Hamilton and Button limit damage with second and fourth (McLaren race review)

Posted on

| Written by

The defining moment of McLaren’s weekend came on Friday evening when they abandoned their plans to run their new exhaust-driven diffuser.

After the race team principal Martin Whitmarsh admitted he’d have “ripped someone’s arm off” to ensure their second and fourth-placed finishes on a weekend when Red Bull and Ferrari were quicker.

Jenson ButtonLewis Hamilton
Qualifying position144
Qualifying time comparison (Q2)1’31.699 (+0.581)1’31.118
Race position42
Average race lap1’38.081 (+0.397)1’37.684
Laps52/5252/52
Pit stops11

You need to upgrade your Flash Player

Open lap times interactive chart in new window

Jenson Button

Abandoning the new exhausts, but keeping the new front and rear wings on both cars, meant a late nights for the mechanics on Friday. Reserve driver Gary Paffett was summoned to the McLaren Technology Centre to work on a new set-up in the simulator.

Button seemed happy with the ‘old’ car in final practice but failed to progress beyond Q2 in qualifying, losing to Hamilton for the sixth Saturday in a row.

He made amends in the race, grabbing six places on the first lap and inheriting the rest through pit stops, penalties and retirements.

Compare Jenson Button’s form against his team mate in 2010

Lewis Hamilton

Hamilton was delighted with his qualifying lap which gave him fourth on the grid – ten places ahead of his team mate.

The cards fell in his favour on race day as Fernando Alonso made a slow start.

He made contact with Sebastian Vettel at the first corner, much like he did in Valencia, only this time it left Vettel with a puncture and promoted Hamilton to second.

That was where he finished, unable to do anything about Mark Webber, though he made a concerted effort to pass the Red Bull at the restart of the race.

Compare Lewis Hamilton’s form against his team mate in 2010

2010 British Grand Prix

    Browse all 2010 British Grand Prix articles

    Image (C) www.mclaren.com

    Author information

    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

    Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

    72 comments on “Hamilton and Button limit damage with second and fourth (McLaren race review)”

    1. I want to say that Silverstone looked beautiful on TV, with great weather and a lot of people.
      The best and most authentic GP of all !
      Cheers

      1. Charles Carroll
        12th July 2010, 4:53

        The weather and the people were great, but aside from that I’m not seeing the picturesque quality of Monaco and some of the other venues this year.

        I’m new to the sport, so I acknowledge my lack of experience, but I was not particularly enthralled by Silverstone.

      2. MacademiaNut
        12th July 2010, 5:40

        This is one track that I like the most. The Redline racing game for Mac has both the arena (in beta) and the previous Silverstone track.. and it’s always great to race with formula1 cars (in simulation).

        I hope a PS3 version of the game comes out sooner. The championship edition is too old now.

        1. you’ll have to wait til september for f12010. or just get rfactor now and download some f1 mods.

      3. I found the construction of those buildings to be very interesting. Next year it will change again with the pits complex moved.

        But the Arena section did bring some nice overtaking. Vettel got through the German batch there and Sutil past Schumi as well.

      4. Yeah, I’ve never been there. Mostly also because I’ve always heard the horror stories of getting to and from the circuit.

        Still, seeing the amazing crowds on TV really made me want to go there too.

    2. Gotta love Hamilton for ruining the race for Vettel!

      Button did a brilliant job to secure fourth – in fact, I never quite know how he manages to get into the high points since he’s so discrete. When Hamilton’s on the move you physically see him overtake everybody…

      1. “inheriting the rest through pit stops, penalties and retirements.”

        Boring.

        1. MacademiaNut
          12th July 2010, 5:41

          Agree. Button’s most position gains are from other’s mistakes rather than some good driving. We saw very little of overtaking moves from Button this entire season.

          1. He passed 6 cars on the first lap, and his driving better and having a better car had a lot to do with this.

        2. Everyone talks about how quick Hamilton was keeping up with Webber. However once out of traffic Button was matching the leaders in terms of lap times.

          It was this speed at the crucial time that “inherited” his positions through pit stops.

          You could also argue that this is why Alonso decided to not give the place back to Kubica. He needed to ensure he was in front of Button, staying behind Kubica would leave him behind Button.

    3. Nice plug for ‘Top Gear’ by Rubens I thought at the time. But after his time topped the Stig’s I know why now!! Well done Rubens.

      1. luckily Top gear is also a BBC production.

