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Formula One
F1: Button Expected To Be Further Up
Jenson Button was hoping for a better finish in his McLaren debut...
Adam Cooper  | http://www.speedtv.com  |  Posted March 17, 2010   Balen (BEL)
Jenson Button is the defending World Champion. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
The battles between the team mates in the top four teams are going to provide us with plenty of interest this year, and no contest has been more eagerly anticipated than that involving Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton.

Most people wrote off Button even before he first drove the new McLaren in February, but it would be foolish to suggest that he has no chance of getting the better of his countryman at some stage this year. Last year there were weekends when Heikki Kovalainen found more performance than Lewis did in qualifying, albeit with a very difficult car.

It didn’t happen in Bahrain, but given that Jenson is still finding his way in the team, that’s perhaps not surprising. In fact Hamilton was quicker in all three sections of qualifying, and by an intriguingly consistent margin of 0.374s, 0.461s and 0.457s.

Jenson spent the first part of the race chasing Mark Webber, before getting ahead at the pit stop, and then spent the remainder of the event behind Michael Schumacher. He claimed seventh place, setting a best lap that was 0.410s off Hamilton’s (but also faster than any set by Schumacher).

So is it fair to say that Button is 0.4s a lap shy of Hamilton, all other things being equal? On the evidence of last weekend it’s hard to draw any other conclusion, but these are very early days, and Bahrain is a very long lap.

Jenson is also keen to point out that the set-up does not yet suit him, and he wasn’t happy in the twisty stuff that compromised Sector 2 of Sakhir. Indeed, his best race time for S2 was 0.329s off Hamilton’s, so it was clear where he was losing most of his time.

Nevertheless, after the race he seemed reasonably happy to have brought home some points.

“It was alright, but I expected to be a bit further up,” he said. “It was quite difficult to overtake here. I slotted into eighth at the start, and it was impossible to overtake. I think I was a bit conservative with the tires, and I thought I’d look after the tires and other people seemed to be pushing really hard, especially Webber.

“At the end of the first stint I could see when I started pushing I was much quicker than Webber in front. I caught him up in one lap. I think he’d damaged the tires quite badly.

“The last five laps of the stint I was able to push and catch Webber and Michael. Michael obviously pitted the lap before me, which helped him quite a bit, and he was able to pull away. But I was able to jump Webber in the stops, which was great. Really good pit stops from the guys, Lewis and myself both jumped someone.”

Last weekend’s race saw everyone trying hard to preserve their tires while at the same time struggling to do anything about the car ahead.

“Then really it was initially pacing myself with the tires, then I started pushing with 20 laps to go. I caught up with Michael, and I couldn’t do anything behind him. I didn’t have enough pace to stay with him and have a go at him in the last section. So that was a bit disappointing, but it was still fun all the same.

“Lewis did a great job to get third, he did a great job to jump Rosberg in the pit stop, and then he was able to get past Vettel when he had a bit of a problem. It’s so good to see us get some points on the board, we’re the second team at the moment, it looks like.

“I’m happy with today and the whole weekend’s gone reasonably well, it’s just a bit frustrating to be stuck behind Michael at the end, but that’s racing, and it’s very difficult to overtake.”

Australia is where his dream 2009 season took off. Can Jenson begin to give Lewis a harder time? It’s going to be fascinating to find out...

Adam Cooper notched up his 25th season as a racing journalist in 2009. Born in London, England, he saw his first F1 race at age 10 in 1976. He began freelancing for Autosport magazine in 1985 and was on the fulltime staff from 1987-92. He then went freelance again, initially spending two years in Japan before following the 1994 Champcar series from a base in Indianapolis. He has not missed a Grand Prix since Suzuka ‘94, a run that has extended to Abu Dhabi ’09. Adam has written books about Eddie Irvine, Piers Courage and Michael Schumacher and hosts a race preview show on Sirius XM. He has written about F1 for SPEEDtv.com since 2005. Check out Adam's Blog or follow him on Twitter

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