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

No celebration for Hamilton after taking pole in Korea

“The personal life, the way things have gone have not been as smooth and as happy as they could have been in the past and to do what I do is a combination of many, many things that are surrounding you”

Lewis Hamilton explaining his troubles in 2011? No – this quote is from last December. This is Hamilton describing what went wrong last year.

Twelve months on the explanation hasn’t changed but Hamilton’s form has clearly suffered.

Hamilton has always been a error-prone driver. This was true when he won the F3 Euroseries in 2005, the GP2 championship in 2006, and the world championship three years ago. This makes ranking him among his peers a case of weighing up the brilliant drives against the mistakes.

Previously the moments of genius have vastly outweighed the gaffes. But this was not the case in 2011.

During a fraught season he collided with his team mate Jenson Button, Pastor Maldonado and – on several occasions – Felipe Massa.

At times he paid the price of putting himself at the mercy of another driver during an overtaking move. This worked brilliantly when he forced his way past Button in China – not so much when applied to Maldonado and Massa in Monaco.

This was not the case of a few minor racing incidents. Hamilton committed the kind of baffling blunders not worthy of a driver of his calibre. Such as carelessly driving into the back of Massa in Singapore. Or repeating almost move-for-move the same driving he’d been warned about in Sepang last year, leading inevitably to a penalty.

Rare were the weekends when Hamilton did not make at least one appearance before the stewards. This prompted his notorious outburst in Monaco where he claimed the stewards singled him out more often than other drivers. But looking at the record over his five years in F1, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that, one or two incidents aside, Hamilton’s treatment from the stewards has been entirely fair.

It’s easy to play up the desperate moments of Hamilton’s 2011 campaign and overlook the moments of genuine inspiration. His victories in China and Germany were from the top drawer, blending speed and Hamilton’s characteristic aggression and verve racing for position against the best drivers in the world. I simply couldn’t bring myself to place a driver capable of those performances outside the top five.

He began the season strongly in Australia after a torrid off-season for McLaren, hounded Sebastian Vettel in Spain, and was the only driver to beat Red Bull to pole position all year.

Happier times: Winning in Germany

What really lies at the root of Hamilton’s unsettled year is the cause of considerable speculation. Much has been made of his decision to appoint managers who are more concerned with Lewis Hamilton the brand rather than the racing driver.

It’s also true that he came under greater pressure within his team than ever before, ending the season behind his team mate for the first time in F1. Hamilton was usually quicker than Button in qualifying but on race day Button often got more life and performance from the new specification tyres.

Come the end of the season there were some signs Hamilton had begun to find his form again. He took a third win in Abu Dhabi, gifted by Vettel’s first-lap retirement. But he ended the year with an anonymous performance in Brazil which ended with a rare gearbox failure.

It was a suitably unsatisfactory end to a season which Hamilton would probably sooner forget.

F1 Fanatics on Lewis Hamilton

Much has been said about his issues so I won’t go into detail, but it’s been a poor season for him. Even so, his wins in China and Germany were of the highest class – his driving skills have never been in doubt, only his mentality.

It’s good for the sport that he seems to have got on top of whatever issues he had, because Formula 1 without an on-form Lewis is lacking.
Dan Thorn

Occasional flashes of brilliance in China and Germany were marred by silly mistakes and unusual muted performances. He seemed to be constantly involved in needless incidents that took valuable points from him. Outclassed by Button this year in and out of the cockpit.
Colossal Squid

Second in Melbourne felt like win after testing trouble

Hamilton is an excellent qualifier and a daring overtaker. But this year, his judgement has been poor and he has attempted many moves which were neither sensible, nor necessary. With DRS and disintegrating tyres, many moves which were once ‘brave’ and now ‘foolish’ – and Hamilton hasn’t had the nous to adjust his strategy.

Behind all that Hamilton remains fast, and won three races (albeit Abu Dhabi was almost uncontested). Almost any team on the grid would love to have him.
Alex

Some races he was just off the pace (Valencia, India and Brazil although he had a problem at Brazil) and others he was just reckless/unfortunate. He may have been stellar in Germany and China but apart from that it was like someone else was driving the car.

I never expected Lewis to have a season like this and I’m sure he’ll bounce back but few greats have such a woeful and distracted season when in good cars. He can’t afford another year like this.
Steph

Lewis Hamilton 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