Button scored his third win of the year at Suzuka

McLaren got their 2011 campaign off to a dreadful start as the MP4-26 had a troubled gestation.

But by the start of the season they had improved enough to be Red Bull’s closest challengers.

They ended the season as runners-up in the constructors’ championship for the seventh time since they last won it in 1998.

McLaren’s elaborate ‘octopus’ exhaust system was at the root of the car’s troubles in testing. It was hurriedly discarded and replaced with a more conventional set-up in time for the first race in Melbourne.

It boded well for the team that Lewis Hamilton was able to finish second despite the 11th-hour changes to the car. When he won third time out in China, the team had realistic hopes of challenging Red Bull over the season.

It didn’t work out that way. Too often in the first half of the season they were frustrated by an inability to out-qualify Red Bull on Saturday or out-manouevre them on Sunday. This cost them potential wins at a time when the MP4-26 was arguably the faster car over a race stint.

Questionable strategic decisions, particularly on Hamilton’s side of the garage, compromised them further: failing to set a lap early in qualifying at Monaco, or putting on intermediate tyres in Hungary – though it must be said that Hamilton himself could and should have overruled these calls.

Hamilton also struggled to adapt his hard-charging style to the demands of less durable tyres. “I can’t go any slower,” he memorably told his team over the radio during the European Grand Prix.

Hamilton had several collisions, including this one with Webber

On top of that, Hamilton found himself embroiled in a series of needless clashes with rivals, in which he was more often than not the guilty party. He collided with Felipe Massa alone in Monaco, Singapore, Japan and India.

Added to that were further mishaps in Canada, Monaco, Hungary and Belgium with other drivers. But on his day Hamilton’s driving was top-notch as ever – whether he was chasing down and passing Sebastian Vettel to win in China, taking on Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber for victory at the Nurburgring, or breaking Red Bull’s pole position monopoly in Korea.

Without his litany of mistakes Hamilton could have been second in the championship, but it’s unrealistic to suggest he might have beaten Vettel with the equipment he had at his disposal.

Instead it was Jenson Button who ended the year runner-up to Vettel, with as many wins as Hamilton but twice as many podium finishes.

Button gave away less to Hamilton in qualifying than he had last year and was often more than a match for his team mate in the races. A virtuoso drive in Canada produced his first win of the year. He added another wet weather win in Hungary where, as in China last year, he avoided changing tyres while Hamilton headed for the pits.

The change of tyre supplier over the winter clearly played into Button’s hands. On several occasions he was able to make one fewer pit stop than Hamilton which usually worked to his advantage.

McLaren face the same problem as the rest of Red Bull’s rivals in trying to build a car that’s as quick as the RB7. But they have also identified areas to improve on the operational side, and here the recruitment of Sam Michael from Williams may pay dividends.

Testing revealed acute problems with the MP4-26

Errors such as giving Hamilton too little fuel in qualifying in Singapore, or too little time to set a flying lap in Q3 in Japan, or allowing Button to miss Q3 in Belgium, amounted to needless squandering of their potential.

The team has already shown signs of progress. Having been forced to retire Button after a pit stop error in Britain, McLaren were the quickest team in the pits in the final two races.

Six wins and second place in the championship is a lot better than the team might have expected back in February. But getting on terms with the champions will take more than just building a faster car.

2011 F1 season review

• The 2011 F1 season: The complete F1 Fanatic review
• Your 2011 F1 predictions revisited
• 2011 F1 statistics part 3: Stats and facts highlights
• 2011 F1 statistics part two: Vettel's domination
• 2011 F1 statistics part one: car performance
• New 2011 rules produced best racing of last four years
• What F1 Fanatics really thought of the 2011 season
• Sebastian Vettel voted F1 Fanatic Driver of the Year
• F1 Fanatic's article highlights of 2011
• Dominant Red Bull join F1's top teams

Images © McLaren, Red Bull/Getty images, Pirelli

Celebrating his third win of 2011 at Suzuka

For the first few races of the year it seemed as though Jenson Button was running to the same form we’d seen in 2010: qualifying and finishing slightly behind his team mate.

