Once again, I've found something to disagree with GPMike over.

I think Button is an above average F1 driver, but he's hardly exceptional. My thing is that Button seems to only be able to drive a good car well. He does little in terms of making a so-so car better or extrapolating retarded levels of performance from anything he is in.

In that regard, I think the headliners are headliners for good reason. Kimi used to start from the pit/back of the grid due to engine issues and would consistently battle his way to the top 5. Alonso manages to offer the correct input to his team to improve the car incrementally. I think Schumacher did the same, although the presence of Brawn certainly didn't hurt the matter either.

At any rate, I feel that Button is mediocre in most regards and I feel he is highly overrated.

Regarding pitting more and losing more time, I think that's only a portion of the truth. Pitting more also allows for more tire changes, which means conservation of rubber is less important. While everyone else has to extend the life of their tires to make it through the 2 stop strategy, having a fast car and little regard for tire life allows you to consistently post fast lap. If you're anything like Schumi used to be, you can have a tremendous lead and pit without losing your position.

 

And yeah, Rubens did not have the pace at the start. He posted fast lap a few times, but I don't think it was as consistent as Brawn would have liked.

 

[QUOTE]Yes, but JB had to use the harder tires for longer since he was only 2 stopping...so that doesn't hold water.

QUOTE (moogleii @ May 12 2009, 03:28 AM)
Brawn didn't know yet. Ruben didn't slow down significantly until he switched to the hard tires, and at that point 2/3rd of the race was over already.

 

Absolutely - we are just discussing and presenting our points of view - it is after all what the entire purpose of the Auto Racing DISCUSSION forum is all about!

Back to the topic of team orders...

Rubens and JB were both on a 3 stop strategy to begin with...both drivers knew it. All Rubens had to do was stay in front of JB and he wins the race since their pace was relatively the same - and Brawn knows this because I am pretty sure he is watching both their lap times.

All of a sudden Brawn switches JB to a 2 stop strategy and bang Rubens now needs open a gap of about 25 seconds to win the race. Or have Brawn put him also on a 2 stopper. The 2 stopper never came...

This is why I believe it was team orders - saw Brawn do this many times at Ferrari which is why Rubens got his nose out of joint when it happened here....

 

I agree completely that your theory has merit; I just don't think that alone negates Brawn's counter-argument that he wanted JB to avoid traffic, and thus switched him up. The two theories equal and negate each other.

But! looking at the actual numbers, it's starting to seem like RB had no way of winning with his 3-stop (which is making it seem a bit fishy). But I can't say with absolute decisiveness without going even further and looking at traffic patterns throughout the race, and I'm definitely not going to waste my time doing that haha.

Just found this article which did a similar analysis to mine, but a little more in-depth (and prettier). His conclusions are similar, too.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/172513-...richello#page/1

All things being equal, assuming RB was on top of his game and did not start lagging after P2 and P3 like he did, he still would not have won. Even if he had outperformed Button like he did before P1, he still would not have won. Getting suspicious He really needed 4-5 more laps of his killer times between P1 and P2.

 

I have no reason to believe that RB was not on top of his game, I believe he is the same man that he was at Ferrari so he saw what you are seeing now early and called it. If he wanted Rubens to win, all he had to do was put him on a 2 stopper - but he didn't...

 

JB is exceptional. Note that JB had to change his driving style to suit this track. He said it himself....the track lends itself to reckless abandon, not precision and smoothness.

Also....please tell me who got pole at Imola in 2004 and 2nd in the race, versus a VASTLY superior machine (Ferrari). But JB sucks right?

 

http://www.f1technical.net/news/12423

 

With JB being in F1 for 9 years now, you keep bringing up this 2004 Imola pole and subsequently comparing JB to MS.

I wouldn't have JB and MS in the same sentence let alone in the same thread.

In Imola at 2004, MS made a rare mistake at Variante Alta which cost him the pole.

As for team orders, Ross is well known for strategies based on team orders and the last race was no exception.

Obviously, the team's going with the approach which maximizes their DC and CC chances and i.e. having JB in the front.

 

Yes, I would have to say that JB sucks - because guess who won the race - MS.

Do you really want us to tally up how many times MS beat JB in a race or in qualifying? This is going to be a complete slaughter of JB...

MS
Starts - 250
Poles - 68
Wins - 91
Points - 1,369
Podiums - 154
WDC - 7

JB
Starts - 160
Poles - 6
Wins - 5
Points - 270
Podiums - 20
WDC - 0

As Diabl0 said - JB is nowhere near MS...