Button: Simulator run shows “I’ve still got it”

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In the round-up: Jenson Button says he was reassured about his ability to return to competition this year after driving McLaren’s simulator.

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61 comments on “Button: Simulator run shows “I’ve still got it””

  1. And he’s still had it with that failure of a car…

    1. Maybe they need a simulator that breaks down randomly between 30 seconds and 10 minutes of operation.

      1. @hohum
        Maybe they need to replace the simulator with a treadmill that simulates the walk back to the pits ?

        1. @beneboy, indeed, now we realise that Jenson has been training for a drive all year.

        2. He could probably run at a good pace longer than the McLaren goes with all the triathlon’s he’s been doing

    2. Maybe if they could run the simulator in the race weekend instead of the actual car?

  2. The simulator, however, is not able to similate the physical effects on Button’s body. However it can be reasonable presumed that he will be well prepared with a training programme. The real issue is that in having not raced for 6 months, just small, momentary mistakes which would normally be a small lockup running deep onto the kerb, could mean barriering the car in Monaco. Obviously the experienced driver should be okay to not do this but it’s always a risk that the simulator cannot fully prepare Button for.

    I think IndyCar, if Alonso does well, will show that F1 is more advanced and a higher level than IndyCar. If Alonso does badly, it could reflect badly on the competition F1 as a whole. F1 has a lot less to gain from the exposure here, although the saying goes that all publicity is good publicity. Even though they are two different things, so many comparisons are being drawn between them.

    1. Mark in Florida
      6th May 2017, 4:01

      Oval racing is a totally different discipline than road racing. If Alonso finishes in the top ten it can be considered a success. 230 mph causes most people to slow down in a corner not keep your foot in it and let it drift up to the outside wall. Alonso has a lot of guts to do Indy , you leave your fear in the garage.

    2. There have been plenty of drivers who have crossed over from F1 to CART and vice versa, that is, going back to when it was CART and a truly more enthralling time before the unfortunate breakup of the series by Tony George, as well as after he did that when it became IRL and now Indycar. FA’s presence this year won’t alter either series’ image no matter how he does. Indy fans are well aware of F1 and it’s drivers past and present, especially the ones who have done both series. F1 fans, even if not caring to watch the 500, still know what drivers have tried it going back to no less than Clark et al. We didn’t need particularly FA particularly this year, to form comparisons. The series’ have been compared for years.

      1. Thing is Robbie a lot of fans don’t realise that F1 drivers have been having a go at Indy and have been really successful. In my 50+ years of watching i’ve seen them ,going back as you say to Jim Clarke.

  3. Paul Ortenburg
    6th May 2017, 2:04

    What Renault needs is a second good driver. The Hulk shows what the car is capable of doing while Palmer is just wasting a seat.

    I’m Sky can find a place form him (maybe replacing Paul Di Resta).

    1. Paul Ortenburg
      6th May 2017, 2:06

      Flu has got me good.

      *Maybe Sky can find a place *for him (maybe replacing Paul Di Resta).

    2. Neil (@neilosjames)
      6th May 2017, 2:38

      I try to see the positive… without the financial benefit provided by Palmer, the car would be a little bit less competitive and Hulkenberg would be less able to score points with it.

      1. Renault is now a works team, with the backing of the Renault-Nissan-group, the fourth largest automotive group worldwide. That is bigger than the Daimler-group or Red Bull. They shouldn’t need any paydrivers going forward.
        Possible drivers for next year are Alonso, or if that doesn’t play out, probably Sainz. At the moment, Palmer doesn’t really strike anyone as the right choice in that comparison, so he’ll be out of a seat next year. Maybe he’ll find one at Sauber or, if McHonda fully continue to struggle, maybe there.

        1. You assume that Renault is willing to put large amounts of equity capital in the Renault F1 team, a separate company, capital which will simply vaporize and in return provide “exposure” for the Renault brand. That assumption is wrong.
          Nissan is not part of this equation, aside from the fact that it pays dividends to Renault commensurate with its ownership stake.

