If he's driving slowly visibility won't be so much of an issue, rain spray is lessened when driving slower than race pace.
Poll : What driver impressed you most?
Closed since :
Jenson Button
72
Sebastian Vettel
36
Robert Kubica
27
Sebastien Buemi
25
Lewis Hamilton
24
Jarno Trulli
9
Rubens Barrichello
8
Timo Glock
1
If he's driving slowly visibility won't be so much of an issue, rain spray is lessened when driving slower than race pace.
+1, I was about to say the same thing. However, I know he was lucky with 8 "free" positions, but KERS (boo!:thumbsdow) and strategy are not luck. They are competitive advantages (unfair maybe, in the case of KERS) available to everyone, but they are not luck :nol2:. Anyway, I'm very interested to see how he (and everyone else) does in Malaysia.
I was kind of glad the McLaren was bad this year. We finally get to see Hamilton in a bad car and settle the issue of whether he is a "great" driver or just a "good" driver and the bickering would stop (but probably not... maybe if he were to race a proven driver in the same car... like...um... Alonso...oh wait.
)Button and Barrichello (and others) have winning cars, but no one criticizes them.
If we had a poll like this for Australia 08, I doubt Hamilton would have had as many votes for driver of the day. I voted for Buemi, btw. 
Don't get me wrong, I like the 3 B's (Button, Barrichello, BrawnGP)
and would be very happy to see either of them--or (almost) anyone else on the grid for that matter--win the championship. BrawnGP is my new second favorite team. I even like how the car looks. I hope they keep the livery clean, like it is now without a lot of sponsor logos.where'd you hear that? Maybe we can find a way to postpone abu dahai construction.
I believe it's just about his attitude and appearance. He appears to me at least as arrogant as Michael Schumacher in his later years. And it pisses me off that he is praised for being WDC in his 2nd season, but everyone forgets about the car he was sitting in. Being new to F1 doesn't mean you're a bad racer, he's done very well in the former leagues.
And once more, McLaren Mercedes, especially that stupid Haug not appearing any likeable to me. He's talking about not spending any efforts into the protests against the diffusors only to save that time and rather work on the car. True strory is that they are already having the new diffusor just covered with some plates and waiting for the final decision by the FIA.
Arrogant as Schumacher? Have you ever met either of these two drivers or ever seen them out without the paparazzi and F1 media twisting every word they says? As I said earlier I've done some gigs were Hamilton was in attendance and he was anything but arrogant.
And plenty of people mention Hamilton's car in regard to his championship. It's F1 the car is always important. What some people seem to forget that in Bahrain and Malaysia MANY pundits were claiming that McLaren were STRUGGLING to keep pace with BMW. But no, Hamilton had the best car on the grid day 1...! this simply isn't the case.
Is he the best thing since sliced bread? No, of course not but a bit of balance is needed. Anyway enough of Hamilton!
Whats with this issue about having one of the best cars on the grid?
I think you'll find that since 1950, just about every champion has had the best car on the grid, or at least a close contender for the best car on the grid.
Between 1988 and 1991, Senna had probrably the best car on the grid, Ferrari Challenged with their 640 in 1989 and 1990, and Williams were getting their FW whatever it was going in 1991, but he still had one of the most superior cars on the grid, yet the majority of the racing community still worship him as a god, despite him winning his championships in a world beating car, does that mean Senna doesn't deserve his WDCs just because he won them in a good car?
And you can't put anybody in the fastest car on the grid and expect them to win WDCs, Kovalinen had exactly the same car as Hamilton last year, but did he win or contend for the championship?
There seems to be this attitude in the world now that anyone who is sucessful, rich or popular must be overrated, perhaps thats why we worship complete idiots on reality TV now instead people that actually have some skill.
I think you'll find that since 1950, just about every champion has had the best car on the grid, or at least a close contender for the best car on the grid.
