Nevertheless, the 27 year-old’s body language in Melbourne, coming off the
back of a troubled 2011 season when he struggled to keep his emotions in
check, has led others to reassess the balance of power within the McLaren
team.
Caterham’s chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne worked with Button in the
early stages of his career. Gascoyne was part of the Renault management
team, led by Flavio Briatore, who let the Somerset-born driver go at the end
of 2002, bringing in a young Fernando Alonso instead.
Briatore branded Button a “lazy playboy” adding “time will tell if I am
wrong”. Gascoyne concedes Button was immature, and badly advised by his
management, but he is hugely impressed by the driver Button has become, so
much so he believes Hamilton’s attitude needs to change if he is to match
him.
“They are both great drivers,” Gascoyne said ahead of Saturday’s qualifying.
“The difference now is that Jenson can handle it when Lewis wins but Lewis
really struggles when Jenson does. We saw that after Melbourne and it is
something Lewis has to deal with.
“Jenson has learned from all the struggles and the pressures he had to deal
with early on in his career. He saw off Jacques Villeneuve in his team [BAR]
and he has handled Lewis in his team.” Gascoyne believes this era of
fast-wearing Pirelli tyres play heavily to Button’s strengths. “Jenson was
always very smooth,” he said. “In the race he is able to look after the
tyres. Lewis is struggling to match that and, with his attacking style, the
more aggression he puts in the harder it gets for him in the race.
“When Jenson was at Benetton he had the talent but he had management who
filled his head with all sorts of things. Now he is the same nice guy, same
talent, but mentally very strong.”
Malaysia GP second practice:
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes 1min 38.172secs
2 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:38.533
3 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes 1:38.535
4 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:38.696
5 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:38.853
6 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 1:38.891
7 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 1:39.133
8 Jean-Eric Vergne (Fra) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:39.297
9 Romain Grosjean (Swi) Lotus-Renault 1:39.311
10 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault 1:39.402
11 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Williams-Renault 1:39.444
12 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Force India-Mercedes 1:39.464
13 Paul Di Resta (Gbr) Force India-Mercedes 1:39.625
14 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Sauber 1:39.687
15 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Lotus-Renault 1:39.696
16 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:40.271
17 Bruno Senna (Bra) Williams-Renault 1:40.678
18 Sergio Perez (Mex) Sauber 1:40.947
19 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Caterham-Renault 1:41.464
20 Timo Glock (Ger) Marussia-Cosworth 1:41.681
21 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Caterham-Renault 1:42.594
22 Charles Pic (Fra) Marussia-Cosworth 1:42.874
23 Narain Karthikeyan (Ind) HRT-Cosworth 1:43.658
24 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) HRT-Cosworth 1:43.823