I thought that was a great drive from Button actually. His start wasn't actually very bad at all, but Heikki got him (and others) at the start with KERS. From there he passed some people, got a bit lucky with Kovy and Sutil, and put in some really good lap times. It would have been a 6th place if it wasn't for the safety car at the end which helped Rosberg and Heidfeld in my opinion (although it would have been very close with Rosberg anyway).

It was also a good drive from Trulli and Kimi, but Vettel made everyone look a bit rubbish. Sure, he didn't build up a 30 second lead in the first stint, but he didn't need to either. Very controlled and very mature.

But I don't think Button deserves as much criticism from his eventual 8th as some are trying to dish out. The Brawn isn't the class of the field any more, but he's still on the pace on race day most of the time. I think there is more to the poor qualifying than just Jenson's mental attitude over title pressure, and probably is a result of Brawn's use of the tyres over one/two laps still. And we've seen in the past that Honda were prone to not making the best use of qualifying - maybe that aspect of the team is still haunting them?

While Button certainly doesn't deserve the criticism he gets, as he did dominate the early part of the year, I can understand some people's frustration about how his championship is forming. With Vettel/RBR in this form hopefully Brawn will have to put a bit more into achieving podiums.

What it does show though is how much of a numpty Vettel was at the early part of the season. Someone really needed to tell him he had a chance at winning the title. Silly mistakes have cost him big, such a shame because out of the title contenders this year he is probably the best. Of course he is young, but Hamilton did raise the bar of expectations for inexperienced drivers. Lack of experience is no longer an excuse.

Kimi had another great race, and along with Hamilton I think we are getting a better picture of who are the best drivers on the grid.

i agree with TC

at the start JB was miles behind RB..he must think at the end of every race where the hell he comes from!

at least vettel has (hopefully) learned a lesson about defending a position that he maybe should have conceeded in australia, the points he lost there could make a big difference in the preasure on button in the last 2 races

Quote from Intrepid :

While Button certainly doesn't deserve the criticism he gets, as he did dominate the early part of the year, I can understand some people's frustration about how his championship is forming. With Vettel/RBR in this form hopefully Brawn will have to put a bit more into achieving podiums.

What it does show though is how much of a numpty Vettel was at the early part of the season. Someone really needed to tell him he had a chance at winning the title. Silly mistakes have cost him big, such a shame because out of the title contenders this year he is probably the best. Of course he is young, but Hamilton did raise the bar of expectations for inexperienced drivers. Lack of experience is no longer an excuse.

Kimi had another great race, and along with Hamilton I think we are getting a better picture of who are the best drivers on the grid.

And I find myself agreeing with you completely.

Button's racecraft is worth mentioning, he made so many critical passes throughout his season and it saved his arse, and most importantly he made very few mistake while doing so and always capitalize on the situation. (big credits to ross on that as well)

Kimi is fantastic, end of. He is driving a car without any sort of update in the last 5 races. He should be logically finishing races in 8th or 10th, but he just outdrove the competition (most of it at least).

I don't think Redbull or vettel will win the title, they lack the race to race consistency to win the remaining two race, they would have lost it here if the qualifying malarky didn't happen, or rosberg didn't enjoy the advantage he got pitting under the SC.

And boy, if you need one race to sums up Mark Webber's luck, this will be it!

Whilst we don't know how well Massa would have faired, we can surmise that the Ferrari isn't an easy car to drive from Fisi's performances. I think Kimi has his mojo back!!

He's got to have something recent to show his future employer

Quote from tristancliffe :

Whilst we don't know how well Massa would have faired, we can surmise that the Ferrari isn't an easy car to drive from Fisi's performances. I think Kimi has his mojo back!!

Ferrari surely is harder to drive to the limit than the Force India.
What's more it is really uncompetitive and no longer updated.
Fisichella is not the best driver out there,he's got some experience,for sure,but Kimi has gone through a whole season on the Ferrari and he could,eventually,learn where the limit is and what he can rely on.
Massa would have done better than Giancarlo,im sure,but he's still recovering from the injury and won't come back until next season.
This has to be the worst championship for Ferrari since the last 10 years.
At least the McLaren recovered itself from its shitty performances in the first half of the season and can fight pretty well with the others team.
The fact that i don't agree with is the lack of testing.You can't throw a newbie into a single seater this fast and reactive and expect him to be fast and consistent.
We all saw what Alguersuari did today,cold tyres and a new track combined with not much experience have led him to a bad crash,which could have had worse consequences.
It's the only sport in which the competitors can't train themselves during the year except for a few hours before the race.
That's bad,imho,it doesn't help team to save money because if you crash a car(and it will happen due to unexperienced drivers)it's a couple of million euros flying away.
If that's saving money...

Quote from NotAnIllusion :

He's got to have something recent to show his future employer

He doesn't need to do much judging from Heikki's performance.

Heikki should consider touring car or something, he seem well suited to that sort of racing.

So Barrichello must score 5 or more points than Button next race to keep the championship fight going. 7 more for Vettel.

Probably not going to happen...

Quote from Mattesa :

Probably not going to happen...

Maybe, but it CAN happend, because vettel is 16 points behind button, and thats the same amount Raikkonen was in 2007 in the last 2 races

Quote from aroX123 :

Maybe, but it CAN happend, because vettel is 16 points behind button, and thats the same amount Raikkonen was in 2007 in the last 2 races

But it's Mclaren you're talking about, don't think Brawn will do that kind of errors.

