Button fails to improve on Top Gear lap
20th December 2009, 20:49 by Keith Collantine 43 Comments »
Jenson Button failed to improve his best lap time around the Top Gear track.
He set a 1’44.9 lap in the Suzuki Liana – two-tenths of a second slower than his previous effort. The track was wet whereas it had been dry for his first attempt.
But his 2010 team mate Lewis Hamilton had previously set a 1’44.7 on a wet track.
Button told host Jeremy Clarkson about how he was looking forward to joining Hamilton at McLaren next year:
This is a massive buzz for me its so exciting I’ve been in F1 for ten years, to get a chance to race Hamilton and Alonso at McLaren.
Jenson Button
Commenting on a selection of highlights of his overtaking moves during the Brazilian Grand Prix, Button had this to say about his over-steery pass on Sebastien Buemi:
I did that on purpose – a bit of oversteer makes the guy nervous about getting close. It gives him less room.
Jenson Button
He later revealed he had driven his Bugatti Veyron around the Top Gear track – while the cameras weren’t around.
David Coulthard also appeared in an F1-heavy episode, using the Red Bull show car to create ‘art’ with Jeremy Clarkson.
F1 drivers’ best lap times on Top Gear
1’44.6 – Nigel Mansell
1’44.7 – Jenson Button
1’44.7 – Lewis Hamilton (wet track)
1’46.3 – Damon Hill
1’47.1 – Mark Webber (wet track)
F1 drivers on Top Gear
Harvs said on 20th December 2009, 20:57
I could start with the button/ hamilton comparisons but im not going to bother.
Ned Flanders said on 20th December 2009, 21:09
1 min 44.9 is still a good time. But if it’s anything like the rest of Top Gear these days, it probably isn’t real
Random Chimp said on 22nd December 2009, 9:31
*like*
K said on 20th December 2009, 22:14
Hamilton’s lap is a lot better, check him out in the second to last corner and compare it with Button.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpUQY-zoFnE
It’s a sign of things to come I tell thee.
TommyB said on 20th December 2009, 23:25
They should have got Button and Hamilton in together that would have been more interesting. He just came in to let everyone see how great he is now he is world champion but just went slower.
Pking007 said on 20th December 2009, 23:30
wow! that must have hurt! you could see the dissapointment in his eyes when Jeremy announced the time.
Harvs said on 20th December 2009, 23:41
where can i watch it again?
anyone? can you help out?
Ned Flanders said on 21st December 2009, 1:08
If you’re from the UK it’ll presumably be up on the iplayer by now. If not, it should be on youtube before long anyway
goofy said on 22nd December 2009, 14:13
http://bit.ly/5S3kFi
bobothelegend said on 20th December 2009, 23:42
i knew Jensen button would be slower every 1 knows lewis is better.Jensen did look pretty mad at the end tho lol he will get used to it as he will be behind lewis most of next season
F1Yankee said on 21st December 2009, 0:30
top gear has said wet laps suffer by about 4 tenths, so if he was 2 tenths slower, wouldn’t that make a 2 tenths improvement?
K said on 21st December 2009, 1:18
I thought the said 4 seconds.
F1Yankee said on 21st December 2009, 9:28
yeah, that sounds right.
Jonathan said on 23rd December 2009, 9:24
It adds four seconds for a normal driver.
But I guess that for an F1 driver the limiting factor on the laptime is the horsepower of the car, not the challenge of driving it in poor conditions (which for them is no challenge).
Ned Flanders said on 21st December 2009, 1:07
There may be a few, but not to that extent. For the record, I prefer Lewis Hamilton to Jenson Button, but I don’t let this cloud my judgement of him
Mark Hitchcock said on 21st December 2009, 2:02
Off topic: Is it me or are the comments being moderated much more over the last few days?
On topic: This is a tv program, while the drivers obviously want to beat each other they’re doing the laps as a bit of fun. It’s not really an indication of who is or isn’t the better driver.
Not sure I believe his comment about the oversteer in Brazil. Surely you’d just run a little wider if you wanted to make the other guy lift (like Sutil tried on Trulli
), not put the car on the edge of spinning?
pawelf1 said on 21st December 2009, 8:10
i dont like Hamilton and Button but who cares who was faster in Top Gear one of them went a long time ago on this track and second one put also a fast lap now but always conditions are different and the time difference is minimal. We will see in few months in quali and races who is fastest you just have too wait thats it. Schumi will be better
PJA said on 21st December 2009, 9:49
I wonder when we will see Hamilton back to set another lap as after he set his time he said he wanted to come back to set a dry time to see if he could beat The Stig, but obviously he his schedule will be pretty full when Top Gear is on when the track is likely to be dry.
When they fired paintballs through the Red Bull airbox and out the exhausts I wonder what that did to the engine?
TommyB said on 21st December 2009, 12:39
Hamilton was set to come back in the dry. A date was set but it rained again
Phil T said on 21st December 2009, 20:18
That was so funny you saw the first one rip clean through the canvas then the second one caught Clarky square in the plums
SamS said on 21st December 2009, 9:51
I just loved how Jenson kept calling himself JB round the lap. I thought he was funny and chilled out!!
Ade said on 21st December 2009, 10:12
There are so many variables when the two laps are that far apart in time, not to mention things like weight, air temperature etc etc.
Rather than being negative about Lewis and Jensen I prefer to look how far adrift Webber is from their almost identical wet lap times.
DanThorn said on 22nd December 2009, 11:49
Webber’s lap time was properly wet, whereas the track was merely damp for Lewis and Jenson.
Scribe said on 21st December 2009, 11:23
You could see how much it hurt when he didn’t match the time.
The dissapointment on his face was painfull to say the least.