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A thought on slicks
Topic Started: May 25 2009, 11:24 AM (239 Views)
Whity
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I dont want to diminish Buttons results so far this year as he is doing a fantastic job, I was just thinking has he benifited from the return to slicks more than most drivers?

As we know (from years of james allen telling us) Button has a smooth driving style, and it seems that this driving style is allowing him to preserve the rediculous super softs much longer than any other driver and this skill gives him a great advantage in the races where they are used.

Rubens and Button were closely matched in the Grooved tyres years and i expected that to continue this year but i am beginning to think that Buttons driving style may have been quite severly hindered by the grooved tyres in previous seasons.
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RJHSaints
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Undoubtedly tyres have played a large part in Button's title fight so far. I don't think that in principle he has benefitted in terms of pace from the tyres, but he can certainly manage them better than Barrichello, and apparently this comes naturally to him due to his driving style.

So yes, I would say you have a point.
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TheCompleteGuitarist
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People have made a huge joke out of that (smooth driving style), but it's true that he certainly managed the tyres better than Vettel and Rubens yesterday, and on the flip side, Lewis seriously jeopardized performances through lack of tyre care.
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everythingoes
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Buttons driving style is certainly gentler on the slocks than some of the other drivers, for sure. But that apart, yesterday he also benefited by not having to follow another car closely. Rubens seemed to indicate that he lost the super softs faster because he was close behind Jenson in the early laps of the race.

:s
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ELUSIVEJIM
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Yes but thats the mark of a great driver.

A bit like Prost use to do.

Does not matter how fast you are if your tyres are shot.

For me its Button and not the tyres.

Its great to have slick tyres back <thumbsup>
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TheCompleteGuitarist
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everythingoes,May 25 2009
12:20 PM
Buttons driving style is certainly gentler on the slocks than some of the other drivers, for sure. But that apart, yesterday he also benefited by not having to follow another car closely. Rubens seemed to indicate that he lost the super softs faster because he was close behind Jenson in the early laps of the race.

:s

lol just as Jenson had to follow Rubens in Spain lol, maybe he could have back off to a respectable distance, say 12 to 16 seconds behind.

<roflmao>

Sorry I am just kidding, but yes you are probably right. JB won the race yesterday for 2 simple reasons, he got Pole and he made it stick.

If he'd lost out to Kimi then definitely judging those supersofts he probably would have struggled. I guess that choice of tyre was strategic.

They got JB away ahead of Kimi AND Rubens past Kimi despite KERS.
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everythingoes
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TheCompleteGuitarist,May 25 2009
05:54 PM
everythingoes,May 25 2009
12:20 PM
Buttons driving style is certainly gentler on the slocks than some of the other drivers, for sure. But that apart, yesterday he also benefited by not having to follow another car closely. Rubens seemed to indicate that he lost the super softs faster because he was close behind Jenson in the early laps of the race.

:s

lol just as Jenson had to follow Rubens in Spain lol, maybe he could have back off to a respectable distance, say 12 to 16 seconds behind.

<roflmao>

Sorry I am just kidding, but yes you are probably right. JB won the race yesterday for 2 simple reasons, he got Pole and he made it stick.

If he'd lost out to Kimi then definitely judging those supersofts he probably would have struggled. I guess that choice of tyre was strategic.

They got JB away ahead of Kimi AND Rubens past Kimi despite KERS.

I wasn't trying to take anything away from Button's win yesterday. He's driven superbly this year. Better than I expected, tbh. I was only saying that being in front was an added advantage, not the only reason.

In exactly the same situation, if Rubens & Button switched places, I am certain that Button would face less tyre degradation and have better lap times during the stints due to his driving style.
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Brave_Lee_Flea
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RJHSaints,May 25 2009
11:45 AM
Undoubtedly tyres have played a large part in Button's title fight so far. I don't think that in principle he has benefitted in terms of pace from the tyres, but he can certainly manage them better than Barrichello, and apparently this comes naturally to him due to his driving style.

So yes, I would say you have a point.

And indeed that same driving style caused him problems relative to Rubens last year when he was unable to generate enough heat to make them work properly.

But it's swings and roundabouts. I don't think Kimi has ever relly recovered form after switching from Michelins.
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Alien_SAP_Fiend
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TheCompleteGuitarist,May 25 2009
12:24 PM
They got JB away ahead of Kimi AND Rubens past Kimi despite KERS.

There wasn't enough time to use the KERS before the first corner (I belive it's inoperable under 100km/h or something in order for it not to be used as a type of launch control). Jensen and Rubens were both on the clean side of the track. Kimi should have concentrated on defending his position from Rubens rather than trying to get ahead of Button, but it was worth the gamble, I suppose.

Pity about Ferrari's shoddy pitwork, not sure if it made that much difference, but it still didn't help.
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TheCompleteGuitarist
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IMO Button has always been kind on his tyres and it's quite likely Vettel's relative inexperience cost him same as it did with Hamilton in his first year.

Think it was China where Hamilton wore his tyres down to the mesh.
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GordonB
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TheCompleteGuitarist,May 26 2009
11:46 AM
IMO Button has always been kind on his tyres and it's quite likely Vettel's relative inexperience cost him same as it did with Hamilton in his first year.

Think it was China where Hamilton wore his tyres down to the mesh.

You're right - Hamilton has always been a "hard" driver on his tyres, but that helped him at times last year when he was able to get heat into his tyres for qualifying when the Ferrari's couldn't.

I also have a vague recollection (probably I made this up in my head at the time) that during the 2004 season Jenson struggled to get heat into his tyres in qualifying at the start of the season, having had a brilliant time of it in pre-season testing, and when they changed the car so that he could get heat into them, he qualified well but then his tyres went off really quickly during the race and the race pace was rubbish.


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TheCompleteGuitarist
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GordonB,May 26 2009
03:31 PM
TheCompleteGuitarist,May 26 2009
11:46 AM
IMO Button has always been kind on his tyres and it's quite likely Vettel's relative inexperience cost him same as it did with Hamilton in his first year.

Think it was China where Hamilton wore his tyres down to the mesh.

You're right - Hamilton has always been a "hard" driver on his tyres, but that helped him at times last year when he was able to get heat into his tyres for qualifying when the Ferrari's couldn't.

I also have a vague recollection (probably I made this up in my head at the time) that during the 2004 season Jenson struggled to get heat into his tyres in qualifying at the start of the season, having had a brilliant time of it in pre-season testing, and when they changed the car so that he could get heat into them, he qualified well but then his tyres went off really quickly during the race and the race pace was rubbish.

Yes that's true, but whether that was down to JB or the car I don't know, because both drivers experienced problems.
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