From the advantage Button had at the beginning of the season, through all the disavatanges Lewis had, Button became the better driver, as if they completely missed the all of the seasons Lewis Hamilton has been in.

The facts are the facts, lewis is one but a handful of the great late brakers and pushes his car beyond its limits. Jenson drives within the limits, and will need to work a lot harder and use every ounce of the car much more to remotely catch up to Hamilton, Jense is filled with smug confidence now that he has settled in the team it is time to build his racing skills.

We did, in qualifying, Lewis was half second quicker and there was a part when jenson was in clear air, and that was the time he should have put the brake on and cleared Schumacher. Jenson has admitted to not using his tyres enough, that is all that needs to be said.

Havn't read all the posts but I'm struggling to find any mouthing off button fans bigging him up prior to the first race, seems to me this forum is full with people obsessed with lewis which if fine.
Lewis is very fast, faster then Jenson but it's still okay for Jenson supporters to have hope and carry on supporting their boy as they have done through the $hit years & the good years,
Lets give him a few more race's to settle in before passing final judgment.

Lewis was stuck behind another car before the first pit stop, Jenson was stuck behind another car for the entire race.

At no point did he have more than about 4 seconds of free air in front of him, and mostly it was about 1 second.

We didn't see how fast Jenson could go today - why is that so hard to grasp?

Man, I hate that excuse. Alonso didn't take long to get used to the Ferrari. And Massa never had his engineer taken from him. Come on! You're right about the exceptional driver bit. I remember so many saying that Hamilton wouldn't be able to last on a one stopper on his tyres as he would destroy them and that Button would get the better of him because of his smooth driving style. Is that argument defunct now?

Those where McLaren and Lewis bashers.

Jenson is one of our drivers now, a great bloke and a WDC who has never bashed lewis or McLaren. We shouldn't be throwing rocks at one of our own drivers, otherwise we deserve no better then 2007. Look at Ferrari and Massa vs Alonso, do we really want to decend into something like that when neither driver has done anything wrong and are getting on OK.


Button Lewis McLaren

There was only one who wasn't even a button fan and whos statements where so OTT that they was easy to ignore.

I have found most Button fans very pleasant and non-abusive.

Vettel didnt take long to settle in the Red Bull and it is clear Webber has not made his time easy either, not like he is laying down watching a kid take over his team, well documented by Alonso that there is in team professional fighting between Webber and Vettel.

All what matters is what you do on the tracks.

Don't agree, Button gloated, bragged and repeated on many occasion that he lapped Hamilton.

Did he?

I can't remeber anything.

Yes he did, I only remember because I felt the pain. He also mentioned it in one award ceremony, I am pretty sure it was the BBC's sports personality, but I cannot be held on that.

McLaren was so far off the radar last year that saying you'd lapped a mclaren wouldn't make much impact, much the same as saying I've lapped a Virgin is today.

Also if he had being degenerating McLaren I don't think Martin would have hired him, eg: as the case is with Webber.

I don't even know why this thread exists because they are not even in the same league.

+1 This incessant beating up of Button must stop. The team come first and Button is part of Mclaren. Give him time and lets see what he can do, because he is a WDC and deserves some respect. It does not make us Mclaren fans look balanced, if we continually beat up on one of our drivers. This was the hall mark of the Tifosi. We Mclaren fans have more class than that and that includes me, because even I was getting carried away with having a dig at Button. It ends today. Well for me at least.

You mean it was a jokey competitive saying, like when he was on top gear and ask how he will do against Lewis?

Take pleasure in Button getting beat, but I don't think he needs bashing, if he sells them out to Max then go right ahead

I love to read all these post,but the bottom line is there are a bunch of people that are in denial about Lewis skills,I know its early but i he will continue to beat Button,I remember the start of the 08 season,people were hoping that Heikki would beat Lewis but we know that didn't happen.The guy is good,it's that simple.

The same would happen if it was the other way around only I think x 10.

As a recent poll showed, Lewis has like 10 times the amount of fans on this board than Jenson has, so I don't see that happening at all.

You know why people are on him,thank the team for that.It's the way they bend over backwords for Jenson and push Lewis to the side,That shouldn't have happen when you have a caliber driver like Lewis,he should be treated alot more better.

I doubt Lewis is complaining, he's probably welcoming his time out of the spotlight.

If this really is why, then the bashing is even more depressing then I thought in the first place. Why bash Button for something that McLaren caused? Ofcourse he wants to feel welcome in the team, but he does not have control over the way the team handles him and Lewis.

That would prove nothing. Unless and until they both have clean track and Hamilton is able to create a big gap we don't have any proof. Button's true pace was hidden by traffic today. Lewis was fortunate to jump Nico and get some open road and when he did he looked fast. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less.

As for the Hamilton fans being insulted... I wish more people would look at the sport with a bigger picture in mind. Lewis Hamilton has exactly three season in F1. It's absolutely ridiculous to consider him a "great" driver with that small a sample. He's off to a good start, matching a 2xWDC in his first season and easily handling a driver who some thought would be excellent for the next two. It's a good start, but it's not much to go on.

Button's career has been very different, as he came into F1 very young and not well prepared and had to learn on the fly. Holding those early years against him is a bit silly. Since 2004 he's been a top driver, but with few opportunities to show it before last year. Lewis was better prepared for F1 than any driver in history, with methodical progression up the ranks. Two different paths but the same destination.

