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[What's Burning?]

Jenson Button believes all drivers should pay the same amount for their super licence to race in Formula One.

Under current regulations, drivers have to pay different amounts depending on the points scored the previous season. With the teams' entry fees also now having had a dramatic increase based on their points total, Button says he feels it's wrong that drivers are expected to pay different amounts.

"Personally I don't feel that we should be paying different super licence fees for different drivers and different point situations," Button said. "I mean, when you get your licence to drive on the road, because you do more miles you don't pay more for it, do you? And you don't pay more for a licence in any other category because you've got a better car or whatever, so it should be a flat fee."

Button also said it had been costly for him to become world champion due to the resulting cost of his super licence.

"When I won the championship in '09 that was the worst year to win a championship because that's when the super licence went crazy and I think I spent over a quarter of a million Euros on my licence to race that year!"

[CookinFlat6]

He has had 1 retiremeent due to car failure at Monza and one other, apart from that his issues have stemmed from a lack of grit and a lack of driving skill

and he insults Mclaren, his fans even his many detractors by continuing to give us this 'I am a top driver, its never down to me' routine

I am willing to bet that he will, at some point this season mention the points difference between himself and Lewis as a measure of his talent.

Funny how Jenson whitmarsh and Sam all take the same heads in the sand approach to glaring reality that everyone bar a few infatuated McLaren groupies can see. Whitmarsh had the audacity to deflect blame for the recent fuel pump failure at Mercedes convieniently ignoring the general pattern and context for that one incident

Whitmarsh says 'its just one of those years, some years it all seems easy some years its hard, this is just one of those years' Wtf? Jenson says 'I just couldnt find any grip in this bad car, I dont understand it at all,it was fine on saturday right up to the point everyone else upped their game for Q3' , Sam says 'We messed up in one area but our pitstops are no longer slow, ' The Mclaren groupies say

THERE IS NO PROBLEM AT MCLAREN! EVERY TEAM HAS BAD DAYS!

[LRW]

"When I won the championship in '09 that was the worst year to win a championship because that's when the super licence went crazy and I think I spent over a quarter of a million Euros on my licence to race that year!"

Sorry, is he expecting us to feel sorry for him?

[The Second Coming]

He has had 1 retiremeent due to car failure at Monza and one other, apart from that his issues have stemmed from a lack of grit and a lack of driving skill

and he insults Mclaren, his fans even his many detractors by continuing to give us this 'I am a top driver, its never down to me' routine

I am willing to bet that he will, at some point this season mention the points difference between himself and Lewis as a measure of his talent.

Funny how Jenson whitmarsh and Sam all take the same heads in the sand approach to glaring reality that everyone bar a few infatuated McLaren groupies can see. Whitmarsh had the audacity to deflect blame for the recent fuel pump failure at Mercedes convieniently ignoring the general pattern and context for that one incident

Whitmarsh says 'its just one of those years, some years it all seems easy some years its hard, this is just one of those years' Wtf? Jenson says 'I just couldnt find any grip in this bad car, I dont understand it at all,it was fine on saturday right up to the point everyone else upped their game for Q3' , Sam says 'We messed up in one area but our pitstops are no longer slow, ' The Mclaren groupies say

THERE IS NO PROBLEM AT MCLAREN! EVERY TEAM HAS BAD DAYS!

Kinda begs the question, now that Lewis is gone to AMG, how long will McLaren go before they have a big name driver in their cockpit again? Alonso said he will end his career with Ferrari. Vettel seem content to stay with Red Bull for a protracted period...or at a minimum, as long as Newey is there. Kimi is a tough call. He always seems one foot in F1, the other out, doing whatever inspires him for the moment. That's it really. Nico seems to have come off the boil to join the Elite Group and everyone else not really in the conversation. Is this coming season the start of an era of drought for McLaren? They certainly seem to have a running start in that direction.

I'm just saying...

[Nin-Chin]

Jenson Button has described the MP4-27 as the worst car he has driven during his time at McLaren after another difficult weekend in Abu Dhabi.

The 32-year-old finished fourth at the Yas Marina Circuit - behind Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel who started from the pitlane.

Button has taken just two wins all season - the opening Australian GP and in Belgium where he was in a league of his own - and McLaren look likely to finish outside the top two in the Constructors' Championship for the first time since 2009.

"This car hasn't suited me as well as McLaren's last two," he told The Guardian.

"Since I've been here this has been the worst year. It's been tricky, even on good weekends. We've had a problem pretty much every weekend, lately. We need to stop it. I don't get it.

"The weekend was weird. Friday was good, Saturday morning was good but qualifying and the race wasn't amazing. It wasn't horrendous but it wasn't amazing. We've got to try a few new things with the set up. I'm not happy with where it is at the moment. But hopefully next year will be perfect.

"Next year is exciting but we've still got two races where we want to do well in. We still want to get Ferrari in the constructors, but it's 22 points [behind] now, which is quite big. We need some good points in the next two.