Between 1988 and 1991, Senna had probrably the best car on the grid, Ferrari Challenged with their 640 in 1989 and 1990, and Williams were getting their FW whatever it was going in 1991, but he still had one of the most superior cars on the grid, yet the majority of the racing community still worship him as a god, despite him winning his championships in a world beating car, does that mean Senna doesn't deserve his WDCs just because he won them in a good car?
And you can't put anybody in the fastest car on the grid and expect them to win WDCs, Kovalinen had exactly the same car as Hamilton last year, but did he win or contend for the championship?
There seems to be this attitude in the world now that anyone who is sucessful, rich or popular must be overrated, perhaps thats why we worship complete idiots on reality TV now instead people that actually have some skill.
Agreed 100%
dont forget button, and vettel too mostly had a clear road in front of them for most of the race, whereas the rest of the field had to drive behind a slower car at some point in the race
so imo u cant judge a drivers performance on his avg laptimes
No, I have never met any of those drivers, so I have to rely on what is shown on TV. It might be that he appears differently in Interviews, but Schumacher in the end was a bit too self-secure in the interviews. He was a very good racer and a motivational factor for the team, but not always down to earth like Vettel is still. He know's he's not the slowest driver on the grid but he's just natural.
Ohh and Michael was also talking to younger races and held races on his own Karting Track.
But what about the comparison of Hamilton describing himself as better than Senna?
Sure you can't put e.g. me in a Brawn GP now and I would rock the grid. But as in all motorsports, the car has to fit the driver. Just as in LFS, if you have a setup that fits the one driver but I need more oversteer, then he will certainly get along better than I do (given that it's not just the setup but the car all in all) We had it the last years with several teams that one driver wasn't a 100% satisfied with the overall car's behavior. I think Heidfeld couldn't get heat into the BMW's tyres....
Still, I don't get how being sucessful through simply having a good car and a setup that you like makes you overrated.
I'm sick of people bitching about drivers being sucessful through luck and having the advantage of a good car, thats what F1 is all about, you need luck to be sucessful, let alone a good car. If yu don't like that you can go and watch a more predictable sport, football for example.
Haha speaking of which Brundle made me laugh before qualifying when he accused the non special diffuser teams of "bitching", he sounded genuinely seriously hacked off about it.
It would be a miracle if any driver could be 100% happy with the car. It's a miracle that it can be so well balanced in a race anyway, I mean, wind, humidity, temperature all play parts in how a car handles, so it's a miracle when you think of it that way.
It's not about Hamilton becoming WDC. It's how ppl, mostly the media and that Norbert Haug dealt with it.
At least on German TV it was mentioned what a great driver he is and how uber awesome it is he's leading the championship etc. And Haug never became tired of mentioning that it's Lewis second season.
This pushing ppl to a higher Level than they actually are is what makes me sick ^^
Alonso was most successful in the last part of the season, in a worse car! And nobody talked about him for some strange reason.
And where he profited from other cars retiring due to technical failures it can't not be accounted to him as skill, but as a better job by the team, because reliability has nothing to do with the driver. Not in F1
Correct. +1
Apart from the very top of the field, RTL always only talks about the German element in F1. Be it the drivers, the car manufacturers or even the engines. They also have a habit of talking to every single german driver after the race or the retirement. I'm sure even the least successful of them, Adrian Sutil, had more airtime last season than any other non-german in F1.
Personally, it annoys me no-end. I don't care whether Sutil was a promising pianist until the age of 14, I think he's a bore to listen to. I would have much rather had RTL interview DC f.e.
But I'm sure if you watched F1 on spanish television last season f.e., you would have heard a lot about and from Alonso.
Actually it does. Things always go wrong with the car, and some drivers are better suited to coping. Take Button on the soft tires this race just gone, he coped much better than Vettel because of his smooth style, this bodes well for Jenson this year. Also he had no water bottle as his broke, Jenson arrived at the start of the season in very good physical shape, some drivers may have been more prone to error or suffered in performance as a result of dehydration.