But it quickly became apparent the balance of power had shifted at McLaren. Over the course of the season the pair were evenly matched in terms of who was ahead, but it was overwhelmingly Button, not Lewis Hamilton, who brought home the best results.

At season’s end his tally of podium finishes stood at 12 to Hamilton’s six, and Button had become the first of Hamilton’s team mates to beat him over a full season of F1 (although Fernando Alonso came very close in 2007).

The keys to Button’s advantage were twofold: first, he lacked Hamilton’s propensity for sticking his car in the scenery (or, more often, Felipe Massa).

Second – and most importantly – he was usually able to get better performance out of his tyres. This was not often the case in qualifying, where Hamilton exerted his usual advantage, but regularly so in the races.

This was first apparent in Malaysia, where Button finished second after making one pit stop fewer than Hamilton. This tended to give Button a handy advantage in the races, though not always. In Turkey his tyres went off towards the end of his final stint and he was passed by Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

As we saw last year, Button seems to have a sixth sense in mixed weather conditions and he was in stunning form in Canada and Hungary. His furious pace in drying conditions at Montreal allowed him to take a shock win after pressuring Sebastian Vettel into a mistake on the final lap. This came after he’d fallen to the back of the field due to an earlier penalty.

In Hungary it was a straight fight between the McLaren team mates and it was Hamilton who cracked, spinning away his advantage and compounding his mistake with a late switch to intermediate tyres which the canny Button avoided.

Button overcame Hamilton to win in Hungary

By the second half of the season Button decisively had the upper hand. Without consecutive retirements at Silverstone and the Nurburgring due to technical reasons, his advantage over Hamilton would have been even greater.

After that, he was on the podium at eight of the final nine rounds. That included a nip-and-tuck win over Alonso and Vettel at Suzuka.

Vettel’s retirement in Abu Dhabi might have offered the chance for another win had Button not spent the race wrestling with a KERS fault. Under the circumstances he did extraordinarily well to salvage third – Martin Whitmarsh called his drive “absolutely storming”.

Many people – myself included – doubted Button would be able to beat Hamilton at McLaren. He deserves full credit not just for his achievement this year, but for taking on a fellow world champion in the same team in the first place.

He’s already reaping the awards for his efforts with a three-year McLaren contract extension announced in October.

F1 Fanatics on Jenson Button

His best year by far. He is one of the most intelligent drivers in the field, and it became his biggest weapon this year, always knowing when to push, when to save the equipment, when to relinquish and when to attack. He won over Hamilton convincingly with two mechanical retirements to his team-mate’s none, and could have been a serious contender if the car was a bit faster.
Guilherme

Who expected him to beat Hamilton by almost two race wins’ worth of points? Exceptional race pace.
Tflb1

Button snatched victory on the last lap in Canada

One of the best seasons by Button. In the second half of the season he almost beat Vettel in terms of points. If it wasn’t for the British and German Grands Prix then he would have been a lot closer.
Smifaye

Really stepped up this year. His previous weakness (his qualifying) has been much improved on, although still not perfect he more than made up for it with his determination, cunning, overtaking prowess and attention to detail.

No-one thought he’d beat Hamilton, but he did, and did it in style: His win at Canada is one of the best drives I’ve ever seen and I’ll remember it for a long, long time.
Dan Thorn

Able to capitalise on his team mate’s downturn in form with some epic drives this year. Canada surely has to be one of the best F1 drives of all time. Hungary and Japan were exceptional too. Unlucky not to add to those wins at Monaco.
Supernicebob

Jenson Button 2011 form guide

2011 F1 season review

• The 2011 F1 season: The complete F1 Fanatic review
• Your 2011 F1 predictions revisited
• 2011 F1 statistics part 3: Stats and facts highlights
• 2011 F1 statistics part two: Vettel's domination
• 2011 F1 statistics part one: car performance
• New 2011 rules produced best racing of last four years
• What F1 Fanatics really thought of the 2011 season
• Sebastian Vettel voted F1 Fanatic Driver of the Year
• F1 Fanatic's article highlights of 2011
• Dominant Red Bull join F1's top teams

Images © McLaren

McLaren drivers’ lap times throughout the race (in seconds):

Lewis Hamilton

Hamilton admitted he “just wasn’t quite quick enough” in qualifying and took fourth on the grid behind Button.