"The car is quite unusual in the way that it works. It works really well for Lewis (Hamilton), and works really well for me at times. But the consistency isn't there."

The car certainly worked well for Hamilton in Abu Dhabi until his retirement. The Mercedes-bound driver enjoyed an advantage of over three tenths in the final part of qualifying and looked poised for victory until unreliability once again struck the 2008 World Champion's car.

"It's twice in the last five races," Hamilton said.

"And the cars, apart from India, have had problems in all five. In Singapore we had the gearbox failure, at Suzuka a rear rollbar malfunction, before qualifying and in the race, and in Korea a rear rollbar failure. Then we had India, which was fine, and then here. So that's four hardcore difficult weekends.

"I've been on pole position seven times this year. I have only won three times. In the other ones we've had failures and issues with pit stops and so on. If my car was as reliable as Sebastian's or Fernando's I would be right up with them now. But the team is strong and they will always bounce back."

[acosmichippo]

Jenson Button has described the MP4-27 as the worst car he has driven during his time at McLaren after another difficult weekend in Abu Dhabi.

Not true. What he said (as quoted in that article) was, "This car hasn't suited me as well as McLaren's last two," he told The Guardian. "Since I've been here this has been the worst year."

It's like people read whatever they want.

[Nin-Chin]

Don't blame me,blame the article!

[CookinFlat6]

Jenson Button has described the MP4-27 as the worst car he has driven during his time at McLaren after another difficult weekend in Abu Dhabi.

Not true. What he said (as quoted in that article) was, "This car hasn't suited me as well as McLaren's last two," he told The Guardian. "Since I've been here this has been the worst year."

It's like people read whatever they want.

erm, I think this is what people read, which is exactly what Jenson said;

"This car hasn't suited me as well as McLaren's last two.

From the horses mouth, pedantry and semantics apart, this car is the worst out of the 3 in terms of suiting me

ergo this is the least best car I have had for 3 years, this is the worst out of the 3 cars I have been given

I think people find it hard to stomach because to the casual observer this years cars appears to be the best car McLaren have produced in 3 years relative to Red Bull and Ferrari, some would argue that this years McLaren is overall the best of the field or very close to it, which has not been the case for the last 3 years.
Who would argue that the car was the best at the start of the season, where it hasnt been for 3 years

There is no way to gloss over what he said, and thats why people are reading between the lines and identifying him as a lazy useless whinging politicking cowardly backstabbing dishonest lazy (did I say that already?) leech

He also says, maybe next years car will be perfect! there you have it unless its perfect he cannot be bothered to step out his comfort zone, a lazy useless user

[scotty]

this car is the worst out of the 3 in terms of suiting me

ergo this is the least best car I have had for 3 years, this is the worst out of the 3 cars I have been given

Strange logic, cause you could have a car that generally doesn't suit you that is still quick at times and you just drive around any handling issue still with good pace, and likewise you could have a truck that suits your driving style perfectly - easy to drive but slow. Such as the early '09 McLaren, a car Hamilton said was great to drive, but no good pace. Also from the horses mouth "the car is quite unusual in the way that it works" seems to suggest this idea too. In fact the whole form of the season and the generally percieved nature of each driver backs this up. Hamilton can drive around the handling quirks easier and therefore lost less from these problems. Button just lost it completely whenever these problems occured.

[What's Burning?]

this car is the worst out of the 3 in terms of suiting me

ergo this is the least best car I have had for 3 years, this is the worst out of the 3 cars I have been given

Strange logic, cause you could have a car that generally doesn't suit you that is still quick at times and you just drive around any handling issue still with good pace, and likewise you could have a truck that suits your driving style perfectly - easy to drive but slow. Such as the early '09 McLaren, a car Hamilton said was great to drive, but no good pace. Also from the horses mouth "the car is quite unusual in the way that it works" seems to suggest this idea too. In fact the whole form of the season and the generally percieved nature of each driver backs this up. Hamilton can drive around the handling quirks easier and therefore lost less from these problems. Button just lost it completely whenever these problems occured.

In short you're saying that Jenson should have said; I'm just not as capable a driver as Lewis, and I need a car that suits me to a T otherwise I'm not competitive. Good luck trying to get a driver (any driver) to say that.

Much easier to do what he did which is basically blame the car.

And based on the year's goings on at McLaren, they agree with Jenson's assessment.

[Hammer278]

this car is the worst out of the 3 in terms of suiting me

ergo this is the least best car I have had for 3 years, this is the worst out of the 3 cars I have been given

Strange logic, cause you could have a car that generally doesn't suit you that is still quick at times and you just drive around any handling issue still with good pace, and likewise you could have a truck that suits your driving style perfectly - easy to drive but slow. Such as the early '09 McLaren, a car Hamilton said was great to drive, but no good pace. Also from the horses mouth "the car is quite unusual in the way that it works" seems to suggest this idea too. In fact the whole form of the season and the generally percieved nature of each driver backs this up. Hamilton can drive around the handling quirks easier and therefore lost less from these problems. Button just lost it completely whenever these problems occured.

