Lewis Hamilton looked very disappointed not to win in Melbourne, but that disappointment probably had more to do with Jenson Button’s incredible performance.
After Hamilton took pole position many thought he would disappear into the distance. Very few expected Button to be the one that waltzed off into the Melbourne sunset.
The miffed look you saw from Hamilton in the press conference was perhaps more the realisation that even though he was back on form, Button was still able to out-perform him. It could very well be that it’s taken the 27-year-old by surprise.
As brilliantly as Button did to win the intra team battle at McLaren in 2011, the fact that Hamilton was off-colour for much of the year played a major role in that outcome.
With the 2008-champion back on form and with a great new car at his disposal, the pre-season script suggested that Button’s stint as McLaren’s number one driver would probably be very short lived. Even after just one race in Melbourne it already looks like it could potentially be a different story.
Raw pace and qualifying is still very much Hamilton’s forte as he proved by taking a brilliant pole position. In recent years Button’s one lap speed hasn’t been a match for his race pace. He hasn’t been on pole since the Monaco GP in 2009, but has won seven races since that race weekend.
Hamilton couldn’t turn pole into a win in Melbourne (© McLaren).
However in the opening 2012 round he looked decent in that department too. Jenson only lost pole to Hamilton by 0.152 seconds. Over the radio we heard Button tell his engineer that he had made a mistake at the back end of the circuit, suggesting that he could have in fact got pole himself.
In the opening nine or ten laps of the race Button was pulling away from Hamilton at an average rate of two or three tenths per lap. That’s not something we have often seen from Hamilton’s team mates. It’s even a feat that Fernando Alonso didn’t achieve very often back in 2007.
Even with the safety car closing the pack right back up, Button was able to nail a series of fast laps and establish a lead again, whilst Lewis struggled to make a big impression on Sebastian Vettel. In fact he looked more likely to lose his place on the podium to Mark Webber if anything.
The two main reasons for Button’s great Aussie performance is the MP4-27, and the fact that he is perfectly in tune with the current era of Formula 1.
We have seen that in a perfect car Button can match any of the best drivers in Formula 1. When Brawn GP had the dominant car for the first third of 2009 he was absolutely unstoppable. He produced a run of form to match any of the greats in the sport.
Button often struggled to challenge the top ten with Honda (© Honda).
It’s when the car isn’t exactly to his liking that his form is questionable. We have witnessed that when he has ended up being given an absolute dog of a car particularly during the Honda days, and his second year in F1 at Benetton.
It certainly looks like this year’s McLaren is a very strong car and one that Button can shine, and reach his ultimate peak performance in on a regular basis.
The current state of Formula 1 is arguably an even bigger factor. It rewards a driver who is fast but can conserve their tyres at the same time. There are very few who are better at that than Button.
Hamilton is a driver who likes to drive the wheels off the car every time he is on a race track. It’s what he excels at. With the fast degrading Pirelli tyres and fat fuel tanks, that is something that is now punished in race conditions, rather than rewarded as it used to be. Regulation and technical changes can have such a huge bearing on a driver’s form.
Had this Aussie GP happened in 2010 when Bridgestone’s tyres were ultra durable then chances are Hamilton would have been able to blow Button out of the water, and dominate the race.
If we then look back to the era when re-fuelling was allowed during the race, and again drivers could push flat out and attacked all race long. A race like Japan 2000 when Mika Hakkinen and Michael Schumacher were on the limit for the entire race distance just wouldn’t happen, with no refuelling and the current fast degrading Pirelli tyres. Every F1 fan will have their own opinion on whether they prefer F1 this way or not.
Button enjoyed great success in 2009 with Brawn GP where he won his title.
Furthermore Button has established very strong backing within the team and has won them over. He is now a very experienced competitor and reached a very high level of maturity.
Martin Whitmarsh said: “He has just got stronger and stronger – and I think he has such a mature laid back easy manner that belies the underlying hunger to win that he has.”
He added: “I think he must now believe that he is in a good chance of a proper title run this year, and I think he is.”
Another interesting aspect is that Button doesn’t really have any pressure on him. Everyone expects Hamilton to beat him so when that is the case he doesn’t get attacked by the media, but then receives huge praise when he manages to beat Hamilton. It’s almost like the no lose situation that goalkeepers find themselves in during penalty shootouts.
However it’s certainly unfair to rule Hamilton out after just one race. If he had kept his lead going into turn one it’s likely he would have won, even though his team-mates race pace was stronger.
Even with a two or three tenth pace advantage, DRS probably wouldn’t have been enough to allow Button to overtake his team-mate. Furthermore as the lead driver, Hamilton would have enjoyed the advantage of being the first McLaren driver to pit.
If he can continue to just edge Button in qualifying and make better starts then there is no doubt he will be winning races this year, and be in title contention too. Ideally what Hamilton will want is a car between him and his team-mate on the grid, which is possible as the front of the grid looks very close. Qualifying could well end up being critical in the battle between the McLaren drivers this year.
They may get on well, but Hamilton needs to beat his team mate first (© McLaren).
There will also be circuits that suit Hamilton more than Button. On the other hand there will be tracks where there will be higher tyre degradation than we saw in Melbourne, which will bring the best out of Jenson even further.
We will also see scenarios unfold during races that will extract the very best from Lewis. There will also be races where Button isn’t completely happy with the setup of his car, and isn’t as quick as a result.
Overall we shouldn’t give the title to Button after one race, but the conclusion we can draw is that after his Melbourne showing, everything is in place for him to be a major factor in the 2012 title race.
For all those who assumed the pendulum would naturally swing back to the 2008 world champion this season, the Australian GP will have been a massive eye opener.
In Malaysia Hamilton has to ensure that he puts a stop to Button’s alarmingly fast rate of momentum.
