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[LRW]

Sky Sports, Jenson Button - "2013 car will suit me more"

Jenson Button has expressed his confidence that the 2013 McLaren will "suit me a bit more" after admitting he has struggled for consistency in this year's MP4-27.

Although the Briton has claimed two victories so far this campaign, he is already guaranteed to finish with fewer points in the championship than at the end of both of his two previous two years with the Woking team.

Indeed, the 2009 World Champion duly admitted to the British press last week that the 2012 car was the "worst" of the three McLarens he had driven.

Elaborating on those thoughts to Sky Sports News ahead of this weekend's penultimate round in the United States, which will be exclusively live on Sky Sports F1, Button acknowledged that while the MP4-27 had shown itself to be a very competitive package overall, it just hadn't worked out for him. However, Button isn't expecting the same problem to affect him next season.

"For me this year has been more difficult than the last two years," he said.

"The car is quick, we've proved that on many occasions. But for consistency for me it's been a little bit more difficult to get the results. The car next year should suit me a bit more, which I'm very excited about."

With their hopes of winning either World Championship mathematically ended last time out in Abu Dhabi, McLaren's main aim over the final two weeks of the season is to claim victories in both Austin and Brazil in order to beat Ferrari to the runner-up position in the Constructors' Championship.

With the American venue a new challenge for the whole grid, Button thinks McLaren could have a small early advantage due to the fact their simulator is one of the most advanced in F1 - although he nonetheless expects the usual suspects to challenge for victory come Sunday.

"If anyone knows [the track], probably we're the ones that know the best because probably our simulator is the best on the grid," he added.

"We have a good feeling for the circuit. It's very tough on the cars and the tyres - especially the first sector. Turn one to turn nine is very fast and it's just changes of direction all the way through.

"Our car seems to work well in that environment, and then you've got a lot of slow corners towards the end of the lap.

"We should be competitive here but I'm sure Red Bull will be, I'm sure Ferrari will be and Lotus. So it be a competitive race and that's what we want as well - we don't want one person to go away [at the front] and win this grand prix.

[racechick]

Hmmmmm. I think Button is talking a little bit out of his bottom.

[LRW]

Thing is, with Lewis gone, and Perez supposedly having a driving style more akin to Button, then McLaren can focus their design in one direction, rather than having to design a car for two very different drivers, so he has a point.

Lets just hope next years car design, which supposedly was already being designed to suit Lewis, hadn't gone too far down the line, and that they can steer it more towards his set-up needs.

[What's Burning?]

It is complete fallacy that cars are designed to suit a driver. F1 cars are designed to go as fast as possible and it's the driver's job to extract that speed out of it.

Set up, sway bars, suspension, wings, tire pressure are what's used to adjust a car to a drivers liking.

[bud]

WB your comment is a fallacy, its completely acceptable for a driver to say a far doesn't suit his style. If it were as simple as you say then driver skill would be in required.

[LRW]

So, if thats the case, why does he think next years car will suit him better? Because they are going to design a faster car next year, and he likes faster cars? Or they are going to design a slower car, and he likes slower cars....?



(was looking for a suitable smiley, and couldnt find one - so Im just going to use this, as I dont think I will ever have the oppertunity or need to use it:)

[racechick]

He likes easy cars, and they usually go slower.

[What's Burning?]

WB your comment is a fallacy, its completely acceptable for a driver to say a far doesn't suit his style. If it were as simple as you say then driver skill would be in required.

Webber and Vettel 2011 is the only thing I need to offer as proof of my statement.

[Hammer278]

So, if thats the case, why does he think next years car will suit him better? Because they are going to design a faster car next year, and he likes faster cars? Or they are going to design a slower car, and he likes slower cars....?



(was looking for a suitable smiley, and couldnt find one - so Im just going to use this, as I dont think I will ever have the oppertunity or need to use it:)

Because he's not as intelligent as Bud, which I can buy.

[Injen]

This cruise and collect specialist never ceases to amaze me with some of the dribble he talks. Fact is he loved the car at the start of the season when he though he was going to hand Lewis his bottom. As the season has gone on and Jensons obsession with beating Lewis has taken hold and him getting a royal beating from Lewis he has liked the car less and less lol.

He may be close to Lewis but the picture does not tell the true story.