He fell behind both the Ferraris during the race and was shaping up to pass Felipe Massa when his gearbox failed: “It occurred quite early on – I was having problems with first and second – and it meant I started losing quite a lot of time and Fernando [Alonso] and Jenson were able to pull away from me.

“The problem meant I stopped being able to make good, clean gearshifts. Then I lost seventh, and then the whole thing just let go.”

Lewis Hamilton 2011 form guide

Jenson Button

Jenson Button, McLaren, Interlagos, 2011

Button ended his string of poor qualifying performances at Interlagos – he’d averaged worse than 14th on the grid in his last five appearances.

He was slightly disappointed not to be on the front row: “My quick lap was pretty ragged.

“I was pretty aggressive on the throttle, which you have to be to be fast around here. That’s not normally my style, but it was definitely quick and in fact I crossed the line thinking I’d be farther up the grid than I eventually was.”

Button seemed happier on the harder tyres all weekend and came under pressure from Alonso at the start of the race while on softs.

Alonso eventually passed him at Ferradura: “Fernando got the run on me out of turn five, got alongside me and I picked the wrong line, because that lap [was] when Michael [Schumacher] had his puncture and there was rubber all down the inside (of the track).

“I didn’t know what it was, whether it was part of a car, so I couldn’t risk just driving straight through it, and I couldn’t pull to the left because Fernando was there. So I had to back off early and pull in behind. I would say he was gifted the position quite easily.”

His tyre problems forced him into the pits soon afterwards: “I pitted earlier than expected. I really struggled on the tyre that I’ve been struggling with all weekend and strangely, I couldn’t look after the tyre, I really struggled with degradation, especially at the rear end, which was a little bit of a shock.

“But for me, the problem in the first stint was Fernando, he pushed me very hard, and when someone’s doing that, you have to drive a little bit harder, so I was pushing the tyres pretty hard.”

After two stints on soft tyres he switched to the mediums – unlike his rivals, running two stints on the harder tyres: “That helped me chase Fernando down in the final stint and pass him out of turn three.

“Ideally, I wanted to get him into turn one, because it’s more fun to pass someone without using DRS.

“But I set him up and got him out of turn three after getting a good run along the straight.”

His 12th podium finish of the year confirmed Button as the runner-up in this year’s championship.

Jenson Button 2011 form guide

2011 Brazilian Grand Prix

• Sutil voted Driver of the Weekend for Brazil
• Vettel "definitely affected" by gearbox problem - Webber
• 2011 Brazilian Grand Prix: complete race weekend review
• Vote for Brazilian GP driver of the weekend
• Red Bull: Gearbox glitch hands win to Webber
• McLaren: Button wanted to pass Alonso without using DRS
• Massa makes 100 Ferrari starts but no podium
• Ferrari: Alonso slips back on medium tyres
• Mercedes: Two-stop strategy leaves Rosberg vulnerable
• Force India: Sutil equals best result of the year

Image © McLaren

F1 pictures

• Jerez test day three in pictures
• Jerez test day two in 100 pictures
• Red Bull RB8 seen for first time as Jerez test begins
• Williams FW34 launch: First pictures of their 2012 F1 car
• Toro Rosso STR7 - first pictures and video of Toro Rosso's 2012 F1 car
• Red Bull RB8 launch - first pictures and video of Red Bull's 2012 F1 car
• Sauber C31 launch - first pictures and video of Sauber's 2012 F1 car
• Ferrari F2012 launch - first pictures and video of Ferrari's 2012 F1 car
• McLaren MP4-27 launch - first pictures of McLaren's 2012 F1 car
• Kimi Raikkonen continues his F1 familiarisation in Valencia

View more F1 pictures

Images © Ferrari spa/Ercole Colombo, Renault/LAT, Williams/LAT, McLaren, Getty Images/Red Bull, Force India/Sutton, Sauber F1 Team, Team Lotus, Virgin Racing, Motioncompany, Pirelli

