After seeing Kovabutton take a beating not only from Hamilton but my the fresh out of retirement MS had this to say. Mercedes MD Nick Fry has warned Jenson Button that there's a "clear gap" between himself and Lewis Hamilton that he needs to close very quickly. Button made his debut for McLaren in Sunday's season opener in Bahrain, but he could only manage seventh place while Hamilton finished third. The reigning World Champion admitted after the race that his team-mate did a "better job", but he wasn't too concerned. "It's a fact that Lewis finished in front of me," he said. "He did a better job. I couldn't have done any more in the race," Button said. Fry says Button has "got to work hard" if he wants to edge closer to his team-mate. "There's clearly a gap that Jenson is going to have to close. It's absolutely self-evident," Fry told Reuters. "I'm sure he'll be looking after this weekend at what he can do to close the gap to Lewis. "Lewis does have 'home team advantage' at the moment but the longer Jenson stays with the team, the more that reason goes away," Fry added. "He'll have to be looking at all the aspects of his own performance, not only how he drives but also the way he works with the team. Jenson will know all those things and he's got to work hard." http://www.planetf1.com/news/18227/6028855/Fry-Clear-gap-between-Jense-Lewis Regards,
I think Schumi has a grace period since this was his first race coming out of a 3 year retirement. Then when you really think about how close he was to the much younger Rosberg its pretty scary how quickly he's gotten back to speed! Give Schumi a few more races and a better setup and he'll probably shade Rosberg. Its an apple to oranges comparison, since this is Kovabutton's 10th season straight in F1 while Hamilton has begun his 4th.
We'll see about that. I can concede that Button will never out drive Hami, that's a given in anyone's book.
It's too early to say, but I think Button is seriously feeling the pressure now, after just 1 race. Think about it, his entire career, he's never been this famous in F1. Now he's the WDC, and there's been lots of talk about him making a mistake to go to Mac, it appears that it could be true. History is against Jense on this one. While he's new to this sort of pressure, Hammi has been under pressure since 2007.
Still too early to call time on Button's chances against Hamilton. Button usually is able to keep his nose clean and bring the car home, that will let him pick up some points here and there. His driving talents are certainly not flexible enough to adapt to changing conditions as quickly as Hamilton. He can't seem to use the tires aggressively enough to make full use of them. On another note, Nick Fry strikes me as a very oily type of guy. He has been at The Honda team for quite some time, even when they were going through some really bad years and people at the top level were being sacked. He never was sacked, for some reason. Must be a very political guy. Like most in F1.
Going by Alonso performance in the Ferrari he should have adapted already. Also Hamilton performance will keep improving over the course of the year. My guess is Hamilton's improvement will shade Kovabutton's over the course of the season.
If Button needs to do anything, he needs to be consistent and close the gap to Lewis, Massa kept Alonso honest, Button needs to do the same, no easy feat mind you, LH will be busy chasing down FA. Another factor is that LH and JB have completely different driving styles the car at present maybe more suited to LH, thats the way it goes.
Refreshing that Button said he didn't have any more to give. Contrast that with Barrichello who has no end of excuses as to why he was slower. Maybe Button just needs to get the car to where he likes it... I hope he improves and challenges Hamilton for wins. We shall see.
Thing is though, would it have been any different if Kimi was in the car? I'm not so sure unfortunately... I mean probably Kimi's skill is a lot higher than Buttons but what would you rather. A drive that is fully capable of being VERY fast but can't be bothered most of the time or a driver that tries all of the time but is no where near as quick?
