Button denies braking early in Vettel crash
Jenson Button has denied he braked early for the Bus Stop chicane in the Belgian Grand Prix, causing Sebastian Vettel to crash.
Writing on his official website Button said:
No, absolutely not. Obviously, I’d lost the floor-plate of one of my front wing endplates and that was affecting the cars balance but I didn’t brake any earlier for the Bus Stop on the lap of the crash.
I’d had to crank more front wing in to help the handling, and that had made the back-end a bit more skittish, so I was just driving carefully. I knew I still had good straight-line speed, so I was concentrating on getting into the slower corners cleanly, so that I could maximise my traction at the exit and maintain the gap along the straights. But that’s just common sense when youre racing.
After the race, I actually checked the data with my race engineer, and it shows that I braked at exactly the same point on the lap before the collision. We even looked at the braking profile, and that also showed that, at the point of impact about 1.5s after I’d started applying the brakes I’d travelled exactly the same distance on both laps. So to suggest I’d braked earlier wouldn’t be accurate.
Jenson Button
Button called the crash “completely unnecessary” and admitted he is increasingly concerned about his championship situation:
My thoughts havent really changed, to be honest. At the time, I was pretty confused by what Sebastian did. Now, I still think what he did was completely unnecessary he didn’t need to pass me at that point, and I wasn’t making his life difficult, so his car shouldn’t have been on such a knife-edge when he hit me.
What’s most frustrating is that I’ve lost out on a good handful of championship points at a time when neither Sebastian or Fernando were able to score. I know there are 150 points still up for grabs, but it doesn’t help to now be 35 points behind Lewis.
On a more positive note, under the old points system, that would still only be about 15 points, so anything’s still possible. But at this point in the season, you’ve got to take every point you can and the incident in Spa certainly didn’t help.
Jenson Button
Button believes he would have finished on the podium despite his front wing problem had Vettel not taken him out:
I was in second place. Okay, you could say it wasn’t a comfortable second because I had the slight issue with the endplate, which was slowing me down, but you look at the results and two cars that were running behind me before I retired both finished on the podium. So I think its realistic to say that I could have been on the podium on Sunday.
And I knew I would have been strong in the closing laps of the race, too. We had a car that was working perfectly in the greasy conditions, and I think I would only have been stronger when the rain started to fall again. So it’s a missed opportunity.
Jenson Button
2010 Belgian Grand Prix
- Technical review: Belgian Grand Prix
- From the stands: Carol Treurnicht watches the Belgian GP at Spa
- Liuzzi: “I’d have passed Alguersuari easily”
- Button denies braking early in Vettel crash
- Hamilton “wasn’t pushing” when he went off
- 2010 Belgian Grand Prix – the complete F1 Fanatic race weekend review
- Who was the best driver of the Belgian Grand Prix weekend?
- Damage limitation for Webber – but not Vettel (Red Bull race review)
- Ferrari’s practice pace disappears on Sunday (Ferrari race review)
- Renault’s latest upgrade gives Kubica a shot at victory (Renault race review)
F1 Novice said on 2nd September 2010, 19:08
We tend to forget that Jenson has achieved what he has so far this year after moving to a new team & while driving a car that was not conceived with him in mind at all. I think we will get a much better take on things next year when he has had some input into the car from the outset.
Patrickl (@patrickl) said on 2nd September 2010, 20:35
I saw a driving line comparison between Hamilton and Vettel going through a chicane. It demonstrated that Vettel braked half a car length later than Hamilton. This in fact made him slower through the chicane since Hamilton had the better line though the chicane and better exit speed, but that’s not the point.
It could suggest that Vettel likes to break (too) late for a chicane and perhaps that’s why he got caught out by Button?
Also, Button says that he didn’t brake early, but he also says that he was driving carefully. Which I assume means that he did brake earlier than usual.
bosyber said on 3rd September 2010, 10:36
Yes, earlier than usual in a dry race with a non-damaged car. But not earlier than in the laps before, which is what makes it silly if that caught out Vettel suddenly in that lap: he should have, could have, noticed it before already.
If I recall correctly, it was Adam Cooper in an article for speed.tv noting how much Vettel was, in after-race explanation, focusing on the cars behind him closing up (just like in Turkey, in fact), perhaps even so much so that he became careless in getting past the car in front out of fear of being overtaken himself.
Icthyes (@icthyes) said on 2nd September 2010, 20:41
I like how at the bottom of the article is an advert for Injury Claims:
Have you been involved in an accident at work that wasn’t your fault?