His one wish and MW is for this cruise and collect specialist to score more points than Lewis over the time period he has been at Mclaren and to finish ahead of him this year.

IF Lewis has mechanical problems this weekend then even the moist hardened hater has to admit that something is amiss.

I really can't wait for Perez to give this cruise and collect specialist a really good beating next year.

[LRW]

This cruise and collect specialist never ceases to amaze me with some of the dribble he talks. Fact is he loved the car at the start of the season when he though he was going to hand Lewis his bottom. As the season has gone on and Jensons obsession with beating Lewis has taken hold and him getting a royal beating from Lewis he has liked the car less and less lol.

He may be close to Lewis but the picture does not tell the true story.

His one wish and MW is for this cruise and collect specialist to score more points than Lewis over the time period he has been at Mclaren and to finish ahead of him this year.

IF Lewis has mechanical problems this weekend then even the moist hardened hater has to admit that something is amiss.

I really can't wait for Perez to give this cruise and collect specialist a really good beating next year.

You know, your argument may hold some credit, if you didnt resort to name calling like a 7-year old in a school playground, and just used Buttons name.

[stonemonkey]

It is complete fallacy that cars are designed to suit a driver. F1 cars are designed to go as fast as possible and it's the driver's job to extract that speed out of it.

Set up, sway bars, suspension, wings, tire pressure are what's used to adjust a car to a drivers liking.

Look what went on with Kimi, from the start of the season Grosjean had no problems with the car but Kimi wasn't getting the feedback he needed and it took a while for them to get that sorted. Yes, these guys can probably get in any car and drive it fast but I find it quite believable that different drivers require different characteristsics of the car to suit them to get the most out of it.

[racechick]

It is complete fallacy that cars are designed to suit a driver. F1 cars are designed to go as fast as possible and it's the driver's job to extract that speed out of it.

Set up, sway bars, suspension, wings, tire pressure are what's used to adjust a car to a drivers liking.

Look what went on with Kimi, from the start of the season Grosjean had no problems with the car but Kimi wasn't getting the feedback he needed and it took a while for them to get that sorted. Yes, these guys can probably get in any car and drive it fast but I find it quite believable that different drivers require different characteristsics of the car to suit them to get the most out of it.

But they didn't redesign the car for Kimi did they? He just found a way of setting it up to suit his style of driving.

[What's Burning?]

It is complete fallacy that cars are designed to suit a driver. F1 cars are designed to go as fast as possible and it's the driver's job to extract that speed out of it.

Set up, sway bars, suspension, wings, tire pressure are what's used to adjust a car to a drivers liking.

Look what went on with Kimi, from the start of the season Grosjean had no problems with the car but Kimi wasn't getting the feedback he needed and it took a while for them to get that sorted. Yes, these guys can probably get in any car and drive it fast but I find it quite believable that different drivers require different characteristsics of the car to suit them to get the most out of it.

What they sorted out was the steering mechanism that doesn't make the car faster it just makes it provide better feedback. Two different things and I'm sure Grosjean benefited as well.

It's physics... if the wind tunnel and the engineers design a car to go fast and be able to achive performance level X, whether or not a driver can drive that car to the level of its performance is not an issue with the car it's an issue with the skill of the driver. We see deltas in driver performance for a reason. Massa has suddenly surged in his performance, did Ferrari rebuild the car to suit him? I doubt it. More likely they simply found the right balance for him so he too could extract more from the car like Alonso.

[stonemonkey]

It is complete fallacy that cars are designed to suit a driver. F1 cars are designed to go as fast as possible and it's the driver's job to extract that speed out of it.

Set up, sway bars, suspension, wings, tire pressure are what's used to adjust a car to a drivers liking.

Look what went on with Kimi, from the start of the season Grosjean had no problems with the car but Kimi wasn't getting the feedback he needed and it took a while for them to get that sorted. Yes, these guys can probably get in any car and drive it fast but I find it quite believable that different drivers require different characteristsics of the car to suit them to get the most out of it.

But they didn't redesign the car for Kimi did they? He just found a way of setting it up to suit his style of driving.

Yep, well it was changes to the power steering. I don't know if there was any redesign but they were changing parts in an attempt to give Kimi the feedback he needed but Grosjean didn't. My point was though that if different drivers are sensitive to such things then it's likely they'll be sensitive to more fundamental characteristics of the car too.