From who ? Jenson fans ? i think not, we tend to have a little class, unlike you.
Now i dont know weather your male or female, but you over zelous fanaticism of lewis is a real turn off my friend.
You need to take a step back and take a deep breath.
He is a great driver, of that there is no doubt, but he is not the only great driver out there.
Jenson will have his days, mark my words.
I wonder when that happens, how you will respond ?
The result today for the team was not a bad one.
Its clear the car is lacking downforce, once they gain some back compared to ferrari and redbull, we will see things become much more competative between them.
They wernt a million miles appart today.
Just calm down with the lewis infatuation, because you appear to be nothing more than a troll out to wind people up.

This is the reason why....

The guy is indeed good, and I would say that as a qualifier, he is better than Button.

The thing is, that racing, taking care of tyres, overtaking, and general race craft over a season goes to Jenson.

Trulli, who is one of my favourite drivers, is magic in quali, but in the race he can't keep the same level.

This race showed nothing. Lewis gained 1 position because vettel had engine problems. Button gained 1 position through merit.

Button looks after his tyres better, and lewis is faster over 1 lap.

It will be interesting to see how it pans out over a season, not just 1 race where the ending grid was pretty much the same as quali.

Overall, I don't know. If all races are as processesional as bahrain, lewis will win.

If tyre management and racecraft come into play, button will win.

We will see.

Anyway, Alonso will win the championship, and Ferrari the constructors, so who cares?

Don't agree at all. If driving 2-5 seconds behind someone means you're not pushing and "stuck in traffic" then we'd possibly need to wait a hell of a long time to see any "true" comparison between them.

Button was not within a second of the car infront (always has been regarded as evidence of being held up) for much of the race at all. I refuse to believe that he would deliberately drop 2 seconds+ behind Webber in the first stint, for example, without even trying to put any pressure on, not knowing when Webber was going to stop, if he could have gone quicker. McLaren's team radio (transcript on their site) rather confirms this. Then there's the laps after their stops, when Jenson had 5 seconds gap to the car ahead (trying to catch up, surely?), and Hamilton was plenty faster. And to top it off, this is fairly consistant with their performace in qualifying. It's a pretty clear picture to me.

I agree that some of this bashing of Button is ridiculous, the guy has had one race. And stuff like him "making excuses" - when did you ever hear any driver admit that they were just slower than their team-mate?! Getting on him for something everyone does is unfair.

However, I don't think it's unfair to point out Hamilton had the better of him today. That's just clear and factual.

There is nothing pointing at Lewis not being able to manage his tyres, and what is possibly wrong with his racecraft?

Button surely isn't lacking in these areas compared to any driver, but to claim he's better than Hamilton is based on false presumptions.

Lewis managed his tyres better than Button. The whole 'Lewis eats rubber' myth is just plain nonsense.

How many places did Lewis make up without cars breaking down in front?

Vettel had engine problems, otherwise he would have finished ahead.

Webber didn't, but still finished behind Jenson.

Lewis is a better qualifier, so in races where quali is so important, he will win.

In races where tyre management is more important, Jenson will win.

Remember the "my car is vibrating" from Lewis, and the "I can't understand why I was brought in, my tyres were fine" from Jenson.

Jenson clearly looked after his rubber more than Lewis.

What else do you want Lewis to proof ?
Beating a 2xWDC as Rookie
WDC in his 2nd season
Was able to win with a suboptimal car

He achieved more in 3 years, than other drivers in 10 years

It's not Lewis fault that Jenson was not as good as him, over the last 10 years
Jenson Button was regognised more as a womanizer and a party animal than as a race driver over the most of his years in F1.

a) Lewis finished 3rd, Button finished 7th.
b) True about Webber, what's your point?
c) Yes, Lewis is a better qualifier.
d) This was supposed to be a track where tyre management is very important.
e) Remember interview with that Bridgstone engineer on Barcelona test.
f) Remember all talks about Button's smooth style favoring him this season, about how Hamilton will ear rubber and have big problems... What's up with that? Anything of that showing so far?

Lewis looked better in both qualy and race, wait for some other chance to try to bash him ;)

Yes that must be it

He hasn't been like that at all since 2002/2003, so that's not even close to 'most of his years in F1'.

I'm giving the benefit of the doubt until Catalunya, after that then Jenson has no excuses and just needs to hold up as many people after stops as he can. Still I am behind him until then so come on Jenson.

Lewis started 4 places in front, so there were less places for him to gain.

There is nothing pointing at Lewis not being able to manage his tyres. Or at least, not in the way that it would affect his performance.

In which races do you think tyre management is more important? I don't see them coming.

You seem to be arguing for Lewis & Jenson

Yeah, I call it: realism.

Today, Button (and Webber) paid the price for poor qualifing.

Hamilton was quicker all weekend.

1-0 to LH.

If Jenson beats Lewis this year I pledge to get a tattoo on my lower back saying 'Finger my Button' with an arrow pointing to my arse.

Button often had clear air in front of him and was never able to lap close to Lewis's pace, even when he was catching MS he was much slower than Lewis

When he had 4 seconds of clear air he still couldnt get near Lewis's pace

Interesting reaction from Button in this article when asked about distance bewteen him and Lewis: (At the bottom of the article. Oh yeah its The Sun so take with a huge pinch of salt) Link

Go easy on Jense! We all know Lewis is the real deal, just give Jense chance to compete

Macca have bigger problems at the moment than inter-team rivalry

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER and Jenson Button launched a savage attack...
Seven-time champ Schumacher blasted:
Button, who was seventh, said sarcastically:
Vettel fumed:
And the Frome racer snapped when asked...



Not at all sensationalist.

Button looked very Kovalainenish yesterday....doesn't fill me with optimism re. the Constructors Championship