Sharon said on 2nd September 2010, 21:00
Love it, this has to be COTD!
wasiF1 (@wasif1) said on 3rd September 2010, 4:00
If Button would have been there then he could have won the race when Hamilton made that mistake in the rain when he ran wide on the gravel.I think his campaign is over all Mclaren can do is to have him help Hamilton for the championship.
SennaRainho said on 3rd September 2010, 11:57
How could he have won when he was nowhere near the pace of Webber and the whole train behind him??
What happened happened! All that “if’ing” could make anybody champion. Heck, I could have been 5-time champion “if” only McLaren had hired me and “if” only the others didn’t drive too fast! And that’s a fact!!
Blog Raider said on 3rd September 2010, 7:20
“If Button would have been there then he could have won the race when Hamilton made that mistake in the rain when he ran wide on the gravel…”.
Or he would have followed Hamilton off the road…or Hamilton would not have had an off-road moment, you never know!
Dave said on 3rd September 2010, 7:22
“Jenson Button has denied he braked early for the Bus Stop chicane in the Belgian Grand Prix, causing Sebastian Vettel to crash.”
Don’t even think it was even worth responding to… Vettel was sideways in Button’s car. Doesn’t matter whether he braked at all or not, it doesn’t cause someone to T-bone you completely of control.
Mike said on 3rd September 2010, 8:16
I blame Horner…..
If he had of kept his trap shut, we may well be talking about how this crash either was or was not caused by the flexing wing… But no… His stupid comment, most likely used to distract people from the wing itself, has in fact, rather annoyingly, distracted people from the wing…
that Button braked early comment has worked a charm…
Why haven’t the stewards taken up their power to ban flexi-wings? … Surely if nothing else, this is a safety issue…
antonyob said on 3rd September 2010, 11:32
sennarainho
no, we never watch races, we just post blogs on specialist sites without really understanding what we are doing.
Even Vettel knows he cocked up, to say anything else is just fanboy nonsense. And Button made more high pressure overtakes (that stuck) in the 2nd half of last season than Vettel has in career.
Button is no racer in the Lewis mould (who is) but hes a class act who can bring a car home. Button in the best car won the first 6 races last year. Vettel very much hasnt.
SennaRainho said on 3rd September 2010, 11:51
LOL @ your opening coment! Sometimes ti sure sounds like it!
I’m not even slightly a Vettel fan and I never said he didn’t cock up but it was nothing bu an honest mistake in tricky conditions.
I haven’t counted Button/Vettel overtakes and it makes no sense since Vettel usually starts in front – something Button hardly ever manages even in the fastes car.
What you saw in the final half of 2009 was Button in the fastes car. The first half was Button in a car build to different specs!
…he didn’t really bring the car home this time did he? It will always be risky to keep blocking instead of being on pace. :-)
antonyob said on 3rd September 2010, 11:54
yep for sure if crash kid is behind you i guess you let him thru to crash into someone else.
yes Buttons was a different spec but the toyota and williams ( i think) both ran double diffusers last year and the Brawn was certainly not quickest in the 2nd half of 2009 as they had no development money.
antonyob said on 3rd September 2010, 12:06
no. say it !!!
reminds me of a blackadder quote about german spies from Colonel Metchitt
“filthy hun weasals fighting their underhand war”
and then he goes on to our British spies:
“splendid fellows, brave heroes risking life and limb for blighty”
SennaRainho said on 3rd September 2010, 12:54
LMAO! Good one!
I think Jenson is at least five times better than Lauda, Senna and Schumacher combined!
There I said it!
(I mean Mathias, Bruno and Ralf though):-D
Alex Bkk said on 3rd September 2010, 12:22
Ummm… if it had been a Truli train would we be talking about this? I commented on the live blog that it was just a racing incident… and I still believe that it was.
JB has 5 times the experience in F1 that SV has… Unless we get some telemetry that proves otherwise… JB was slow and he braked early. I like the way that Vettle is racing… very aggressively. We need that. I thought the drive though was bogus.
I fear that the politically correct form of racing that destroyed open wheel racing in the U.S. is sinking its teeth into F1.
SennaRainho said on 3rd September 2010, 12:57
I agree 100%! He Vettel only tried to get past – then slipped. Noting unusual in racing and not more dangerous than it will always be!
antonyob said on 3rd September 2010, 12:57
haha. touche !
you forgot Piquet though…junior
SennaRainho said on 3rd September 2010, 13:00
True… and maybe even Villeneuve… jr.
daykind (@daykind) said on 4th September 2010, 12:12
I’m not Button fan, at all, but it was 100% Vettel’s fault, as it was in Turkey and Hungary.