    4. It’s more than damage limitation I think, specially for Lewis. Another podium and solid points!

      1. I agree, the title of this thread, does the Mclaren job this weekend a little injustice, as we keep getting told, the ‘bulls have the car to beat, Ferrari too, but as the race unfolds, good team strategy, and the racecraft of the drivers, is showing that Mclaren have the more complete package as the season progresses, perhaps this is why the other teams are trying to find a chink in their defenses….

    5. American coverage (on Fox, not SpeedTV) this week was pretty limited… did Jenson ever threaten Nico? I know he made up a lot of time but all I read was that he had fuel issues and had to back off…

      1. Yeah Jenson was closing in, but had to look after his fuel so backed off.

        1. In the post race interview he said he didnt have to conserve fuel as the safety car eased that issue, but he memtioned that he started getting the same problems as in qualifying and could get too close to Nico.

      2. dyslexicbunny
        12th July 2010, 2:43

        I really didn’t like the Fox feed at all. Mine was poppy in the sound and occurred only during the race and not commercials. It might just be a Comcast problem though…

        1. Ron in Michigan
          13th July 2010, 0:21

          I really dislike Fox’ coverage every summer for two months ( 4 races ). That being said, i’m grateful that Fox sports is even carrying F1 in an effort to broaden the F1’s coverage here in the states. If i’m not mistaken Newscorp ( Rupert Murdoch ) has a lot of the broadcast contracts with F1 internationally, as well as, he and Bernie being good mates.

          The title to this post might be more appropiately named ” McClaren extract unexpected points haul”.

      3. Charles Carroll
        12th July 2010, 4:55

        That is probably why I wasn’t that impressed with Silverstone. I thought the race was okay (6 out of 10) but the coverage did absolutely NOTHING for the venue.

        Monaco, Valencia, and even Istanbul came off looking more interesting than this track. It was more like China’s GP on TV in the states.

      4. MacademiaNut
        12th July 2010, 5:44

        FOX feed is a joke. They will screw up the next two races as well.

        Why is it that FOX telecasts (delayed!) two of the best tracks in the season (silverstone and spa) is just beyond me. Just for this reason, I hope they bring back the US race soon so one the europe races will go back to speed.

    6. they look like world champs to me. Am i alone out there?

    7. i keep saying it Button is the best guy McLaren could have employed to support Hamilton.
      Hamilton did extremely well i thought right from the start put Webber under a lot of pressure when the tires were not up to temp, plus kept him in sight just in case he made a mistake.
      Button can hold his own, he is not great at overtaking but can add the extra speed when its need to make up positions, made a excellent start, saved his tires till they were needed.
      add some luck 2 drivers removed from ahead of him and he finishes 4th, results like that dont come from being useless. they come from being consistent.

      1. Button is taking points from Red Bull this season which could help Lewis end up taking the title despite being in a car a lot worse.

        It looks though now Button is unable to match Lewis in normal conditions but still has good solid pace.

      2. Ron in Michigan
        13th July 2010, 0:46

        Good point Eric. And i’ve never even thought of it that way. Button may just be partner for Lewis, and thereby, the best compliment to the team.

        Go McClaren!

        1. Ron in Michigan
          13th July 2010, 0:47

          Sorry. meant to say “the best partner”

    8. I’m concerned with how often Button is having to do these drives. In pretty much every race something seems to go in his favour and his qualifying must improve if he wants to be WC.

      On a different note the McLaren seems to handle heavy fuel loads far better than any other car.

    9. Worrying for Button is, that he still has not got over his qualifying problems. Sure the late change back to old specification was going to hurt him more than Lewis, but still 10 grid places is a lot, he did even go slower in Q2 than in Q1.

      So it’s back to his mid year slump, like last year. I am curious to see weather he will climb from that to win again this year.

    10. I don’t understand why people still choose to criticise Jenson Button. He is the current world champion with a team that struggled in the last half of the season. He was consistently scoring points when they were being out-paced in the development race. A great driver is not someone that makes loads of overtakes, as it takes more than that, yes overtakes are great fun, but making lots of moves can damage your tires especially with high fuel loads. And as for Jenson can’t overtake, take a look at Brazil 2009, come on!

      Jenson has got pace, a lot of the times last year just before pit stops he often needed to pull out gaps to ensure he held position or even gained position. His lap times before he pitted this weekend were great and meant that he could gain more positions, people expected him to come out in about 8th after the pit stops.

      At the beginning of the season everybody said he would be destroyed by Lewis, and he hasn’t!