I see what you're saying but can't agree, since if it were true Hamilton would be saying the same thing and simply going faster.

He described the car very handy and a pleasure to drive both in Canada and now here in Abu Dhabi. He also expressed surprise that BUtton was having problems, since to him it was a damn good car which was doing exactly what he wanted it to do. I don't know how a great car in 1 drivers hands can be 'weird' and 'inconsistent' for another driver. Either Button the "tyremaster" has still not learned how to manage his tyres and get them up to heat, or he's going senile.

I prefer to think its the former. In terms of setup work, looking at his track record as a driver in previous teams and taking them all backwards...he's not a very intelligent driver in his feedback to the engineers, so the car cannot progress when he's the lead driver. Also the fact that he's just not as quick as Lewis but even I find it strange that he is so slow on a few days when Lewis is blitzing the field. In 2011 however, it looked like the Kimi - DC partnership, Lewis on pure pace and Button bringing the points home...Button did well last year no doubt about it. This year he just looks hopeless at times but maybe McLaren can use the off season to understand why Button has his dramas with the car and come out with a good solid car which is slow but easier for Button to drive.

[CookinFlat6]

Fair enough scotty

if it wasnt for the little issue of Buttons form throughout his career. Even in 2009, half the season was spent unable to perform like his team mate because the car was 'undriveable' and not good

F1 is not about perfect conditions and car just for you, the team have 2 drivers and 1 car, I think a top driver is not entitled to claim a car not being perfect for him as mitigating circumstances for failure

Massa has been closer to Alonso than Jenson to Lewis recently and I have not heard Massa moaning about the car not suiting him as the explanation for his uselessness,

If this was the first incidence of Button performing badly in a car otherwise useable by his teammate then we might say 'yeah jenson, the car doesnt suit you'

He has a history of this, and the latest comments are beyond ridiculous

he is mediocre unless the car is perfectly matched to his narrow skillset, hardly any other driver in the top half of the expectancy scale is so mediocre, they adapt. which driver, with 2 races to go is still blaming the car and assuring us that all thats missing is the right setup?

and why did he crow at the start of the season that there would be no excuses as he had input enough into the car to make him feel confident of leading the team to victory?

I am flabbergasted that any positive spin can be attributed to his attitude and reluctance to admit that he is just not in the same league as Lewis Seb Alonso, who all overtake him at will on track regardless of tyres, car etc etc

[Hammer278]

The sad part for Lewis is, Button is only 12 points behind him in the WDC. If McLaren have been trying their hardest to boost Buttons spirit and keep Lewis within his reach, they've done a bloody good job of it.

[scotty]

Seems like you guys think i am making excuses for Button - far from that, in fact i don't really give a s*** in reality, i'm far more concerned with whatever Raikkonen is doing to be absolutely blunt about it. And i don't think i personally ever, ever put him in the same league as the top 4 drivers, absolutely not! Nor would i ever do that i don't think. But it is an interesting thought though and this is my take on that article, and i guess therefore on this season for McLaren.

I see what you're saying but can't agree, since if it were true Hamilton would be saying the same thing and simply going faster.

But i guess that's exactly it, cause you don't really ever see Hamilton moaning about balance, which i would figure ties in to him just driving around these sorts of problems.

Another aspect, surely, is the tyres and their apparently tiny operating window this season. I have little doubt that this has played a huge part in some drivers relative forms this season. In fact i think you could very reasonable argue that they are having a massive impact even at this stage.

Which usefully brings me onto another point - the relative myth around Button being a tyre saving master. This first occured under the tyre war era with the ultra mega soft tyres, when his smooth style yielded some pretty decent results... somehow this has since turned into him being a tyre master, which seems to me like a simple chinese whisper type thing... cause in the tyre war it was all about blistering and marbles, something he seemed pretty decent at keeping in check. But now the issues are very different. So, i think people are attaching that idea to him here when it doesn't really apply. Button never was a 'tyre master' just a smooth driver, and the two aren't the same.

[CookinFlat6]

The sad part for Lewis is, Button is only 12 points behind him in the WDC. If McLaren have been trying their hardest to boost Buttons spirit and keep Lewis within his reach, they've done a bloody good job of it.

I think its sadder for Jenson, as it raises the heights he will fall from when he is required to produce results regularly, and the team look to him to get an extra tenth out of the package

He has never ever done, or even had to walk the walk like he will have to next year, unless he gets a car with a 5 second advantage he will be fully exposed and we might be facing a real dramatic implosion as he runs to hide. And ofcourse we could be proven wrong and his ability will shine through, however i doubt that very much

2012 Mclaren vs 2013 Mclaren will be chickens coming home to roost and there has not been a more deserving chap on the grid ever

Welcome to 2009 baby!