Jenson had a tremendous start to the season. He won the first race in Melbourne, Australia and he was driving what many were claiming to be the car to beat. I can't think of a better way to launch a title bid! So the F1 world left Australia for another year with Jenson Button and McLaren leading both championships. Despite a lot of initial skepticism, F1 fans and journalists started coming round to McLaren's lower nose design theory and there was a lot of "the fastest and most beautiful car" comments being thrown around. McLaren were soon to learn that looks aren't the most important thing...
It's been no secret that Jenson Button suffered from a massive slip in form after that first race in Australia. Let's go through his season, shall we? Warning for you Jenson fans, this might be painful to relive!
So it was a case of hero to zero in the space of a week for Button as he finished 14th in the Malaysian Grand Prix and picked up no points after winning and taking maximum points at Melbourne. However, it was only the second race and it was a collision with a backmarker that put him out of the points. Surely this was just one freak incident and things could only get better. Then Jenson finished 2nd in China; a truly exciting race with Nico Rosberg winning it from pole. So Button was back on the podium and order was restored in what was shaping up to be a crazy F1 season. Then we went to Bahrain. Jenson qualified well; he was on the second row and was starting the race from fourth. Sadly for him, he had to retire from the race and so took no points home. Again... This was also the beginning of McLaren's pit stop nightmares as it was the race where they made mistakes on two of Lewis' stops.
F1 was now done with the flyaways and returned home to Europe for the Spanish Grand Prix. Barcelona provides a track that F1 knows well and drivers and teams are used to it because of how much testing they have done on this track. There were three weeks between Bahrain and Spain so teams had time to make updates and reevaluate what they were doing. Drivers could get away from any distractions and refocus on their racing. However, F1 2012 had other things in mind. With Pastor Maldonado winning the race we got four different winners in four races and there was even some Qualifying controversy; another mistake from McLaren when it came to refueling Lewis' car for the final part of Qualifying. Jenson's Qualifying added to McLaren's woes; he started the race from tenth and finished in ninth. So Jenson was back in the points but probably not as high up as he would have liked.
Monaco was next up; the jewel in F1's glamourous, slightly over the top crown! But for Jenson it wasn't to be a weekend of partying and having a good time; he was there to race! Having already won at Monaco in the past, something every F1 driver dreams of doing, Jenson knows what it takes to win at this street circuit. A poor Qualifying session was no excuse for his difficulties in the race. He qualified in 12th and finished 16th but Sebastian Vettel qualified in 9th and finished 4th. It was clear that he and McLaren had deeper problems. We all heard that he had no grip and, depending on the occasion, the MP4-27 gifted Button with both understeer and oversteer. However, his teammate Lewis Hamilton wasn't having the same problems as Jenson meaning the cause probably lay with Button's setup and "balance" as opposed to significant problems with the car. This was further highlighted when Lewis won the Canadian Grand Prix and Button was out of the points in 16th again. Back to Europe and Jenson is in the points; he finished 8th. As Alonso won the race to take a significant lead in the championship it was clear that consistency may well have returned to F1 and would eventually be the key to taking the title. To be fair to him Jenson has been consistent; it's just been at the wrong end of the points.
So McLaren and Jenson returned to the UK. For the team the gap to Red Bull in the Constructors' was ever-increasing and as it seemed that only Lewis was capable of taking high-point finishes the dream was dwindling. And Jenson's dream of taking his second world championship is most probably over. 8th placed Button is 11 points off 7th placed man Kimi Raikkonen. With Kimi currently in better form and a better car, Lotus have overtaken McLaren in the Constructors' standings, I think Jenson should be more focused on taking that position than challenging for the championship, something he believes he can still do. This season of F1 has been unpredictable, to say the least, so I can see why Jenson thinks he still has a chance but it seems to me that normality and consistency is returning. We now have two two-time winners in Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso and even Lewis Hamilton has a fight on his hands.
There have been many theories as to why McLaren have suddenly gone from 'the team to beat' to 'the team desperately trying to catch up to Red Bull, Ferrari and even Lotus to keep their title hopes alive', or something slightly catchier than that! Perhaps it may be the fact that their lower nose does not leave much room for development so whilst others have made updates and progressed McLaren could not do this at the same level. They have denied that there are significant problems with the car but the British Grand Prix results tell us otherwise. There should be some concern in the McLaren camp now and as the 2012 season reaches its halfway point in Hockenheim for the German Grand Prix, they will need a big improvement in performance.
They may have been fighting a losing battle to Red Bull at this point last year but everything was up for grabs this season. Ferrari are most definitely still in the race so for questions to be raised over McLaren's chances at this stage in the season is simply not good enough. But the team don't need me to tell them that! They've been in F1 for long enough to know exactly what is required of them. It is now just a question of whether or not they can deliver the results they need.
Aqsa, @aqsasformula
(Image 1)
No comments:
Post a Comment