    11. Jenson and Lewis are both great drivers. However, if it stays dry for the rest of the season Lewis looks like he will start to pull away from Jenson because he has the raw qualifying & race pace. Jenson has the better strategic mind at the moment though! And has the ability to make the right call without relying on the team like Lewis.

    12. I have to say, McLaren has done a great job. I would’ve never have expected such a good result. They must be grinning : 2 races behind in the development race (vis à vis Ferrari, Red Bull and though they are still faster, Merc and Renault) , and still scoring the most points!

    13. I really dont understand all this crap about Jenson having the “better strategic” mind, or “preserving his tyres better”. If so, where has his strategic mind gone to in the last 6 races? On holiday? He made 2 lucky calls that served him well; with the help of the team i might add. It was NOT only his decision.

      Also, i am yet to see his so called ability to preserves his tyres better gain him a single place, or enable him to overtake another driver with shot tyres this season.
      Point is, he is consistently 3/10th – 4/10ths down on his teammeate on average race pace. The gap, when relatively adjusted for the closenes in qualifying this year is even bigger.

      Someoene mentioned a great driver is not someone who overtakes all the time – How abaout overtaking when needed? He could not overtake Rosberg (nothing to do with low fuel). He was stuck behind Koba in Valencia. He moaned about how hard overtaking was in Silverstone – he did not overtake a single car after the confusion and melee of the 1st lap which allowed him to gain positions, forgetting that his rival title contender, Seb Vettel, he of the Front Wing fame, drove from 24th to 7th – in the same race. Yes he was helped by the safety car, but he managed to overtake a Williams, Mercedes, Torro Rosso and Force India, amongst others – none of the cars mentioned are slouches.

      Im simply tired of people making excuses for Button. He is good, but not good enough. His deficiencies are glaring. He cant drive a car unless its perfect. He would rather sit behind a car than attempt an overtake. This is not smart, it is stupid – as it stops you from capitalising should someone up front should make an error. Imagine if Lewis had not been pressuring the Red Bulls in Turkey? In Silverstone, Lewis but more pressure on Webber, than Jenson put on Kobayashi in Valencia. That should tell you a lot! If Jenson had overtaken Koba in Valencia, he would have jumped Lewis into 2nd when he had his drive through.

      Jenson would rather sit and collect the crumbs as they fall his way. Lewis would rather go out there, fight and snatch them away from his opponents. Logic will tell you Lewis would ALWAYS collect more points this way. That is WHAT separates the good from the greats!

      1. “Also, i am yet to see his so called ability to preserves his tyres better gain him a single place”

        i believe it was in australia where he managed to preserve his tyres which allowed him to hold onto the win. (then again so did kubica for 2nd)

        1. And didn’t we just see him stay out longer than those around him on the softs and make up a couple of places? The received wisdom says that stopping earlier gives an advantage, JB seems to have challenged this assumption this weekend.

          1. Err, staying out longer does not necessarily mean your tyres are better than those around you or anyone elses for that matter. It is simply a matter of strategy. Because Jenson could not overtake when he was in the “Kubica Train”, it made sense for the team to leave him out to put in some hot laps in clear air when the others pitted. This is why he was able to jump Barrichelo in the pit stops.

            Jenson pitted before Hulkenberg, Kovalainen, Trulli, Buemi, Alguesauri, Luizzi, etc.

            1. I think you’ve answered your own question there.

          2. Button wasn’t the only one on softs doing better times than those on the hards, though.

        2. I said “gain him a place” not “hold onto the win”. Clear difference between the two!

      2. your argument kbdavies doesn’t mean a thing.

        what do’s matter is this.

        1 Lewis Hamilton 145
        2 Jenson Button 133
        3 Mark Webber 128
        4 Sebastian Vettel 121

      3. His failure to pass Rosberg was everything to do with low fuel, this being what JB referred to after the race as an ‘aggressive strategy.’ Marginal fueling has been a strategic element all season.

        1. @martinbell – is it only Button on the whole F1 grid with an “aggressive strategy”? Did he also have an “aggressive strategy” in Valencia? I’m yet to hear from Hamilton, Vettel, Webber and Alonso say that they couldn’t overtake because they were on an “aggressive strategy”!
          When would people stop putting forward all manner of reasons and excuses?