          1. You only get positive marketing value if you compete up front. So giving the team less than adequate funding would be unreasonable, as in that case the money would indeed just evaporate. Furthermore, a good part of the money that Alonso costs more than Palmer comes back by the prize money for the approximately 2-3 constructors positions this driver change would provide. And yes, I know prize money comes later while paydrivers typically pay during the season they drive, but again, if Renault needed that, they’d be doing it wrong.

          2. @crammond Agree with this

  4. Chris (@tophercheese21)
    6th May 2017, 2:42

    I’m gonna stick my neck out on this one but, I’m calling it now.

    If Fernando Alonso is still in Formula One next year, he will be driving for Renault F1 Team.

    1. mark jackson
      6th May 2017, 2:51

      Ej beat you to the punch last weekend.

    2. And of course, this will be followed by Honda finally nailing the PU and Vandoorne winning the championship.

      1. @casjo Inevitably, lol

      2. Nah it will take 4-5 years and it wont be a Honda engine…

    3. My hopes are still on FA to Merc but if that is not to be won’t Renault be about his only other option?

    4. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
      6th May 2017, 9:55

      Does nobody remember him saying that Mclaren Honda would be his final team in F1? Even after he had the dreadful start with them and he got asked about moving teams in the future, he still made it pretty clear that this would be his last.

      1. Sure but when is the last time you heard him say that? Recently? I don’t think he has. Things change.

      2. OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
        6th May 2017, 13:27

        @thegianthogweed he said the same when he was at Ferrari. PR stuff.

      3. He said Ferrari would be his final team about half a decade ago. Times change…

    5. Fukobayashi (@)
      8th May 2017, 11:25

      100%, ive been saying it since Australia. It will be quite the poetic justice and the Renault should be a decent car, maybe 3rd fastest by next year

  5. Pity he’s going through all this prep just to qualify 16th and have his engine fail on lap 3.

    1. 16th is a bit of a stretch isn’t it?

    2. The first realistic comment I’ve on the topic.

    3. Of course, I thought you were talking about Fernando at Indy but now I realize you were talking about Jenson at Monaco. I’d say your comment is realistic for both situations, albeit rather than “engine failure” Fernando will get taken out by a bone-headed move by one of the “33 greatest drivers in the world”, e.g., Charlie Kimball or Pippa Mann.

      1. I”m betting that Alonso will be taken out in the last 20 laps by Surge Carom, I mean Sage Karam.

    4. But he gets paid for an entire race!

  6. Unicron (@unicron2002)
    6th May 2017, 7:52

    Has there ever been a sentence that includes the word ‘simulator’ that is in any way exciting?! Or interesting, for that matter. Imagine Fangio or Clark talking about the correlation work on the simulator they’d been doing…

    1. @unicron2002, well, in the case of Clark we know that he was quite happy to experiment with new technologies, such as onboard telemetry systems – frankly, I don’t think that he would have shown the same sort of snobbery that you are towards simulator work.

      1. Hello sniper! I acknowledge the requirement of it, the fact they are a highly sophisticated, incredible multi-million pound pieces of kit… that have no relevance to my enjoyment of watching F1 cars race around the streets of Monaco. Zero.

        1. I wouldn’t expect a fan of F1 to be able to share the same enthusiasm for simulators that a driver would. I’m sure Fangio and Clark revelled in whatever latest greatest technology at the time helped them, which in turn would have created the storyline of F1 for the fans. In this case Button is likely ever so grateful to have a simulator that has never been closer at replicating the feel, while sitting in a room. I find simulators fascinating, even if they never enter my mind during a race unless a commentator mentions them.

          1. I think it is more individual. Drivers in all era have been more or less vocal about too much technology ruining the “purity of racing”. When f1 went from gear stick to paddleshift gearbox, when f1 cars had active suspension, when seatbelts were introduced (many drivers preferred to not wear the belts) or when hans device was introduced. For example the hans device existed when dale earnhard had his deadly crash in nascar and he died probably because he did not want to wear the safety device. Or more recently the halo in f1 which would be a safety improvement but is aesthetically offensive to some.

            Generally I think safety improvements are always controversial while anything that gives you an advantage is seen as positive. Although at the same time drivers’ own preferences may play a role in their opinions as well.

