Comments on: Mercedes or McLaren? Button’s decision

By: Shomir

Shomir — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:34:04 +0000

agreed with Gaza to some extent.

We dont know how well the drivers are going to do next year. we can keep saying ” oh hams gonna do better than button” and then suddenly 11 months later you see them both neck in neck.

By: Randy

Randy — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:39:23 +0000

elequent and astute

By: Gazza

Gazza — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:10:15 +0000

For me it’s a pity that Kimi is taking a sabbatical and that Button is joining McLaren.
I would have thought Button/Rosberg @ Brawn/Mercedes, Hamilton/Raikkonen @ McLaren, and Alonso/Massa @ Ferrari would have been an awesome prospect for the fans of F1 next year.
I don’t see a Rosberg/Heidfeld pairing nearly as exciting.
Oh well – let’s wait and see.

By: Dougie

Dougie — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:39:20 +0000

I agree, and I am pretty sure this is a fair reflection of the actual true story… whatever that is.

By: Mahir C

Mahir C — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:37:07 +0000

with Lewis and Alonso I agree they are in the top tier of F1 drivers. why is Kimi considered elite and not Massa, what more Massa has to do to be considered as one?

By what measure do you include Kubica in that list? He had average 2007 season, a good 2008 season and average 2009.

About Vettel, we havent seen him win a race in which his car was miles faster than opposition.

There are only two drivers that stand out form the crowd in F1, Lewis and Alonso.

By: Bertie

Bertie — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:43:48 +0000

I think it will be awesome. Ok, Hamilton is quicker on a single lap. But trye management is going to massively more important next year, due to fueling ban. Jenson is a master of low tyre wear. So I reckon in a race there will be little to choose between them.

By: PJA

PJA — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:23:39 +0000

I write this reply after it seems certain Raikkonen won’t be in F1 next year, but even while Raikkonen was still an option I don’t think McLaren choosing Button over Raikkonen contradicts their driver policy of always trying to sign the best drivers available.

Raikkonen was probably McLaren’s first choice but as they couldn’t agree a deal they had to start looking at other drivers. While I think that a case could be made that other drivers on the market would be better for McLaren than Button, apart from Raikkonen I don’t think any of the other options are significantly better.

Also I think I remember Whitmarsh saying recently that McLaren wanted to have their 2010 driver line-up confirmed sooner rather than later as if they waited they ran the risk that the better drivers would already be signed by other teams.

By: PJA

PJA — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:55:05 +0000

Hamilton does have a reputation for being harder than average on his tyres, although he has improved that this year. For example I believe that one of the reasons he used a three stop strategy at Turkey 2008 was due to tyre wear.

But in recent years McLaren have also been seen to be harder on their tyres than Ferrari, one of the side affects of being able to warm the tyres up quickly.

While I think Hamilton will be able to beat Button if they are teammates, the issue of managing the tyres with heavy cars due to no refuelling next season should be an advantage for Button.

By: PJA

PJA — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:46:45 +0000

The BBC are claiming Button to McLaren is a done deal and will be announced later on Wednesday

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8363892.stm

By: PJA

PJA — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:39:40 +0000

I think if driver salaries do come down in the coming years it will be more down to the economic climate than the cost cutting, as driver salaries are one of the items not included in the cost cutting measures, unless they try to change the proposals.

Teams may give cost cutting as a reason for offering lower salaries to drivers, but the top drivers are always likely to command big sums if the teams have the ability to pay them.

It could even be argued that if the cost cutting measures mean that a top team spends say £100m less per season but their income is still the same they would be tempted to spend more on getting the best possible drivers. That has been the problem with trying to limit spending in one particular area, the teams will just divert their resources to wherever else they think they can make a difference.