          1. I’m not giving reasons or excuses, just commenting on your assertion that it had nothing to do with low fuel. There’s been way to much praise heaped on JB’s performance this weekend in my opinion. Great recovery from crap qualifying still means that you were crap in qualifying. The end of refueling has, however, made the races this season full of nuance and subtlety in strategic terms, rather than the purity some expected.

      4. I 100% agree with kbdavies!
        I am sick and tired of all the Jenson is great – I was sat at Stowe Sunday and at the end of the race Lewis got a round of applause and a few cheers (and my air horn) and he came right up to the barriers to show thanks and wave….Jenson went slightly off racing line and gave a little wave and the crowd went mad (apart from me). Now I love someone to win and/or at least fight, just like Lewis, so why did he get the biggest roar…I must have been watching a different formula 1 season as the best driver on the track is Lewis at the minute – by far!

        1. …and as for the strategic mind….that is for the strategist to decide, and the racers to race – who wants to see drivers not pushing 100% – this was a bad idea with the full fuel – or it could be made more interesting with 2 or 3 compulsary tyre stops – I want to see a fast F1 not a conservative F1.

          With regards to the fuel issues, how did Lewis manage to go quicker for the whole race with the same fuel on board then if Jenson had issues? This to me suggests he has the better race mind and clearly better raw pace!

          1. “and as for the strategic mind….that is for the strategist to decide”

            Not always, only a driver knows how a car and the tyres etc feel. Button for instance won because he was the quickest to work out the track conditions and how the tyres felt while being able to race and put the quick laptimes in. There’s a reason why Schumi and Prost have such a high win rate even when at times the opposition was quicker, if it wasn’t important they’d have been beaten a lot more.

            1. I dont agree so much as I dont think that was the case with JB though, as he had a off straight away and then found out he was on the wrong tyres so had to slow down and could push on bit by bit, it technically wasnt the correct decision, but it panned out ok for him in the end as he was able to push abit more every lap as it was drying up – the correct decision was to stay on the inters and go faster and the following race he stayed on a set behind the safety car for a long while again so that once more panned out ok for him.

    14. Sorry but Jenson clearly has a better strategic mind. You could tell in Australia and China how clear headed he was to make those decisions. In contrast Lewis was fuming with his team, saying “who made this decision!!!” etc., not productive at all! With the help of the team, sorry but when Martin Whitmarsh says, we asked Jenson to make the decision on tyres as he is the one driving the car, completely his call so I don’t know where you got that rubbish from.

      As for overtaking again, he could not overtake Rosberg as Nico drove a great race and had some great pace in a car that he was happier with than Jenson was with his. As for Valencia, same story, Kobayashi was driving amazingly above his cars potential, at times equalling the lap times of Vettel and Hamilton. Plus it is a hard circuit to overtake. Saying he can’t overtake when he needs to is unbelievable, I’ll go back to Brazil 2009 again, he needed to make those overtakes to ensure the championship. Hmmm

      Jenson is in no way the perfect driver but people are picking up on exactly the wrong things such as I have mentioned before. He needs to improve his qualifying pace and learn to wrestle the car around a bit more in qualifying.

      Yes Lewis is a great driver, but he is in no way a complete driver, he gets far too hot headed and blames other people most of the time. He has continued to grow, especially last year, and it was great to see him grow up. He has a long way to go. The perfect driver for me would have Lewis’ passion and daring overtaking manoeuvres, combined with Jenson’s calm and collected experienced head. Hence, McLaren look the best over the long term.

      1. @ “Jenson clearly has a better strategic mind”

        One word: experience. Now compare Lewis with Vettel and see who is more hot-headed and who has matured far less quickly.

        Hamilton had the best opening races and season of any rookie and was the youngest world champion. As Vettel is showing, having the best car is *not* all it takes. You have to assess the drivers on where they are in their career too.

      2. The “great strategig mind” argument, though, has been shown to be over-hyping Button, as apparent as it was even at the time.

        In Australia he was forced to pit – he himself said his tyres were gone.

        In China, half the field made the same decision as he did.

        Let us not also forget that Button made a very early pit stop in Malaysia too and lost out to Hamilton, Massa and nearly Alonso too.

        And also there’s Hungary 2009, when Hamilton nursed his tyres in the middle stint on a day when everyone’s were taking a beating from the conditions. Even as recently as Canada we saw Hamilton nursing his tyres enough at the end to be able to respond to Button trying to catch him towards the end of the race.

        Jenson is very able – how else could he be world champion? – and it’s not his fault he’s racing against some really good drivers. But that doesn’t mean we have to overhype him.

