A detailed look at Jenson Button’s performance in the 2011 Hungarian Grand Prix – Formula 1
McLaren’s Jenson Button has not been able to score extraordinary results during the 2011 Formula 1 season up until now as both of his race wins relied more on ‘luck’ rather than skill.
Button secured his first race victory of the 2011 Formula 1 season at Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix where the rainy weather played a major role in helping him and disabling his rivals from performing at their best.
At this past weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix on the other hand, he did deserve to finish on the podium keeping sheer pace in mind but the British driver’s pace as compared to his teammate Lewis Hamilton was not so good.
Due to a poor pit stop decision, the 2008 Formula 1 world champion lost a lot of ground and was unable to recover from the deficit as he did not have much time.
Keeping in mind Jenson Button’s performance throughout the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend, his performance was pretty good but again, Hamilton was way ahead of him in terms of pace.
During the first free practice session at the Hungaroring, Button secured the 5th place in the timesheets while his teammate scored the fastest lap of the session.
The following session on Friday was no different for Lewis Hamilton as he again secured the fastest lap time of Friday and was 3 tenths faster than his teammate’s fastest time. Button finished in 3rd place in the timesheets behind Fernando Alonso
who secured the 2nd place in the timesheets.
The third and final free practice session of the Hungarian Grand Prix was the only event where Button defeated his teammate in terms of pace as he finished in 3rd place in the timesheets while Hamilton secured the 7th place quite disappointingly.
Later on, the two McLaren drivers were having a great qualifying session as Hamilton topped the timesheets for Q1 but unfortunately, Sebastian Vettel secured the fastest time of the session in his very final run as a result of which, the former world champion
dropped to 2nd place.
Jenson Button on the other hand had a pretty good final lap during Q3 as he chipped Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso and secured the 3rd place for himself on the grid.
McLaren were looking faster than Red Bull Racing team and Ferrari throughout the weekend and the first 20 laps of the Hungarian Grand Prix showed how fast the MP4-26 was at the Hungaroring.
Hamilton kept challenging Vettel for the lead during the first couple of laps and eventually, took over the lead after the reigning world champion made a mistake and skidded his car.
After that, it was Button’s turn to take over the 2nd place as Vettel was clearly struggling for pace during both wet and dry conditions.
Lewis led the race for over 50 laps after that but he decided to switch to intermediate tyres before the rest of the drivers as it started raining. The rain stopped after 2 laps unfortunately as a result of which, he had to shift back to dry tyres again.
As a result, Button seized the advantage and took the victory. The 2009 Formula 1 world champion is now in 5th place with 134 points while Vettel is leading the championship with a 100-point lead over him with 234 points.
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