F1 pictures

• Jerez test day three in pictures
• Jerez test day two in 100 pictures
• Red Bull RB8 seen for first time as Jerez test begins
• Williams FW34 launch: First pictures of their 2012 F1 car
• Toro Rosso STR7 - first pictures and video of Toro Rosso's 2012 F1 car
• Red Bull RB8 launch - first pictures and video of Red Bull's 2012 F1 car
• Sauber C31 launch - first pictures and video of Sauber's 2012 F1 car
• Ferrari F2012 launch - first pictures and video of Ferrari's 2012 F1 car
• McLaren MP4-27 launch - first pictures of McLaren's 2012 F1 car
• Kimi Raikkonen continues his F1 familiarisation in Valencia

View more F1 pictures

Images © Ferrari spa/Ercole Colombo, Renault/LAT, Williams/LAT, McLaren, Getty Images/Red Bull, Force India/Sutton, Sauber F1 Team, Team Lotus, Virgin Racing, Motioncompany, Pirelli

Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, Interlagos, 2011

Sebastian Vettel put Red Bull on top in the final practice session for the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Team mate Mark Webber was third fastest with the McLaren pair second and fourth.

The Renault drivers were out first, Bruno Senna heading the times briefly on his home track before pitting.

The next driver to head the times was Lewis Hamilton, before team mate Jenson Button beat his fastest lap on the harder tyres.

Sebastian Vettel edged Button with his last effort, going just five-hundredths of a second faster than the McLaren.

The Mercedes drivers were the first onto soft tyres, Rosberg getting within a tenth of a second of Vettel’s time.

Webber – still on the harder tyres – beat Vettel’s time by three-hundredths of a second, before Adrian Sutil hit the top of the times with a 1’13.113 on softs.

Fernando Alonso was the next driver to go fastest, lowering the mark to 1’12.765, before Hamilton eclipsed his time by a tenth of a second.

But it was a familiar sight at the end of the session as Vettel set the fastest time once again, then improved it to end up on a 1’12.460.

Button moved up to second, less than a tenth of a second behind the Red Bull, with Webber taking third on a 1’12.597, pushing Hamilton down to fourth.

Sutil’s time was good enough to put him sixth behind Alonso, and ahead of the two Mercedes. Michael Schumacher had a near-miss when he came across a dawdling Massa in the pit lane exit at the end of the session.

Massa ended up tenth behind Paul di Resta. But Sebastien Buemi was unable to set a time after a technical problem on his Toro Rosso.

Combined practice times

2011 Brazilian Grand Prix

• Sutil voted Driver of the Weekend for Brazil
• Vettel "definitely affected" by gearbox problem - Webber
• 2011 Brazilian Grand Prix: complete race weekend review
• Vote for Brazilian GP driver of the weekend
• Red Bull: Gearbox glitch hands win to Webber
• McLaren: Button wanted to pass Alonso without using DRS
• Massa makes 100 Ferrari starts but no podium
• Ferrari: Alonso slips back on medium tyres
• Mercedes: Two-stop strategy leaves Rosberg vulnerable
• Force India: Sutil equals best result of the year

Image © Red Bull/Getty images

F1 pictures

• Jerez test day three in pictures
• Jerez test day two in 100 pictures
• Red Bull RB8 seen for first time as Jerez test begins
• Williams FW34 launch: First pictures of their 2012 F1 car
• Toro Rosso STR7 - first pictures and video of Toro Rosso's 2012 F1 car
• Red Bull RB8 launch - first pictures and video of Red Bull's 2012 F1 car
• Sauber C31 launch - first pictures and video of Sauber's 2012 F1 car
• Ferrari F2012 launch - first pictures and video of Ferrari's 2012 F1 car
• McLaren MP4-27 launch - first pictures of McLaren's 2012 F1 car
• Kimi Raikkonen continues his F1 familiarisation in Valencia

View more F1 pictures

Images © Ferrari spa/Ercole Colombo, Renault/LAT, Williams/LAT, McLaren, Getty Images/Red Bull, Force India/Sutton, Sauber F1 Team, Team Lotus, Virgin Racing, Motioncompany, Pirelli

Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, Interlagos, 2011

The drivers who shared the front row of the grid for the last race were quickest in the second practice session in Brazil.