        1. PS: Remember last year when the press were saying Button was throwing away the championship? I remember Jenson getting very testy with them. And Hungary’s “how, how can this car be so bad at the moment?”

          Button is simply a more experienced person than Hamilton in that his outbursts aren’t passionate or often enough to be something he’s remembered for. But taking the most passionate drivers on the grid, Webber, Hamilton, Alonso, Vettel, and comparing their ability to Button’s, it doesn’t seem that it’s a relevant factor in how good a driver is – off-track, that is.

          1. It is amazing that Jenson’s supporters can only call upon a single 2 hr race(Brazil 09) in his 9yrs in F1- to prove that he can overtake. What other driver can a statistic like that be used to prove they can overtake? Alonso? Hamilton? Schumacher? Montoya? Raikkonen? Vettel?
            I mean, he had the best car for 2/3rds of last season, and rightly capitalised on it – but dont get carried away.

            This inability to call a spade a spade is really getting silly. If Lewis is as good as Alonso (a comparison most would not argue with), and there is not a lot between Jenson & Lewis (as Jensons supporters say), then it follows that there is not a lot between Jenson & Alonso – a silly comment if there ever was one.

            Again, If most people agree that, this season, Mark Webber has had the better of his teammate, Seb Vettel, how is it possible that there is not a lot between Jenson and Lewis? When the stats between them make far more sombre reading than between the Red Bull drivers?

            I am just trying to highlight how logic goes out of the window when people compare Jenson to Lewis. I swear, if Jenson was not British, then we would not be having this exaggeration of his abilities.

            1. IIRC you subscribe to the ‘Lewis blew Alonso away in 2007’ theory, then following your own logic Jenson must be up there with Fred!

            2. Button overtakes cars almost at every race. He’s not as good at is as Hamilton, but still. He’s better at it than most of the other drivers.

              In 2009 Button was struggling in qualifiying and everybody was whining how he was getting “destroyed” by Barrichello. But in reality, Button often finished ahead of Barrichello because he overtook cars with calculated agression.

              The only time where Barrichello significantly outscored Button was in Valencia where Barrichello won and Button was rammed off track first by Vettel and then Webber after the start.

              Button’s problem is is his qualifying. His “smooth” driving style is costing him positions there.

              I said it before the season. When it comes do driving styles, Hamilton has a clear advantage. Hamilton can switch driving styles. He can preserve his tyres when he needs to, but he can go flat out when he needs to.

              Button can not. He just has one thing and it fails him in qualifying.

      3. I think you’re right, Mclaren have the best long term line up of any team for the reasons you outline. I do, however, believe that notions of LH being ‘hot headed’ are starting to look outdated. The rate at which he is maturing as a driver this season is remarkable. By seasons end he will be the complete driver you refer to. For what it’s worth, I suspect that it’s not a coincidence that this is happening now, as he has a team mate who is a perfect foil for him. Something special is happening at Mclaren, and we should all savour it for what it is.

    15. @ KbDavies…I salute you! This is the first time that I have posted a comment on F1 anywhere…but I couldn’t let your post go by without saying THANK-YOU!!! Those of us who know, know-others just refuse to aknowledge the truth!

    16. I was very impressed by the Mclaren result. It is reflected by the fact that Hamilton finished in the position I predicted and Button finished one position higher than I predicted, and if you consider that I made the prediction when they still was supposed to run the updates, but instead had to rebuild the car with the old parts and then only had one hour to find race and quali setup, I think it is very impressive indeed!

    17. Many times we have been told how great Jenson was in Australia. Don’t forget he was almost forced to make a bold decision, because he had suffered the ignominy of been overtaken by his team mate, on a circuit on which he would probably say is “impossible to overtake”. That should be his catchphrase along with the old chestnut “I couldn’t get the balance right”.

    18. This is a great website and I love reading the comments but where Jenson and Lewis are concerned you guys are never going to convince each other who is best. All I would say is that Martin Whitmarsh clearly rates Jensen very highly and some of his comments /reactions would suggest he favours him. It is also clear that Lewis has recognised not only Jensen’s pace but his approach which is trying to emulate thus demonstrating the new found maturity that some of your contributors refer to. As you can see I’m not biased!!

      1. I think the presence of Jenson really is a big turning point in Lewis’s career. When Lewis looks back, I think he’ll say a big “thank you” to Jenson because Lewis is obviously learning a lot from him.

