MJSpeed

A. Wayne your assessment of Button's talent is, IMHO, way off. To say he has modest talent vs his talented rivals, implies that he isn't that good.

FWIW he has as many championships as Nigel, Jacques Villenueve and oh yeah, Lewis (whom may I add was about 400 meters from not having one, thank you Timo Glock).

Button is mature and savvy. And yes he is talented.

A.Wayne

MJSpeed,

Mature and savy ? yes , i said as much ......

As an F1 driver he is also talented , relative to the others ( Alonso and Hamilton for eg. ) His talent is modest ( driving skills ) and he was also slower than 38 yr old Barichello when at Honda and Brawn, to compare him to Mansel and Hamilton must be tongue in cheek , as he is also a Ross Brawn faux champion Mansell and Hamilton never had that opportunity.....


If Button was not British , he wouldn't even have made it to the footnote level, his early failures would have had him booted from the sport. Recently he has made the best of the opportunities offered to him and he was absolutely aided along by Brawn for his WDC, he is currently in a top car and is very level headed, will he win any more WDC ...Nope !


Will Hamilton or Alonso? ... i wouldn't bet against it .............



Hey , what's this?

I see the Finn voted for Hamilton .. LOL. At Spa he voted for Alonso .... now Hamilton... !!!


Finn please vote Button from now on .......

chris walrod

Kudos to FA for giving credit where credit is due -- to that magical pit stop.

I laughed out loud when LH broke, but only because it would tighten-up the points.

MJSpeed

You've got him mixed up with David Coulthard.

As for comparing him to Rubinho, it's just not fair. Rubens has been faster than most if not all his team mates (when given an equal opportunity, of course). Hell he (Rubinho) is even faster than the Stig. Lol!

Mansell and Lewis won without Brawn because their cars were so much better than anything else out there, that they didn't need him. In '91 Mansell had the best car but was beaten by the best driver ever! And Lewis had such a good car that he should've won it twice, if not for his immaturity and mistakes. Hell he almost threw it away twice were it not for Felipe's and Ferrari's mistakes (fuel hose in Singapore and engine failure in Hungary two laps form the end, while leading) and Timo Glock, of course.

At Honda JB was a legit contender and during a couple of years prior to Alonso and Renault waxing MS/Ferrari (just thrown in as a controversial/trolling comment, so Pete and the amigos; don't get your panties in a bunch), JB and Honda were the only ones giving la Scuderia Di Maranello anything to be concerned about.

Let's agree to disagree.

boxsey911

Looks like I'm the only one that thought it was a dull race. Once the first couple of corners were over it became obvious that it was going to be won or lost in the pit stops. And so it was. All of the top three had to go into fuel saving mode at various times so could not race each other for 100% of the time. Not good for racing IMHO.

ltc

No, he will probably just take one of Felipe's remaining new engines ...

A.Wayne

I do agree with most of what you have said, exception ?

Mansell still had to race Patrese and Hamilton Alonso and Heiki. JB did not have to race Barichello to win his and his Brawn did have a significant time advantage over the rest last year and but for a few exceptions this year, he has not been in the same zip code as Hamilton.


To put it Bluntly, what if Montoya was British ...... would we even be discussing Button ....

ltc

I would credit the team by giving him the necessary advantage in the pits; from a speed/driving perspective, Button and Alonso were pretty evenly matched. If the pit teams produced stops of equal time, I don't think Alonso would have won the race.

I would disagree.

Alonso's critics would probably point to the fact that Alonso has been involved (some would say was at the center) of the biggest controversies over the past few seasons:

"Stepneygate" ... and his involvement with De La Rosa and on track testing and feedback (via text and cellular phone). In an ironic twist of fate, the pace of the Ferrari this season has greatly improved since Ferrari hired away from McLaren an aerodynamicist.

"Piquetgate" ... and his brilliance in fueling light for starting mid pack in a street race and having his pit window open the exact instant Piquet Jr inexplicably crashes into the wall.

"Massagate" ... and the issuance of team orders in order for Alonso to pick up an extra 7 points.

In all of these cases, it is Alonso's character (or more specifically the lack thereof) that gives his critics something to comment on. As pure as the driven snow, had nothing to do with any of these events, nothing more than a driver driving whatever car and strategy he is handed.

The man is simply someone that is hard to support, based on his actions, denial and lack of accepting responsibility.

If he does indeed win the 2010 WDC by 7 points or less, it will be because of Massa (similar to the gift that Timo Glock provided Lewis Hamilton at Brazil, ironically once again involving Massa).

RajDatta

I think you need to get over it and move on. Unless ofcourse you are one of the people that always harps over the past. If he wins the WDC, you can have your excuse.

As far as I am concerned, he won it fair and square because he did not attack Massa earlier in the year due to same team orders. He gave up points in 2 races and got some back in 1.

Alonso gets 1/2 the credit for his recent win because he made it possible by staying within attacking distance. A good pitstop would have done Alonso no good if he wasn't close enough. So let's give credit where credit is due (why am I even expecting this for you is beyond me, since it's obvious you have your blinders on). They both deserve the credit for pulling off the pass, the team for fast pitwork and Alonso for keeping himself close enough to give the team a chance to leapfrog Button.

It's a team sport and for that reason, I am not against team orders. Alonso gave the team their proper due but that went above a few heads.

Raj

multi21

Credit the Ferrari Pit Crew for getting Alonso the win yesterday -- Plain and simple. The crew gave Alonso P1 back after he squandered it at the start to try and block Button. They were 1 sec. faster than McLaren on the pit stop of FA vs. Button and it was less than that when FA came out to T1 with Button. I can't see how you can "spin" this any other way.

Credit to Hamilton for leaving his helmet on when walking back from the track to the motorhome. You know he was fuming and the reporters wanted that sound bite. Also credit to Hamilton for being mature afterwards, coming out to speak to the reporters and taking the blame 100% for his dumb mistake. Stark contrast from a couple years ago.

Spa and Monza...................... back to back......................... need I say more? Wow...

The remaining tracks clearly favor the Red Bulls from here on in. Webber is looking good right about now if he doesn't DNF any.

A.Wayne

Alonso .. who is that ? ... It was a great pitstop from Ferrari and the car drove itself to victory ...


Awww there was another guy , who never made any passes on track, all during pitstops and he was revered by the amigos, had many messagegates , bruckleggate, dirtydrivinggate,all his WDC points removedgate and most recently return from retirement to commit larcenygate , what's his name again , Hmmmm, maybe ltc remembers....

ltc

What is there to get over? I am not allowed to be a critic of the person and his alleged tactics and transgressions?
(OK, fine I still can't get over the fact that Sato isn't in F1 this season...guilty as charged)

As for not being against team orders, you do realize that team orders are still outlawed by the FIA? I agree, it is a bark with no bite at this point, but on paper they are illegal, so why support an illegal activity?
(of course Alonoso doesn't appear to have any problems with illegal activities re: my previous post and his involvement with several non incidents)

He gave the team its proper due because it was deserved and it was Monza. The crowd/country/press/Pope/Luca (in that order) would have expected (and demanded) nothing less.

Drivers will come and go with Ferrari...it is always the team above all else, hence Alonso's acknowledgement.

ltc

Nice to have you back...I was lost without you.

A.Wayne

Another great review and analysis from Pete ! ...............



More , Pete , More .............

Larry Herman

Hey Raj, talk about someone being stuck on the past. ^^^