Why does everyone hate Jenson Button?
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Yes I read your post and thank you for posting that information.
I’m not surprised that a worldwide survey found Schumacher to be the most supported driver. That same survey supports the OP’s claim that JB hasn’t garnered much support worldwide (I find hate to be a strong word).
How is it possible to hate Jenson Button? He’s one of the very best drivers, good looking, smiles a lot, has a cool girlfriend, supports charities,doesn’t get involved in controversies, doesn’t like conflicts, doesn’t do mind games, etc. If you hate him, you must be jealous!
@Girts I support him but I have noticed his ability to avoid blame for poor performance on occasion , blaming it on the car or tyres for example.
@AdrianMorse Come to think of it, I’d really like to be a sexy & rich F1 driver with a cool… never mind.
@CarnivorousPope I think every driver analyses his performance this way, at least in the public eye. For example, this is what Massa said after the last year’s Australian GP:
Already yesterday I suffered because the car was badly balanced and today, it was probably even worse, because after a few laps I was struggling with the tyres. […] also on the second set of Soft tyres we had the same problems: the car was sliding and the degradation was much greater than for the others. I would not say I was driving aggressively and I was actually trying not to be hard on the tyres, but there was nothing I could do. Even on the Mediums, the situation did not change. We must work to understand why we could not reproduce the right balance on the car, as we had for example at the Barcelona tests.
There is a lot of media attention to Button’s statements, a lot of his team radio gets broadcast so people might have the impression that he is a bigger ‘whiner’ than the others but I think that he simply does what the other drivers do, namely, gives feedback and analyses his performance in a way that’s generally adopted by F1 fraternity.
Why does everyone hate forum topics that begin with “Why does everyone hate…”?
A quick search didn’t find any but I remember ones about Vettel and others.
Should have called it “Why I hate Jenson Button”.@Girts I think that is a bad example, Alonso was having trouble controlling that Ferrari in Melbourne, So Massa blaming the car I would think is reasonable.
Button though at the race in canada for example is in the same car as Hamilton who won the race and finishes 16th yet just says It wasn’t him “I have never had a race like it. I am pushing the car to its limits.
That felt like the limit of the car. I am leaving here confused and very lost.” and couldn’t be the tyres “It is not the tyres. I cannot be the only person who can’t drive the tyres. It’s impossible.” So for sure it is something and it definitely seems unlikely it was the tyres and we know it wasn’t the machinery.I actually really like Button in terms of personality, far more than say Hamilton or Alonso. However, in terms of driver skill I’d put him more in league with Vettel or Webber, than Hamilton, Raikkonen or Alonso – he’s able to perform excellently on occasion, but need a specific set of very particular needs catered for before he can perform. Vettel can’t win unless he’s in the best car, Webber is consistently inconsistent, if he could put a drive in across the calendar like he can at Silverstone and Monaco (and had Red Bull’s support) he’d easily win a WDC, and Button needs an absolutely perfect car set-up or he’s lost at sea. I consider Raikkonen, Hamilton and Alonso the three strongest drivers on the grid, as they can drag any car by the scruff of the neck and drive the wheels off it, and do that consistently – which is my personal measure of a ‘great’ driver.
To OP, was I unaware Button garnered such dislike if I’m honest, I always felt that was Hamilton.
Vettel can’t win unless he’s in the best car
I consider Raikkonen, Hamilton and Alonso the three strongest drivers on the grid, as they can drag any car by the scruff of the neck and drive the wheels off it, and do that consistently
In Bahrain last year, Vettel beat Raikkonen in an inferior/slower car.
@Kingshark are you honestly suggesting the 2012 Lotus was superior to the 2012 RB?
And even if it was (which is wasn’t), one result does not prove one driver is particularly better than the other, I’m considering general results, styles, moves etc.