        2. Lol, having driven an F1 simulator before… simulators are excellent and exciting tools. They are a lot more than 0% exciting compared to F1 car driving around Monaco.

          Especially Monaco is one place where you can mostly only drive it in a Simulator, there are no track days for that..

          1. I’ve been lucky enough to have a go on simulator at the MTC . It was brilliant.

        3. I think if teams broadcasted their simulator work, that would be amazingly relevant and interesting to fans, especially moving forward and wanting to capture that younger audience. It would get more people interested in racing simulation games as well which is important as the gaming industry is where a lot of young people who could be following F1 are following instead.

          Imagine if each team had to stream live 4 hours (at their time and frequency of choosing) between races of human driven simulator work on the upcoming racetrack as part of being in the competition. That would be as interesting to me as watching practice. It would provide opportunity for teams to advertise their sponsors, and even if they were keen, to embrace and interact with their community.

          It’s like with the CFD work as well. Let us see what this money is being spent on rather than simply limit it. Give us insight into what technologies the teams are employing and maybe even those technology companies will want to jump on board with marketing as the company that gives the winning team the edge.

          With VOD/live streaming becoming more popular and traditional scheduled broadcasting becoming a thing of the past, there is huge opportunity here for innovation and FOM/FOG to truly be forward thinking about the future of the sport and its relevance. I love that some teams are already embracing these trends (looking at McLaren’s simulator competition.) I just hope that they get good engagement and can prove there’s value in it so that more teams follow suit.

    2. They could do real testing though.

  7. Button ‘still has it’ meaning he will languish about in the back of the field and blame the car for his lackluster skill as a driver.

    1. Lackluster skill? Are you forgetting he’s a world champion, with many stunning drives and wins to his name?

    2. I predict that Jenson is going to talk about the McLaren having “no grip”.

      1. If Jenson gets far enough into the race to complain about grip, then the car is having a good day…

      2. No different to Hamilton whining his tyres have got no grip either Gary.

    3. Jenson is simply around Kimi level… excellent in every way, except not top tier, and now also old.

  8. Re Massa’ comments…

    Ferrari proved long ago that you don’t need a Newey design car to win (2000-4)

    And Mercedes did same the past 3 seasons.

    1. The Red Bull excuse for Mercedes advantage was the better engine, for them (Red Bull) they would always have the better chassis because they have Newey. That’s why they called for more aerodynamics oriented rules. And they got it. And now they are far behind in the same area that they would supposed to be king.

      It’s not very hard to understand Massa’s point. Maybe you’re just being ironic.

      1. Sarcastic…

        As for Red Bull having the best chassis, that I’m not buying. Spain, Hungary, Singapore, Monaco are all tracks that’s chassis dependent & power is nullified, however apart from Monaco last year and the wet race in Hungary 2014, when has that famed Red Bull chassis out performed Mercedes?

        The idea that Mercedes was just quick because of their engine, is a myth.

        1. I think if anything has been proven since 2014 it is that no longer can power unit and chassis be separated. In this current era Mercedes and Ferrari have proven that never has the integration of both been more crucial. A team simply no longer slaps someone else’s PU in their chassis and succeeds. You have to do it all in house as a factory based team integrating everything at once.

    2. Let’s not shade what it took for MS to win 2000-2004. Subservient teammate contracted to not compete which then meant designer car for MS on designer tires with unlimited testing which resulted in a dominant car that rarely had to pass a car for the wins and could do it through the undercut. One Newey was never going to beat that. Nobody was…by design.

  9. Evil Homer (@)
    6th May 2017, 16:19

    Of course Jenson still has it. What a great racer but more importantly a great man.

    Too many people, especially in social media, are too negative. They bag others achievements that far exceed their own !!

  10. Carmen Jorda was also pretty good in the simulator.

  11. I was never negative on Max.

  12. Okay, Button still has what it takes to just an helmet… great, for some.

  13. Button may “still have it” but I don’t think putting him in a wider car than he’s used to at a place like Monaco will end well. My only question is, will he catch a fence or break down first…?

    1. Rick do you hit anything when you change your car or do you stick with the same size because you can’t judge the size of your car?

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