Belgian GP 2010 - Spa Francorchamps

[raymondu999]

I hope he matures into a good racer. His raw pace is unquestionable.

+1. Having supported Vettel through his rise in Formula BMW and also supporting him through his BMW F1 days, it really pains me to see how Vettel threw away a 2nd place, and shows that he is still susceptible to brainfade.

[andrew]

Is anyone else suspicious about Button being so slow? Sure his wing was damaged, but it looked pretty minor or am I just too sceptical for my own good on this one?

Any serodynamists out there?

[Giblet]

I don't think the way some people here come down on Seb is entirely fair.

It's not this one mistake though WB. It seems to be more often then not that when he is near other cars he makes big errors and hits them. 3 times now he has chopped over someones front in this season alone.

Other than races where he has led from pole, he comes across very amateurish, and keeps driving that point home.

[spacer]

Is anyone else suspicious about Button being so slow? Sure his wing was damaged, but it looked pretty minor or am I just too sceptical for my own good on this one?

Any serodynamists out there?

+1, after the Button/Vettel crash, Hamilton was more or less told "Button is out of the race, so the cars behind you will probably pick up their pace".

[Giblet]

Brundle said something about Button not being happy about the balance which he has more trouble than most driving around.

[Gary]

Is anyone else suspicious about Button being so slow? Sure his wing was damaged, but it looked pretty minor or am I just too sceptical for my own good on this one?

Any serodynamists out there?

I think you are being too sceptical. The car was clearly damaged and Button was, as I recall, only something like 8 seconds down on Hamilton at the time of the collision. Neither, and this is the bigger point, is it McLaren's style to 'manage' a race at that stage.

[Gary]

Is anyone else suspicious about Button being so slow? Sure his wing was damaged, but it looked pretty minor or am I just too sceptical for my own good on this one?

Any serodynamists out there?

+1, after the Button/Vettel crash, Hamilton was more or less told "Button is out of the race, so the cars behind you will probably pick up their pace".

What on earth is suspicious about that? It seems blindingly obvious that once a damaged car (Button's) was out of the race, the undamaged cars previously behind it would probably be able to lap faster.

[raymondu999]

I distinctly remember that Valencia 2009 Kovalainen also lost 7 tenths or so to Hamilton every lap and we just got a Kovi-train the whole way.

[G37Sam]

Is anyone else suspicious about Button being so slow? Sure his wing was damaged, but it looked pretty minor or am I just too sceptical for my own good on this one?

Any serodynamists out there?

+1, after the Button/Vettel crash, Hamilton was more or less told "Button is out of the race, so the cars behind you will probably pick up their pace".

Team order much? lol

[ringo]

This race was good, wicked driving from Sutil, Petrov, Luizi, and Button.

Button's only problem is his speed. He was too slow today and that what's brought him into trouble with Vettel. Vettel was definitely blazingly quicker. We can see that there is a clear difference between Hamilton and Button's race pace and wet driving confidence.
I'm not blaming Button for the Vettel crash, but he should know that Vettel and Webber are the last guys you want on your gearbox. You should find the pace and get out of there.
His opening laps showed he is defintely top class, jumping up to third then second, however pace and agression is his main weakness. His defense on Vettel was ok still.

Oh yeah I can't leave out shumacher! He was definitely a spa specialist today, only mlosing out on his teammate on the restart. The Mercedes ran pretty well, better than expected, thought the FI seem to be making better use of the engines power.

It seems like you did not have the BBC commentary. There was damage to Button's front wing so his car was badly balanced & he had to jack on full flap & adjust the diff settings to improve it as much as possible. Hence he was slow & was pleased with how he was coping & managing to keep Vettel behind. Vettel was unable to overtake a damaged McLaren. It is apparent to me that Red Bull have had to make changes to comply with the new tests and their race pace has been affected. McLaren have got their exhaust blown diffuser to work - could clearly hear it during the race & Martin Brundle (BBC commentator) pointed it out.

Yeah i was watching BBC feed on TSN and then the speedTV coverage during the TSN breaks. Well Button was hampered a little, but i don't think his end plate damage was worst than Nico's. Button was between 5 tenths and a second slower a lap than Hamilton, that little scrub on the endplate is not worth a second.
Nico was holding on to Shumache with virtually no endplate.

What i think he was doing was trying to stay behind hamilton and save fuel, and be far enough that if Hamilton runs into some bad weather, he could prepare for it or fly into the pits. What back fired, i think, is that Vettel was extremely fast, so fast Button never expected to be watching his back from the the redbull; after all the Mclaren is just as fast here.
Button was simply too slow to even hold the gap. Vettel was eating him up in sectors 2 and 3. Hamilton can run with the Bulls, (valencia wing damage)I haven't seen Button do it this season, it's not something he is used to, he's better at chasing than being chased it seems.

[ringo]

Is anyone else suspicious about Button being so slow? Sure his wing was damaged, but it looked pretty minor or am I just too sceptical for my own good on this one?

Any serodynamists out there?

Well we can look and compare Nico's damage. Nico's was worse.

[raymondu999]

Anyone notice how the McLarens seemed to be so surefooted (except for Lewis's little trip to the gravel. I bet China 2007 (or was it 2008?) was flashing right before his eyes) in the wet? I have a theory that the McLarens are actually mechanically excellent cars. They get good traction out of slow corners, they have a massive nose that seems to just turn in on command, and they have such good footing in the wet. It's just that the way they set the car up with ultra-stiff springs seems to nullify a bit of that advantage.

[PlatinumZealot]

Vettel almost killed Button. Steam was shooting out every where! You can't just steer your sliding car into another driver, that is what run offs are for. Deserved penalty I say.

[andrew]

Vettel almost killed Button.

That's a bit over the top saying that! The commentary actually siad it was just one of thise things. Neither driver wanted to concede the corner. Racing incident is all it was.

[auto saibot]

vettel is master in T-boning. will never want him behind while driving in traffic