With regards to Button - don't hate the player....hate the game. He is just making best use of the rules and equipment.
Vettel is in exactly the same position.
Now, if Hamilton is clever (which he isn't), he will get out of McLaren and either join a team who can provide him with a winning car OR move to a team who are prepared to pander to his every wish and base the entire team around him. The longer he stays at McLaren, the longer he will go without winning titles. Button will continue to take points away from him and even if McLaren produce the best car, my guess is that we will see a repeat of 2007, where both drivers will finish behind the eventual champion. McLaren are absolutely useless at team strategies and I hope that Hamilton realises this. Hamilton's best years were when he had no competition from his own team-mate.
Alonso was clever, in that he moved to Ferrari - a team which have the resources to build a great car and base the entire team around him (which he needs, if he is to win the title).
Vettel also has the same setup at RBR.
With regards to F1 not being the pinnacle...it still is. The technology used in F1 is unbelievable and unlike any other motor sport.
If you go back over the years, there has always been tyre and car management. I remember famously (I think it was in 1987), where Mansell, at Silverstone, turned his car into junk. He drove so hard and was repeatedly warned by his radio man (just as Vettel was warned in the last race) that if he continues, he will not finish the race. Mansell, ignored this, chased down Nelson Piquet (I think it was) and won the race.
I agree that tyre management is even more important now...but that's part of modern F1. Times change and so does the way in which the sport is played.
Just as Button showed in Canada, when you drive balls to the wall, you can still win...driving conservatively is not a necessity. Hamilton is a balls to the wall driver - his problem this year was not his tyre management, but his collision rate. In my time watching F1, I have never seen a top line driver, have so many collisions. The fact that he finished in the top 5 after so many collisions is actually quite impressive.
If you go back 10 years, it was processional racing and there were many complaints that the same driver always wins and nobody is able to overtake...well, I believe we have just had a (2011) season with more overtakes than any recent season. The big problem this year was the Vettel (who some might argue drove better than any other driver) also had the best car. Take him out of the equation and you are left with a VERY exciting and close season for racing, with many overtakes.
so they both played games that day, you could say it cost Alonso the title rather than Lewis 