Well tyres do not belong to technical failures
And this has to do with driving style and racing tactics. An engine failure however is not really the driver's fault (unless he shifts from 7th to 3rd immediately, if that's possible at all) and so aren't most other defects, like hydraulics etc etc.
Infact, tyres aren't anything to do with the teams at all. Especially now since the rules are how they are, all teams get shipped the same amounts and types of tyres iirc
sorry for posting late, but somehow Brawn's win impressed me. Not even the testing results, Practice Sessions and Quali made it look expected. I can see a championship domination by these guys, now that in-season testing is banned.
You know you'll never have enough.
Why does everyone seem to think Button coped better than anyone else on the soft tyre? Rosberg suffered the worst because he spent the longest on them, Vettel also pitted two laps before Button as well. If Kubica and Vettel hadn't crashed into each other I'm pretty sure Button would have spent the final lap desperately defending his lead from the BMW.
Hamilton has never said he was better than Senna that's just bollox! Senna is his idol and he mentions him a lot but thats fairly obvious when he races for the same team as Senna did.
If Schumacher had 'arrogance' and an overwhelming feeling of superiority he wouldn't have competed in the World Karting Championships in 2001. In fact he was the complete opposite downplaying expectations. He didn't go in saying he was going to show all the 'kids' how to drive!
And which driver on the grid is overwhelming of his praise of Button and accepting Button deserves his chance - Lewis Hamilton! In fact I don't know many other drivers saying this?
yes Schumacher certainly appears arrogant but in reality this isn't t case. People that are arrogant by definition never learn or improve. Schumacher and Hamilton both learn and improve. Of course the media do a FANTASTIC job of manifesting fake personalities for each and every driver but the reality is very different.
I don't think we can say "Button coped much better thanks to his style" so easily...
We could argue that :
1) Button was going a little bit slower and relaxed compared to Vettel as he was doing more or less the same times but Brawn could probably go few tenths faster
2) Button changed tyres two laps later than Vettel. If we consider Vettel's 52th laptime of 1:30.154 as inconsistancy/mistake (as the next lap he was doing again 1:29.721), then Vettel's tires troubles began only on lap 54 (1:30.237)
When Button reached lap 56 (54+2), he encountered Safety car (1:37.817) so we have no way to say if Button style had preserved tires longer than Vettel or if he was going to lose 1 or more seconds in the following laps.
On top of that, different cars have different tire usage... so to see Button's style effects we should probably compare him to Barrichello (unless Barrichello is smooth too..). Unfortunately, Barrichello soft stint was even shorter so we haven't got data on it.
Having said that, I'm not a real racing driver nor an expert, so if you say that Button is smooth and so he would preserve his tires more than Vettel... I'm going to believe you
Just wanted to point out that in this race, laptimes wouldn't prove a massive difference between Button and Vettel.. (maybe there was some better evidence looking at some videos?)
Edit:
Agreed
Although, in Rosberg's case he did have problems somewhat sooner (6th or 7th lap) but he was also the one pushing most: 1:27:706, fastest lap of the race, compared to Button and Vettel who stayed above 1:29 on softs.
I think someone said he was asked by the team to push to get Barrichello (can anyone confirm this?).
+1, I think Kubica would have won if he waited just one more corner to pass Vettel.
Yes, he said that on german TV and admitted that it was a bad mistake.
Button and Rubens don't impress me as much as Ross Brawn himself though, he can probrably be held largely responsible for turning that team around, perhaps this is his next 'Ferrari'.
You forget that this will only be a one year hype (unless Virgin group decides to invest a gaziljon pounds in it). Brawn has already fired lots of people, and the now inevitably lowered budget will not help them be any more competitive at times than any other team. The sole reason fro Brawns great performance is the fact that Honda with the biggest budget known to man running five windtunnels simultaniously spent the last season developing this car.
2009 formula 1 ing australian grand prix
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