I know some of you guys love to discuss this and I saw an interesting post from elsewhere detailing the guys relative performance vrs each other over the last three years. Personally I think Jenson is very good but Lewis is just better. Make of it what you will.
2010 Lewis Hamilton(240pts) vs Jenson Button(214pts) Qualifying 4.9 vs 6.9 (average qualifying position) 14 vs 5 (teammate finishing above other where both cars completed qualifying) 0.447s (average lap-time Hamilton was faster by) Race 3.8 vs 4.5 (average finishing position) 10 vs 3 (teammate finishing above other where both cars completed race) Hamilton Retirements - 4 (1 wheel rim failure, 1 gearbox, 2 accidents) Button Retirements - 2 (1 engine, 1 accident) Hamilton - 3 Wins & 1 Pole Position Button - 2 Wins & 0 Pole Positions Notes on 2010 stats - Spain, Hamilton had a wheel rim failure on the penultimate lap and didn't finish but was still officially classified 14th as he completed 90% of the race. I didn't include him as finishing a lap early skews the performance data. 2011 Lewis Hamilton(227pts) vs Jenson Button(270pts) Qualifying 3.3 vs 4.5 (average qualifying position) 13 vs 6 (teammate finishing above other where both cars completed qualifying) 0.946s (average lap-time Hamilton was faster by) Race 3.8 vs 3.1 (average finishing position) 7 vs 7 (teammate finishing above other where both cars completed race) Hamilton Retirements - 3 (1 gearbox, 2 accidents) Button Retirements - 2 (loose wheel nut, hydraulics) Hamilton - 3 Wins & 1 Pole Position Button - 3 Wins & 0 Pole Positions 2012 Lewis Hamilton(190pts) vs Jenson Button(188pts) Qualifying 3.1 vs 6.5 (average qualifying position) 17 vs 3 (teammate finishing above other where both cars completed qualifying) 0.418s (average lap-time Hamilton was faster by) Race 4.4 vs 5.6 (average finishing position) 7 vs 3 (teammate finishing above other where both cars completed race).
2010-2012 Lewis Hamilton(657pts) vs Jenson Button(672pts) Qualifying 3.8 vs 6.0 (average qualifying position) 44 vs 14 (teammate finishing above other where both cars completed qualifying) 0.604s (average lap-time Hamilton was faster by) Race 4.0 vs 4.4 (average finishing position) 24 vs 13 (teammate finishing above other where both cars completed race) Hamilton Retirements - 13 Button Retirements - 8 Hamilton - 10 Wins & 9 Pole Positions Button - 8 Wins & 1 Pole Positions
Lewis v Jenson
posted on 12/12/12
Hamilton is the better driver of the two IMO, although Alonso is the best driver in Formula 1 at the minute
posted on 13/12/12
If you look at this season, Lewis destroyed him completely. The only thing that made it look close were the retirements.
Jenson is a decent driver and when his car is hooked up, he's a match for anyone but Lewis is a much better driver.
posted on 13/12/12
Difficult to see how anybody can rate Jenson as the better driver. Hamilton is a super talent from the Gilles Villeneuve school.
Hamilton sadly under-performed in 2011 and one wonder's why. Is it really so important to him to have his family around?
Lamentable!
But that said, any team who are genuinelly trying to succeed and find a talent like Hamilton's on the market, but let it go, are lost sheep in a butcher's shop.
I really wish Lewis well next year and if he listens to Lauda he should be a massive threat for the championship.
Personally I rate him the best talent on the grid and would include him in my top ten of all time easily, but he must focus.
For me, Button is a little too inclined to whine when things go wrong rather than dig deep, although he did dig deep in Canada 2011 and the result is there for all to see.
However, the future is bright for Mercedes GP, they have two talented drivers, they know one is world championship material and hopefully he will raise the level of the other.
One worry......... Hamilton had some bad luck with McLaren, they seem to buy it by the bag full for him, or he would have easily won the championship.
But he is effectively going into an even worse car/team combo on the grid...
Schumacher/Mercedes, not good.
I just hope they buck their ideas up.
posted on 13/12/12
For all my defending of Button, I've got to say, Hamilton is the better driver of the two.
I agree Daredevil, that Lewis completely destroyed Jenson this year, but you could argue that Jenson dealt the same sort of damage to Lewis in 2011. Oh wait, silly me, that was all Whitmarsh's doing, right?
The thing that winds me up about the whole Hamilton vs Button debate is that everyone said that Jenson wouldn't stand a snowball's chance in Lewis' team, people saying that he would be completely dominated and outclassed but instead, he drove superbly and proved all of those doubters wrong, whether they'd admit to it or not.
Take this year for example. This has been a shocking year for Button but he still won 3 races, dominating in all 3 (Brazil may be debatable but oh well).
Yes Hamilton is the better driver, I'm not trying to dispute that for one second, but this gulf in class that everyone keeps banging on about is nowhere near as big as it's made out to be.
posted on 13/12/12
“Jenson Button destroyed Hamilton in 2011” - rather a wild claim to make.
Button has never been able to get the better of Hamilton unless gifted with odd situations.
2011 Hamilton was the victim of a variety of circumstances in regard to his performance but not a single one of them was due to the racing ability of Jenson Button. Hamilton had a poor 2nd half to that season but still out qualified Button and won the same number of races.
2013 should be an interesting season with 5 teams and drivers capable of winning races.
posted on 13/12/12
aristodemus
nothing between the pair for the last 2 yrs - button had the best of things for 2011 due to hamilton having a brussel sprout where his brain should have been and hamilton had the best of things this year due to buttons qualifying flaw ,
both have flaws , hamilton i believe has never been the sharpest
tool in the drawer behind the wheel and button has his qualifing problem
nothing to choose between the pair in race trim during there time together but jensons achilles heel has allways been his lack of genuine qualifing pace and this season especially it has very often left him too much to do come sunday afternoon which has tended to make hamilton look better than he actually is -
posted on 17/12/12
Race pace wise I think they're fairly evenly matched.
One lap pace (quali) Hamilton>>Button
I think considering everything I believe Hamilton is the better of the 2 drivers, but that Button has showed well in the main, and is certainly a driver whom you expect to win grand prix each season.