Loved the result, would've been even better if Hamilton had come second, but Vettel is my fav driver so woot.

Again, WTF is with you people, how the **** was this race boring?

I am barely awake with a throbbing head and sinus pain, an aching body so tired you could flick an elastic band in my face and I would just fall over and sleep and I have snot pissing out of my nose like a polish botch job on your copper pipes at home and even I didn't think it was boring, it kept me awake I was on the edge of my seat..... BED, many times...

You people call yourselves F1 fans, you really shouldn't watch F1 anymore if you are gonna get up at 5am just to complain. If F1 is boring everyrace for you, why do you think the next race will be any different? F1 you like it or you don't, don't just start liking it when its full of crashes or overtakes, you love it for what it is, top-flight motorsport, if you can't deal with what it is at the moment then you shouldn't watch anymore.

Quote from BlueFlame :

Again, WTF is with you people, how the **** was this race boring?

I am barely awake with a throbbing head and sinus pain, an aching body so tired you could flick an elastic band in my face and I would just fall over and sleep and I have snot pissing out of my nose like a polish botch job on your copper pipes at home and even I didn't think it was boring, it kept me awake I was on the edge of my seat..... BED, many times...

You people call yourselves F1 fans, you really shouldn't watch F1 anymore if you are gonna get up at 5am just to complain. If F1 is boring everyrace for you, why do you think the next race will be any different? F1 you like it or you don't, don't just start liking it when its full of crashes or overtakes, you love it for what it is, top-flight motorsport, if you can't deal with what it is at the moment then you shouldn't watch anymore.

You might be sorprised watching other motorsports then
F1 IS boring,there are some good tracks which make the race interesting but it's a pain in the ass watching the whole race most of the time.
Im NOT looking forward to see Abu Dhabi's race,that kind of tracks is ruining F1 with all the money interests and the stupid rules.

Quote from BlueFlame :

Again, WTF is with you people, how the **** was this race boring?

I am barely awake with a throbbing head and sinus pain, an aching body so tired you could flick an elastic band in my face and I would just fall over and sleep and I have snot pissing out of my nose like a polish botch job on your copper pipes at home and even I didn't think it was boring, it kept me awake I was on the edge of my seat..... BED, many times...

You people call yourselves F1 fans, you really shouldn't watch F1 anymore if you are gonna get up at 5am just to complain. If F1 is boring everyrace for you, why do you think the next race will be any different? F1 you like it or you don't, don't just start liking it when its full of crashes or overtakes, you love it for what it is, top-flight motorsport, if you can't deal with what it is at the moment then you shouldn't watch anymore.

Change the record Blueflame, you say this every week. A fan is allowed to express a negative opinion. A fanboy, on the other hand, refuses to.

MotoGP was boring this week. When I say boring I don't mean that it was literally like watching paint dry, I mean compared with how exciting it can be- at its best. I think when people say an F1 race was boring they mean the same thing.

That said I thought this race had moments of interest, and the last 5 laps were good to watch. It kept me awake against the odds early this morning, although the snooze button was implemented as a backup measure just in case the grand prix was too BORING!

This GP was very boring, yeah, extremely so, but compared to other races this season it was alright. The track certainly made it more interesting, as did the title battle. The last few laps were great, at least compared to most F1 races recently. People are just annoyed because they woke up at 5 to watch it You can't expect an exciting race in F1, and it wasn't, but I woke up at 5 anyway and am glad I did. Don't moan, seriously.

The things that stuck to my mind from the GP:
- Button passed someone.
- Fisichella got KERS'd by Kovalainen.
- Sutil was trying hard.
- Safety car.

It wasn't a very exciting race.

Quote from Timdpr :

This GP was very boring, yeah, extremely so, but compared to other races this season it was alright. The track certainly made it more interesting, as did the title battle. The last few laps were great, at least compared to most F1 races recently. People are just annoyed because they woke up at 5 to watch it You can't expect an exciting race in F1, and it wasn't, but I woke up at 5 anyway and am glad I did. Don't moan, seriously.

Spa and Monza were interesting,it depends on the track

Quote from NotAnIllusion :

The things that stuck to my mind from the GP:
- Button passed someone.
- Fisichella got KERS'd by Kovalainen.
- Sutil was trying hard.
- Safety car.

It wasn't a very exciting race.

When i saw Sutil's spin i thought:"Oh my god,who will he hit now?"
Fisico owned by Slowlainen was funny,altough im a Ferrari fan.The prancing horse is more like resting this year.

Quote from IlGuercio :

When i saw Sutil's spin i thought:"Oh my god,who will he hit now?"

SAME! And when he did that donut AGAIN

You're damn right I say it everynight, do you tell your gf she wasn't good in bed? No, you keep your mouth shut and wait til the next time when its good again. Upset monster of FOM and it will rain Fuji on you!

Quote from BlueFlame :

do you tell your gf she wasn't good in bed?

No, she tells me. :doh:

Quote from 5haz :

No, she tells me. :doh:

i feel sorry for you.



OT: the race was quite dull.... i fell asleep with 25 laps left... then i wake up, and see the re-air... and what a crash by alguersuari (or whatever is his name )

I don't think it was dull, it has some good battles all around.

Jenson being holded up, racing between Sutil and Heikki, Jenson Catching Rubens, Kubica getting in the mix, Kimi catching Rosberg and set fastest lap, and Trulli beating Hamilton in pure race pace (!!!).

Anyone got a video of Button passing Kubica at the start of the race?