        1. I think Lewis learned a lot form Fernando too!

          Lewis and Fernando are the best all round racers in F1 in my opinion!

        2. @explosiva – How funny! This is another silly statement bandies around Jenson’s fanboys – and the first time its been used so widely in team mate wars. Did Senna say thank you to Prost for what he learned from him? Have we asked Rosberg exactly what he has learnt from Schumacher so far? Or Hulkenberg from Barrichelo for that matter? Or Kobayashi from Pedro? Will they ALL be saying thanks at the end of the season to their teammates? What silliness!

          Every driver matures,learn and gets better with time. IT IS NORMAL. Lewis has spent 3.5yrs in F1, and he is maturing because of it – nothing to do with Jenson; especially as this outlandish statement cannot be proven.

          I guess Jenson should switch to RBR next season – so Seb can learn from him. He should also move to Sauber in 2012, so Koba can learn from him!

          1. Don’t let the avatar fool you, my friend. My favorite driver is Hamilton. Yes, I was happy to see JB win the title last year, but I will take Lewis over JB any day. That said, Martin Whitmarsh himself said:

            “Lewis can learn a lot from Jenson, probably more than he expected to. Jenson is five years older, five years more experienced and has made some brilliant calls. Lewis has perked up to realise that Jenson is a fantastic, hard-driving racer.”

            Senna and Prost were openly at each other’s throats. We know Schumacher plays dirty, steering team resources his way w/ his mind games. But you can’t tell me Barrichello isn’t passing on his knowledge to Hulkenberg. And Lewis and JB are co-existing – some might even say flourishing – together…so far.

            Why are you so quick to jump to conclusions? To say think that I’m only saying “Lewis is learning from Jenson” simply because I’m apparently a JB “fanboy”?

            1. @explosiva –
              Apologies for the assumption. I still stand by my statement though – despite what Whitmarsh may say; and we know he is a Jenson fanboy.
              ANY driver can learn from ANY driver. Thats my point. Yes, Lewis can learn from Jenson, but Jenson can ALSO learn from Lewis – so why do we never hear any of that?

              And why does Lewis’s achievements this year have to be linked to Button being his teammate? Why didnt we hear the same in 07′ whan Alonso was his teamate? A double workld champion? I hope you get where im coming from. Its like people are somehow trying to undermine Lewis’s achievements, whilst talking Jenson’s up.

              As i said earlier, if Jenson was not British(this forces people to choose btw the two), we would not even be having this discussion. Whilst Jenson is a likeable character, it is clear that majority of British fans are sympathetic towards him only because he is British.

    19. Does anyone else think Vettel is erratic and dangerous or just me?

      I dont think he will ever be world champion, he just doesnt have the mind for it.

      A few races ago he asked Rocky if he needed to overtake the cars in front…no Sebastian, they are going to move out of your way!

      1. He thought maybe they’ll have another pit stop, in which case he wouldn’t need to overtake…

    20. I wouldn’t say they “limited damage”. Didn’t McLaren actually increase its championship lead? And Didn’t Lewis increase his driver’s points lead over Jenson?

      1. Macca lost 1 pt in the constructors.
        RBR 25+6=31pts, Macca 18+12=30pts

        ‘Limited damage’ because they expected to lose a heap more points.

    21. Into the 2nd half of the season and Lewis has hit his stride. He’s gained the ascendancy and has been faultless in recent races. Having said that, there’s only 12 pts between them after 10 races. Jenson seriously needs to get his act together in Qualifying. Starting behind his team mate is going to kill his challenge.

    22. Good race form Button & too for Hamilton for keeping up the pace. I think Hamilton is now the sole challenger for the two Bulls.

    23. I have to weigh in on the Jenson Button topic here. “Luck” is where opportunity meets preparation. Jenson appears to have his head on straight about his abilities…and possible limitations. He is calm and aware and able to take advantage of opportunities presented to him without screwing up. To me, this takes extraordinary presence of mind while going as fast and as hard as the drivers do in modern F1. I am sure he realizes he is not the fastest driver in the field, but he sure gets the award for best thinker. That can get you quite far over a long GP season, if you have a good car.

    24. One thing that my brother noticed was, the fact that over the broadcast by Star Sports, here in India, Button appeared to have started and finished the race on the same type of rubber. Under 2010 rules, you must change to the other tyre type at least once, which he seemingly didn’t. Could someone shed some light on this…

      Had made this comment earlier, but can’t remember where :(

    Comments are closed.