Jenson Button V Michael Schumacher - Clash of the Champions

Clash of the Champions

The Spanish Grand Prix saw a heated battle between the reigning F1 World Champion and the sport’s most prolific winner, and whilst it may have provided some entertainment for race fans, it was not such a good story for Jenson Button.

THE START

Button qualified one position ahead of Michael Schumacher and, despite a brief skirmish at the first corner, the two drivers stayed in that order until the round of pitstops. Schumacher's stop for tyres was the quickest in the race, and that combined with a clutch problem for Jenson, gave the Mercedes driver a chance to leapfrog Button. When Jenson emerged from the pitlane he was ahead of Michael, but Schumacher was very close and was within striking distance as they raced towards the first corner.

LAP 17

Button maintained a defensive line heading into turn one and took care not to make a mistake on the dirty side of the track with cold tyres. His caution gave Michael Schumacher the opportunity to attack.

Michael timed his braking perfectly, knowing that Button would claim the apex, and swept around the outside of the McLaren. Schumacher crowded Jenson onto the inside of turn one and held his position through the second corner. It was a great move from the German who has clearly not lost any of his racecraft.

Button felt that Schumacher's move was too harsh, and said after the race "I didn't really know where Michael was on the outside of me. He turned in and if I didn't back out of it we would have crashed so he didn't really give me a lot of room there. There you go, you'd think with his experience he would know it wasn't really the right move."

Jenson makes a good point about Schumacher not giving him much room, but you can suggest that is the very essence of close racing. Neither driver made contact or ran off the road, and Jenson was able to fight back within two corners. Button said that he had to take action to avoid an accident, but the same can be said of any overtaking manoeuvre. Even a simple racing situation will end in an accident if both drivers fail to drive fairly. Had Schumacher and Button come together at turn one it would probably have been Jenson's fault so perhaps his words reflect his disappointment more than anything else.

What is most upsetting for Button is that he was unable to get back ahead of Schumacher despite having a quicker car, especially in a straight line.

FIGHT TO THE FINISH

Jenson regularly attacked the Mercedes, but Schumacher placed his car well and held the position for 50 laps. Button said "It's tough to overtake here and Michael's not silly. He knows where to put his car so on a track like this you're not going to overtake him. He was putting it on the inside and I couldn't pass on the outside because he just pushed me wide every time. He didn't make a mistake so it was very frustrating."

However, as suggested on the BBC's Grand Prix coverage, Button could have tried forcing a move down the inside of Schumacher heading into the first corner. Even though Michael was defending heavily he was still leaving a car's width on the inside and Jenson may have been able to make use of that space (however minimal it was).

Perhaps Jenson could have tried replicating the overtaking manoeuvre he placed on Kamui Kobayashi during last year’s Brazilian Grand Prix by selling Michael a 'dummy' around the outside before making a late dive for the apex.

Button drove well in Barcelona, but it's hard to imagine that a more aggressive driver like Lewis Hamilton or Fernando Alonso would have been stuck behind Schumacher for the same length of time.

With the Mercedes getting faster, there is every chance that Button and Schumacher will soon be fighting each other again for the same piece of tarmac.

What do you think? Was Michael Schumacher's move on Jenson too harsh, and could the reigning champion have done more to re-pass Michael later in the race?

Posted by Martin Porter. - Follow him on twitter @mpondaweb.

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Last Comment Posted »

• haha great way of putting it Ian!
  by Jimmy@enterF1
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