Lewis Hamilton headed the times in an uneventful session. He was followed by Sebastian Vettel, with the other Red Bull of Mark Webber in third.

Hamilton led the running early in the session on the harder tyres. Michael Schumacher briefly took over at the top of the times after switching to the soft compound.

Hamilton quickly returned to the top but Schumacher’s best effort remained within three-tenths of a second of the McLaren.

The Red Bull drivers were unable to beat Hamilton’s best time and Fernando Alonso took fourth.

Behind Schumacher were Felipe Massa, Jenson Button and Nico Rosberg. The two Force Indias completed the top ten, Adrian Sutil ahead of Paul di Resta.

Shortly before the end of the session Sergio Perez came to a stop at Juncao, telling the team he had a gearbox problem.

Image © McLaren

Mark Webber, Red Bull, Interlagos, 2011

Mark Webber headed the first practice session for the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The Red Bull pilot was just 14 thousandths of a second quicker than Jenson Button.

The McLaren and Red Bull cars swapped fastest times during the session. Lewis Hamilton was third quickest ahead of Sebastian Vettel, the world champion wearing a new helmet-mounted camera during the session.

The two Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso were next. Alonso’s session came to an end when his engine failed five minutes before the chequered flag came out.

Romain Grosjean, driving Vitaly Petrov’s car, also came to a stop before the end of the session with a technical problem on the Renault.

Several other teams ran one-off drivers during the session. Nico Hulkenberg was eighth-quickest for Force India behind Michael Schumacher.

Jean-Eric Vergne was 18th for Toro Rosso, Luiz Razia 20th for Lotus and Jan Charouz last in the HRT.

Kamui Kobayashi had a minor spin during the session but didn’t hit anything and ended up 15th-fastest.

2011 Brazilian Grand Prix

• Sutil voted Driver of the Weekend for Brazil
• Vettel "definitely affected" by gearbox problem - Webber
• 2011 Brazilian Grand Prix: complete race weekend review
• Vote for Brazilian GP driver of the weekend
• Red Bull: Gearbox glitch hands win to Webber
• McLaren: Button wanted to pass Alonso without using DRS
• Massa makes 100 Ferrari starts but no podium
• Ferrari: Alonso slips back on medium tyres
• Mercedes: Two-stop strategy leaves Rosberg vulnerable
• Force India: Sutil equals best result of the year

Image © Red Bull/Getty images

The design created by Linkin Park is to raise money for international aid for victims of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami through Music for Relief.

Vitantonio Liuzzi is also using a very unusual special helmet design for this race. Here’s what his team had to say about it:

“It is the seventh special edition designed this season by Kaos Design, but this new helmet is different to the rest and will be different to anything seen before in Formula 1. With a completely black base, the characteristic lines which Tonio has on his standard helmet will be drawn in white with the sponsors and VL logo written in golden leaves.

“The name of the helmet is ‘K-Writeme’ and it is covered in a material similar to that of a blackboard meaning that Tonio can write and erase what he wants on the surface until he is happy with the design.”

Here are pictures from Thursday at Interlagos.

F1 pictures

• Jerez test day three in pictures
• Jerez test day two in 100 pictures
• Red Bull RB8 seen for first time as Jerez test begins
• Williams FW34 launch: First pictures of their 2012 F1 car
• Toro Rosso STR7 - first pictures and video of Toro Rosso's 2012 F1 car
• Red Bull RB8 launch - first pictures and video of Red Bull's 2012 F1 car
• Sauber C31 launch - first pictures and video of Sauber's 2012 F1 car
• Ferrari F2012 launch - first pictures and video of Ferrari's 2012 F1 car
• McLaren MP4-27 launch - first pictures of McLaren's 2012 F1 car
• Kimi Raikkonen continues his F1 familiarisation in Valencia

View more F1 pictures

Images © Ferrari spa/Ercole Colombo, Renault/LAT, Getty Images/Red Bull, Force India/Sutton, Sauber F1 Team, Motioncompany