I don’t see JB as a real team player. Last year when Hamilton was leading, he came out saying that as long as he is in the hunt for the WDC he would not support Lewis. I know he plays the role of the team player but there is big difference between playing the role and being a team player.
It had become obvious to me that JB went to McLaren not to help the team win but just to outscore Hamilton at any expense. I can understand why it was important for him to accomplish that at McLaren on a personal level but it really made him look very weak in most fans’ eyes. If he had really tried to win on the tarmac, I would have had much more respect for him. In 2012 instead of asking McLaren to support Lewis by offering his support, he stole the team’s focus into ensuring that he himself doesn’t get lapped as opposed to Hamilton lapping everyone else…
I always make soccer analogies but it seemed like a soccer player that can’t score demanding equal ball time as Messi. Why do you want equal ball time because your career is drowning? Are you trying to take Messi down with you? What did he or the fans do to you?
@sgt-pepper I would say the lotus was the stronger car that race or at least on par with the rbr car
@freelittlebirds I think any driver would fight if he had the chance. You speak like JB should have played second fiddle to Hamilton but why should he have? When Hamilton was leading the WDC it was only 7 races in so still plenty of time for him to have regained ground. I’m sure he would have helped Hamilton for the team if needed but not unless he reached a 0% chance of the WDC. Webber and Massa do play no.2 for sure but they are not in the same stable position JB is in. Both on single year contracts at a time, they are both constantly outscored by their team mates and know they are there to help out the other guy or leader.
In 2012 instead of asking McLaren to support Lewis by offering his support, he stole the team’s focus into ensuring that he himself doesn’t get lapped as opposed to Hamilton lapping everyone else…
Well, I don’t know how did you came to that conclusion, but for the sake of the argument lets pretend that all of that is true. I still have some questions about your opinion.
1) If the updates are working for driver A, but make driver B’s performances miserable, what is the preferable strategy? Make the car even more suited to driver A, so it would make driver B’s performances even worse, or make the car more suited to driver B, which would not affect driver A, but raise B’s performances?
2) Why are you so sour about JB not helping Lewis? Tell me, how could JB have helped him in 2012? The only way he could have helped him if he was ahead and then let Lewis through, but usually it was Hamilton who was ahead. Are you saying that those 2-3 points which he took from Lewis could have won him the WDC, or what?
Last year Hamilton was the better driver, with a lot of bad luck, Button just got screwed with the tyres as Hamilton in 2011. In 2011 Button was better because of the tyres, and he avoided Massa. In 2010 I would say they were equal, someone says that he was out of the game before Hamilton, which is true, but those people forget that Button was taken out in Monaco by a mechanic, and in Belgium by Vettel.
1) About the updates, when you have a fast car, a fast driver and circumstances that have put you in front of all other teams, you focus on that driver. That IS sound strategy! Correction, it IS the only strategy! You don’t stop and think “Hmm, we have a great chance at winning the WDC but JB is being lapped. 50% of resources on Lewis and 50% on JB. ” It’s 90% Lewis and 10% JB
F1 is not about raising driver B’s performance. There is no Driver Improvement Championship or Driver Equality Championship that McLaren could have won or would have cared to win.
2) JB could not have helped Lewis in 2012 but his existence and any resources he withdrew in his woes from supporting Lewis were wasted resources since JB almost had no chance at the WDC. All resources should have been diverted towards Lewis and ensuring that they win another WDC – WDCs are notoriously hard to get so when you have a chance, you grab it. You don’t flail your hands in the air screaming “We support both our drivers equally!!” Those are the words of mentally unstable folks:-)
A lot of people think that JB beat Lewis in 2011 and pointwise he did but Canada and Massa inflate that massively. 2 facts are irrefutable, namely 2011 was Button’s best year and 2011 was Lewis’ worst year. Whether JB was better than Hamilton that’s a different story. But you’re comparing the best performance of 1 driver against the other driver’s worst performance and still it would be hard to give the nod to JB as much as I like him.
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