“It does worry me a little bit,” Button said, “but then again the car is
quick. Lewis [Hamilton]
put it on pole in Spain by a massive amount and that proves how strong our
car is. It is very strange.
“Look at [Williams’
Pastor] Maldonado, he qualified 17th in Bahrain and qualified second in the
next race. He was consistently qualifying down the order and then suddenly
he was second.
“The fans love the fact it is exciting but I think it will get to a point
where they will wonder who they are supporting and why someone is winning
and someone is losing.
“Why is everyone a loser and everyone a winner? Hopefully it will get to a
point where we all understand what is going on.”
That is the key. Whether this unpredictability goes on indefinitely or whether
teams get to grips with the tyres is likely to determine whether or not this
season is remembered as a classic sporting contest or merely classic
entertainment.
Pirelli’s motorsport director, Paul Hembery, launched another robust defence
of his product yesterday, arguing that the teams knew exactly how the tyres
behave, they just had not yet figured out how to make them interact with
their cars.
“That is the real challenge,” he said. “I’m not trying to shift the blame,
it’s just the way it is.” It is a challenge he is confident teams will
figure out sooner or later.
“It has got to happen,” Button agreed. “We have got such clever people here
that it must happen. Everyone is in the same position so we have got to hope
that we are cleverer than the rest of the people in the pit lane. I don’t
know if we are or not but we will find out soon.”
In the meantime, the message is enjoy the unpredictability. Vettel said that
he was confident the best driver-car-team would still come to the fore.
“If you look at an average of the first five races, I still believe that you
have the drivers and the teams at the front which deserve to be [there],” he
said. With the German tied at the top of the standings with Ferrari’s
Fernando Alonso, both of them eight points ahead of Hamilton, it is hard to
argue with his assessment.
It does not make it any easier to pick a winner though. As bright sunshine
gave way to dark clouds yesterday, it was a reminder that even the weather,
normally so reliable in these parts, is far from guaranteed this weekend.
Rain is forecast for qualifying this afternoon.
As with the future of the sport – F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone said
yesterday that the mooted flotation of the business on the Singapore stock
exchange this summer may have to be delayed amid continued uncertainty in
the markets – so with the racing; it is best not to worry.
It will all sort itself out in due course. For now, just sit back and enjoy
Monaco’s high-speed gamble.